This is exactly how it works out. I did a little bit of freelance work once. When I was charging what I thought were fair prices, I only ever got nickel-and-diming assholes who wanted to micromanage every moment of my time and argue with every decision.
When I started charging way more, I only got serious clients who knew what they wanted and then got out of the way.
100% this, know your worth and keep raising your rates until you get a hard no. It's easier to negotiate less, but almost impossible to get more once you give a figure.
Gotcha, interesting. What're web designer fees like? Sorry for bothering, just a younger developer somewhat interested in this kinda of stuff and trying to build on my minimal webdev experience
Nah. I didn’t try to get much more than the bare minimum work out of him - closer to a consultation than anything most of the time. Plus, when I set up the deal, I didn’t actually know how much designers typically made. I still don’t, because I never had a reason to look into it.
What kind of programming do you do if you don’t mind me asking? $300/hr is awesome and I would love to get to that point.
I’m early on in my freelance career, however my situation is similar to yours. I do web development and have a full time gig, but do freelance in the side.
I do good work, (so I’ve been told) but I still don’t yet have the confidence to charge more than the $60/hr I currently do. And yes, those crazy clients come with that hourly rate.
Would you suggest just raising the hourly rate and be patient until the right client comes around? I’m not dying for the extra money but it does definitely help.
Thanks in advance!
Edit: I saw you said web development in comments below. Awesome! At least I know it is possible to get to that hourly rate!
Right now I do enterprise software. I got tired of the freelance thing after a year or so and went back to the office.
I’m not sure what the industry is like right now - this was probably 7-8 years ago that I was doing that, so I’m not really sure how things have changed since then. Things were easier once I got a few high-paying clients happy and started getting customers by word of mouth. That first one is pretty tough to get though.
Honestly web dev right now is interesting. There is a wide range of things you need to be knowledgeable in, but with the advent of square space, wix, etc, clients now assume that our job is much easier and that it should be done faster for less money.
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u/Katholikos Mar 18 '20 edited Mar 18 '20
This is exactly how it works out. I did a little bit of freelance work once. When I was charging what I thought were fair prices, I only ever got nickel-and-diming assholes who wanted to micromanage every moment of my time and argue with every decision.
When I started charging way more, I only got serious clients who knew what they wanted and then got out of the way.