Lindsay Marsh

How to Price Projects as a Freelancer

Hey Lindsay,  This is a great topic for creatives to express their thoughts on! In my personal experience, figuring out what to charge as a creative has come down to a few factors; 1. How confident I am are as a designer? (My overall knowledge of the industry) 2. How confident I am at my craft? (Specialising in one or two areas i.e. logos or branding) But ultimately, asking myself how much is my time worth to me? That was the burning question for me to answer. Something to consider if you're new to freelancing. If you price yourself to low you'll attract a certain type of clients with expectations far to high for what they're willing to pay for, and if you charge to much you might not get any work at all defeating the purpose of going freelance in the first place. So try find a going rate in the middle that you're comfortable with and go from there.

"How much is my time worth to me" is a question I have asked myself many times throughout the years. There are so many times where I have passed up a higher paying client to re-claim my sanity and time with family. My time is priceless, but I do have to pay the bills. So I have accepted a (still great) rate with my current clients because I have build a relationship with them, and that is worth sometime to both them and I. 

That is why pricing is so tricky. You want to charge the highest possible but you need to also pair it with finding the right client, and sometimes have a slightly lower rate to be able to work with a great client is worth it. 

So tricky! and always will be! That is why an open discussion like this is great, because I get to see everyones approach to pricing.

How does everyone price their projects? Hourly or Per project? Both? A mix?
I love to be open and transparent about pricing. I love to take polls on hourly rates in certain industries. My hourly rate right now is between $35-55 USD. I can be higher, but I have decided to take on a few non-profit clients that can be more flexible to being a new mom of two children under 3 years of age. That hourly price is for any design, branding services. My hourly rate for web development is around 10 dollars higher.&nbsp;
Let's start a discussion!&nbsp;

How to price your freelance projects! Question Time!

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