Tell HN: Raise your freelance rates
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4604780
Not picking on the comment author, but I know that the top devs in NYC are charging way more than that. It took me years to realize that I should be charging way more than that as well, and I still need a gentle reminder every now and then that I'm a professional, I help people make money, and I should charge accordingly.
I'm not selling anything here, just a friendly reminder to HN freelancers that you're probably not charging enough and you need to raise your rates. I recently found this ebook (not mine, no affiliation, no gain for me if you buy it) to be very helpful and worth every single penny that I spent on it. I made it back 100x over within a couple days.
http://doubleyourfreelancingrate.com
I know what most of you are thinking: "that's fine for those guys, but I can't raise my rates because I'm not a rockstar programmer / located in the right place / a scam artist / someone with a huge following."
But you probably can, and it'll probably be easier than you think. I just landed a job at $150 / hr, when I had been charging $95 / hr. And literally all I did was change my rate on the estimate form. The client didn't even mention it.
You can do this.