Every freelancer starts out not having a lot of experience being freelancers and so they make the typical mistake of thinking about their clients as their employer rather than as an investment in a relationship that needs to be developed over time.
Many get too hung up in the value of the services they provide when what they are really selling is trust.
The people that manage to make good money on freelancing aren't always the best at what they do, but they are good at managing expectations and making the client feel like they made the right hire.
I had trouble remembering which question corresponded to which number as I read the article. It would have been nice to include the question above each person's answer (or maybe a hover over the number reveals the number, or something similar).
Had the very same idea. To be able to read this, I opened a TextEdit window where I copy&pasted the questions.
I don't get why people are so keen on the per-hour model. This puts a lot of pressure on you to be fully productive and count hours like a lawyer. It also makes you think you're losing money when you're not billing, and the customer likewise feels the time/money pressure. I've negotiated fixed-price deals where I'm quite certain I can get the job done in x number of weeks, based on having done something similar befor…
> I don't get why people are so keen on the per-hour model. How many years have you been doing this? It doesn't sound like you've been at this for too long. > I've negotiated fixed-price deals where I'm quite certain I can get the job done in x number of weeks This works fine for a client who wants a very concrete x, y, or z. There's a problem with this sort of client. They only want x, y, or z and after you give it…
Looks like you have big experience in this field :)
In addition to your collection, my usual style of work: I almost don't spend time to "marketing myself", I rarely switch clients (usually clients prefer to work with me full-time and even more), I use per-hour rate (because 100% of clients I had chance to work with, didn't know full set of features they need, and most of the time goes exactly to additional features). I'm learning new things constantly, listening podcasts, watching video tutorials, reading blogs, trying out new things in practice - it's not a luxury but necessity, otherwise soon you will meet more skilled competitors :) My price for stable (by freelancing measures) income is lack of "jackpot projects ", when you can make few thousands for week and relax rest of the month. I don't have free time, I feel exhausted often. I don't work over 40 hours limit to have time for family. My family very happy when I finally can spend few hours with them :)
This is why the word "underpriced" always seems wrong to me in this context. Your price at the beginning has to be lower because your profile is lower, which means you have a weaker negotiating position. "Underpriced" only becomes the right word if your rates aren't rising in conjunction with your profile, which does happen for sure, but isn't the case right at the beginning.
I agree with you, but when we are discussing "price", we are not discussing it as a function of profile. We are discussing it as a function of raw skill. If two people (one experienced and one in-experienced) were asked for a proposal on the same specs, the experienced one would demand a much higher rate, even if the final output would be the exact same. Using the word "underpriced" from the lens of competency makes…
To play devil's advocate: hiring a less-experienced freelancer is a riskier investment than hiring an experienced freelancer with a big portfolio and many references. Even if the two candidates are of equal skill, the hiring party can't know that. Thus, price is a function of what you can reasonably expect to get from a candidate.
Being an inexperienced freelancer is akin to being a borrower with an under-established credit rating. Regardless of whether the borrower is sitting on a mattress full of millions, he or she will still pay higher interest rates until his or her credit is better established.
> pass on the cheap, low-value projects. Hold out for the clients that have budgets and value your time. Every second you spend with clients that don’t have money and don’t value your time is another second you have wasted. I just finished my first 8 months of consulting work and while this is true, it is so difficult to actualize. When we had zero projects, I would take any meetings I could get. A part of me would h…
This is why the word "underpriced" always seems wrong to me in this context. Your price at the beginning has to be lower because your profile is lower, which means you have a weaker negotiating position. "Underpriced" only becomes the right word if your rates aren't rising in conjunction with your profile, which does happen for sure, but isn't the case right at the beginning.
It has to be lower, but you don't know how much lower. It's probably not as much lower as you think. If they would have paid more, you didn't charge enough. Obviously it's hard to know that at the beginning.
I have a question. Where did you find these middlemen you were talking about? > I know they're out there because I used to do that. It's exhausting. You have to constantly keep marketing yourself, keep working of course, and wear a bunch of hats at the same time. That's me right now. Any tips on making the switch?
I like having my foot in both doors. I work some of my time with an agency and the rest with my own clients. This gives me the stability/constancy I want, but also allows me to pursue my own clients (and to charge them a ton more, knowing I have the agency to fall back on, if I need to). > Any tips on making the switch? Yeah, find an outfit that's a good fit. Make sure they're flexible, understand the industry, and t…
"They're all over the place, looking for you. You just need to be found or you can find them."
And yet, nobody answered question #2 ( What was your defining moment when you realized you were worth more than what you were charging ) like so: "I read a blog post or a book on how to charge more." This is not to say that a post like this doesn't have any value - or a book like Brennan Dunn's book. But sometimes, when I read stuff like that, I wonder how much is actually survivorship bias and how much one can REALL…
Before I quit my job to start consulting, I read all of (every... single... one) Patrick McKenzie's blog posts and podcasts. That gave me the knowledge that there is a market for results-oriented, bullshit-free consultants, and that clients in that market are willing to pay for results. So when I quit and self-declared myself a consultant, I went straight to charging premium weekly and monthly rates, as Patrick and o…
Every freelancer starts out not having a lot of experience being freelancers and so they make the typical mistake of thinking about their clients as their employer rather than as an investment in a relationship that needs to be developed over time. Many get too hung up in the value of the services they provide when what they are really selling is trust. The people that manage to make good money on freelancing aren't…
Managing expectations is so important and you really should learn it early on in your career. If you pad your expectation and then deliver it early you delight. On time and you are still ahead of most freelancers/employees.
If you see problems ahead with the timeline, communicate and let them plan around your delays otherwise you are surprising them in the worst way.
Every freelancer starts out not having a lot of experience being freelancers and so they make the typical mistake of thinking about their clients as their employer rather than as an investment in a relationship that needs to be developed over time. Many get too hung up in the value of the services they provide when what they are really selling is trust. The people that manage to make good money on freelancing aren't…
Managing expectations is so important and you really should learn it early on in your career. If you pad your expectation and then deliver it early you delight. On time and you are still ahead of most freelancers/employees. If you see problems ahead with the timeline, communicate and let them plan around your delays otherwise you are surprising them in the worst way.
Exactly. I found that most clients care way less about "world class" quality than they care about delivering on time since their job is rarely to deliver quality but rather simply to deliver.