Something you’ll learn early on is that not all gigs are created equal. Now that you know how to find work, the next step is knowing what kind of work to find.
At the same time, you need to know how to arrange your working relationship with the client and what to charge (which will also impact the kinds of people that your ads attract).
Ideally, you want to attract high-paying projects that you can finish quickly, and you want work that can help you further your career. This chapter will explain how you do that.
What to Charge
I was on the plane back from Germany a while ago when I happened to overhear two other passengers’ conversation, as you tend to when travelling alone. They were two middle-aged businessmen presumably on their way back from a business trip, discussing the logistics of getting a website designed for the company.
What I managed to gather was that they needed a very basic website that they could use as a showcase and portfolio for whatever B2B service it was they provided. They were talking about several proposals they’d had from potential web design companies and, from what I could gather, they were looking to spend around $2,000-$3,000. If you are a tech professional, then chances are that you’re now thinking what I was thinking at the time: I could do that in a couple of days. (At the time I had a very full work-schedule, or maybe I would have spoken up!)
A similar experience, I recall, was being propositioned to build a website for a company. A friend worked at an insurance company and let me know that his company was looking for a very basic site that could act as a portfolio. Keeping in mind that I wouldn’t be writing the content, designing the logo, or even securing their hosting and domain.
He assumed that I’d be interested (this happens when you work online—even if you’re not a web designer), but because I had a problem saying no at the time, I said I’d think about it.
“Just to get a rough ballpark figure that I can take back to them,” he asked, “how much roughly do you charge?”
As it was a friend, and I was not yet experienced in negotiation, I told him that I could do it for a few hundred dollars. And what he advised me was that if I went in with that pitch, no one would take me seriously. All the other web designers would be charging ten times that, and if I didn’t follow suite, the assumption would be that I was an amateur.
You and I both know that building a website these days is as easy as installing WordPress, choosing a theme that looks modern, and setting up a few plug-ins. For a basic portfolio, that’s all you need to do. It isn’t a stretch to suggest that this could be done in a very short time indeed.
If the client wants a custom theme built, then of course things would get a little more complex—but then we’re still just talking a few lines of PHP most likely to edit a premade template.
If they want an internal web portal for collaboration and exchanging files, then sure, that would be a much bigger, more complex undertaking, and I’d have to charge a lot more. But the point is that a lot of managers and buyers still don’t know the difference. In this case, there is a huge gap in terms of knowledge and, depending on what your morals will allow you to get away with, this can be a massive advantage. Like when I sold to my five-year-old sister a rock on a string and told her that if she tied it to her ceiling, it would wobble to warn her of earthquakes. Except now Mom isn’t present to force me to give the money back.
How Much Are You Worth?
While this might seem a little bit like a scam, the thing to remember is that it really shouldn’t matter how long it takes you to make something or how hard it is to build. That is of no concern to your clients (never ask how the sausages are made).
What is their concern is what the end product can do for them. How much will that product earn them? In the case of a website—especially with a bit of SEO—it could earn them millions over a course of a few years (depending on their service or product). In that sense, it would be worth every cent they pay to have the website built.
And how is this really any different from what a doctor does, or what a consultant does? There are consultants in various fields that charge hundreds of dollars per hour just to give advice. Again, the company is paying for the profit and the information. And in the digital age, knowledge and information are the most valuable commodities.
Or how about those courses and retreats that cost thousands of dollars per person for a few days? Those aren’t even one-to-one!
(By the way, these are valid avenues for a tech professional to make money from eventually—and we’ll be looking at that later on in this book!)
You can also liken it to selling e-books. This is a side hustle I’ve experimented in a few times: creating a PDF file and then selling it from a “landing page,” or to an established online audience. Typically, a book on getting six-pack abs or building an online business can cost you $30 all the way up to $150. That book costs nothing for the creator to produce. There are no overheads: no delivery, storage, or anything else. People are willing to pay because they think the information is worth that amount of money to them.
There is a skill deficit here. A knowledge deficit. And THAT is the value you are providing. While you think this job is easy, the reality is that it’s only easy because you invested the time and effort to learn that skill.
You might have only spent a few days building a website, but you took years learning your craft and building up to this point. That is what you are charging for.
Hire someone/a team in-house, which will cost a large amount of money.
Take on a local employee for a fixed-term contract, who will probably need training.
Outsource to a large development firm, which will charge ten times as much and give them less direct interaction with the coder they are using!
Gold isn’t inherently worth anything. As metals go, it is actually particularly impractical for pretty much any application. It is valuable because it is rare and hard to acquire. And so are you.
Imposter Syndrome
If you still feel uncomfortable about charging thousands of dollars for something that takes you a few days, then there might be something else psychological going on here. You may be experiencing “imposter syndrome.” This is a common phenomenon that causes even the most talented and qualified individuals to feel as though they are just bluffing their way through—that they don’t really know what they’re doing.
