Doubling Your Rate: A Thought Experiment
What would happen if tomorrow I forced you to double your rate?
If you bill hourly, your rate just doubled. If you bid by the project, you have to bid twice as much as usual. If you sell a product on the side (WordPress theme?), you have to double its price too.
For the sake of exploration, let’s ignore the understandable backlash from existing customers. Instead, let’s focus on the more interesting question:
What would you have to do to justify the rate?
Don’t escape the question by saying “That’s impossible.” I don’t care that there are crowd-sourced workers in Malaysia who can replicate all of Microsoft Office for $17.32. You already compete against them, and being 10x as expensive is the same as being 20x as expensive.
For everyone billing $50/hour there’s someone billing $100/hour and another billing $25/hour. It’s possible — the question is: How would you do it?
If you can answer the question, it could transform your freelance business. You could raise rates significantly. Or, if you just acted like a person worth twice as much money, you’d blow away the competition.
Here’s some ways to act like you’re worth twice as much money.
Establish expertise
I know a freelancer who charges $110/hour for writing whitepapers and website copy. How does she get away with it?
She earned it by becoming an expert.
She’s focused on high-tech messaging and marketing. She doesn’t list a myriad of services she could provide, she talks about how her marketing knowledge leads to more revenue. She only takes high-tech clients. She writes a high-content blog which she uses to demonstrate that she’s a thinker, not just a wordsmith. She gives talks about high-tech marketing.
“Expertise” is the key word here. Not general, specific. Not broad/shallow, but narrow/deep.
To be specific, here’s what an expert looks like versus what a generalist looks like:
- Works for just one, well-defined category of customer / Works for anyone with money
- Can summarize specialization in one sentence / Can’t decide what “one thing” defines him
- Publishes regularly with new insights / Doesn’t leave evidence of original thinking
- Emphasizes tangible results from previous customers / Lists certifications and shows portfolio without context
- Blows clients away with depth of knowledge / Blows clients away with breadth of skills
- Sends quarterly newsletter to customers and prospective customers with interesting information and ideas / Sends automated greeting cards on birthdays and holidays
- Has one detailed case study on the massive effect she had on a customer’s business / Has 10 decent testimonials on LinkedIn
Being a generalist could sound appealing because you feel like you’re not “closing any doors.” But the tighter and stronger you define your niche, the more valuable you become to the folks who are in that niche.
Look the part
Some call it “a sad commentary on the shallowness of human behavior,” others call it “marketing” — you are a book, and you’ll be judged by your cover.
Lexus and Toyota are the same company. The difference between the lowest-end Lexus and the highest-end Toyota is negligible; indeed, next year’s high-end Toyota will be last year’s Lexus. So what justification is there for a Lexus to be far more expensive than a Toyota?
It’s branding — the shallowest type of marketing. It’s not content, it’s not quality, it’s not data, it’s just that Lexus has an “expensive brand” and Toyota is the “quality, hoi-polloi” brand.
How does this apply to you?
- Does your website look stylish and designed, or Web 1.0? Ironically designers often neglect their own website, too busy (understandably) working on paying gigs. Writers are often the most guilty.
- Do you show up to your interview/first-meeting in nice clothes? Not a stuffy suit (unless you live in a place like NYC or Boston where suits are expected), but not just street clothes.
- This doesn’t mean you should be slick, garish, or flaunty. “Expensive” doesn’t necessarily mean wearing diamond cufflinks — in fact it can work against you to look like you have a lot of extra money to spend. Being worth a lot of money is different from proving you have a lot of money.
Give little gifts of time
All freelancers struggle with the balance between when to charge and when not to.
For example, if a client sends you a short email requiring a short response, do you start the clock? On one hand, context-switching is expensive, little emails can add up, little tasks sometimes turn into big tasks before you know it, and you don’t want to establish a precedent of working for nothing. On the other hand, it’s chincy to charge for every little thing, waiting for emails to pile up might not work with your client’s time constraints, and you know it answering emails quickly makes a good impression.
When your hourly rate is low, this is a real problem. No solution is terrific — each choice leaves something to be desired.
