Professional Price
“So, what’s your rate?” your potential client asks as you sweat nervously from across the table. Here we go again, the delicate dance of negotiation. A chess game of wit and will as you and your potential client butt heads like rams fighting for dominance… I sure hope this isn’t what it feels like for you!
Rates can be fluid, depending on time involved, the people you're working for, and how much you need the cash. It’s about identifying your priorities as a professional applying for jobs as well as freelancers. There’s no golden rule or one-size-fits-all approach to setting your rate. The best you can do is have informative conversations, do the research, and be confident asking for what you know you’re worth.
Why do we find it so hard to ask for what we deserve? Maybe it’s because we’ve been conditioned that salary is a taboo subject. Maybe it’s because of a self-inflicted sense of imposter syndrome. Maybe it’s a fear of over-bidding and losing the gig. Or maybe it's the opposite, that we’re afraid of coming in too low and under-valuing our work.
If you accept a low bid, you’re left with a bad taste in your mouth throughout the process working with the client. If this potential client excepts a higher bid than you expected, you’re left wondering how high you could have gone. If you can help it, don’t be the first person to give out a rate. Why? Quoting your rate before having a ballpark idea of a project’s budget puts you at a disadvantage in both directions — you risk sounding wildly expensive or insanely cheap. If you trying to build your resume within a new field, then you might take on more work at a lower rate. On the other hand, if you’re looking to hit a certain target, you’ll have a better idea of when to say no to a low-paying jobs.
If asked for your rate, come back with a polite and professional, “It varies depending on the project and scope of work. Can you give me an idea of what you’re looking for and your budget for the project?”
People have a really hard time having honest, open conversations about money. They don’t know how because it’s not practiced in normal conversation and worse yet, it generally brought up only in the most crucial moments. So then they don’t have the information necessary to make an informed decision, they slip and mumble their way through the most professional impression of a working relationship. It’s not about standing your ground, its about understanding clearly your value quote - the actually time, energy and cost it would take to complete something with your knowledge and skills. This can be thought of as controlling the boundaries of the budget.
Always bid with a B.S. allowance. This means a number that primarily, but not exclusively deals with the revision stages. This is after you present the concept(s) knowing they will have client criticism. This is expected, but you want to guide the criticism and be a director of dialogue. If a client comes to you half way through the process with a new direction, that is a renegotiated contract. Never continue on the previous contract budget. Reestablish budget, timeline, due dates, etc.
If you were researching a fair compensation for a full-time job, or getting ready to ask for a raise, you’d better do your homework and get comparable salaries. Freelancing is no different, except for the fact that it can be harder to find the information you’re looking for.
Be bold and talk to people. You have to be careful how you go about finding this information due to the taboo nature associated with comparing salaries. I’ve found that being 100% transparent with my intentions with the information rather than pointing a searing hot light on the bottom dollar amount allows people to let their guard down and understand it as a conversation instead of an interrogation.
Naming a rate isn’t as simple as taking your full-time annual salary and dividing it by 52 40-hour weeks. Account for everything — and I mean everything, especially time off. There are a lot of other factors to consider: health insurance, vacations and sick days, admin time, professional development, and self-employment tax, just to name a few.
Divide your annual target income by the balance of weeks in the year after your ideal time off for vacations, sick days, and personal time. Let’s say you take off four weeks over a calendar year, when you calculate the money you want to make in a year, you only count the year as having 48 weeks. Knowing that you’ve accounted for these things helps you track your work, which will likely be a mix of high- and low-paying projects, and can alleviate any nagging feeling that you’re “aiming too high.”
-Busy Brain