Description
A guide to researching what the market pays for freelance consulting work, and a framework for setting your own rates. It covers how to find market rate data, how to calculate your minimum viable rate, and how to factor in experience and specialism.
What’s included
- CSV template file (opens in Google Sheets or Excel)
- Market rate research framework with sources and methodology
- Minimum viable rate calculation with a worked example
- A rate-setting framework that factors in experience, specialism, and sector
Who it’s for
Useful if you are not confident your rates reflect the market or your experience, or if you have not reviewed them in more than a year. Not the right tool if you already know what you want to charge and are looking for the confidence to ask for it, that is a different problem and this guide will not solve it.
If it works
If you work through the minimum viable rate calculation before looking at market rates, you will know your floor. That stops you anchoring too low when you look at what others charge. The research section helps you find reference points; the rate-setting framework helps you decide where within that range you sit.
Knowing what the market pays does not automatically make it easier to ask for it. Pricing confidence is partly information and partly practice. This covers the information side.
Before you download
- This is a CSV file. Open it in Google Sheets or Excel. It will not work as a document or a PDF.
- After downloading, you will find the file in your account under My Downloads.
- You are getting a licence to use and adapt this for your own work. You cannot sell, redistribute, or share it with others.
