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Shoutout to that awkward 3 hour phone call I had last Tuesday
I told a client last week I was raising my rate from $50 to $65 an hour and they kept me on the phone for 3 hours trying to negotiate down to $55. Has anyone else had a client try to guilt trip you into keeping your old rate after you gave them a month heads up?
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william_craig72mo ago
Man I used to think it was just part of doing business but now I totally get why you draw a hard line.
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paulnguyen2mo ago
That three hour phone call sounds exhausting... honestly it shows how much they value your time which is basically zero. A month heads up is more than fair, some people just want to squeeze every penny even when they know the work is worth more. I had one guy tell me he'd have to "rethink the whole project" over a $10 increase, ended up ghosting him when he tried to bargain for three weeks straight.
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smith.lee2mo ago
...and I had to start setting boundaries after one too many of those marathon guilt trips. What finally worked for me was saying "I understand this is a change, but the new rate is firm because my costs have gone up." And then I just stopped talking. You know, dead air is powerful. If they push back more after that, you can politely offer to help them find someone else at their budget, which usually makes them realize you're serious about the rate. It's uncomfortable at first but way better than sitting through three hour calls where they try every angle to keep you cheap.
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