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37283606
Community Member

Submitting Voiceover Proposals with Hourly Rates

Hi there!

 

I've done a TON of voicework for clients around the globe, hosted a national radio show, etc... but am new to UpWork. 

 

I'm a bit confused on how to bid on Voicework here. Most of my work is bid by project (depends on length of script, use of recording, etc) and how the client wants it delivered. But most of the VO projects I'm seeing here are set up as hourly projects. 

 

Let's say my "hourly rate" is $150. It is... for consulting. But for VOs, an hour of finished recorded work (8000 - 10000 words) - say for a training video, etc., would be around $750. On the other hand someone may just need a line or two, or a short promo done. Depending on length, these projects could run anywhere from $50 - $300. 

 

When I bid on these projects do I just enter my best-guess TOTAL for the project as my "hourly" rate?? So that training video proposal would show a $750 hourly rate?

 

Or, in the Cover Letter do I give them the total estimate and agree to manually adjust the hours to account for that. (So the above example would end up being charged for 5 hours -- 5 x $150 = $750).

 

Thanks very much for any input you can give.

 

Morgan

 

I've submitted several proposals -- but am afraid I'm shooting myself in the foot. I don't want to my proposals to be ignored because they "seem" to be too high... 

6 REPLIES 6
pudingstudio
Community Member


M W wrote:

Hi there!

 

I've done a TON of voicework for clients around the globe, hosted a national radio show, etc... but am new to UpWork. 

 

I'm a bit confused on how to bid on Voicework here. Most of my work is bid by project (depends on length of script, use of recording, etc) and how the client wants it delivered. But most of the VO projects I'm seeing here are set up as hourly projects. 

 

Let's say my "hourly rate" is $150. It is... for consulting. But for VOs, an hour of finished recorded work (8000 - 10000 words) - say for a training video, etc., would be around $750. On the other hand someone may just need a line or two, or a short promo done. Depending on length, these projects could run anywhere from $50 - $300. 

 

When I bid on these projects do I just enter my best-guess TOTAL for the project as my "hourly" rate?? So that training video proposal would show a $750 hourly rate?

 

Or, in the Cover Letter do I give them the total estimate and agree to manually adjust the hours to account for that. (So the above example would end up being charged for 5 hours -- 5 x $150 = $750).

 

Thanks very much for any input you can give.

 

Morgan

 

I've submitted several proposals -- but am afraid I'm shooting myself in the foot. I don't want to my proposals to be ignored because they "seem" to be too high... 


Lots of clients are looking for ridiculously low price.

After couple of months on UpWork you will familiarize yourself with the platform enough to differentiate between clients who are looking for quality work (for which they are willing to pay adequately) and ones who are not worth your time and connects.

When I send proposal, don't care about the budget client has set. I bid for a project which is appealing to me. I let the client know my price.

Sometimes I do propose a fixed price for jobs where client is looking for hourly contract.


In your example, if the hourly rate you're happy with is $150 - than, that is what you bid.
Not $750 on the hourly project. Bid $750 if the project is for a fixed price project.

Thanks for your reply! So do you propose that fixed rate in the cover letter or is there a way to change to plan from hourly to fixed?


M W wrote:
Thanks for your reply! So do you propose that fixed rate in the cover letter or is there a way to change to plan from hourly to fixed?

Couldn't advise you about that, can only share MY thought process.

It's up to you to find out what works best for the work YOU can provide. Which, with patience, ofcourse you WILL.

When I include a fixed price in my proposal, I'm aware that either:

- client posted a job with hourly rate only because they have no idea of how much it might cost them; client is not interested in hourly rate
- the job would include lot of 'offline work'. I would need to draw stuff on paper, not on my PC; in which case I'd need to track my hours manually which is most often unappealing TO ME.

There was another reason, one I've moved on from:

- client sounds like they are nervous about not knowing the exact ammount of $$ they are about to spend.
While that sounds reasonable, those clients are meant for newbies as they are the type of clients who are more interested in spending less, than receiving quality project.

Thank you. I'm in the same position - I can usually provide a "delivered" project cost  / fixed rate, easier than hourly - The clients don't understand how these things are priced. 

 

So, I need to believe the prospect will read my proposed rate in the Cover Letter, since the TYPE of project is hourly and that rate is often meaningless in these types of projects.

mtngigi
Community Member


Morgan W wrote:

Thank you. I'm in the same position - I can usually provide a "delivered" project cost  / fixed rate, easier than hourly - The clients don't understand how these things are priced. 

 

So, I need to believe the prospect will read my proposed rate in the Cover Letter, since the TYPE of project is hourly and that rate is often meaningless in these types of projects.


If a job you're interested in is hourly, then that's how you have to bid. Then you need to track your time using Upwork's time-tracking software (manual time means you are not assured of getting paid).

 

You can bid on an hourly project and state in your bid that you prefer to work flat rate. Interested clients can cancel their job, and set up a new flat rate job to offer to you exclusively. Sometimes this yields results, sometimes not.

 

Hourly jobs cannot be fixed rate and vice versa. You can track your hours on fixed rate jobs, but that will only be for your benefit and nothing the client has to see.

 

ETA: In other words, if you bid and are hired on an hourly job, you will have to track your time. The job won't magically turn into a fixed rate job just because you put that in your bid.

tlbp
Community Member


Morgan W wrote:

Thank you. I'm in the same position - I can usually provide a "delivered" project cost  / fixed rate, easier than hourly - The clients don't understand how these things are priced. 

 

So, I need to believe the prospect will read my proposed rate in the Cover Letter, since the TYPE of project is hourly and that rate is often meaningless in these types of projects.


Aren't your fixed project costs based on an estimation of how much time they will take to complete? Split the fixed number up into a per-hour rate and bid that for hourly gigs. (If you want to bid on hourly gigs). I usually bid my hourly rate for hourly gigs and then explain to the client that I can offer a fixed price per project as an alternative. 

Before you make too many bids, make sure you have read the help and support files regarding getting paid for both types fo gigs. Things on Upwork don't always work the same as you would expect when coming from a direct-to-client background. 


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