Just hit my 100th freelance invoice ever and realized something scary

When I added up all the time I spent on free consultations and sample work for gigs that never panned out, it came to over 200 hours wasted just in the last two years - has anyone else tracked their ghost ratio like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

michael8031d ago

The ghost ratio, lmaooo. Sounds like you've been doing a lot of free labor for practice that isn't yours.

the_olivia1d ago

Honestly, the best thing you can do is set a hard limit from day one. Tell them you only do a short free session to see if you vibe, not for them to get a whole strategy plan. Ngl, I've had people try to squeeze an hour of free advice out of me, so now I literally set a timer and say "we have 15 minutes." If they push for more, I just say my rate applies after that. Tbh, it stops the moochers fast because they know you're serious about your time. You have to protect your energy, otherwise they will drain you dry.

parker_webb1d ago

Same pattern shows up everywhere really. Neighbors wanting free plumbing advice or people asking you to "just take a quick look" at their computer, then suddenly it's two hours later.