If you implement these changes then they can help you do the same. As you see in my example, I still made the same income. I simply worked less hours, which gave me more time to enjoy life, to write and create meaningful things. You can use pricing to increase your income and decrease the amount you work. I started out my pricing like most freelancers. I charged an hourly rate for the time that I worked. A client would come to me and I would either estimate the number of hours that a project would take, or I would utilize the time tracking software inside Upwork.
This would literally track my computer activity as I worked on the project. You are compensated for the time that you work. But ultimately, this method of billing is limiting. Yet I was still compensated hourly. This all culminated in one specific project that completely changed my mindset on pricing. Clients care that the work is done and it is done well. I was happy as it looked like a great client. He provided all the assets, the scope of work, the site map and the content upfront.
He gave everything to me and then I plugged it into a new website design. I finished the website in 3 hours…. The client was ecstatic and happy that I had finished so quickly, and we both parted ways after the project. That was a tipping point in my mind where I realized something was wrong. I knew the site that I just created for that client was worth far more money.
I knew people were charging thousands of dollars for sites of equal scope. I knew I had to change my pricing. After the 3-hour web design project, I realized that I was doing myself a serious injustice by billing hourly. I was getting good at my craft and I was working fast.
If I could start charging based on the project , and not the time I worked then I had a huge potential to earn more income in less time. And that is the beautiful thing about project-based fees. The end result is all that the client cares about. Just 30 days after my incident with the 3-hour web design project I came across another client. They needed a website for their business, and I was happy to provide them with an estimate. This time I quoted the project based on a predefined scope of the work included.
I emphasized the end result of the project, and not the amount of time that I worked. The website took me roughly 5 hours to build. And this is the thing, the client walked away happy. They loved their new website. Shifting the focus of my freelancing away from the time I worked and toward the value I delivered changed everything. It completely changed my income potential and how much I made. It was at this point onward that I realized that this was the proper way to go.
I began pricing everything on project-based fees. Project-based fees helped increase my income while working far less time. But the bigger question is: How do you come up with a price point for these projects?
While moving toward project-based fees sounds beneficial, there is still the question of how much you should charge for a project. This is a challenging thing that many creatives mess up early on. Often creatives set their project-based fees on a few misaligned criteria.
To set project-based fees, many creatives estimate the time that they will spend. They look at the scope of a project, estimate the number of hours, and then multiply the hours by their hourly rate. This figure also includes maintenance and training the client. Custom websites will cost more, according to Website Builder Expert.
This figure can vary though, according to CSS-Tricks. Freelancers also have much less job security. They go from contract to contract. A higher rate compensates them for the lack of long-term commitment from clients. Web design freelancers hate flat rates because you can never be percent sure how long a project will take, especially if the client asks for endless changes, according to CSS-Tricks. This cost only covers the first year. That said, each cost can vary.
A freelance web designer should charge an hourly rate based on his cost of living and any business expenses. A web design company pays for overhead like equipment, training and conferences, health insurance, utilities, software licenses and much more. A freelance web designer must set their minimum hourly rate to accommodate all of these expenses to keep their business afloat. And while that equation fails to take into account other crucial factors like days off or expenses, the rough math looked something like this:.
For reference, I usually like to take an average of four weeks off per year including holidays and clock at least six billable hours each day. That gives me days or 1, hours to reach my goal. Spoiler alert, I blew that goal rate out of the water in no time. Read Also: Freelance rate negotiation email sample: How to ask for a higher rate. Below, you will find two charts. Each chart features a few common sample project types and rate ranges, broken down into experience level beginner, expert from the following three sources:.
Organized clients who seem open to ideas or know what they want are usually much easier to work with than clients who seem nervous, indecisive or lack experience working with a team or with a freelancer. I also like to throw out a range like you see above instead of a single rate. All of my quotes are based on my target hourly rate, even if the actual hourly rate is never discussed. And, my target hourly rates are in line with the hourly median for experienced designers as listed in the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook 16th edition.
So I know that my prices are in-line with current industry averages. How do you determine your rates? Did you find this guide helpful? I understand that he rates now. I find my main issue to be, I never have enough clients to fill up my whole schedule. I am mostly free and working only maybe hours a week.
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