The 5 minute coffee chat that saved my freelance business

I was about to quit freelancing back in March because I kept losing projects to lowball clients. A buddy I met at a coffee shop in Austin asked me what I charged and I told him $50 an hour. He laughed and showed me his rate sheet where he was billing $125 for the same type of work. That conversation made me realize I was undervaluing myself and chasing the wrong people. Has anyone else had a random stranger totally change how you price your services?

3 comments

3 Comments

hugoj121mo ago

But isn't charging more just going to scare off the people who actually have smaller budgets and still need good work done? Sometimes you gotta take what the market gives you, not what some random guy at a coffee shop says.

mark_carr71mo agoMost Upvoted

It's like a pattern I see everywhere, not just in freelancing... people are scared to value their own time. The grocery store workers stocking shelves at 2am, the plumber who fixes a leak on a Sunday, they all have to charge what it takes to keep going. If you always take the low end just to get a job, pretty soon you're working twice as hard for half the pay, and then you're the one who can't afford a plumber when you need one.

the_lee1mo ago

Yeah that's exactly it. Mark's point about pricing yourself into a corner is dead on. When you charge bottom dollar you end up working for the clients who nickel and dime everything, and they're the ones who complain the most too. It's like that old saying, if you're good at something never do it for free. The guy who undercuts you today will be out of business in six months because he can't pay his own bills, so taking his prices as the market rate is a trap. Did you ever end up raising your rates, and if so how did your clients react?