Quoted $40 an hour out of my kitchen table in 2016, now I book $95 and still feel weird saying it | Abq Local Freelancers - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals
Quoted $40 an hour out of my kitchen table in 2016, now I book $95 and still feel weird saying it
Back in 2016 I was doing social media posts for a few shops off Central and charging $40 an hour because I figured nobody in Albuquerque would pay more. Last week I raised my rate to $95 for the same kind of work and booked two new folks from Nob Hill without a single pushback. The shift happened when I stopped sending my rate in an email and started saying it out loud on a call, weirdly that made it stick. I also started asking what their budget was before I quoted anything, which saved me from a lot of free coffee meetings. Curious what you all charge for basic content work around here, am I still leaving money on the table?
Saying it out loud on a call instead of hiding behind email is the whole game, that's exactly what changed it for me too. Once you hear yourself say $95 and nobody laughs or hangs up, the weird feeling goes away fast. Asking about budget first is smart, it flips the whole talk so you're not the one begging for the number. Around here $95 is fair for content work but if you're booking Nob Hill folks with no pushback you could probably test $115 on the next two calls and see what happens. Worst case they say no and you're right back where you started, which is still twice what you charged in 2016.