Lived Impact is a non-clinical peer support and education resource. It does not replace medical, psychological or emergency care.
Lived Impact Guide 03
Getting Paid for Your Expertise.
You should never be asked to share your lived experience for free. This 13-chapter guide covers everything from fair compensation benchmarks and negotiation scripts through to ABN setup, invoicing, building a rate card, and the long game.
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Lived Impact
Guide 03
Lived Impact Guide
Getting Paid for Your Expertise
Written for advocates, peer workers, and lived experience consultants who are done being undervalued and ready to change that.
Contents
What's inside
Your Expertise Has a Market Value
Lived experience is not a personal story shared out of goodwill. It is expertise with a market value. This chapter reframes what you bring to the table and why fair compensation is a structural issue, not a personal one.
What Fair Compensation Actually Looks Like
Practical rate benchmarks for advisory sessions, workshops, governance roles, written contributions, and speaking engagements, with guidance on how to position your rate confidently.
The "We Don't Have Budget" Conversation
How to respond when organisations say they can't pay. Scripts, strategies, and the option to decline, because every time someone works for free, it makes it easier for the next organisation to expect the same.
Navigating Centrelink and Income Reporting
A practical guide to the interaction between paid lived experience work and income support payments, including what to ask, who to contact, and how to structure payments to minimise impact.
How to Ask for What You're Worth
A four-step framework for negotiating payment: naming your rate first, scoping what's included, getting it in writing, and following up on late payments.
Emotional Labour Has a Cost
Sharing lived experience is not the same as sharing professional knowledge. This chapter covers how to factor emotional labour into your rate, your boundaries, and your decision about whether to participate at all.
What Good Organisations Do Differently
The signs that an organisation takes lived experience seriously, and what it tells you when they don't. Use this as a checklist before you commit.
Setting Up as a Sole Trader
How to get an ABN, what it means for your invoicing, and the tax basics every lived experience consultant needs to know. Straightforward, practical, and specific to Australia.
Invoicing and Simple Contracts
What a professional invoice includes, when to use a letter of agreement, and what to watch for when an organisation asks you to sign their contract.
Building Your Rate Card
How to package your expertise into clear service offerings with confident pricing. Includes a framework for setting rates and a guide to what belongs on a one-page rate card.
When to Walk Away
The red flags that signal an organisation won't treat you fairly, and how to exit gracefully when an engagement isn't right. Protecting your professional reputation starts with knowing when to say no.
The Long Game
Building a reputation and repeat clients in the sector, managing your energy sustainably over time, and understanding that every fair engagement you insist on makes it easier for the next person.
Final Thoughts
A closing reflection on what it means to claim the professional value of your expertise, and why doing so is a contribution to the sector as much as it is to yourself.
Audience
Who this is for
This guide is for you if...
You do lived experience work, paid or unpaid, and you're not sure what to charge
You've been asked to contribute for free, or for a token amount that didn't reflect the real value of your expertise
You want to negotiate payment but don't know how to start the conversation
You're on income support and worried about how getting paid will affect your payments
You want to set up an ABN, invoice professionally, and build a rate card
You're a peer worker, advocate, or lived experience consultant ready to be paid what you're worth
13 chapters. A$19.
Everything you need to claim the professional value of your expertise, from your first negotiation to building a sustainable consulting practice.
Your expertise is worth paying for.
Written by someone who has navigated these conversations and learned that asking for what you're worth is one of the most professional things you can do.
Secure checkout via Stripe. Instant online access after payment.