[joshmanders]

I also charge a non-refundable down payment of $100k to sign non-compete or NDA and that doesn’t guarantee I’ll accept the job.

Both my rates and this keeps people who aren’t serious about working with me away. Anyone else is most likely worth my time and the cost is acceptable because I don’t work a full 40/hr week for the client. I plan the work to be done for a week and let them know. If it takes me 40hrs ok but most don’t.

They’re not paying me for hours logged. They’re paying me for my experience and skills.

[scifibestfi]

Has anyone paid the $100k? Or do they all drop the non-compete and NDA?

[joshmanders]

Dropped. The rate is mostly a "no I'm not signing your stupid contracts that will harm me accepting future work just because you think your facebook killer is a special snowflake that can be stolen" rate.