Whether you’re days into your freelancer career, or years into your craft. We’ve curated a list of essential tips to know when pricing your work, and essentially, your value!
Talking about money in any job feels weird. It’s always an uncomfortable conversation that you don’t want to raise, but one you know you need to discuss.
As a freelancer, you have the privilege of pricing yourself on your own terms. Which, in hindsight, sounds great, and it is. But it doesn’t make the conversation any less awkward.
Here are a few tips to make the process easier!
The basics…
What services do you provide? What is your experience in years? Have you built skills that make you a pro at the job? What evidence do you have to prove your work’s value? Once you’ve figured out the answer to these questions, you’ve just made the task of pricing your work a whole lot easier.
Knowing your work and the extent of your capabilities is a big insight into understanding what you should be charging. It goes without saying that more experience means more pay. And rightfully so.
What if I’m at an entry/junior stage in my career?
Then your best bet is to check what other companies are paying for the same role. Also, don’t be afraid to ask freelancers in your network what they charged at that point. Respect goes a long way, and most freelancers understand that the graft is continuous, so they are likely to give you advice.
Sites like Glassdoor and The Dots are great places to cross-check salaries. Glassdoor is more for corporate jobs. While The Dots has a section dedicated to discovering freelance and contracted roles. Thus, you see a lot of day rates flying around with job descriptions. It can be helpful to use this as a stepping stone to understanding what you could be charging. If your experiences line up, great! You’ve just found solid advice. But, if the role requires experience that you don’t have, maybe it’s a good idea to drop that rate a bit.
It’s all about measuring your skills and success according to what you can deliver in the job.
Lastly, and more importantly, don’t forget to account for taxes. Since you’re accounting for that yourself, it’s smart to take 20% off for your taxes, 10% for expences and 10% for food. A 40% reduction sounds like a lot, I know. It may seem larger than usual, but we promise you, this is the same chunk that workers are having deducted from their monthly salaries. Worst-case scenario, you’ve deducted too much, and you are entitled to claim some of it back. Which is ultimately, a best-case scenario, if you think about it.