This usually comes down to a very human tendency to underestimate ourselves—and overestimate everyone else. You think that your boss knows everything about the industry? They’re probably making it up as they go a lot of the time too. And what’s more is that they will have started out knowing even less.
Knowledge really is valuable. Knowing even just a little more than someone else is something that we can charge for. And all of us bring unique skills and knowledge to the table. But if you don’t value yourself, then you can’t realistically expect anyone else to either.
Okay, So What Do I Charge?
With all that said, the amount you’re going to charge will be dictated very much by the market you’re entering and what you can pursuade people to pay you.
The first thing to do is research what others in your niche are charging. This is a form of “benchmarking”—looking at other businesses that are comparable to yours and identifying what works for them. Take a look at how your competition is offering the work and use that as your base. From there, you’re then going to look for ways to improve the setup.
Choose: Will you undercut the competition and charge less in order to present a more compelling offer? Or will you charge more and set yourself up as the premium option?
If you choose the former, then you need to acknowledge that you’re going to be competing with some very aggressive pricing. In particular, you’ll be competing with people from overseas (India in particular) who are able to charge less thanks to lower costs of living. You don’t have that luxury.
This is why it can be useful to calculate exactly how much you need to live off of, then to realistically think about how much work you can complete and how many “dry spells” you can expect to face. This way, you can work out your absolute minimum that you can charge and still live off. I have a policy that I need to earn $150 every single day as my minimum. Ideally, I earn a lot more. But having a minimum works as a very useful waypoint for calculating my fees.
Now obviously the smart thing to do is to set a base rate that is slightly higher than your minimum, as that will give you wiggle room when it comes to negotiating, introducing special offers, and so on. It is very common for people who get in touch from an ad to expect that you’re going to lower the price at least a little. Or of course, you might choose to greatly increase your prices in order to earn more and work less.
If you choose to go for a higher rate, then you need to justify your increased cost. What can you offer that the competition can’t? Experience is probably the best bargaining chip in this case. But if you’re going up against foreign freelancers, then your location might help too. Some clients will want to meet to be able to discuss the project in person and “easy communication” is also a big plus. Being local might be even better then. People are willing to pay a lot for convenience and a sense of security.
If you’re going to charge more, then make sure you emphasize your justification for this in your sales copy/profile. Point out why you are the “premium option” for companies that care about getting the best-quality end product and the best service. Ideally, this will mean showing how they’ll earn more and improve their business by spending that little bit more with you.
Charging more also means being able to show the high caliber of work you’ve done previously. Building up a big portfolio and getting your feet wet early helps a great deal in this regard—more on that in a moment.
There are other value adds you can include too, such as “free revisions” or “clear and comprehensive commenting.” What is your unique selling point (USP)?
Of course, you can also charge more or less depending on the rarity of your particular set of skills, which will likely also correlate with a sparser supply of clients.
Multiple Prices
There’s also nothing to stop you from experimenting with different prices. Go in high and if no one bites, lower the amount you charge. On Fiverr, it’s common practice to alter the fees continually depending on the number of orders in the queue. As work starts to pile up, you increase your rates to deter future orders (and make sure that any overtime work is more than worth it). When things slow down, you lower that price again to attract more people. This also works because someone with a large queue appears inherently more valuable than someone that isn’t in such high demand.
If you are selling work from a website or via a mailing list, then there’s nothing to stop you from running “special offers” for a short time. Likewise, you can post to sites ads that announce your special rates. This can help you to attract and hook new clients, bring back old ones, and fill those quieter patches.
Alternatively, consider charging more on one site than you do on another to experiment with different pricing strategies: but be very careful when doing this, because if you get discovered, you can end up putting noses out of joint.
The strategy I’ve used for a long time very successfully is to do a minimum amount of work for an agency every day (more on this shortly) and then to take on additional, higher-paid work on top of that. The agency work earns me my minimum $150 but it only takes me half a day. For that second half of the day I can work on higher-paying work and take more risks knowing that I’ve got my “basic salary” already in the bag.
Increasing Your Price with Existing Clients
Eventually, you’ll likely find a few long-term clients. This happens in almost every line of work, whether you’re an app developer, a writer, or an Internet marketer.
This is a good thing because it means you’ll rarely have any dry spells. But it’s also a bad thing because it means you’re now tied to a certain price and working arrangement and you might experience friction if you try and change that. It’s very easy to become comfortable working for a meager wage and thereby to miss out on fulfilling your potential. Eventually, this can become essentially identical to traditional employment!
Now is the perfect opportunity to advertise for very highly paid work. If nothing comes of it, then nothing is lost. If an opportunity does arise, you now have a choice to make. Will you take the risk of leaving a reliable client behind to do more work for a higher-paying one?
But you should also give your existing clients the chance to keep working with you by asking them to agree to your higher wage. So how do you approach this difficult conversation?
