How much should I charge as a freelancer? How can I increase my rates? How can I compete with other freelancers charging less than me? How can I find high paying clients?
At some point, most freelancers have asked themselves these questions a in their freelancing journey.
10 Tip to Calculate Freelance Rates
when it comes to the pricing, there are no fit answers about the charges. follow these 10 tips to charge more as freelancer.
Do Market Research
Before you quit your job for freelancing, there is some important research that needs to be done ahead of time! Go to Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter – all resources available to you. Use them to educate yourself about the demand for the service you plan to provide.
Get a clear view of your competition and all of its pros and cons. Is the market already saturated with competitors doing the same/similar thing? Not providing a service you plan to? Remember, you want to have a beautiful location here and that definitely requires a lot of thought.
At the same time, you’ll definitely need to take a look at competitors’ prices and don’t forget to note their experience and rates and how those two points related.
Set Your Pricing
It is time for a little more research, Consider how much should I charge as freelancer and how much time you have. Make your hourly rate and work out how much you need to charge your clients for projects. . But you must have to be realistic! Your rates must meet the needs of the market and you must find a minimum number of people who are willing to pay that amount.
Build Your Reputation
Start building an online portfolio on the different platforms like, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Upwork. Post regularly about current projects, engage with other industry figures, and spread the word about how amazing your services are. It takes some time, but the payoff is outstanding.
Choose your Niche
Many freelancers don’t want to take this step because they fear about losing their clients. Although you may lose some business, it will free you up to focus on the area of your expertise. In this way you can find higher paying clients. When you focus on a small market, it becomes easier to find customers need.
Be Proactive
This time to find the potential customers who absolutely need what you are offering. Create a short and sweet pitch and a simple email template that can be customized as needed. Also, feel free to contact and engage with different companies on social media. You don’t have to be salesy, just be helpful, attentive, and build a relationship
Give Value your Customers
If possible, try to charge per project rather than hourly. It’s easier to overcome objections about pricing if you can show your client what they’ll get by investing in your services.
For example, as freelance translator, is usually expected to charge per word or per hour. But clients will be more open to per-project pricing. You can be at the better position and more specialized yourself as an expert in your field.
Take Advantage form your Strengths
What kind of work do you enjoy? It’s important to find a happy middle ground between what your passion and what your clients want. It may take some time in searching some trials and errors but at the end you’ll find what makes you happy. and you’ll have lots of happy clients to boot.
Build the Relationship with your Client
It is easier to sell to existing customers than to potential clients. Focus on adding value and building the strong relationship with your clients. A caring client is more likely to choose you for future projects again. Offer great deals to repeat customers and regularly follow up with them on new projects/ventures.
Write a Powerful Proposal
Start off on the right foot with a solid and powerful proposal. It make easier to justify prices and also makes things more official.
Make sure you have a quick example of your previous work to present to your potential client. Make sure you have also some references or testimonials to show your value. It will save you a lot of time if your create a template for your core proposal that you can refer to consistently over the long term.
Be a Businessman
If you want to make more money as a freelancer and don’t how much I should charge as freelancer? You must think yourself like a businessman. you can not rely on your professional skills, i.e. your skills as a writer, graphic designer, photographer, virtual assistant or whatever you do.
For a successful freelance career, you need marketing and business skills to boot yourself as freelance market.
Conclusion
Remember, when you’re just starting, things can be difficult. You might get rejected many times. As your skills grow and you become more experienced, you can gradually increase your fees as you grow in freelance market.