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Poll: How much do you average per freelancing gig?

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Re: Poll: How much do you average per freelancing gig?

#51

Post by mdolon »

helpmehelpyou wrote: post #33

Where/how do you find these freelance gigs?

I'd say 85%+ of the better paying gigs I've gotten have been through existing connections and people I've known. For instance, a college friend started a new business and needed a site - he contacted and ended up hiring me. His partner then referred me to his friend, who also hired me for a project. Word of mouth can be pivotal in building a business so my first suggestion would be to explore your own social circle. (give your friends business cards!)

Re: Poll: How much do you average per freelancing gig?

#52

Post by ChuckMcM »

My Dad is an engraver, he's good at it, he was complaining to me that he had more work than he could handle. I suggested he raise his price then. He responded with the typical "I couldn't in good conscience charge that for something that takes me only a few hours to do!" And then we had a long discussion about how the market sets the rate, not you, and if you hold your rate under market it will overwhelm you because you're leaving money on the table, if you don't have enough work to keep you busy then you're over market. The key here is the market sets the rate, you don't.

Once we established that it was pretty easy to see how letting his rate float up would help with his workload, he would not only be less overloaded but he would be collecting more of the market value of his work. Since in his case (he's nominally retired) not working at all was just fine, he had a lot of freedom in over shooting the market and then coming back.

I recognize that its not as useful for someone who is wondering where rent money will come from.

Re: Poll: How much do you average per freelancing gig?

#53

Post by mohsen »

Loic wrote: post #18

Working in the chemical engineering area. Hard science + all the cool technologies you can read on HN => Fun + money. Usually a contract starts at $15k (2 weeks) and goes up to 2 months of work on average. I always advice people to go the hard science way if they like computer science, because there is a really big big lack of people being good at both. I should write about it.

that brings up a question for me. when you say $15K/2weeks, is that for a task that can be accomplished by a single person (2x40h), or do you have to break the job up amongst other people?

Re: Poll: How much do you average per freelancing gig?

#54

Post by juddlyon »

patio11 wrote: post #32
Sargis wrote: post #29

How do you know your skills are good enough to take on a $XXXX project? I've never done freelance work, but I would love to start doing some work after school and earn a few bucks along the way.

One way: have you ever delivered something which someone would pay $X,000 for? If so, then you are good enough to deliver something someone would pay $X,000 for. I think many people get hung up on skill though. Clients pay for many, many things. Skill is only one of those things, and it doesn't dominate, either. Clients can also pay for: criticality of work urgency of work guaranteed availability hard-to-find experti…

This is totally in line with my experience (own a web design/dev shop). We talk about the "warm fuzzy feeling" in terms of making other people look good.

- make your clients look good to their stakeholders

- make someone look good to their manager

- make an exec look good to their board

- make the firm subcontracting to you look good to the end-client

- make your teammates/collaborators look good (and help them save face when they screw up)

Re: Poll: How much do you average per freelancing gig?

#55

Post by jcfiala »

I'm not sure how to answer that - I do my work hourly, usually. For that, I'm usually at $85/hour, although I discount it for projects that will take several months where I don't have to look around for the next job. I probably would have started increasing that rate, except now I've got a fulltime job and aren't contracting after this month.

Re: Poll: How much do you average per freelancing gig?

#56

Post by revorad »

Loic wrote: post #18

Working in the chemical engineering area. Hard science + all the cool technologies you can read on HN => Fun + money. Usually a contract starts at $15k (2 weeks) and goes up to 2 months of work on average. I always advice people to go the hard science way if they like computer science, because there is a really big big lack of people being good at both. I should write about it.

That sounds interesting. Can I email you?

Re: Poll: How much do you average per freelancing gig?

#57

Post by mdolon »

patio11 wrote: post #32
Sargis wrote: post #29

How do you know your skills are good enough to take on a $XXXX project? I've never done freelance work, but I would love to start doing some work after school and earn a few bucks along the way.

One way: have you ever delivered something which someone would pay $X,000 for? If so, then you are good enough to deliver something someone would pay $X,000 for. I think many people get hung up on skill though. Clients pay for many, many things. Skill is only one of those things, and it doesn't dominate, either. Clients can also pay for: criticality of work urgency of work guaranteed availability hard-to-find experti…

Also, ask someone else how much they'd pay for your work. I found that since I make websites myself, I tend to value the work a lot less because it seems easier to me. In reality, the work is very valuable to people who are not capable of doing it themselves, so they're usually willing to pay more for it than you are. And as usual patio11 is spot on in regards to those qualities, having strength in those areas can give you a powerful edge in winning over clients.

Re: Poll: How much do you average per freelancing gig?

#58

Post by Montresor »

My first major paid freelance project was worth about $6K of development time. I charged $400 because it was for a friend of a friend, and mostly because I just didn't know any better.

I learned a hell of a lot though, not just about coding but also what I could do different in the future not to land myself in such a crap situation.

Eventually, though, that $400 paid dividends: the project was noticed by a company that offered me a full-time position, which I love and meets all my needs and wants financially.

Moral of my story: sometime crap pays off.

Re: Poll: How much do you average per freelancing gig?

#60

Post by findm »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #52

My Dad is an engraver, he's good at it, he was complaining to me that he had more work than he could handle. I suggested he raise his price then. He responded with the typical "I couldn't in good conscience charge that for something that takes me only a few hours to do!" And then we had a long discussion about how the market sets the rate, not you, and if you hold your rate under market it will overwhelm you because…

This is so true and the funny thing about it is that it makes sense logically yet it runs so contrary to our natural inclinations or at least mine and I'm sure many others.

Economics you so crazy.

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