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Started at $40/hour, met someone who told me I was hugely undercharging for my services and devaluing my work, so increased to $100/hour (which improved my rela

Started at $40/hour, met someone who told me I was hugely undercharging for my services and devaluing my work, so increased to $100/hour (which improved my relationship with my clients and had the nice side effect of being taken seriously), then $125, $150 and eventually had a couple of clients I wasn't that keen on that I decided to charge $300 per hour to see if they'd balk or not. They didn't. It does mean that now the majority of my work is the work for those exhausting clients that pay very well. Not great for my work/life balance, great for my bank account.

wpietri 4y ago
Yes, yes, yes. So many technical people vastly undercharge. My firm experience is that the more you charge, the better people listen.
granshaw 4y ago
What kind of work if you don’t mind me asking? And do you get embedded in a team like their other engineers or solo?
orblivion 4y ago
Do you increase to $100 with the leverage of new clients willing to pay that much, or do you just say "yeah I'm $100 now"?
- ianmcgowan 4y ago
  It would be poor form to change rates mid-project, and difficult to do if there's a formal agreement or statement of work involved. As I get to the end of a project I start looking around for something new, if there's more than one option I use rate to help decide which one to do. If one project (A) is more interesting or I like the customer better, they get the current rate $x quoted, but the other (B) gets $x+25. With an offer from B in hand, it's easier to ask A to match, and almost always they do. Same with salary negotiations - much easier to negotiate from a position with options.
  - wpietri 4y ago
    Totally agreed on having options. One thing I recommend to folks: have a high base rate and then discount for things you really want to work on. People really like discounts, and the high nominal rate establishes you as important/worthy. It's also a good way to work toward increasing existing clients. If you tell them, "My base rate is now X, but as established clients I'll give you the old rate for one more project," that lets them feel special and gives them time to adjust.
    - nicolas_t 4y ago
      I find discounts to be a bit of a double edged swords, clients who have received a discount eventually expect you to always give them discounts... What I've done in the past however for projects I believed in is to give a steep discount in exchange for revenue share. That works a lot better for early stage startups and has been hit and miss but I did get one good success out of this.
Scoundreller 4y ago
There’s a lawyers joke about being careful about throwing out an absurd rate for a client you really don’t want to take without saying no, but then they accept and you’re like, crap.
gnfargbl 4y ago
If you need $x/hr and the draining clients are willing to pay you $3x/hr, have you considered spending a third to half of your time on those clients, and the remainder of your time doing absolutely whatever you want? A full week of stuff you don't want to be doing is exhausting, but a couple of days of it in return for a four or five day weekend can feel very different.
- nicolas_t 4y ago
  I'm currently building enough nest egg to retire in a couple of years. So while it's a bit exhausting, there's a clear end of the line. I'm not going to actually retire but I've always wanted to do a phd and there's not much money there to be made so with a kid, I'd rather have enough to no longer worry :)

wpietri 4y ago

Yes, yes, yes. So many technical people vastly undercharge. My firm experience is that the more you charge, the better people listen.

granshaw 4y ago

What kind of work if you don’t mind me asking? And do you get embedded in a team like their other engineers or solo?

orblivion 4y ago

Do you increase to $100 with the leverage of new clients willing to pay that much, or do you just say "yeah I'm $100 now"?

ianmcgowan 4y ago
It would be poor form to change rates mid-project, and difficult to do if there's a formal agreement or statement of work involved. As I get to the end of a project I start looking around for something new, if there's more than one option I use rate to help decide which one to do. If one project (A) is more interesting or I like the customer better, they get the current rate $x quoted, but the other (B) gets $x+25. With an offer from B in hand, it's easier to ask A to match, and almost always they do. Same with salary negotiations - much easier to negotiate from a position with options.
- wpietri 4y ago
  Totally agreed on having options. One thing I recommend to folks: have a high base rate and then discount for things you really want to work on. People really like discounts, and the high nominal rate establishes you as important/worthy. It's also a good way to work toward increasing existing clients. If you tell them, "My base rate is now X, but as established clients I'll give you the old rate for one more project," that lets them feel special and gives them time to adjust.
  - nicolas_t 4y ago
    I find discounts to be a bit of a double edged swords, clients who have received a discount eventually expect you to always give them discounts... What I've done in the past however for projects I believed in is to give a steep discount in exchange for revenue share. That works a lot better for early stage startups and has been hit and miss but I did get one good success out of this.

Scoundreller 4y ago

There’s a lawyers joke about being careful about throwing out an absurd rate for a client you really don’t want to take without saying no, but then they accept and you’re like, crap.

gnfargbl 4y ago

If you need $x/hr and the draining clients are willing to pay you $3x/hr, have you considered spending a third to half of your time on those clients, and the remainder of your time doing absolutely whatever you want? A full week of stuff you don't want to be doing is exhausting, but a couple of days of it in return for a four or five day weekend can feel very different.

nicolas_t 4y ago
I'm currently building enough nest egg to retire in a couple of years. So while it's a bit exhausting, there's a clear end of the line. I'm not going to actually retire but I've always wanted to do a phd and there's not much money there to be made so with a kid, I'd rather have enough to no longer worry :)