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Found out most freelancers undercharge by 40% - here's the math that shocked me
I was reading a survey from the Freelancers Union last night and it said the average first-timer charges $25 an hour but the market rate for basic web design is actually $40. That is a HUGE gap. The survey had like 3,000 freelancers in it so I think the numbers are legit. I always heard you should start low to get clients but 40% below market seems crazy. Has anyone else seen this survey or found different numbers from a real source?
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tessalane9d ago
That 40% gap feels like one of those things where people just don't have a good baseline to compare against. Same way everyone I know pays different amounts for the same haircut or car repair.
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drews559d ago
Nailed it, the baseline thing is huge. In my experience people just pick a number out of thin air and never actually look at what others are charging. I did the same thing my first few gigs and undersold myself for months before I realized what a mess I made.
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webb.hannah9d ago
You know what they say, my first freelancing rate was basically me throwing darts at a board blindfolded while also on fire. Charged $20 an hour for design work that I now know was worth three times that, and I felt like a king when I got my first gig. So yeah, 40% under the market sounds about right for my personal disaster zone. Did you see if the survey broke it down by industry, or was it just a flat number?
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