Just realized I was undercharging after a random chat at the laundromat

I was at the Spin Cycle laundromat on Elm Street last Thursday, complaining to this guy about how slow my week was, and he asked what I charge per project. He does similar freelance graphic work but charges $75 an hour while I was stuck at $35. I checked my past 6 months of invoices and figured I left around $4,200 on the table just from low rates. Anyone else find out they were way off on pricing from a random stranger?

2 comments

2 Comments

michael_williams3d ago

Hang on, you said you charge $35 an hour, but then you mentioned it was per project? That's a different thing entirely. Hourly vs. project rate changes the math a lot, especially if your projects take a different amount of time than his. Like, if you knock out a logo in two hours at $35 an hour, that's $70. But if he charges $75 an hour and takes four hours, that's $300 for the same type of thing. So the $4,200 number might not be totally accurate unless all your projects match up exactly the same way. Just something to double check before you go raising rates.

mason_murray83d ago

Wait, is this really that big of a deal? You talked to one guy for five minutes at a laundromat and now you're redoing your whole pricing model? I mean, yeah, $35 an hour is low for graphic design, sure. But one dude's story doesn't mean you messed up that badly. He could have been exaggerating or just talking up his own rates to sound important. You really need to look at the whole market not just one random conversation. Your clients might be fine with $35 and they keep coming back, so that says something too. Maybe focus on what your actual clients are saying instead of some stranger at a washing machine.