The no spec movement is what is nonsense, to be perfectly frank. Listen, I hate having my work undervalued too. I get it. But guess what? The value of my work

The no spec movement is what is nonsense, to be perfectly frank. Listen, I hate having my work undervalued too. I get it. But guess what? The value of my work isn't what I think it is, it is what other people think it is. That's the heart of the matter: Designers tend to have inflated ideas of their value; more importantly, non designers tend to have low opinions of design work. You can't sell BMW's to people who think a Chevy is more than enough. Crying that a person that comes into your dealership and says: "My budget is $20K" is some sort of religious persecution isn't winning you any friends. Even worse, suggesting that Chevy should start selling their cars at $50K so that they can see how much better your bimmers are smacks of self-righteous ego. The whole point of spec or contests or paying for a cheaper solution is that the customer has already decided that the value of your work is not worth the cost. Get over yourself already and go sell to people who do appreciate whatever it is you offer. Set your price at what you consider fair, then find the right customer. If you can survive, great, but don't tell others in different situations what to do please.