On January 1, 2019, Ontario’s minimum wage will rise 31.6% from today’s $11.40/hour. How much of a raise are you going to give yourself on January 1?
The average full-time, hourly-paid, Canadian employee makes $58,136/year, assuming a 40-hour week.
If you consider yourself average, then you should be earning the same $58,000 PLUS enough to cover all your overhead expenses. For example, if your annual overhead is $25,000, then you need to earn about $83,000 per year. Job expenses are not included in that sum.
Using the same example as above, if you do 100 jobs per year, then your average invoice should be at least $830 plus expenses. If you do 50 jobs per year, then your average invoice should be at least $1,660 plus job expenses. I said “at least” because (a) your fee should be based on the value of your work and not on time or a flat rate, and (b) employees get paid benefits and you don’t.
The math is simple yet many photographers don’t understand it. According to 2011 Statistics Canada data, Canada’s 18,250 photographers seem to each earn an average of $23,793 (scroll down the page to “5221 Photographers”). I’m guessing that number is net income.
For another comparison, as of 2013, Canadian federal public service employees in the Photography Group get paid from $32,531 to $61,653.
Ontario employees will also get two more paid days off each year and the minimum paid vacation period will rise 50% from two weeks to three weeks. How many paid vacation and sick days does a self-employed photographer get? Zero. This means you must charge high enough so you can afford days off.
Being self-employed in Canada means that no government will give you a helping hand. You have to do all the work yourself with no handouts. So you need to charge appropriately, probably more than you do now, and you need more customers. Neither of these are easy.