But with a high rate, it’s not so hard. Yes, lawyers charge you just for reading a Tweet (rounded up to nearest 15 minutes of course, plus copy-paper charges for having to print out the Tweet and admin costs for having to file the Tweet), but you don’t need to do that.
At $100+/hour, doing the standard, on-the-clock tasks add up fast, especially if you round to 15 minutes.
And another thing: By establishing a high rate but not charging as many hours, the customer gets over the sticker shock once (when they hire you), but will repeatedly be thrilled with the fact that you don’t over-bill them for hours.
Finally, for a client that starts slow but then has a bigger project for you, you’ve established a high base-price for future negotiations.
So, what now?
Now that the juices are flowing — you probably have more ideas, plus here’s 5 more — what can you do with this high-priced mindset?
- Raise rates! If you act like you’re worth it, aren’t you worth it? (Here’s how to handle existing clients.)
- Get business even in a recession by being more valuable for the same money.
- Blow away competition by being more valuable for the same money.
- Take advantage of the virtuous circle: Writing expert articles and offering to speak gets you guest-posting and speaking gigs which gets you attention and clients which get you more material which …
Do you have more ideas for how to be worth a higher rate? Leave a comment and join the conversation!
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It makes sense to me, but i’d like to know how some of those niche experts become niche experts.
I mean, i wear lots of hats, but it’s not what I want. I know PHP, but I hate it. But, on the other side, I like eating everyday, even more than once a day, so i had to learn this and many other things. Economy has pushed me to a “skilled on many, expert on none” kind of guy. How to break this dynamic?
Wait — you’re assuming “expert” means you have to specialize in one technology.
But being capable at pulling together multiple technologies is itself an expertise. Being capable at both marketing/business and writing code is itself an expertise.
Rather than “break the dynamic” of something you’re good at and enjoy, why not call yourself an architect? You’re someone with the special ability to evaluate a range of technologies and select the appropriate one — something that a person versed only in e.g. PHP couldn’t do.
Embrace what you like and what you are. Just KNOW it and OWN it.
What Jason said, and a bit more.
This expertise isn’t about what you know, it’s about who you work for. A generalist copywriter can do okay, and might get hired to write some stuff for, say, a CCD manufacturer. But a copywriter who specializes in B2B copy for the CCD imaging industry, and can demonstrate a depth of knowledge about the CCD imaging industry and back it up with examples of helping players in the CCD imaging industry will become known as the “go-to writer” for businesses in the CCD industry, and will be able to command a premium for it. And those in the industry will be happy to pay it because they know they’re hiring someone who knows the business, won’t need a lot of hand-holding in the project, and will deliver quality material.
That’s the key bit, by the way. If you’re going to declare an expertise, you need to be prepared to deliver.
As to how to become a niche expert, well, that’s straightforward enough: Pick something you know pretty well and like a lot and go after it. Research the industry in general and specific potential clients in particular and go after them. Build your foundation by starting a blog about design trends in that industry, or writing whitepapers about effective web interface issues unique to that industry, or… Well, you get the idea.
Get article. Just the motivation I needed to get going this morning.
Focus, focus, focus! That’s one of the prime rules of marketing. An old professor of mine used to talk about companies getting “whipsawed.” They’d change their focus and discover they didn’t get as much business, and when they returned to their original competency they found that they’d alienated their initial customer base. Even a temporary change like that can kill a freelancer. Choose your focus, and stick to it!
Yea that is true
Terrific article Jason, I felt as though you were describing me perfectly…but in the Generalist category! I’m a notorious Jack-of-all-trades, and I’ve been working (unsuccessfully) on finding my “niche”.
I’ve been running my freelance business for about a year now, and I’m getting tired of answering the question “So what’s your specialty? What are you good at?” with the answer “Actually a little of everything…” (read: a lot of NOTHING!).
At first I thought I needed to specialize in just one “Skill Set”, like Branding, or Logo Design… but now I’m realizing that my “niche” is more likely one faction of the business world, like “Small Businesses”. Essentially this is the type of client I continue to get, and I really enjoy working with them (anywhere from 1 – 10 or 15 employees, let’s say).