One option is to try and show how you are justifying that increase in price. This can be personal (new baby, new responsibilities) but it can also relate once again to the work you’re completing. For instance, explain that you’re now charging a bit more but in return you will provide extra revisions, or you will increase your turnaround times. If you’re a programmer, you can add more detailed comments, or offer a “maintenance” service. If you’re a writer, how about including links to resources and better formatting?
You can also use this same strategy if you want to change the service you provide in any other way. For instance, when I decided that I would no longer write on any subject matter and would only write on topics that were my specialty (fitness, self-improvement, business, tech, psychology), my original plan was just to announce this to my clients. My wife pointed out that this would go down much better if I could show how this would benefit them and spin it into a positive. The pitch then became that I would be able to offer higher quality writing and faster turn-around times (TAT to use the industry lingo!) by focusing exclusively on topics I knew well. Everyone wins. So always find something sweet to help make that bitter pill a little easier to swallow!
But there are more ways to increase your wages too . . .
Explain Yourself
As mentioned, “personal reasons” can also work as an excuse. If you’re not sure about how you can increase the apparent value of your service, then an alternative approach is to explain why you need the extra money. This is the approach that many people take when requesting a promotion in a traditional employer/employee relationship. “I have a kid on the way, so I need more money for childcare!” Then there are outside forces like inflation and the rising cost of supplies and materials.
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of this option, as it’s not that far removed from begging for a raise and it puts the power in the hands of the client. In the gig economy, it is always important that we call the shots. We provide a service, and we choose how much it costs.
Still, if you have a good relationship with the client, and you want to explain yourself, then this can be a good option.
Shopping Around
If you have other offers, then you can always just be brazen and express to your existing clients that you have a new price and that you have other clients willing to pay it—but be prepared for them to cease giving you business. Being able to get your existing clients to “bid for you” is a great way to increase your salary, but just be careful not to rub anyone the wrong way by doing so and damage your working relationship with them.
The key to victory in any negotiation is almost always being willing to walk away. So, if you can secure higher-paying work elsewhere before expressing to your existing clients that your fee is going up, then this will put you in a much stronger position. Then make sure that you really are happy to leave.
The thing to remember here is that, ultimately, having a loyal client is more important than having one that will pay a larger amount only once. So, you need to “test out” these new clients before you decide to potentially burn your bridges with older ones.
Taking on more work than you can cope with is never going to be easy, but if you plan for it, then there are options: try working an extra hour, for instance, or outsourcing some of the simpler parts of your job/getting help in. Even if that means that you end up spending any increase in profits, it will ultimately prove beneficial if it means that you find a high-paying and loyal client that you can keep going forward!
You can also tell your current clients that you are taking a week of holiday and then actually do work for other clients during that time! You are simply taking a short time off from one client, but not the other.
Just don’t be tempted to keep both old and new clients and try to earn double at the expense of your sanity. Not only is burning the candle at both ends a one-way ticket to severely impaired productivity, but it also means you lose the flexibility to increase your rates further in future.
Go Incremental
Finally, why not take a lesson from Dr. Stanley Milgram’s famous psychological study of obedience? (Sorry: psychology graduate here!) This study aimed to find out if normal people could be persuaded into carrying out acts of atrocity. They were therefore asked to take part in a fake “experiment” during which they would play the role of an assessor, while another “participant” (who was in fact an actor) would be made to answer questions. For each wrong answer, the unsuspecting subject was instructed to deliver an electric shock (fake) to the “learner.” And each time, the voltage would go up. The actor (who was on the other side of a wall and could only be heard by the participants) would cry out in pain each time, even complaining of a bad heart and begging for the experiment to be called to an end. Eventually, they would stop making any sound at all. (This was 1963—the obvious ethical issues involved in this study would prevent it from being carried out today!)
Toward the end of the study, the participants were willingly delivering shocks of 450 volts to their pleading “learners,” despite the warning sign “Danger: Severe Shock” being plastered right over the button.
How were ordinary people convinced to deliver potentially fatal electric shocks to people they had never met, and who were presumed perfectly innocent? There are plenty of factors, but one of the most important was the incremental nature of the increasing voltage. While it would have been hard to convince someone to start at 450 volts, that same number apparently seemed a lot less of a big deal when participants had just delivered a 435-volt shock! 30 volts isn’t that much more than the harmless 15, and 45 isn’t that much more than 30…
Afraid of raising your prices? Then try increasing the amount by just 10 cents per hour. This is miniscule and will almost certainly not drive away any loyal clients. But, by the same token it will actually add up to 80 cents a day, $4 a week, and $16 per month (roughly). That is $192 per year—not nothing! And then you put it up again in a few months. And again.
This method also happens to work particularly well with the aforementioned option of explaining why you “need” the money. Increasing your prices by 10 cents might seem a little petty, but if you explain that you have higher overhead, or that your cost of living has increased, then it will seem perfectly reasonable. That 10 cents increase reflects the 10 cents increase in your electricity bill, for example.
