An hourly rate

[scoopd]

I am new to Upwork and have pitched myself for all kinds of jobs.However, I wonder if my hourly rate is too high. At the end of the day I have seen people getting decent money for jobs because their hourly rate adds up to a lot of work but I am wondering if my actual hourly rate is putting people off giving me the gigs.

What are people's general thoughts on this?

Thanks(In advance)

[prestonhunter]

Your profile is set to private, so we can't give you customized advice.

But as a general concept:

Yes: A freelancer's hourly rate can significantly impact their ability to be hired.

A freelancer's hourly rate may be too high.

It may be too low.

[petra_r]

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Preston H wrote:

Your profile is set to private,

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It is no such thing. It is set to "Upwork users only" which is not the same as private.

Dougie, I think if anything, your hourly rate is too low, but with your credentials I'd likely leave it as is or up it somewhat and go for the bigger fixed rate contracts and not give up too quickly.

Your main problem is not your rate, it is the sloppy way your profile has been completed (or rather, NOT completed.)

In your category, not having a portfolio is likely the kiss of death. Spend a few days completing ALL the empty parts and polishing your profile, adding portfolio pieces, then set your rate at least to the other side of the $ 30 an hour mark. 

[ambroz]

Preston, his account is probably set to 'Upwork users only', so you cannot get it from the forum directly.
Go into your Upwork account and search for his name.

Basically I can tell you, 27.5$/h for experienced audio editor without any Upwork jobs.

Answer:
Hour rates are always a tricky question. So I would suggest you to check your compatitors and projects you are interested in how budgets they usually have. But yes I think 27.5/h for beginning here is too high. I started below 10/h and I lot of people started with similar hour rates here. Upwork has some verification systems and your profile, picture and name say something about you, but think that here on this portal almost anybody can say: "I am proffesional in my field". Most of feedbacks here are good, but I already saw some very bad feedbacks when clients reported that freelancers are not such skilled as they said. So, good feedbacks after good projects here give you a good name, and also give feedback to yourself about what clients needs and expect from you. So you get the idea where are you good at, and what you can learn.
But on the other hand, I saw also freelancers who succesfully started at rates of 30/h or above. But as I said at beginning hour rates are always tricky questions.

[petra_r]

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Ambrož B wrote:

Answer:
But yes I think 27.5/h for beginning here is too high.

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He is UK based, ex BBC. Not too high at all, clients likely overlook him because with his credentials he's too cheap.

In fact, $ 27.50 is a bad choice because it is at the top of the $ 10 to $ 30 segment, which is the worst one anyway.

He is too expensive for the cheapskaters and too cheap for the kind of clients he wants.

[prestonhunter]

It all depends on what clients are looking for.

When I post jobs on CraigsList or Upwork, it is common for me to delete or dismiss low-ball bids, because I don't want to waste time and money.

If I know a project requires a certain level of expertise and/or effort, and most bids are clustered a certain way, and then I see a few outrageously low bids... My assumption will be that those low-ballers don't know what they are doing or aren't going to provide me the quality I need.

[petra_r]

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Preston H wrote:

My assumption will be that those low-ballers don't know what they are doing or aren't going to provide me the quality I need.

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Oh PLEASE.

Your hiring history as a client has an average contract value in the region of half an hour of your own freelancer rate and an average hourly rate paid of well under $ 20. ($ 18.34)

So please don't pontificate on lowballing.

[prestonhunter]

re: "Your hiring history as a client..."

I do most of my hiring on CraigsList (for locally done work) and Upwork (for work that can be done remotely).

I have hired about 200 freelancers total using the two platforms - about 100 freelancers on each platform.

Many of these contracts run into thousands of dollars for a single freelancer.

My CraigsList contracts tend to be larger.

On Upwork I mostly use hourly contracts, using a freelancer's posted hourly rate, and the freelancers I have hired have included a wide variety, including first-timers and very experienced Upworkers, with pay typically ranging from $5/hour to $80/hour.

These Upwork contracts are typically short - between 1 to 3 hours. Only rarely longer than that.

So, yes, I have seen a lot of low-ball proposals.

I would say that really low-ball bids are a red flag for MOST types of projects. I don't think ALL clients see things that way, but if freelancers are looking for more professional-level, serious clients, this is something to keep in mind.