Renegotiating salary later on

[d7a2fa1f]

Hello there!

I'm a newbie and have a full time work currently but I'm looking into building up a portfolio here and possibly moving to this space in general.

I was reached out to with a good salary with the request to try a partnership first, which I'm very happy about.

I offered in exchange below clients budget in order to get the job, avoid future conflicts if it doesn't work out and in general, that the client won't feel overpaid for a newbie trial of mine 😄I'm mostly worried of this because of my current job.

if things do work out, how does renegotiating the term look like and especially here. Both in terms of soft aspects (how to communicate and negotiate this) and both in term of hard aspects, meaning the technicality here. Would we need to cancel current contract and start a new one? 

any help is much appreciated as I'm new in this space.

[prestonhunter · Accepted solution]

re: "if things do work out, how does renegotiating the term look like and especially here. Both in terms of soft aspects (how to communicate and negotiate this)"

That is up to you.

Upwork offers no guidance about that.

re: "and both in term of hard aspects, meaning the technicality here. Would we need to cancel current contract and start a new one?"

A client can click a button to increase your hourly rate at any time:

https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/211062378-Change-Your-Freelancer-s-Hourly-Rate

Or the client can simply close a contract and create a new contract with a higher hourly rate.

[gilbert-phyllis]

Krisztian, first of all, the compensation you receive as a freelancer is not a "salary". It's a fee paid on either an hourly basis or a fixed-price basis. You need to spend some time learning about freelancing and about this platform before you go any farther.

It's not typically a good idea to position yourself as a novice whose time and expertise are not worth much. Cheap clients are extremely hard to please and less-than-perfect feedback can put a stop to your UW career before you get started. You only get one UW account per lifetime, they don't permit you to bail out and start over.

[tagrendy]

If you have an hourly contract, the price per hour can be changed without a need to open a new contract. As to how to approach the client about it, depends on your relationship with them & the client's personality. There are faire-minded clients and 'will get as much out of you as I can for as little of a price as I can' clients. With the latter there is no renegotiation, you just try to end the contract in good terms and hunt for a better opportunity. With the first clients, you can approach by saying that you have received an offer to work for x price ( a price higher than what you would want to negotiate ), and that you'd be willing to either finish the work with them and switch over the new offer, or maybe you can renegotiate the terms? This happens all the time, a client would not be surprised. Regardless of what reaction you get, things will become clearer for you - if this is a client worth working with more, or if you should look for an exit.

[martina_plaschka]

Starting out with a lower rate than you would usually charge or would like to charge is ALWAYS a bad idea, and this is why:

1. You present yourself as unprofessional. A professional knows their worth, expressed in their hourly rate.

2. A low hourly rate is a message to other potential clients what you are willing to accept. You lock yourself into low paying jobs.

3. You are not considering basic human psychology. Agreeing to a low rate is fulfilling your need of getting some jobs. But what is the client's need? To get his work done. This is his main objective, not the price. Nobody ever said in their feedback: this was really not done well, but at least it was cheap, so I'm happy. 5 stars. 

4. Renegotiating. This is going to be hard when you consider points 1 to 3. You agreed on a rate. The client relied on that. Now he will feel that you pull a bait and switch. What are you going to say? Dear John, I just accepted a low rate to get any job, but now I want more money? How is this going to sound to the client? Will it make him happy?

You assume that a low rate will avoid future conflicts? The exact opposite is true. Cheap clients are the most difficult clients. Offering a lower rate projects low confidence in your abilities too. 

In conclusion - you are setting yourself up for a lot of headache in the future.