If you search Google for “how to Calculate Freelance Rates for a design or development project”, you will not get a straightforward tool. Wondering why? Cause there isn’t a one-pack solution, just like calculus or interest finding calculators are available here and there. The complications of rating a specific skill are only understood (and explained) by the freelancers with experience and hurts beginners often. The Tree House Blog recommends to rate your skills according to your portfolio rapport and to not compare with your tech-pals. That sounds logical and encouraging for starters. That’s why, I decided to pen down actionable tips and steps, to make the growing graph steep and consistent on your Freelancing career.
Factors contributing to calculate Freelance Rates:
Probably as many as you can count. Still I filtered the list from about 10 to 15 listed on addedbytes.com and other major freelance blogs.
What you did so far (Number of successful projects): This is generally the major component. It gains trust for you. Make your profile optimized for quality clients and on the list of wanted experts. But, you still have to keep your head down on keeping the prices marginal.
Here’s how to do it: You were charging $10 per hour for development projects as a beginner. Once you get 5 clients and the rating corresponding to them. Multiply your current figure with the rating and outsmart the competition by pricing 10-15% lesser than the calculated figure. You have it!!
Current Projects (Clients): The more projects you are doing right now, makes it accessible for clients to know your rapport (and brings you up the list). This will help you pitch more dollars per hour. Why?
The Demand and supply rule applies here. You have been getting praise and thus more work. This keeps you in demand, so you have to increase the rates for keeping the supply constant. You never know, when your dream rate become real just with (1) polite conversations (2) apt. Work presentation and (3) determining exact project feasibility, pros and cons, cost-throughput, etc.
Work Expenses: You have to pay the bills, so you can’t afford to keep dropping freelance rates. So, how can you frame the same thing on client’s mind? Before that, let’s find a rough idea of your monthly work cost.
A laptop (I prefer Desktop): $3500
Say, the laptop works efficiently for 2 years. Divide it by no. of months. It becomes near about $300 per month.
The survival stuff: It has gone high since inflation. Still we are pushing this to $1000 per month.
Software subscriptions: Say it leads up to $100 (Tip: you can always find free tools at backyard sites)
Others (The main sink stray): Not going into details, a rough survey of my own budget puts this figure around 500.
This means, around 2000 dollars is your cost to freelancing.
Now, if you want to save $5000 per month, you have to earn 7000 per month.
This means the rate becomes 7000/25*10 dollars (hang out on other 5 days excluded).
This comes to roughly 28 dollars per hour. That means you should be pricing yourself $28 the least. But, keeping that price requires consistent feedback (neglect one to two disputes) and that’s what I meant when I said “how can you frame the same thing on client’s mind?”
Other Freelance Rate calculators (But don’t rely on them completely)
There is something called common sense and I know you have that. You should only use the results from following tools as advice and not merely copy-paste it to your profile)
You need good clients on a perfectly presentable portfolio. A Good tool base to keep up with the deadlines and a good network of experts to circulate projects and clients.
Thus, when clients are happy and satisfied, there is no point keeping the rates down. People go up to 60 dollars according Team tree house calculations and survey. I would prefer 30 as a good start and 45 a good progress after 4 to 5 months and 60 after a scorching year of freelancing.
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