Stop Undercutting Yourself.
One of the biggest gripes for freelancers is pricing. Are you charging enough? Are you charging too much? The fear of clients turning their noses up at your pricing is daunting.
The other day, I was having a conversation with a freelancer friend of mine about pricing. I know I often undercut myself, sometimes It feels like I’m charging pennies to build up an already substantial portfolio - but it’s nice to hear that she’s in the same boat 8 years in.
“The thing is,” she said, “If you charge too much you can guarantee a short run together. But if you charge too little they’ll be around for ages taking you for a spin”.
Whilst freelancers can bring life-long value (and revenue) to a business, the idea they’re still an “odd-jobs” person is harder to shake then we’d once think. Apps like Fiverr and Upwork don’t help with this at all, sure they provide freelancers with much needed exposure for their business, but is it really viable in the long term? No, absolutely not.
As a marketer and freelancer, I’ve made it my mission to network online as much as possible - I’m in several bustling Marketing groups that focus on advice and feedback on their service offering. Whilst it’s kind of rubbish to know pricing issues are so common, it’s also comforting to know that we’re not alone in our flaws.
Some freelancers charge £50 for a month of SMM, others £10 per blog post, and all of them are begging for advice from the ones who charge £100’s for both. It’s a weird situation to observe.
Why should we be so frugal with our own pricing? As a freelancer, you’re not pricing yourself like you’re on an hourly wage, you’re taking into account:
The cost of your tech (laptop, schedulers, editing software)
The years of training you’ve put into honing your skillset
Your time
And the value you’re bringing to the business
Without breaking off into a rant, I feel like the biggest driver towards poor pricing is the value clients have on their services. When it comes to marketing specifically, businesses know they need it but they don’t know why - they don’t see the business benefits, and more often than not it’s seen as a fruitless expense.
As a business owner or decision maker, it’s hard not to focus on the short term benefits of any choice you make. But is that my problem? No.
If you’re taking a step into freelancing, my advice is know your worth. Scale up your pricing as your experience grows and refuse to settle for anything less. Of course, lower pricing will ensure clients stay long term, but does it mean you’re missing out on clients that know your value? Or are willing to pay for the value you bring to a business?
Most likely.