As for Nachenko’s question of “how to become an expert” I don’t actually think it’s that hard. The hard part is figuring out WHAT you’re Best at and Most Passionate about. After that, it’s just a question of proving it. Who are the people YOU consider to be experts? What makes you think they’re experts? Is it the degrees on their wall? Probably not… more likely it’s the way they present themselves, the people they associate with and the information and knowledge they provide. Here’s a few tips from my own (limited) experience:
- Read books on your area of specialty: Know what other “experts” are saying. Do you agree with them? Do you think you can do better? Prove it.
- Show people what your specialty is: As Jason was saying, it’s all about the front-end for most people, so show it off. If you’re a PHP expert, then your blog / website should be showing that off front and center.
- Write about it / Teach about it (blog or newsletter, like jason recommended): Explaining something to other people is a sure-fire way of making sure you understand the topic YOURSELF. Plus people will feel you are confident in sharing your knowledge, and not hiding anything. We live in the age of transparency, and you can be sure someone’s going to google you and try to add you on facebook….so put yourself out there. (see Mitch Joel’s book “Six Pixel’s of Separation” for some great practical tips).
otherwise, just keep focusing on RESULTS. Nothing speaks louder than results in the business world. Sure you should have a nice logo, but if you tell your client you will double or triple his sales… Now you can start charging whatever you like..(well almost!).
Good luck!
ez
Promising client to double sales is a very tricky, and dangerous zone to enter. It falls into the “I will get you on the first page of Google” promises.
@Eric – See the comment I left above for Nachenko about how being a Jack-of-all-trades doesn’t mean you’re not an expert!
@Pavol – Agreed that something as specific AND not in your hands such as “double sales” is dangerous. If you promise, you want to know you can deliver. “Trying many brand-new campaigns” is also exciting but more doable.
Most customers expect you to be proficient in several categories. They typically hire you to solve their problem, not to implement a specific solution (for example solve their e-commerce problem vs implement PHP + MySQL programming). If for example you are a WordPress specialist, you can certainly market yourself that way and get a nice niche. But then you would be missing on business with people, who are looking for CMS specialist; if you market yourself as PHP specialist, you missing out on business with people who are looking for a web developer etc. To me, I rather present myself as CMS specialist and then sell customer on WordPress solution, or a web developer and sell customer on PHP solution etc. And in fact, why not to present yourself as both and attract both types of clients – those who know exactly what their project needs, and those whose project can benefit from my very specific skill?
On the other hand, many people indeed do present themselves as a “everything man”. In fact, only recently I realized I was making the same mistake. You know – I do web design, SEO, logo design, template modifications, PHP, print design….. and indeed I do know a bit of all of these, but hardly to be called an expert. So I decided, and this article re-enforced it (thank you) to re-think it all and try to gain an upper hand in one specific niche (in my case Modx) and completely remove all the areas I do not know too well from my marketing messages. I will still do them if they are part of the project, but the main focus of the project must be on the area I am most targeting. In other words, they come with the project but are not the project. But as I said, my goal is to promote myself to two groups of clients – those who are looking specifically for Modx professional, as well as those who need someone who can design their site and implement a CMS.
Hey Pavol,
Good points here.
I did not mean that everyone should promise their clients that they will “double their business”… what I meant is that if you HAVE helped a client Double their business, then THAT is what can help you establish yourself and thereby charge more or at least justify a current rate.
You can build a client the craziest, most elaborate blog in the world, but if it doesn’t help their business grow then it’s worthless.
As for specializing, it’s really a perception game. It’s ok to be good in several areas, as long as your sales pitch revolves around a proven Specialty. In my experience, once you have a client working with you, they will often come to your first for any adjoining projects (ie. they initially hired you to design a website, but realize a month later they need a print ad… usually they’ll ask you first.).
“You can build a client the craziest, most elaborate blog in the world, but if it doesn’t help their business grow then it’s worthless.”
that is very true. But it is also true, that the chances are, that the blog failed due to client’s not posting, or just posting bad articles. But of course, to most clients, it still would be probably my fault anyway
You say yourself “If for example you are a WordPress specialist, you can certainly market yourself that way and get a nice niche. But then you would be missing on business with people, who are looking for CMS specialist.”
