Freelance Work - What To Charge Part II
Now that you know how much your industry is getting payed, you can decipher how much you can charge as “billable” hours. You can count on working 10-12 hours a day, five days a week as you get yourself going. Most entrepreneur’s work that or more anyway. Point being: plan on working a lot [and remember you’re doing it for yourself]! And you will need to check e-mail in your off hours to make sure there are no customer questions that need to be replied to immediately. You will bill your clients for the amount of time it takes you to complete their project from start to finish. Take into consideration how much work you will have to do before you ever start it and add it to their invoice as well. Your billable day will look something like this:
Your average day:
* Plan on spending 4 hours on administrative and marketing tasks
* 4-8 hours on projects [depending on how many you have and how long you’re willing to work]
* You need to put 3-4 hours into the most “important” project and 2 on each of the others per day
* Take on 2-3 projects at a time to have 20-40 billable hours–If you take on more, expect to be working longer hours
“So what if I want to charge per project?” Some creative minds like to charge per project. If you do charge per project, know exactly how many actual working hours it took you to complete it and divide that by the amount you’re charging in the end. The problem with per project is that there are unforeseeable events that will undoubtedly occur during that time [that usually occur because of the delay of your client and not your software and so on] and it’s hard to increase your pay rate as your expertise and experience increase because you have only the vaguest idea of how much you actually make per hour. In short, have a per hour rate regardless.
If you have a client that gives you a specific time frame and budget, take their time frame and divide it by your hourly pay rate. For example, if a company x asks you on Monday to design a logo for their business stationary and website by Friday for $200, calculate your pay rate. You charge $44 per hour, so that’s about 4.5 hours. You know it takes about 8-10 hours to complete a logo in as many sizes that want, plus they want 10 different examples before they pick one. If you’re just started out, you may want to take the pay cut to get the business and referrals thereafter. Yet it would be better negotiate with an e-mail or phone call (whatever mode of communication they have chose to use) and give them your counter-offer until a price is reached. It would be better to do this job at $400 for the project or tell the company that you charge $44 an hour and will only do 3 hours worth of design to create their 10 options [and complete however many you can during that time] and will take the last 1.5 to spend on the logo they choose.
All and all you’re well worth it. You have what it takes to provide such excellent creative work for clients that you can’t just work with one company. Plus you love the freedom to choose how to set-up your work day, travel, and live the life you want. Before you ever send over an invoice, review the above tips and set your hourly rate. Figure out their cost per project. And do whatever you can to put your creativity and the client first.
L’voe,
Jenn “Branden” O’Brien
Creative Consultant–connecting the creative world to the business industry one musician, artist, and writer at a time.*
Visit LvoeStudios.com to learn how creative consulting can help you increase your creativity within your business, music, artistry, or writing today.
Useful Links:
You can afford to indulge yourself in tailor-made suits at affordable prices.