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That freelance rate advice I got from a senior designer cost me a $5k project
An old coworker told me to always charge by the hour instead of flat rates, so I quoted $75/hour for a branding gig and the client said yes. Then I realized they expected a full identity system in 20 hours flat, and I ended up working 45 hours for barely minimum wage. Has anyone else had a standard pricing rule blow up in their face like that?
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piper_kim1mo ago
Oh man, that's brutal! I had almost the exact same thing happen when someone told me to always charge per revision round instead of including a cap, and I ended up doing 11 rounds of tiny tweaks for what should have been a 3-round job.
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margareto261mo ago
Yeah @piper_kim, you gotta draw that line early or they'll bleed you dry with "one more tiny thing." I set a flat rate for up to three rounds now and anything after that gets a per-hour fee, which usually scares off the nitpickers. Clients suddenly find their projects "perfect" real fast when they know a clock is ticking.
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joel_clark371mo ago
Learned that one the hard way too, @margareto26 - now I just tell clients my hourly rate and hope they run.
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