3 Ways To Set Your Rates as a Freelancer

Starting a career as a freelancer can be intimidating at first. How do you find clients? How much should you charge them? How should you charge them in general?

Allow us to give you some tips and you’ll see that it all isn’t as hard as it may seem. If you’re still in the stage of not knowing where to look for clients, check out our blog post on how to find jobs as a freelancer. Once you have that settled, let’s move on to the money part.  

There are a few different ways you could charge your clients, depending on theirs and your needs.

1. Charge a monthly minimum

This method is quite straightforward, however, just like most things, it comes with some pros and cons. Here’s how it works – mutually agree on a monthly minimum rate with your client for the work you do and invoice them regularly. This is great for you as a freelancer because recurring payments will provide you with more stability and a more predictable revenue. The cons of this method are that work will fluctuate month-by-month. When you don’t set clear expectations and tasks for every month, sometimes you may feel like you’re underworking or overworking. 

2. Charge hourly

Set an hourly fee and inform your clients that you will be charging them by the hour. This is great for you as a freelancer because you know that you will be paid fairly for every hour you spend working for your client. The downside is that sometimes clients aren’t big fans of this method, as they don’t know how much they will have to pay you until the job is finished. However, you can always give them an estimate.

3. Fixed rates

This is probably the simplest way to charge your clients because right from the very beginning, both you and your client know the exact job that will be completed and how much it will cost. Unfortunately, there is the risk that you may underestimate the time needed for the project, therefore resulting in a lower hourly rate. However, the same goes for overestimating. You may finish it faster than expected resulting in a higher hourly rate.

In the end, it really depends on your industry and the work you will be doing. Are these going to be recurring payments or a one-time job? Can you determine how long it will take you beforehand or is this unclear yet? Think about these factors and decide which method for charging clients works best for you.