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c/freelance-lifekimr91kimr913d agoTop Commenter

That 'just lower your rate' advice from my friend cost me a steady gig

My buddy Mark told me to drop my design rate from $50 to $35 an hour to get more clients. I tried it for a month and landed a regular who paid on time but kept asking for endless revisions. Now I'm back to my old rate and that client balked at the increase, so I lost the income I had counted on. Has anyone else gotten bad pricing advice from someone who wasn't freelancing themselves?
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noahwood
noahwood3d ago
A buddy told me to swap my shift and I lost two weeks of guaranteed hours over it.
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jessica331
The same thing happened to me a few years ago with a friend who worked in retail. She kept saying I should charge less to get my foot in the door with bigger clients. I tried it and ended up with a client who wanted new logos every week for the same flat fee, totally draining my time. Eventually I bumped my rate back up and lost them, but honestly it was a relief because they were so demanding. What really worked for me was raising my rates a little every six months (like 5 bucks) instead of doing one big jump. That way my existing clients barely noticed the change, and new ones just accepted it as normal. Sorry your friend's advice backfired like that, it's tough when people who don't freelance act like they know the business.
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bell.jessica
A new logo every week for the same flat fee? That's insane. I can't believe they thought that was okay.
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