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Discussion on: How to set your rate as a freelancer?

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mwellsntask profile image
Maynard Wells

Thanks for providing some interesting insights into calculating the hourly rate.

There are a lot of factors involved in the calculation of your hourly. Ones that come to my mind are following.

  • The market where you are providing your services (If US market high rate - If Indian market low rate)
  • Level of your skill (What kind of benefit can your services bring to the business)
  • Your expenses (Bills, Hardware, etc)
  • Your goals (How much you want to make monthly)
  • Your experience (If you started right now, you'll be working on the low rate)
  • Your experience on a specific platform (If you started on Upwork, you'll earn low)
  • Competition
  • Saturation of the niche
  • The platform (If working on Fiverr, Your competitors will be providing the same services in 5 or $10. It will not be easy to ask $100 for it)
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misterhtmlcss profile image
Roger K.

Hi Maynard I think you make some great points and add some nuance to some of the details glossed over in the calculator; which I think is quite a good calculator and nicely done.

Additionally one thing that should be in the calculator is that not all hours are billable. I always feel that I lose about 10%-15% of my income a year on average to unbillable hours and in my first year it was probably closer to 40%. I think that I was lucky at 40%, but YMMV as some are good at closing clients and some are miserable at it. Maynard would you say that 20% is probably a good average for lost billables during a year? Sorry I'm assuming you Freelance btw.

I think @razvanstatescu you might want to consider adding some of the comments you get to web page, so those with dreams of making their millions freelancing in Bali have a little more depth. This isn't all a comment against your work, which I think is fabulous, but mostly a suggestion to help those who would see it and have stars in their eyes of how much money they will make. Just a thought as I think Maynard added some great context to the numbers your calculator produces.