Yes, but that’s like saying if you know PHP you’ll get lots of PHP work but you’ll miss out on the work that’s in Ruby.
So what? The point is to “get a nice niche,” as you say. Of COURSE there will always be work you’ll “miss.” Isn’t that true no matter what? So why not own something tangible?
Actually, what I am saying is, that some clients do not know what WordPress is. All they know is, that they need a web site that they need to be able to update themselves. If you position yourself as WordPress specialist, these kind of clients will not go to you, because they will not actually know, that you are exactly what they are looking for. Instead, they will go to the next guy who “build web sites that clients can update themselves”. And then this guy makes them a WordPress site….
But then you’re not a WordPress specialist anymore. In this case, the whole point is that you’re not going after clients who only know that they want a site they can update themselves! You’re specializing in people who want a WordPress site and know what that means.
I know a lot of WordPress specialists (because outside of the marketplaces most of Envato’s sites are built on WordPress) and they all make much more than the generalist who caters to people who “just want a site they can edit themselves.”
Jason’s point still stands, because your niche is defined not just by what your client wants, but what they know.
“But then you’re not a WordPress specialist anymore.”
I disagree. The only difference is to sell the client WordPress as a solution, rather than having a client asking for WordPress as a solution. I am not sure why a client that wants WordPress (and WordPress only) would pay you more than a client who wants a CMS (and let’s you decide which one).
“In this case, the whole point is that you’re not going after clients who only know that they want a site they can update themselves! You’re specializing in people who want a WordPress site and know what that means.”
The way I see it, you are (or I would be, if WordPress was my thing) after clients, that need or can benefit from WordPress as a solution. Even if they do not know what WordPress is.
“because your niche is defined not just by what your client wants, but what they know.”
Again, I think a niche should be defined by the benefits your expertise can bring the client. Typically, there are several solutions to a problem. If you are an expert in one of the solutions, than there is no reason not to pursue the client only because your expertise is not the sole solution, or because the client did not specifically ask for your solution only. Well, at least for me it isn’t.
Great discussion here, thanks Pavol! But I still disagree.
Because:
When you say “I make blogs,” it’s true you’ll find some people who don’t understand WordPress but do understand they want a blog. BUT, those same people cannot distinguish between a talented, special, coder/designer, ace-of-the-base consultant and someone who just talks a good game to non-techies.
So you’ll have to compete with folks who are less capable than you, which generally means less expensive. And why shouldn’t those clients use someone less expensive if they can’t tell the difference?
In contrast, a client like Joel who knows the difference realizes it costs top-dollar for someone truly versed in the bowls of WordPress.
So yes, you do give up customers, but you’re exchanging them for a class of customer willing to give you more money per hour. Which is the point of the article.
Of course it’s a valid business concept to go after a larger quantity of easier, lower-cost deals! I won’t argue with you on that point. But ASSUMING the goal is higher hourly rate, it’s hard to argue that “website guy” will get you higher dollars than “WordPress PHP/design expert.”
No problem
“it’s hard to argue that “website guy” will get you higher dollars than “Wordpress PHP/design expert.”
– do doubt. However, if (taking the blog example) a client is looking for a blog EXPERT, it is still you, even though they do not specifically ask for WordPress Expert. Similarly, if they ask for e-commerce EXPERT, it is still a PHP expert (for the purpose of this discussion, anyway). And as such, you still get paid the same expert fees. Basically, to sum up my point, clients rarely ask for an expert with specific IT skill, they ask for an expert in the context of their project without knowing, or a need to know, what technologies need to be used. And these clients are still willing to pay for your expertise, they just do not know for which one.
Anyway, this conversation could go on and on. I certainly liked the article and respect your point of view. In fact, as I said, I am planning on implementing it to my own self-marketing. I’m just going to do it with a little twist
Pavol — do an experiment. Double your rates, let us know how it works out. Then, if it doesn’t work and your existing clients leave and you have trouble finding new ones, try positioning yourself in a very specific niche and market it hard. Let us know how that works out.
