The short answer is
whatever your can get.
But here is a long answer:
- First 1000 hours are for learning: Think of your first many projects or 1000 hours (roughly 6 months of full-time work) as learning experience. So don’t worry if you don’t make a great rate at the start. Instead focus on understanding the business, building systems & processes and gathering testimonials.
- Calculate your hourly rate: Take your current annual salary and divide it with 2,000 to get your current hourly rate. Double this and you will get the freelance rate. This should be your target rate after one or two years of serious freelancing.
- Don’t keep all the eggs in one basket: Freelancing is a great way to earn income and be ones own boss. But it is also risky and variable. This is why you should diversify your income streams if possible. Consider options like below to reduce your freelance risk:
- Taking up a part-time job
- If you are a family, asking your spouse to keep their full-time job while you freelance.
- Creating some digital (or physical) products to reduce your clients pain or simplify their life.
- Build some on-going maintenance work streams
- Saving excess income and investing so that when there is a lull in the freelance world, you can use the dividends
- Periodically review your rates: As a thumb-rule, if you have more work than you can handle, consider doubling your rate. Likewise, if you are not getting enough work, considering halving your rate. I have used both these approaches during the course of my freelance life to earn money.
Happy Freelancing 👍
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