Ben Levin
Service, Experience, and Product Designer
Helping Product People & UXRs Make Amazing Things
Earn What You're Worth
How Much You Should Charge Per Hour? Live the Life You Want, and Build a Sustainable, Scalable Business
New to Freelancing?
Not sure how much to charge for your services? Wondering if you can raise your rates?
- Don't: take your current salary, and divide by 2000 hours.
- Don't: look at what other people in your industry are charging, and just charge a little less.
- Don't: take a guess, and see if clients are willing to pay.
Instead: use this workbook!
Deciding how much to charge clients as a freelancer can seem really hard, but it actually is incredibly simple: you start by asking:
"How much money do I need to support the lifestyle I want?"
Starting with your own financial needs is the way to build a sustainable, scalable small business (or side-gig) that supports you, your life, your needs, and the people you care about.
This simple-to-use workbook will tell you what you need to charge your clients per hour, while taking into account:
- What expenses you need to cover
- How much you want to work
- (Approximately) what taxes you'll need to pay
- How much time off you want to take each year (you know, "vacation")
- Your "buffer" (we'll explain what that is, and why it's important)
- How much you want to save for an "emergency fund" and your retirement (yes, even Freelancers get to retire!)
This guide is ideal for:
- People who are new to freelancing
- Anyone who's been freelancing for a while, but is feeling super-stressed by their finances
- Anyone who wants to build a sustainable business that will support their chosen lifestyle for the long term.
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