If doubling your rates isn’t your goal, you’re all good. But I can 100% guarantee the way to more income is through specialization. When I was freelancing, that’s how I did it myself. I’ve seen literally hundreds of freelancers do the same to great success. And, when I’m hiring freelancers now, which I do several times every week, I end up hiring those with specific specializations, not generalist skills, 90% of the time (exception being assistants who are there to do the generalist work).
You can make a comfortable living providing services to the general public. You can make a killing providing niche services to a small slither of the population.
I recently did nearly double my rate. The first client I got told me one of the most important things in evaluating a decision to work with me was to be able to see items in my portfolio where I completed 100% of the work. In this case being able to do some of many things was vital to be able to open the deal. As far as I’m concerned, however, being good at lots of things is not enough to finish the deal, because if you promise too much you can get into trouble.
Once I have someone making a serious discussion, I try my best to tell them what it is I do, what I’m good at. I can do design and the like, but what I’m really good at is programming. I try to highlight how important this is since the majority of most projects is spent in the development phase anyway. I built sites that are either blogs or custom CMS systems, so this is especially true for my work. I like hands-off stuff that the client can take care of themselves and I won’t have to, so there is lots of programming involved.
Part of being paid more is educating your clients so that they understand what the process of finishing a project is going to involve. When you are able to do this well, you are offering a higher level of service, which is where the real premium is. There are many coders or designers that are technically able to do what I do, but won’t bring to the table the communication they need to fulfill a clients needs when sometimes even the client doesn’t know what all of his or her needs are.
I suspect if you’re a PHP expert and you keep get people asking you to build normal websites, you’re marketing yourself to the wrong crowd.
Find out who is likely to value your time the most. I suspect it’s probably all the generalists who don’t have time to dig deep into one specialty. If you can solve a problem in one hour that it would take that generalist 8 hours, that’s an easy sell.
I’m curious about Jason’s decision to call branding ‘the shallowest type of marketing.’
The wording seems to also imply unimportance to me—but branding feels to me like it’s the most crucial. You’ve got to develop a good brand (which isn’t just a logo) to define and position yourself. Without it, nothing else will have the impact it needs.
Thoughts?
As for the rest of this article: well said.
Hey Josh,
They way I interpreted it, is that “Presentation Counts”.
You can be the most successful marketer in the world (in terms of the results you’ve generated for your clients), but if someone you’ve never met goes to your website and it’s an old Geo-Cities style, crap-site… then they are NOT going to think very highly of you. In this day and age of a million online choices, you do NOT usually get a 2nd chance to make a first impression. SO, before they know how good you are… show them. Make sure your “car” is nice n’ shiny… THEN you can show them what’s “under the hood”.
Yes, the “shallowness” is the human aspect. Branding is very emotive and subjective; you have to tap into the irrational descision-making process of your potential audience.
@Joshua — I accept your critique that it sounded derisive, and for that I apologize.
What I mean is what Steven said — that Branding isn’t about tangible things like what the product does. It’s about causing an emotional reaction, triggering a memory, priming the viewer for something — all useful, but “shallow” in the sense that it’s not about whether it’s a good product or the right fit or the right market etc..
Shallow in the sense that in human interaction it’s the “book by its cover” rather than the meat.
I’m a web designer who focuses on (specializes in) informative websites for the service industry – while I don’t do products and e-commerce websites, the service industry is very broad field and not considered a niche. If anyone has anymore resources into how to find your niche, I’d appreciate it.
You’re thinking of “niche” as in “market niche” rather than as a focus on what you bring to the table.
For example, from the little you said, I might guess your expertise is “effective websites for service industry.” That is, most websites don’t focus attention, don’t drive home the USP of that company, don’t differentiate enough from other services, and you’ve fixed this 100 times. That makes you the expert.
Also you don’t have to be the only expert in the whole world! Just that it’s narrow enough to define clearly so you can excite someone.
Great post! It’s easier to *be* valuable when are charging rates accordingly. If you are scrambling to deliver a million low-paying jobs, you can’t possibly deliver the same quality/value as you would when your pace is more reasonable.
Regarding becoming a niche expert, I’ve head a rule of thumb of ‘twelve’. For example, either develop a sector niche by getting at least 12 clients in that sector, or a skill niche by completing 12 great portfolio-quality projects within that skill set (as in the white papers example above). If you’re part way there, focus your efforts on getting more clients/projects that get you closer to hitting your 12.
