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The World’s Simplest Freelance Rate Formula

April 7, 2008 by J.C. Hewitt 

There are so many ways to determine freelance rates. Most of them are better than this one. This, however, is the simplest way:

Step 1: Start at $20 an hour or $.20 a word. This is a fairly low level. Feel free to start higher.

Step 2: Increase your fee by 5 ($25 an hour $.25 a word) with each successful gig.

Step 3: When your prospects start telling you that you charge too much, don’t raise your rates for six months.

Step 4: Try raising it again.

Congratulations! Whatever number you end up with is your rate.

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Comments

3 Responses to “The World’s Simplest Freelance Rate Formula”

  1. Meryl.net » Sometimes the Answer Is Simple on April 17th, 2008 4:36 am

    [...] John Hewitt has the answer I wish I had when I started freelancing as a writer. It works for every freelancing career. Well, except the per word part. Just remove that or substitute with “per page,” “per design,” etc. [...]

  2. Freelance programmer (1 comments) on March 16th, 2009 5:51 am

    Simple, effective, and constantly increasing – I like it!

  3. cmdweb (10 comments) on April 20th, 2009 9:00 am

    I’m sure a little tongue-in-cheek, but good honest advice on rates at last!

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