TIL from a guy in a Bali co-working space about why my freelance rates were way too low

I was chatting with this older freelancer from London at a co-working spot in Canggu last week. He asked what I charge for web dev work and I told him $30 an hour. He just laughed and said he bills $150 for the same stuff. At first I thought he was full of it but then he broke down his numbers. He said clients actually respect higher prices more because they think you're better. He showed me how he calculates his rate based on living costs, not what the market says. I bumped my rate to $50 last Monday and landed two new gigs this week. Has anyone else tried raising their prices and found it actually works better?

2 comments

2 Comments

kai_park17d ago

and honestly the psychology behind it is wild once you start seeing it in action. i did the same thing a couple years back when a friend told me to double my design rates overnight. i was terrified nobody would hire me but the exact opposite happened. the clients who used to haggle over $5 an hour just disappeared and the ones who came in were way easier to work with. they actually listened to my advice and didn't micromanage everything. the trick is you gotta act like your new rate is totally normal too. if you sound unsure or nervous about it clients will pick up on that and push back. but if you say "my rate is $150 an hour" like it's the most obvious thing in the world they just nod and pay it.

rose_cooper17d ago

it's funny how just changing the number makes people treat you different, not just the work itself. i had a similar thing not with rates but with how i answered emails. i used to write these long careful explanations for everything and then one day i just started writing short direct responses like "yes that's doable" or "no that won't fit the timeline" and people started taking me way more seriously. like they could sense i knew what i was doing even though i was the same person typing the same stuff. the confident tone thing is honestly half the battle.