Wanna quit your job and become upwork freelancer? Do not do that • Hacker News Board

Re: Wanna quit your job and become upwork freelancer? Do not do that

#121

Post by mgkimsal » Sun, Oct 18, 2015, 7:03 PM UTC

sqldba wrote: post #116

mgkimsal wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"First of all because agencies get away with charging that much" Perhaps they deliver a different sort of value than an individual freelancer? Having a larger staff, having multiple people with different expertise, separate billing/financial folks, admin folks, etc. They provide a different set of services and customer experience - some people want/need that, some don't, but just because agency ABC is charing $200/hr…

Fair points, you're thinking on a different scale for me. The agencies I'm thinking of were little more than chop shops who hire and then resell. The only positive they could give you is if someone is sick they can back fill; but having seen it in action that's really just someone unfamiliar with the processes warming a seat for a few days and not doing much. MSDN $2kpa. Liability $1kpa. I guess it's not "a lot" but…

It's all perspective. My hourly rate is in three figures, which, for a lot of people looking at me as an individual freelancer, seems high. But the local mid-sized agencies all charge in that range for someone with my skillset anyway. But... that's not how I justify my rate, which is what my original reply was about. And... there are some things I simply can't offer - I can't parallelize my efforts like a larger agency can, which may definitely be worth it for people trying to hit specific market deadlines.

I don't even do MSDN costs. :) But there are definitely some overheads - insurance, I have office space (coworking), services (bookkeeping, etc), transportation - conferences, etc. I may have, say, $12k in overhead each year - including health insurance. That cost is pretty much the same whether I bring in $15k or $150k, and certainly if you're bringing in $15k, those expenses are far higher % of income.

Re: Wanna quit your job and become upwork freelancer? Do not do that

#122

Post by jdalton » Sun, Oct 18, 2015, 10:02 PM UTC

(Context: I'm a top rated freelancer on UpWork that's been using the platform for a year)

Ivan, one of the main reasons you're encountering those types of clients is that your hourly rate is competitive with other freelancers in other parts of the world that will do the same job for $3/hr.

Here's my advise for you:

1) Increase your rate to around $50/hr. Trust me there are plenty of clients that are willing to pay higher rates. 2) Don't bid on every project that comes along. Only focus on projects that you really want to be a part of. 3) If you don't have a portfolio then build some demo sites where you can showcase your work. Given that you like building scrapers you should be a simple web service that does exactly that. 4) Only take hourly jobs OR fixed rate jobs where the client provides a clear, documented scope document that you both can agree to. 5) Don't be afraid to say no. The biggest issue with freelancers in other parts of the world is that they say yes to every single thing....don't be that guy. Clients will respect you more for it. 6) Don't hand the source code over until you have been paid. 7) Stand your ground anytime a client challenges your rate. You're a professional and not a cheap commodity.

Re: Wanna quit your job and become upwork freelancer? Do not do that

#123

Post by monknomo » Mon, Oct 19, 2015, 7:35 PM UTC

robotkilla wrote: post #119

wikwocket wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you ever charged $250 an hour (even if that was the "I hate you go away" rate), then congrats, that's your new hourly rate. Everyone paying less is getting a screaming deal on the friends and family plan. Try charging more for new clients, and walking your rate up each year for existing clients. In my experience this results in one awkward phone call/email exchange a year and approximately zero negative side effec…

> that's your new hourly rate I don't think this is the case. The client was volatile (random screaming and swearing at people in the office and me in my first and only meeting with him, plus a vague personal threat made against me if I were to "fuck him on the contract"). I knew what I was walking into and boosted my price accordingly. The only reason he went for it is due to having (or at least thinking he had) no…

Try periodic emails to past clients - I hire quite a few contractors and I like it when they check in and am more likely to go for someone who has done something good and kept in touch periodically.