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Exactly. My usual hourly rate is a minimum of $70/hour. (I only recently became a freelancer, and am still learning to maximize my rates– I suspect my current r

Exactly. My usual hourly rate is a minimum of $70/hour. (I only recently became a freelancer, and am still learning to maximize my rates– I suspect my current rate is a small fraction of what I could earn.) The only thing this provides for me is a more liquid/elastic way to earn money. I can and do regularly solve problems that save people hundreds of hours. I would gladly pay to have someone solve my technical challenges that cost me hundreds of hours. (I am an expert in Python and a deep Generalist with experience across many domains and types of software.)

etothepii 6y ago
Isn't the thing to do to charge $200ph and offer "significant discounts" for interesting work. Now people have a reason to pitch you their projects and you can still charge $70ph for the interesting ones.
steve_adams_86 6y ago
Someone once told me “Take your salary and double it, and that’s your minimum contracting rate”. It seemed impossible to me for years, but ended up working just fine when I finally did it. In fact I more than doubled my salary, and no one really bats an eye. If you have skills people need, they’ll pay. For what it’s worth I was earning a salary around $110k CAD, and my contract rate (assuming I worked full time) worked out to around $240k CAD. No one has had a problem with it yet (although I went back to a salary position since then - I have kids and contracting was hard to organize around family and the pandemic).
- jasonkester 6y ago
  The fun part will happen when you double it again and people still agree to pay it without batting an eye. Give it a try for your next new client. The hard part is quoting the rate with a straight face.
  - m-ee 6y ago
    I recently started contracting for a consulting shop I had a relationship with, took some back and forth to get them to agree to $100/hr and I felt pretty good about it. Then I got placed a project for a FAANG client where I'm the only contributor and saw what they're ultimately paying for my time...
  - HeyLaughingBoy 6y ago
    > The hard part is quoting the rate with a straight face The best anecdote I heard about that was the guy (wish I could remember his name, but he was interviewed by Matt on Freelance Transformation) who found that it was much easier to quote a high rate if he had a cigar in his mouth because it made him feel like a mogul :-) I'm guessing that was on the phone...
  - steve_adams_86 6y ago
    I've had the luxury of not needing to ask for money because I need it. When you aren't in need, it seems like asking is a lot easier. I'm not worried about a No, so I'm not fretting about the answer or my delivery. This has made a huge difference for me because I'm a terrible negotiator. Earlier in my career when more hinged on negotiation and I needed money, I sometimes worked for small fractions of what I could have.
bryanrasmussen 6y ago
If you're an expert in Python and a deep generalist I suspect 70 is too low, depending on where you are at. I follow the easy to understand rule that my price for freelancing must be at least double what I make as a full time employee, and thus a full time employed position must be at worst half of what I make as a freelancer. This also allows me to see approximately where my best position in the market is. For example right now I am getting offered full time wages above half of my freelance rate (which is a little over $100 an hour) which implies to me that for my profile it might be more worthwhile to take a couple years full time employed. on edit: changed rates to full time wages

etothepii 6y ago

Isn't the thing to do to charge $200ph and offer "significant discounts" for interesting work. Now people have a reason to pitch you their projects and you can still charge $70ph for the interesting ones.

steve_adams_86 6y ago

Someone once told me “Take your salary and double it, and that’s your minimum contracting rate”. It seemed impossible to me for years, but ended up working just fine when I finally did it. In fact I more than doubled my salary, and no one really bats an eye. If you have skills people need, they’ll pay. For what it’s worth I was earning a salary around $110k CAD, and my contract rate (assuming I worked full time) worked out to around $240k CAD. No one has had a problem with it yet (although I went back to a salary position since then - I have kids and contracting was hard to organize around family and the pandemic).

jasonkester 6y ago
The fun part will happen when you double it again and people still agree to pay it without batting an eye. Give it a try for your next new client. The hard part is quoting the rate with a straight face.
- m-ee 6y ago
  I recently started contracting for a consulting shop I had a relationship with, took some back and forth to get them to agree to $100/hr and I felt pretty good about it. Then I got placed a project for a FAANG client where I'm the only contributor and saw what they're ultimately paying for my time...
- HeyLaughingBoy 6y ago
  > The hard part is quoting the rate with a straight face The best anecdote I heard about that was the guy (wish I could remember his name, but he was interviewed by Matt on Freelance Transformation) who found that it was much easier to quote a high rate if he had a cigar in his mouth because it made him feel like a mogul :-) I'm guessing that was on the phone...
- steve_adams_86 6y ago
  I've had the luxury of not needing to ask for money because I need it. When you aren't in need, it seems like asking is a lot easier. I'm not worried about a No, so I'm not fretting about the answer or my delivery. This has made a huge difference for me because I'm a terrible negotiator. Earlier in my career when more hinged on negotiation and I needed money, I sometimes worked for small fractions of what I could have.

bryanrasmussen 6y ago

If you're an expert in Python and a deep generalist I suspect 70 is too low, depending on where you are at. I follow the easy to understand rule that my price for freelancing must be at least double what I make as a full time employee, and thus a full time employed position must be at worst half of what I make as a freelancer. This also allows me to see approximately where my best position in the market is. For example right now I am getting offered full time wages above half of my freelance rate (which is a little over $100 an hour) which implies to me that for my profile it might be more worthwhile to take a couple years full time employed. on edit: changed rates to full time wages