As you have no doubt realized at this point, there is actually a whole lot of psychology involved in marketing and dealing with clients. When you enter the gig economy, you become a one-person business, and that means wearing multiple hats. In this case, that might include learning how to persuade your clients to let you get your way!
Note as well that these small increments in price are psychologically easier to swallow if you break down your “wage” into the smallest possible units. Asking for a raise of $192 per year might be harder in conventional employment than asking for a raise of 10 cents an hour.
Better yet, if you deliver your work based on the number of words or the number of lines of code, then you can charge something seemingly miniscule like .1 cent per extra line of code—and actually have it translate to an even bigger fee hike!
More Negotiation Techniques
If your clients don’t agree to your new rates right away, then there are a few other strategies you can bring to negotiations.
Keep in mind that your negotiation will often be won or lost in many ways before you even begin asking for more money. The impression they have already formed of you, the timing (and their current mood/financial situation), and your own confidence/qualifications will all play a very big role in determining the outcome.
With that in mind, make sure to keep negotiations in mind from the word go. Do what you can to overcome that imposter syndrome, fill your résumé with impressive qualifications and experience, and do the best work you can. Another useful tip is to try and create as much of an in-person impression as possible. In typical negotiations, it is often “you” that the buyer will really be investing in, rather than your service. Obviously, creating an-person impression is harder when the relationship is maintained entirely through e-mails and Slack, so to steer things in your direction, it can be a good idea to spend some time building more of a personal connection. That might mean through Skype, or in the case of newer clients, it could also mean by creating a presence on YouTube/social media.
Likewise, it’s always a good idea to time your negotiations carefully. Are you coming off of a very successful project that you just completed? Or better yet, does your client rely on you for something even bigger that’s just around the corner? At this point, you will be in a much stronger position.1
You could be even more manipulative by doing a favor for your client before announcing your increased prices. This taps into our innate desire for reciprocity—we hate being in debt and feel compelled to offer a gesture in return. Normally we feel so compelled that this gesture is of far greater value than the original “gift.” It’s a powerful trick.
This is why when I was on a family holiday in Turkey, all the stall owners would offer me a cup of tea and a free piece of jewelry for my younger siblings before trying to sell me something much larger!
Priming, Anchoring, and the Zone of Possible Agreement
Similarly, try setting the tone for the negotiation early on with a well-placed question. For instance: why not send an e-mail asking if your client is happy with the work you provide? They will likely say “yes,” and at that point, you have essentially primed them to view your service as worthwhile.
You could even turn this into a formal process by presenting a feedback form. You could then include more questions that provide some insight into how your clients view your services and use this as a good “litmus test” to see if they’re likely to be amenable to increasing rates. If not, then you can see areas for improvement to work on so that you can go in with a better chance of success.
Likewise, you can use this strategy if your offer is turned down. Simply ask: what could I do to increase my value to you? Then work hard to meet that requirement, leaving them with no further excuses.
Another spin on this is anchoring. Anchoring in negotiations refers to the process of encouraging your discussion to revolve more around one specific price point, pitch, or idea—this becomes the “anchor” or reference point. If a certain price gets brought up more than any other, it takes on a focus and very often you’ll find that everyone settles on that by the end. Very often this will be the first price presented at the start of the negotiation—see the primacy and recency effect in psychology.
So if the entire conversation revolves around why you can’t be paid an additional $1 per hour, then you may well find you end up walking out with that extra $1. This is why you must never tell someone to “watch out for that tree!” As soon as you move their focus in that way, they can’t help but drift toward it.
Of course, if you’re going in with an opening bid, then it is very important that this be something realistic that isn’t going to be offensive to the other party. You need to have a rough idea of the zone of possible agreement or ZOPA. This is the bargaining range defined by the maximum that the client is willing to pay and the minimum you are willing to accept. Your opening gambit should be somewhere in the middle here, but perhaps skewing a little high.2
Consider as well, though, the power of compromise. If you are pitching to increase your wages in exchange for more value and the client turns you down, make sure you have a counter-offer in your back pocket to respond with. This might mean slightly reducing the extra value that you’re offering, but at a slightly lower cost to them as well. For example:
“My new coding service includes detailed comments, ongoing tech support, and three free revisions for an extra $5 per hour.”
“I’m afraid our budget will not allow for that.”
“I really feel that by adding this extra detail and flexibility, you will be able to get a much better end product that helps you accomplish your goals. How about an extra $2 for the free revisions?”
This relates to a concept called contrast, which we will get to in a moment.
One last tip is to take advantage of politeness and uncertainty in the language of your clients. People are naturally keen to be liked and they hate breaking social protocol. Therefore, if you ask a client if they can pay you a little more, they will often say something like:
“I’m not sure if our budget can stretch that far.”
Or they’ll try and blame someone else by saying
“I don’t have the authority to make that decision and my manager is very strict on price increases.”
