How Much Should I Be Paid As A Freelancer?

Today we are going to cover something that’s insanely personal: pricing. Freelancing is such a challenging career because there are no exact standards. Some freelancers are making a dollar or more per word, while others seem to be comfortable making a penny per word. Some freelancers design pieces for $20 while others charge thousands.

A lot goes into pricing and how much you should be paid as a freelancer. It can feel daunting when looking at what other people charge. You may wonder if you’ll ever be able to command the rates that other freelancers do. You may even be ashamed at how much you are making in comparison to other freelancers on Reddit threads and in Facebook groups. Let me tell you something, nothing good ever came from shame. Shed that feeling right now and focus on what you can do to lift your prices. You have more control than you think.

I Don’t Have A Magic Formula

Ah, you’ve probably come to my website looking for a magic formula. I can’t promise you that. Pricing changes based on your client's needs and funds, your industry knowledge, your niche, the type of work you do, etc. There are so many variables that control how much you can charge as a freelancer. I’ve worked on the same article style for as little as .03 a word to as much as .20 cents a word. I am not perfect. I am not bringing in thousands on one article. My goal is to get better with each client so that I can charge more with each client.

Think About What You Bring To The Table

If you want to succeed as a freelancer, you’ve got to bring more to the table than your charming personality. What are you bringing to the table? Are you bringing years of experience writing content online or a personal brand that can enhance your client’s standing? Write down all the things you are bringing to the table, find a way to share those throughout the payment negotiation experience.

Build A Personal Brand Worth Investing In

You would be surprised how much of an impact your brand can make on the hiring process. Are you investing in your personal brand, connecting with people in your industry, and sharing your story? Be as consistent as possible on social media. Share your experiences and grow your network. That will lead to building a name that has more recognition and therefore requires more payment. Clients understand the value of a personal brand and what it can do for their business. You may not want to outwardly say, “I’ve built a successful personal brand, and therefore I am worth more money,” but you can heavily imply it.

Related Reading: 27 Things To Post On Social Media As A Freelancer

Focus On Pitching The Right Clients

If you’ve been around the block with me a few times, you know I am always asking writers to listen to Episode 158 of The High Income Business Writer Podcast. In this episode, Ed Gandia talks about what six-figure writers do differently. This podcast changed my entire perspective about the types of clients I was pitching and why it was even more critical for me to go after HR tech as a niche.

Every client you have has a budget. I don’t care if you are the most fantastic freelancer ever, you can’t force anyone to work with you. You may say to yourself, “those who want to work with me will find the money,” and I guess that’s partly true. But, are you even pitching the right kind of person or audience?

For example, maybe you are a website designer selling a $5,000 design package. If you are targeting stay-at-home moms who want to start a hobby blog, your prices are way out of wack and a little predatory too.

If you don’t focus on pitching clients who can afford what you want to be paid, you might as well be wasting your time. You can’t get booked and busy targeting an audience who can never and probably will never be able to afford your services. You’ll feel bad because your web design services aren’t selling, and your audience will feel bad because they may want to work with you but can’t afford you.

Instead, you want to pitch a business or type of blogger who can afford your services. Create copy that resonates with those people and real them in

Build Your Testimonial And Social Proof Bank

You can’t argue with data.

There is so much you can argue with, but data is not one of those things. When your clients see social proof, testimonials, and more, they have to stop and stare. How are you utilizing your testimonials to make a case for your pricing?

Are you checking in with past clients to see how the content you’ve written performs, how their website functions after you’ve created it, what they thought about the art you produced for their new office space?

In this world, where everything looks pretty, we need to have substance to back it up. Can you put your money where your mouth is?

Create An Experience That Allows For A Higher Price Point

Are you delivering work, or are you delivering an experience? You are no longer an employee. You are a business owner, so you need to think like one. So, what does that mean? It means your experience needs to be amazing. What do you want your clients to think about you when you aren’t in the room? What are you known for? What do you provide for them? Are you a consistent, creative, and trust-worthy blog writer or a knowledgeable, passionate, and results-driven web designer? Whatever you want to be, make sure it shines when you deliver your freelance experience.

When you are working with clients on sites like Upwork or ClearVoice, you may not need to create as much of an experience to be successful. When you venture out on your own, with your freelance website and service prices, you need to do more for your clients.

This does not mean you need to do more for free. To charge more, your experience needs to be on par with the price you are charging. What makes you worthy of getting a dollar per word? What experience does the person getting a dollar per word give to her clients? How can you create a luxe experience that mirrors theirs?

Be Confident Asking For The Rate You Want

There are people less skilled than you getting the rate you want because of their confidence and tenacity. You’ve probably seen someone’s writing and thought, “I could do so much better than that. Why are they getting clients while I am stuck on the sidelines?!”

I get it, but comparison is the thief of joy and jealousy strips your happiness. We don’t have time to be jealous; we should focus on being booked and busy instead. So, instead of worrying about everyone else, consider what you can do to raise your confidence and ask for the rate you want.

Negotiation is the name of the game. I recently talked with a client about writing an article for $175. This number was a bit expensive for them, so they negotiated to $150. While this wasn’t the number I originally wanted, I was okay taking the small pay cut because I appreciated the company and wanted to work with them. Sometimes you will go into a negotiation higher than the number you want to see if they’d be okay with that number. Go into any negotiation higher than you are expecting. If you get the number, it’s a happy surprise; if they counter lower, you usually wind up where you wanted to be in the first place.

Extra Resources

5 Things I Did To Charge Higher Rates As A Freelancer

10 Factors That Should Go Into Your Pricing As A Freelancer

What You Need To Know About Value-Based Pricing As A Freelancer