I really like the variety of projects that freelance writing allows, so my niche is the non-profit sector, within which I’ve worked for eight years.
Good point about being unable to deliver fantastic service if you’re running around with teeny jobs.
And of course when you’re getting started you might need to take any job you can get — gotta eat. But it helps to keep your eye on the prize.
I can say that I am an expert in slicing design layouts to (x)HTML/css and than integarte the code in a custom wordpress theme. I am very fast at doing this type of work and I consider raising my hourly rate starting with January almost doubling it like it says in the article. However my clients will get about the same prices but I can invoice my real worked hours which is more natural.
“Jack of all trades, master of none, though ofttimes better than master of one”
I agree, being an expert in one field makes it easy to sell yourself to clients who, rightfully so, hire you because they don’t know that much about your specific field.
And in the end, they’re blown away by you indepth knowledge. Fair.
On the other hand, I had many of my clients come back because I was able to suggest alternative solutions that probably integrated better into the situation they found themselves in. Just because a client hires a PHP programmer doesn’t necessarily mean he needs one. They know their problem, but have no idea what an optimal solution can be. Thus the need for hiring someone new.
My approach is to be a jack-of-all-programming. When coding in one language you often can learn alot for other languages, plus design patterns can apply to all of them.
Being able to suggest which route may be the most suitable, even though the client hires you for another one entirely, can be a huge reputation boost, additional to your expert knowledge.
Also, trying out something new every now and then helps me keep my working muscle fit
Again I refer you to two different comments above where I point out that being a “jack of all trades” is itself an expertise!
“Expert” doesn’t mean “knows only one technology.”
I’m struggling with this.
For years I’ve been the person who the “buck stops with”; I’d pick up a system that wasn’t ready for production, get it to the point where it ~really~ works, and then pick up the next one.
This is a formula for being underappreciated and underpaid: the people before me would do the 20% of the work that does 80% of the job, and then I’d come in and be responsible for the 80% of the work that’s needed to close the gap.
Doing that 80% requires that I be an “expert generalist;” I’ve got to able to solve tough problems w/ Java, PHP, linux kernel bugs, HTML, CSS, not to mention the fine points of user behavior involved w/ marketing, usability and managing problem behaviors.
Today I’ve got an astonishing resume with a long list of accomplishments and I can clearly answer the question “Can you work with technology X?” with “Yes”, no matter what X is.
My last two job searches were completed in 48 hours and 2 weeks, respectively. I’m looking for a new job again because my current employer is in a precarious situation, so I just don’t know which paycheck is going to be my last. Things are going a bit slower, because of the recession, but I’m certainly getting some interest in my resume.
The big picture is that I’m sick and tired of (i) arguing w/ Junior developers who want to drink the Kool Aid that comes from every vendor, and (ii) arguing with bosses in organizations where a web developer w/ 15 years of experience is trumped by a plumber, airline pilot, librarian, salesperson who can’t sell anything, or whatever kind of person the organization exists to prop up. Consistently I see these organizations making business decisions I disagree with, and then suffering dire consequences.
I’m not so interested in freelancing in the conventional sense for two reasons: (a) I’d have to be making $100,000+ a year to support my family and pay for health insurance, and (b) I’ve seen enough of the contracting scene to see that it’s a way to the poorhouse. The typical company that has an e-commerce site can afford to lose 80% of it’s shopping carts due to software glitches and bad UI, but can’t afford a penny to do things correctly. Screw that.
Currently I’m working on a web publishing venture that’s bringing in ~some~ revenue, and might bring in more in the future. At the very least, if I get sunk by a bad business decision, it will be my own.
I actually cut my rates in half when I niched myself into freelancing only for agencies and only in front-end development. Before I did that, I went for a month without work and every potential client walked when I charged $100 an hour and $1000 to code from PSD to HTML. Now, I’m so busy I’m working 7 days a week, 12 hours a day on most days. I have great clients and get great projects. I think it’s important to take a look at your target audience, and not price yourself above or below the market. Otherwise you’ll end up either getting crappy work and clients, or no work at all.