Your job here is to pounce on the probablys and maybes and to ask the client if they can check their project budget or consult with their manager. Offer to speak with the appropriate person. You could even suggest ways that they could bring their overhead down! If they don’t explicitly say no, keep on pushing it. I call this the “polite weak point.”
You’re breaking social protocol and it’s likely that they won’t thank you for it—but sometimes being unpopular is a small price to pay. Just as being confident in the value you provide is a powerful tool for negotiation, so too is willingness to ignore social protocol. It’s actually an ability that is worth practicing!
When to Charge
Now you know how much you can charge, and you know how to increase the amount you are asking for, the next question is when you ask for your money. As you will see, this is actually a more complicated question than you might initially have imagined!
Up Front vs. On Delivery
One important consideration when choosing when to charge, is whether you should charge up front or on delivery.
Charging up front means that the cash will be wired to you before you begin on the project. Charging on delivery means that you’ll get paid when the project is sent to the client and they are happy with it. Of course, the former is better for you, but the latter is better for the client.
The size of the job: If the client has ordered a logo or has ordered a single 300-word article, then you can comfortably charge on delivery. You won’t stand to lose too much if the client proves to be untrustworthy, and it will look a bit churlish if you quibble that you want your $40 right away. Conversely, though, if this is a first-time client who is ordering a massive app project that’s going to take you months and months to work on, then you should definitely ask for at least some of that money up front and possibly at set points throughout the project.
The potential risk to you: Sometimes if you do a job and the client turns around and says they don’t want it, you may find that you’re able to use it elsewhere or sell it to someone else. In that case, you might choose to chance it and ask for payment on delivery.
The client: If this is a long-term client who has paid on time for years, then you shouldn’t pester them for money up front every time. That said, there should also be a limit to how much money you’re willing to “loan” them in this way. Unfortunately, you can’t really trust anyone when it comes to business. These are not your friends. They are people looking to make some money. And they have their own commitments. On the other hand, of course, if you get a bad vibe from the client and you don’t know them, then you should absolutely charge up front. Check out their reviews if they have any, or even consider asking others in your community.3
Whether there is a contract: If there is a contract, you’ve read it through, and you’re happy with the terms, then there’s no real reason not to go ahead and invoice upon completion.
How valuable is the gig to your career: Would you potentially do it for free if it came to it? If so, then you likely don’t need to be paid up front.
Remember that this isn’t an either-or kind of thing. There are plenty more options and agreements in terms of how you want to get paid. If you can’t come to an agreement, then the old “half up front, half on receipt” works well.
And if you are getting paid daily for the amount of work completed (e.g., number of lines of code, number of words, number of minutes of edited footage) then this entire matter may be moot. Likewise, you can ask to be paid for your hours put in at the end of each day.
Should You Give Free Samples?
Some leads will get in touch with you and ask for a free sample of your work. This might be a quick icon design, a short 200-word article, or a quick installation of a comments section on their blog. They’ll tell you that if they like the work you do, they’ll be ordering “large amounts” soon.
It seems like a reasonable request, so should you do it?
Simple answer: no.
Because when you really think about it, just how reasonable is it?
If you have a portfolio of your previous work, then they can see your examples there. Why do they need you to create something specifically for them in order to ascertain your caliber?
If they’re uncertain, then why don’t they just put in a very small order? If they were to buy that forum installation or small article, it would only cost them very little if they didn’t like it. Why should it be you taking the risk?
The reality is that there’s a very good chance this person has zero interest in an ongoing relationship with you. They just want a free logo and are looking for a schmuck willing to make it for them. I am highly suspicious of anyone who tells me they will be making “lots of big orders” in the future.
Apart from anything else, accepting this early on will set a bad precedent in your relationship. Right away, that places the power firmly in the hands of the client. They know you’re desperate, so don’t expect them to be willing to pay the best rates in the future, or to respect your free time when you request not to be called at 9 p.m.
This is actually true of nearly all relationships in life: the patterns and precedents that you set out during that early “get to know you stage” will very often define the nature of the relationship for many years going forward.
Per Job vs. Per Hour
When taking on any kind of project, there are lots of different types of contract that you might end up agreeing to. But one of the most fundamental questions that you’ll probably find yourself presented with when working as a freelancer is whether you should charge for each completed task or for each hour that you work on a project.
Of course, there are pros and cons to each, and the decision will also come down to what the client is willing to pay to some degree. Ultimately, the objective either way is going to be to get paid as much per hour as possible—ask yourself whether the job will take you longer than the client expects (so you want to pay per hour) or whether it will take less time than the client will expect (so you want to pay per project).
Although there is no “right answer” here again, I will say that as a personal preference, I very much lean toward per job (even though I am forced to take on both types of work). The reason for this is that I work very fast (which you will too once you’ve read Chapter 5), which means that I can earn a lot per hour and still provide incredible value. This also gives me far more flexibility to decide how and when I want to dedicate time to a project.
