Surprised nobody mentions it. The #1 rule i needed to learn: > Willingness to pay Most people see it "charge as much people pay" But the real lesson here is

Surprised nobody mentions it. The #1 rule i needed to learn: > Willingness to pay Most people see it "charge as much people pay" But the real lesson here is a different one: You create a value. The value - costs is profit. Someone along the chain makes this profit. Might be the people you work with, your boss, might be the person sitting at your client looking smart for buying in cheap or your client's boss. Someone does. People are ok to pay as much as long as it's less than the value provided (and comparable to the rest of the market - sidenote: specialization) Someone makes the money. Stop charging in hours. Charge based on the value. (obviously it should be more than the hour costs otherwise dont take the project)