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i think that your rate should take into account any down time. the problem is that engineers charge rates that are too low in general. if you do the math you s

by b20000 5y ago

i think that your rate should take into account any down time. the problem is that engineers charge rates that are too low in general. if you do the math you should be somewhere around the $500/hr figure if you are on the west coast. i fear that most people bill lower than that. which is a problem… i think the agent model makes a lot of sense. the problem is that they have to be able to sell your value and actually do the work instead of waiting for you to do it and collect a %. another challenge i have firsthand noticed is if the agency has its own employees they might give them the work first, even if they do not have the skills. still not sure what to do with that one. juggling multiple projects at a low rate sucks, i have been through that and have no interest in doing that again. i just want to do one thing and charge a realistic rate to stay in business. the alternative is fixed price projects but then you take on a big risk potentially….

gregjor 5y ago
Downtime is caused by your own failure to market/sell yourself, you can’t charge your customers for that. Anyone who can get $500/hr freelancing already has a reputation they can leverage and shouldn’t have any trouble finding work. For everyone else charging the more typical $60 to $200/hr finding consistent projects with quality customers presents a challenge. In freelancing reputation counts for a lot. A good agent can multiply that with their own reputation. A true agent does not have their own employees competing with freelancers they represent.
- b20000 5y ago
  no, downtime is going to happen sooner or later regardless of your own marketing because customers might suddenly decide to hire someone else or the project might be cancelled last minute etc. the mindset of "I can only charge $60" is exactly the problem. you cannot sustain a living on that hourly rate on the west coast, not even at $100 or $150. do the math.
  - gregjor 5y ago
    I was born in California and lived there for much of my life, including living and working in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Downtime can happen but if a freelancer experiences frequent or prolonged downtime that’s their own failure to cultivate multiple customers, long-term relationships, reputation, and a funnel of work. Of course customers may cancel a project or hire someone else, but a freelancer who pays attention and has a relationship with their customer beyond sending invoices will have some notice of that happening. Personally I have not had downtime as a freelancer for at least 15 years. $500/hr is full-time equivalent of $1 million/year, far above the average or necessary living wage for Santa Clara county (just over $50k/year, or $25/hr full-time)[1]. Across the US freelance programming and system admin rates range from about $50/hr to $250/hr, with some outliers at either end [2]. Very few freelancers are making $300+/hr consistently, though I know some do because they have very specialized skills, solid reputations, and can keep their funnel primed. Rates are higher for Silicon Valley/SF/LA (and NYC) but not 10X higher. And as a freelancer you don’t have to live where your customers are, so I can work for companies in SF or Chicago or Silicon Valley and live in a cheaper city, or not in the US at all. You certainly can sustain a living anywhere in the US for as little as $60/hr, which is $120k/year full-time equivalent, well above the living wage for any American city including Santa Clara county. That’s the low-end, though. Most freelancers I know, and I’ll include myself, charge $150 to $250/hr and get that consistently from US customers for 30-40 hrs/week. That’s more than enough to live comfortably wherever I want. The key to consistent income as a freelancer is not jacking up rates to account for downtime, but not having downtime in the first place. The best way to avoid downtime is to build long-term relationships with customers so replacing you (because you’re crazy expensive) doesn’t come into their thinking. Charging a little more than they would have to pay a f/t employee is the sweet spot. I have freelanced for customers for over a decade, at very good rates, because they can’t hire a f/t equivalent for any number of reasons. Here’s the big secret of successful freelancing. Don’t build your freelancing practice around constant churn with short-term projects. That keeps you in perpetual search/sales mode, which you don’t get paid for, and prevents establishing long-term relationships with customers. Instead build your practice on retainer arrangements with a few steady customers, where you add sufficient value and the customer has a predictable fixed monthly cost. Customers always prefer predictable fixed costs over unpredictable invoices, and they always prefer someone committed to their business over someone who wanders from gig to gig looking for the best rate. [1] https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/06085 https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/06085 [2] https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/los-angeles-freelance-salary-SRCH_IL.0,11_IM508_KO12,21.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/los-angeles-freelance-sal...

by b20000 5y ago

gregjor 5y ago

Downtime is caused by your own failure to market/sell yourself, you can’t charge your customers for that. Anyone who can get $500/hr freelancing already has a reputation they can leverage and shouldn’t have any trouble finding work. For everyone else charging the more typical $60 to $200/hr finding consistent projects with quality customers presents a challenge. In freelancing reputation counts for a lot. A good agent can multiply that with their own reputation. A true agent does not have their own employees competing with freelancers they represent.

b20000 5y ago
no, downtime is going to happen sooner or later regardless of your own marketing because customers might suddenly decide to hire someone else or the project might be cancelled last minute etc. the mindset of "I can only charge $60" is exactly the problem. you cannot sustain a living on that hourly rate on the west coast, not even at $100 or $150. do the math.
- gregjor 5y ago
  I was born in California and lived there for much of my life, including living and working in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Downtime can happen but if a freelancer experiences frequent or prolonged downtime that’s their own failure to cultivate multiple customers, long-term relationships, reputation, and a funnel of work. Of course customers may cancel a project or hire someone else, but a freelancer who pays attention and has a relationship with their customer beyond sending invoices will have some notice of that happening. Personally I have not had downtime as a freelancer for at least 15 years. $500/hr is full-time equivalent of $1 million/year, far above the average or necessary living wage for Santa Clara county (just over $50k/year, or $25/hr full-time)[1]. Across the US freelance programming and system admin rates range from about $50/hr to $250/hr, with some outliers at either end [2]. Very few freelancers are making $300+/hr consistently, though I know some do because they have very specialized skills, solid reputations, and can keep their funnel primed. Rates are higher for Silicon Valley/SF/LA (and NYC) but not 10X higher. And as a freelancer you don’t have to live where your customers are, so I can work for companies in SF or Chicago or Silicon Valley and live in a cheaper city, or not in the US at all. You certainly can sustain a living anywhere in the US for as little as $60/hr, which is $120k/year full-time equivalent, well above the living wage for any American city including Santa Clara county. That’s the low-end, though. Most freelancers I know, and I’ll include myself, charge $150 to $250/hr and get that consistently from US customers for 30-40 hrs/week. That’s more than enough to live comfortably wherever I want. The key to consistent income as a freelancer is not jacking up rates to account for downtime, but not having downtime in the first place. The best way to avoid downtime is to build long-term relationships with customers so replacing you (because you’re crazy expensive) doesn’t come into their thinking. Charging a little more than they would have to pay a f/t employee is the sweet spot. I have freelanced for customers for over a decade, at very good rates, because they can’t hire a f/t equivalent for any number of reasons. Here’s the big secret of successful freelancing. Don’t build your freelancing practice around constant churn with short-term projects. That keeps you in perpetual search/sales mode, which you don’t get paid for, and prevents establishing long-term relationships with customers. Instead build your practice on retainer arrangements with a few steady customers, where you add sufficient value and the customer has a predictable fixed monthly cost. Customers always prefer predictable fixed costs over unpredictable invoices, and they always prefer someone committed to their business over someone who wanders from gig to gig looking for the best rate. [1] https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/06085 https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/06085 [2] https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/los-angeles-freelance-salary-SRCH_IL.0,11_IM508_KO12,21.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/los-angeles-freelance-sal...