More to the point, when you charge per project, there is no question of whether or not everyone is being fair and honest. If you charge per hour, the temptation to drag a project out is always going to be there. And if you don’t, you might end up getting paid less than you should. If you work fast and to a high standard and reflect that in your per-hour price, then you will find it hard to compete with seemingly cheaper competition. And even when you go full speed, you might still find that some clients quibble about how much you charge and how long the project took you. That’s where the time clock and screen-recording software comes in, which as we’ve already discussed will actually undo a lot of the benefits of being self-employed in the first place.
And what about that time you spend “half working”? What about the few tweaks you made that evening just because it was convenient? Or all those interruptions you suffered answering emails from clients at odd hours?
If you procrastinate at all, or if something comes up, then you can’t as easily “make up the time” elsewhere.
Again, consider this on a case-by-case basis, but do keep those drawbacks in mind.
Other Options
Also consider that per job and per hour are just two options and there are always more options out there. Even better for us than charging per project is to charge in smaller increments, as discussed earlier. For a writer, that might mean charging per word. For a programmer, it might mean charging per line of code. For a video editor, it might mean charging per one minute of footage.
This system gives you even greater flexibility to decide how much you want to earn in a day, and it means you have the option to negotiate being paid in smaller increments rather than at the start or end of a project (which might also suit the client better). You can then use the many strategies I outline in Chapter 5 to increase the volume of work you can output and thus the amount you earn every day!
Packages
For both new and existing clients, offering different “packages” is another option and one that can completely change the game. This means changing the way that you actually pitch your services in order to get as much money as possible from clients without losing the clients that can’t afford to pay that much.
Let’s say that you currently have an SEO content writing service and you write for $2 per 100 words. You’ve decided that’s not enough to pay the bills and you want to increase your rates—but you’re afraid of losing your most loyal clients.
So, what do you do? You explain to them that they can continue to use your services at that rate or they can upgrade to a “premium” package. This might mean that you now provide three revisions, better formatting, and links to external sites that you’ve researched. Maybe for a little more, you could also provide multiple proofreads.
If you’re a developer, then you could do something similar by offering a premium service that includes a faster turnaround time, thorough commenting throughout the code, and ongoing support.
Of course, you don’t need to limit yourself to just two packages either. You can have different options to meet every kind of budget!
This is also great for attracting future clients as it means they’ll be able to select the package they want and that suits their needs. If they choose the cheaper options, then their expectations will now be lower, and you can work faster. But a lot of clients will choose the more expensive options.
And actually, once you have multiple different packages with different prices, you can start using this to your advantage to get your clients to pay more than they otherwise would. Once again, this means taking advantage of human psychology and a concept known as contrast.
In other words, how does having a budget package impact the apparent price of the more expensive package?
Let’s say that you have three different packages, each priced differently. Let’s call them Basic, Premium, and Platinum++.
First, by making the difference in price between the Basic package and Premium package fairly large, you actually make the Premium option seem more premium. The assumption will be that this option offers a lot of value, and that in turn will encourage many clients to pay the extra amount. Who wants a shoddy job done on their coding?
And now, if you make Platinum++ cost just a little extra than Premium, you can nudge clients to go that slight bit higher than they would otherwise.
For instance, a company might have a budget of $1,000 to spend on a basic website—which happens to be the cost of your Premium package! But if they see that they can upgrade to the Platinum++ amount for just $100 more, then they very often will. For just that little bit more, why not get the very best that money can buy?
Likewise, if someone is making the emotional decision to have a website built (largely for ego perhaps), then they might decide that they can’t justify forking out for the most expensive option. But they may therefore “compromise” by going one tier lower. That way, they can justify their splurge by telling themselves: “at least I went for the cheaper option.” This way, you can anticipate and counter buyer’s remorse. And by having more than one “cheaper” option, you might avoid their going for the very cheapest.
Trying out different pricing schemes and experimenting with packages can yield great results—so conduct some tests and see what brings in the most profit. This is again something you’ll have a lot more flexibility to do as a result of using packages.
Bulk Orders and Long-Term Deals
Another option you can present to your clients is to save money by putting in a bulk order; the obvious benefit to you here being that you will now have guaranteed income for at least a significant period of time. The same goes for recurring or standing orders.
For example, you could offer to design website icons for $30 each, or to do 20 for $150. Alternatively, you could offer regular site updates and security maintenance for $10 per month. Again, think about what works best with the lifestyle that you want to achieve, and think about how you can get the best pay for the time that you’re putting in.
It’s Not Just About the Money
You’ve decided what you’re going to charge and now you know how and where to find your clients. But of course, being willing to pay is not the only prerequisite for a good client. There are many other factors to consider when weighing up whether or not to take on clients, some of which are actually more important than the potential profit.
The Complex Morality of Freelance Work
When you start working as a freelance coder, writer, video editor, coach, or anything else, you might not expect to find yourself dealing with moral gray areas. And for the most part, you probably won’t have to.
