🐈
» Forums » Freelancers » How to Charge Clients
Page options
triston
Community Member

How to Charge Clients

I need some advice. 

 

I just started a new project with a client that, although she hired me solely as a copywriter initially, she has since asked me to handle all areas of her business from marketing, social media, and more. I asked that she change the description of my contract so that it would truly reflect what we are working on and she agreed, but?

 

She has me set at a certain amount of hours a week that is less than 20 and I have already reduced my rates for her since it is allegedly a long-term project. She also has been wanting me to call her before starting on anything, and I am wanting to know if I should charge her for this time as it should normally fall under consulting fees, another job I also do. 

 

I have also given her an estimate of how many hours that I will charge for a certain amount of blogs or articles since she is paying by the hour and want to know what most here do when you are paid by the hour but juggle many assignments with a particular client. 

3 REPLIES 3
prestonhunter
Community Member

Triston:

I strongly advise you to keep this simple.

I think your client will actually appreciate that as well.

You have an hourly rate posted  on your profile.

That should be the rate you are charging this client for your time.

 

If you spend time on behalf of this client, then log that time. Period.

 

Keep her appraised of what you are doing. Feel free to provide estimates about how long things will take. But don't try to chare different rates for different types of tasks.

I agree with Preston H. You have an hourly price and you should stick to it.
If your client loves your work, they will be happy to pay almost whatever you ask of them.
You may think it will make the clients happy if you lower your prices, but in order to survive and do this fulltime, you need the money coming into your account every month.

By lowering your prices, you might end up quitting on freelancing because you can't make ends meet and that will result in your client losing out on your work and your expertise - so for your if you need XX dollars per hour to make it worth your time doing this, then don't let the client pressure you into doing the job for X dollars.

I have lost several contracts because the client only wanted to pay me 25 - 50% of what my asked price was. They would put a counteroffer on the table which was ridiculously low and I said no and I lost the job and I'm glad. My time is worth more.
On other occasions, the clients try to get me to accept a low rate, but at the end agrees on my original rate. I have had a client who refused to pay my price and then chose to work with another freelancer, which require a way lower price, but the work showed out to be of very low quality, so they came back and paid me what I wanted.

Be proud of your work and you will get success! Use the time between the clients to work on your portfolio.

yitwail
Community Member

While I agree with Dimitri and Preston, in theory I think the client can create another job and hire you for it at a different rate than your copywriting rate. So then you'd just have to remember to choose the right contract each time you start the time tracker, depending on whether your copywriting or doing something else. I'm not suggesting you mention this to the client, but it's something to consider.

__________________________________________________
"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce
Latest Articles
Featured Topics
Learning Paths