Offering a discount for a regular gig

Question, oh, wise ones.
My hubby works an hour from home and occasionally goes to a McAlisters near where he works. (occasionally enough that he and the manager are on first name basis...) The manager has a balloon twister in twice a month, and is interested in having me the other two Saturdays.
The catch: He pays her $20 per hour and my rates are much higher. He wants to know if I can give him a discounted rate, since it will be a regular gig. Hubby suggested offering to accept food vouchers to make up the difference. But that wouldn't do me any good, since I don't normally hang out that far from home. The only benefit that would be to us is hubby eating for free, and while that is nice, and would save us money, so far my business income hasn't really affected him. I'm still not making anything much, as I turn over any money I make into something else in the business. (booth fees, products and supplies, soon FABAtv, etc...)
Additionally, giving anyone a discount on Saturday, in the middle of the day, could severely handicap my potential income.
So... If I offered a SLIGHT discount, only if this was a twice-a-month regular gig, and only on a week night, what kind of discount would be a good offer? I don't want to make it sound like I can arbitrarily discount. My rates are my rates for a reason. In fact, in the FP community, they are pretty low. ($60 for the first hour, $40 for each additional hour)
This has been my introductory rate since I started, and I have yet to raise them to a straight $X per hour.
Do you have any suggestions?
I'd like lots of input before I contact him. He knows I can't call until later this week, so I have a little time to think on it.

Thanks,
Diane

I wouldn't even do it, because the travel time alone eats into your budget too, that's two MORE hours that you can't book more local gigs on that Saturday, and when festival and fair season comes up...will you feel obligated to stick with this gig? Also...if you start getting gig requests out this far (from his customers that you paint)...are you willing to travel that far for regular gigs?

I offer discounts to restaurant just for the fact that you will show off to lots of familys and get parties from it ... lots of our parties get booked because they saw us there i think its a great way to get in there heads when it comes time to plan a party


tell him to book you for dinner time like 6pm that way the rest of sat u can make lots of money with other gigs

Yeah, giving a discount for Saturdays, especially when it's an hour away, doesn't make sense to me.

Not on a Saturday. Not on a weekend or holiday.

Weeknights, maybe, if you weren't having to travel so far... are they willing to pay travel costs?

Tips are hit and miss, you cannot count on them to make up the difference.

I agree with everyone. The reason it's awesome to work at restaurants is the exposure. But.. you'll be meeting people that live further than you really want to travel for regular gigs. I would probably pass.

Thanks, friends. I wanted to pass. My gut says pass. But I wanted to see what y'all thought. I appreciate your help deciding. Meanwhile, I am hooked up with another company that wants me monthly for they're youth lock in. At my regular rate. Now, that is exciting!

rthling wrote:Thanks, friends. I wanted to pass. My gut says pass. But I wanted to see what y'all thought. I appreciate your help deciding. Meanwhile, I am hooked up with another company that wants me monthly for they're youth lock in. At my regular rate. Now, that is exciting!

Right on Congrats sounds fun

Sweet, I'd say pass too. I worked for a big company last winter and offered a discount and negotiated a package that included some contra for midweek every week of winter but if they booked me on a weekend I charged my regular rate. I gave them 2 sundays at the discounted rate but that's cause i was free anyway. No point advertising out of your target zone.

even if you did decide to do something closer to home and on a weeknight, I still wouldn't do less than half of your regular rates. Yes, restaurant exposure is nice, but not at the expense of a valuable day, at your expense on gas or at the expense of your professional reputation in the sense that you can just slash your prices that far.