But every now and then, a job will come along and you won’t be sure if you should take it or not. This might be because the work is very low quality—because it is “trashy.” It might be because the product that you’re selling is not worth the asking price. Worse, it might be that the subject matter is illegal or destructive.
For example: would you write an article about how to get started as a drug dealer? Would you build a website for a brothel?
Those are extreme examples and not particularly common, but you might well find yourself feeling uncomfortable writing the sales pitch for a multilevel marketing scam, for instance, or a product that promises weight loss but is likely to do more harm than good. I have been asked to write content that expresses political opinions that go against my own beliefs (which in some ways is a fun challenge). I’ve been asked to make websites with topics I felt uncomfortable with and create code that was overly derivative of others’ work. You have to judge each project on a case-by-case basis.
One stance to take is that you are just a “hired gun” here: that it isn’t your place to question why. You provide a service, and it’s not up to you what other people choose to do with it. When you buy a product in a shop, the shopkeeper doesn’t have to like what you plan on doing with it! And where do you draw the line? Do you need to test every product before you agree to build a website for the company?
Then again, though, you could also take the stance that you want to improve the amount of quality information on the Web and help people. Like I said at the beginning of this book, the Web is an incredibly powerful tool . . . and you know what comes with great power (sorry: comic book fan here)! Apart from anything else, there’s the matter of not wanting to be associated with low-quality garbage. Plus, you need to consider the trustworthiness of the clients that would ask for this kind of work.
Ultimately this is your call. But deciding how you want to approach these decisions and writing yourself some moral “guidelines” can help you to prepare for those less straightforward cases. I have lines that I won’t cross and every now and then I need to reassess these when a job comes along that I haven’t been ready for.
Taking on Jobs That Progress Your Career
While finding work that doesn’t go against your moral compass is an important consideration for any creator, just as important is to find work that you find fulfilling . This isn’t only so that your soul is fed, and you don’t quickly start to hate yourself—it’s also so that you’ll be able to maintain focus and productivity and build on your own skills and portfolio.
I talked earlier about imposter syndrome and about how you need to be ready to accept a lot of money for potentially “easy” work. But you know what? It’s honestly unlikely that you will be getting paid thousands of dollars for a few hours of work any time soon. Even though you have the same skills as people that do demand that kind of money.
Remember that web design gig my friend tried to get me to bid on with his insurance company employer? Where I was advised to increase my prices significantly? I ultimately decided to turn down that opportunity (because you shouldn’t work for friends, as discussed a bit later). However, if I had gone ahead, the company likely wouldn’t have wanted to invest that kind of money in me at the time anyway. (Plus it would mean indirectly working with a friend - which I’ll get to in a moment.)
Why is that? Because I lacked the experience or the credentials. Even though I could probably deliver the exact same end product, most companies would be much more confident hiring a bigger outfit with a richer background and more experience.
Worked on two very successful apps (including a collaboration with a large YouTuber)
Presented development tutorials on a large media outlet
Authored a book on Android development
Given talks on Android development and internet marketing for high-profile audiences
Built my own online brand with a large following
At this point, I could arguably charge a lot more for the same services and probably compete with other “big players.”
But I’m still not going to hold a candle to an ex-Google employee, or an app-boom millionaire.
You have to prove what you can do, and you have to pay your dues. It’s less about what you can actually do and more about what you can show you can do. Who can vouch for you? How impressive will you sound on paper when the person hiring you explains to their manager why they chose you?
A lot of this comes down to your hustle, which unfortunately doesn’t always come easily to the stereotypical, introverted developer. Moreover though, it comes down to building up a backlog of experience and impressive accomplishments—which of course also helps give you the confidence to charge the higher rates. And puts the swagger in your hustle (we’ll call this swaggle).
And this is always worth keeping in the back of your mind when taking on jobs—not only when choosing your jobs but also when deciding what kind of pay you will accept. This is how you become the “superstar developer” or the “superstar editor.” It’s about building authority.
In fact, I would argue that it is often the savvier move to take the jobs that will raise your status over the jobs that pay the best. Your priority should be to build your own personal brand. Don’t think of yourself as a grunt, but rather as an image that you can craft in order to put yourself high in demand. Imagine the kind of service provider you want to be, and then work to get yourself in that position.
This is also why I think that everyone should consider creating a website, a blog, or a video blog (vlog). At least a fully fleshed-out LinkedIn account! This helps you to build that brand, to gain notoriety in your niche/industry, and show the kind of work you do.
This is absolutely essential for those in the gig economy, to my mind. But you know what? I also think this is something a lot of other people could benefit from even in the world of traditional employment. Create a killer LinkedIn page, create work that you are really proud of, and look for opportunities that will help you to further your career. Be confident in what you have to offer and what you’ve proven. And then feel confident charging for that. It takes time to get to this point, but it feels fantastic when you arrive.
