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Remind HN: Raise your rates

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Re: Remind HN: Raise your rates

#21

Post by jpdugan »

By all means, try to raise your rates. The first step toward being paid a lot of money is asking for it.

But if these templates sound like a good idea to you, you need to focus on something else first. The only way you could change your rate via email is if you're doing your freelance work without a formal contract, which is a colossal mistake.

So, forget these email templates. First, get all your clients to sign a services agreement. The time to negotiate your rate is when you and your client draft and sign the statements of work appended to that agreement.

Re: Remind HN: Raise your rates

#22

Post by corin_ »

rprasad wrote: post #20
corin_ wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

January 1st is an obvious start to the calendar year, not the fiscal year. In the UK the fiscal year begins in early April, and while different countries do have different starts to the fiscal year, few of them (not, for example, UK or USA) start on January 1st.

January 1st is the default fiscal method for all taxpayers in the US. Business entities can choose to use their fiscal year as their tax year when they incorporate/charter. Individuals can also choose a non-calendar year tax year, but only before they file their first tax return. All US taxpayers can change their tax year by petitioning the IRS for a change of taxable year; this is usually granted without hassle for…

Cheers for the clarification, clearly my knowledge is pretty UK biased :)

Re: Remind HN: Raise your rates

#23

Post by barrkel »

corin_ wrote: post #9
larrik wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience, customers generally expect new rates to start with your fiscal year, and Jan 1 is an obvious start to a fiscal year. YMMV

January 1st is an obvious start to the calendar year, not the fiscal year. In the UK the fiscal year begins in early April, and while different countries do have different starts to the fiscal year, few of them (not, for example, UK or USA) start on January 1st.

If I could convince the expenses people in my company of that, it would get them off my back until after Christmas.

Re: Remind HN: Raise your rates

#24

Post by petercooper »

lhnn wrote: post #7

Is it 'right' to raise your rates on such short notice? Wouldn't most contract work have stipulations regarding changes in price?

If you're under contract, the rate or the mechanism to change the rate should be baked in for the protection of both parties. That's the point of a contract - defined terms over defined times.

Separate to that, if you're working ad-hoc (as is surprisingly common) it might be unprofessional to jack up your rates in an instant, but it's not necessarily a moral wrong since it's your life, your time, and you're no-one's slave (unless under contract). It's on a par with just ditching a client outright.

Re: Remind HN: Raise your rates

#25

Post by ahoyhere »

Hi, I'm the writer behind Freelancember. I agree with the other commentor who said you shouldn't just drop a bomb shell like this in email. That's why, naturally, Freelancember has several other rate-increasing-related guides before the templates:

http://freelancember.com/top-10-reasons-to-raise-your-freela...

http://freelancember.com/downloads/FreelancemberDay6.pdf

http://freelancember.com/raise-your-rates-checklist/

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