Ok, so what you’re saying is that I can’t be an expert web designer and web developer, for example, I have to be only one (“Not general, specific”)?
What if I want to be both? (Not like “Nachenko” who is pushed by the economy, but by the nature of my character)
I get bored doing only one thing and I always wanted to be the best at everything. I do know that it takes time (and I’m not arguing that I’m an expert at everything) but it’s been a while now since I began learning.
I’m just saying that I don’t resonate with this kind of mindset (but I do acknowledge it).
Other than that, really great article! Retweeted!
Actually no, I didn’t say you can’t be both!
You’re assuming that “expert” means “expert in only one aspect of life.” But your expertise is clearly in being able to both design and write code!
For some potential customers, that’s a complete slam-dunk. For others they only want one or the other, in which case you probably are indeed overqualified.
For those who need both, you’re worth twice as much IF ONLY because they don’t have to find a designer AND a developer AND get the two to work together and stop blaming each other over whose fault it is that the project is late.
It’s not about limiting your options. It’s about defining exactly who you are, separating yourself as much as possible from other choices.
Very nice article, I like the statement, ‘Don’t escape the question by saying That’s impossible. (well I’m Malaysian
)’.
For my situation I currently prefer more knowledge and experience than earning, so just participated in several interesting project.
But what you said is true, be the only one. I always think if I can learn to draw good comic, but the ‘Web designer’ in my mind tells me I should focus on PHP lolz.
Thanks for nice sharing!
Good point: The goal in life is not and should not always be to earn more money or get a higher hourly rate!
I’m not sure about the topic, but I must say that I love the photo!
Jason –
Excellent post, my friend! Bravo! I’ve found that so much of your success as a freelancer is about developing the right mindset. You’ve hit the nail on the head here.
I came to freelancing from the business world. I had no preconceived notions (OK, some, but not many) about what projects were worth what. I focused on delivering value and positioning myself as the obvious choice — the trusted adviser to my clients.
As a result, I make a very nice living working for clients I love and doing projects I truly enjoy. My income enables me to work on other things outside of my regular biz — including more time with my family, which is top priority for me.
At a time when so many blog posts, articles and discussion among freelancers are about “how tough it is out there!” and how “companies are exploiting freelancers,” it’s refreshing to read a post that opens our eyes and let’s us think about the possibilities. About the fact that it is what we make of it.
Because the possibilities are very real.
So true, thanks for the kind words. It’s also encouraging for everyone else here to hear about how you now also have time for other things.
I doubled my rates only to realize I was originally charging half price LOL.
Great article, Jason!
I doubled my rates a couple of years ago. I justified the increase with of my many years expertise with medical manufacturing clients. Believe me, it’s a wonderful feeling not to experience money worries!
Love this article. It’s inspiring and full of great recommendations. I’m putting this in practice immediately. Thanks very much for sharing this excellent article.
I read an article a few years ago that dealt with the same ideas. There is no small amount of interesting articles out there that address the economics of price-points in retail and service. The dollar value you attach to your work can define its value to the client. Simply feeling as though they are buying a premium service and then feeling that the final work is that much better is a huge factor in their satisfaction. Just ask people who buy expensively priced automobiles. They have the money and they’ll spend it if they’re reassured that its worth it. And therein lies the rub. So stand tall and act the part. Sell it with confidence.
Precisous observations and tips. I’ll try.
I have bookmarked this article for reading since it came out – today I am sitting with 2 goals in mind – raising my rates to reflect my knowledge and reorganizing my business to take advantage of that knowledge and the skills I have available to me – thanks for a great article. It is helping me focus on what I need to deliver to bring my studio to the next level.
Wow, this article is hell awesome and I read at the perfect time. I’ve just launched my new venture and this is really gonna help me sort things out. Thanks and Happy New Year !
Hope I can get something out of this wonderful article for me to improve myself in day to day business to deal with clients.
This comment obviously comes somewhat late, but in the ministry realm, which is my “other” job, we have a saying, “read 10 books and you know something, ready 20 books and you can talk about something, read 100 books and you are an expert at something, so stop READING books and write one already!” Ok, so maybe I say that, but it still applies here, I think.
Great one!