Jobs That Increase Your Skill Set
Another thing to keep in mind is that some work will also increase your skill set. I find this when writing coding tutorials, for instance: by choosing subjects that I don’t already know inside out, I can use this as a way to effectively get paid to learn skills that will benefit me further down the line. Of course, this will also mean the projects take longer, so you need to weigh up the pros and cons each time.
All the work you take on, though, is going to have this benefit to an extent. The more jobs you do, the more you’ll get used to dealing with different people, using different tools, managing your own productivity, and so forth.
Again, it’s about paying your dues and building your way up to the top strategically and patiently.
Finding Good Clients
Here’s something else that might surprise you: the higher-caliber clients that want that kind of career-progressing work also tend to be the ones that are great to work with. You might think that the more money you are being paid, the more fuss and hassle you would have to endure. The reality is very often the precise opposite—which is because serious businesses and professionals don’t want to waste their time with petty complaints either. It’s invariably the low-quality work that will result in unfair demands, last-minute changes, late payments, and other issues.
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule though, which is why you still need to be discerning when it comes to picking clients. Trust me: a “bad” client is almost never worth the amount of money that you are getting paid to provide their services.
The biggest sign that a client is going to be difficult to work with in the long term? A desire to have very long conversations prior to working with you—or to share overly complex instructions. I’ve had experiences where clients have requested that we have a Skype call before they order work, and in some cases these calls have gone on for an hour or more. Others have sent me videos where they explain in detail precisely what they’re looking for—complete with editing and motion graphics! Sometimes these videos are 20 minutes long!
Ask yourself: what serious professional has the time necessary to do that? And more to the point, how much time is the client going to want from you going forward? The worst part is that nine times out of ten, the work you then get hired to complete will be relatively miniscule. I’ve had it where after hours of talking, I’ve been given a job that will only take an hour to complete. You’re not being paid for these calls or to “play business,” so try to cut the “communication overhead.”4
Another bad type of client to look out for is the sort that believes they can get you to do all sorts of odd jobs for them. If you’re a web designer, that doesn’t mean it’s your job to fix all their alt tags, or to rename all their image files and re-upload them. If you’re a writer, it’s not your job to collect contact details and put them into a spreadsheet. This is work for a VAS, or just work that the client should do themselves. Accepting this sort of work actually devalues you, and it is ultimately a waste of your time. Again, learn to say no in these cases.
Of course, you won’t really know the caliber of a client until you actually begin working with them. But just don’t be afraid to turn down opportunities to work with someone if you get a bad feeling . . . Not every opportunity is a good opportunity!
One Last Tip: Never Work for Friends
You know who is almost guaranteed to be a bad client though? Pretty much any single one of your friends. While this may sound a little negative, it’s unfortunately also true 99% of the time.
The problem is that when you work for friends, they will either expect you to work at a “friend’s rate” or insist on paying the usual amount. Both these situations are a little awkward.
In the first case scenario, you will end up potentially resenting them for the work you’re doing. Even if you don’t, you’ll inevitably make their work lower priority than your big actual clients who are paying twice as much (or should), which means you might not do your best work possible. Then when your friend complains that they’re still waiting for you to deliver, you’ll resent the fact that they’re complaining despite your working for them at such a heavy discount! Either that or they’ll be really happy with your work and you’ll end up doing more for them at this low rate that isn’t really enough to pay your bills.
On the other hand, if they pay the full amount, then they might find they resent you for that on some level (even if you protested the polite amount), or they might “over-correct” by making sure to be just as firm with you as they would be with any other service provider. Either that or they’ll feel guilty and say things like “don’t worry if it’s a bit late.” The bottom line either way is that no one is fully satisfied, but it’s awkward if anyone says anything!
If you must work with friends, then make sure you have a strict agreement in place before you start. Consider offering a small discount that might be equivalent to what you would offer one of your best clients (maybe 5%) and explain why you can’t afford to offer them a deeper discount. Better yet, consider using an intermediary as a go-between!
But it’s just much easier to avoid this whole mess in the first place. And yes, I speak from experience.5
Variety Is the Spice of Gigging Life
The last thing I’ll leave you with is this: in the ideal world, you should aim to get a broad range and variety of different types of clients. That means clients who offer steady, ongoing work, clients who offer occasional big projects, and clients who are one-offs. This mixture will allow you to keep a basic “salary” coming in (discussed in Chapter 7), while at the same time expanding your career and maintaining the freedom and flexibility to take on more interesting opportunities.
If you’re really lucky, you might find some non-urgent long-term projects, or even clients that will take work whenever you provide it. Both these things are blessings because they give you work that you can fall back on when everything else is quiet. But of course, you need to keep looking around and know how to market yourself if you’re going to attract those kinds of opportunities.
Chapter Summary
So, in this chapter you learned the importance of finding the right clients, the right projects, and the right pay. Hopefully, you have a better idea of how to identify high-quality clients and jobs, and how to charge for your work in a way that is fair to you while also remaining competitive.
The next step? Actually delivering on that work! And predictably, that’s what we’ll be delving into in Chapter 5.