Any job you put in time, effort and expertise is valuable. Sadly, some clients tend to under-pay. As a freelancer, you don’t receive a fixed salary. The amount of money you make from a project depends on certain factors such as your experience, the number of hours you put in your job and the scope or extent of the project assigned to you.
From personal experience, negotiating my rates as a freelancer has been tricky. But negotiating a higher rate – even trickier. Negotiating a higher rate is something you take step-by-step. Here’s how I do it:
I take note of my minimum rate
You need to know the lowest amount you can charge for a project without suffering a loss. This is your minimum acceptable rate (MAR). Your MAR = (Annual living cost + annual cost / hours you work a year) + tax. This formula gives you an estimate of your MAR.
Have the figure handy. The MAR gives you the least amount you can charge for a project. Since you want to negotiate a higher rate, you need to make sure your rate doesn’t go anywhere near your MAR. So if your MAR is £50, you want to start negotiating from £150 for example, so you have room for negotiation.
Charge per project
When you charge per project instead of charging per hour you earn more money. There’s some sort of psychological effect behind charging per hour. The natural view a client has of charging per hour is that the project ought to be done within a shorter time and they don’t see any reason why they should pay for more hours. This makes them undervalue your work and look down on the quality of the project no matter how hard you work on it.
If you charge per project, the client feels that even if the project takes a long time to be complete, the project will be of value and they’ll feel more willing to pay. If you complete the project quickly, it’s a gain to you unlike charging per hour where you earn less when you complete the project quickly.
Show your client their financial gain
Help your client realize that they’ll make more money from the completed project than they’ll pay to have it done. Sometimes, negotiating for higher pay is all about perception. The client at the time may be so focused on the short-term loss or expense that she misses out on her long-term gain.
Adjust the scope of the project instead of the pay
Sometimes a client may come with a budget of how much she can pay for a project. Instead of turning the client down, explain how much of the project their budget can cover. So instead of cheating yourself by accepting the project as it is, clearly tell your client the scope of the project you can cover based on what they are able to pay. So if a client is only able to pay £30 for example, explain what services you can provide for that price.
Name your price
Some freelancers and blogger are afraid of quoting a high price. They think that doing this will scare off their clients. This is often not true. Naming your price pushes you to find people who are willing to pay your rates for quality work. You find yourself attracting high paying clients and keeping them. Accepting any price offered means you will always be working for peanuts.
What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comment section below please.
Happy Sunday.
Super interesting article and nice Outfit btw! 🙂 X Lara
http://www.laramaahsen.com
Thanks Lara x
Very interesting and well articulated article. Love your outfits. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for reading and commenting xo
This is such a good and helpful post. I recently started as a freelancer doing different jobs and I get so many offers where they are willing to pay 10$ or 15$ dollars for 2 hours work that for me is rubbery, especially when the site I am signed up to take 5% of each income. I only go 20$ at the lowest. I think people need to step up their price game and think about how much they actually charge for everything they do for a client!
Celia x
Yea I won’t accept that amount. That is madness.
Some great tips here, and some I will be using, thank you x
Thank you for reading xo
Very useful post! Loved it, thanks for the tips x
Samantha | https://samanthacarraro.wordpress.com/
Thanks Samantha x
This is a really helpful post! Great tips, too! Leaving room for negotiating is really important 🙂 Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks for reading Sarah.
This was really helpful and thanks for the tips, it isn’t something I do with my blog, but should I ever want to freelance, I know where to come for help x
Ah nice x
Love this – particularly the psychological point about the difference between charging per hour and per project. Hadn’t thought of it before but it’s so true. I am very reticent about charging a higher figure because often I’ll assume I’ll just lose the job.
Yea I always charge per project..If I lose the job so be it..
This is a super helpful post, especially for anyone new to freelancing. Will definitely bare these tips in mind.
Glad you like the post Cherry.
Very helpful post with fab tips. I always go by the rule that a project need to be above the National Living Wage.
Laura x x x
Great rule xo
Great post, I definitely want to come back to your posts a little further down the line. My blog is still a newbie at the moment 🙂 x
Ah thank you. We were all once newbies xo
Great advice! I agree with all the points, I think sometimes we just need to be confident about what we do well 🙂 xxx
http://www.wha2wear.com
Yea we need to.
I absolutely believe all you wrote especially one on attracting higher paying clients. I will personally turn down clients than to get frustrated doing the job for peanut. I believe other opportunities that will come;one that will appreciate the quality of my work and time
Recently, I turned brand “XXX” down because of this, I know it is not the brand itself but one negotiating on their behalf. It is a waste of my precious time and won’t work for peanut, God forbid 🙂
Bloggers are underrated but they are as influential as an advert on any other platform can be.
Hope your weekend is good.
XO
Good you turned down the brand. Better opportunities will come your way. Have a lovely week..
It’s so true what you say – if you undersell yourself, clients will undervalue you too! Great tips. x
Yea they will.
I will never charge anything below £40 and even that I think is too low, it makes me sad that bloggers in America are able to get £200 per post and yet bloggers here struggle to get past £100 . Well put together its important to charge per project and not per hour x
Yea it is. Anything below £40 is too low.
Fab tips here! It must be so hard sometimes to stick to your guns and insist on a reasonable fee.
Jess xo
http://www.theindigohours.co.uk
Yea it is.
This was really helpful for me as I’m rubbish at negotiating prices. So many God tips
Glad you like the post Kerry.
I always go in high and then it is easier to negotiate
Yea that is the best way.
This is such a good post!! I am just thinking about working for myself and I need to take all these tips into account :):)
Ah nice. Good luck.
This is great advice I often see freelancers undersell themselves by just offering the lowest rate possible just to get jobs in
Yea so sad.
Thanks
There is so much truth in this. I now need to go away and work out my MAR I think
Ah nice..
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