How to set your prices

It's all about the money (money, monnneeeey as Jessie J would sing).

How much you charge, as a freelancer, is pretty damn important. One of the most common mistakes when starting out, is charging too little (rarely is it too much). And that's ok! The beauty of freelancing is that you can review and amend your prices (I do this every January). I've put together a collection of resources that might help you choose how much to charge:

  • Check out Marie Forleo's great video on how to choose your price.
  • Next, check out the London Freelance Fees Guide, which covers lots of freelancing roles and the average price for them.
  • There are some methods for working out your prices in this Lifehacker piece.
  • Get researching. Have a look on the websites of those who offer similar services. Many, like mine, list their prices. How do they compare? If you're new, you may have to charge at the lower end at first, but aim to compete with the best in your industry after a couple of years of freelancing.
  • Finally, ask your friends and family – ideally those in the industry. The Facebook group is the perfect place to do that!

A couple of extra tips:

  • If someone asks for a discount, don't! The trick is to reduce what you offer. So if, for example, they want you to do their social media management, but only want to pay half your usual fee, offer them half the work e.g. 2-3 posts a week and contact for an hour a week, rather than a post every day. Alternately, you could explain that you can give them a discount, but other clients paying full price will come first.
  • Packages work well - it gives the client an easy way to select your services.
  • People can have two of the following: speed, quality, price. Quick work for a low price is likely to incur a reduction in quality, high quality work for a low price is likely to be slower.
  • How do you want them to pay? By money transfer, Paypal or cheque? I give the first two options (remember - Paypal may incur a fee but can be faster), but I avoid cheques like the plague! Putting in cheques basically means I lose an hour that I could use to work with clients.


Complete and Continue  
Discussion

0 comments