A friend told me how his father had been in a similar situation. He was offering a superior service that was, in many cases, lower than what the prospects were already paying. After being turned down repeatedly he finally asked why. He was told that he couldn't possibly be able to deliver the quality promised for the price he was asking. The low price created a perception of lower quality-- lower than what people were willing to accept for that price. So, they'd tell him it was too expensive or they just weren't interested.
I doubled my rate and not only got more work but better work. You could try it. The worst that will happen is people will still say no and you can always let them negotiate down a bit. Still, like others have said, it depends on the going rate where you're doing work.
This is the key. Don't guess. Find out.
Notice that his father didn't solve his problem until he actually found out what it was. Why don't you do the same?
I would add thought, that when asking remember that the person may not be telling the truth. They may actually want to hide something if they are doing it out of some personal prejudice they don't want to admit or because they have already made up their minds about the winner but are going through a bidding process for show.
Also, they may think they are telling the truth but actually being influenced by something they don't realize. For instnace, if the poster were unusually young they may feel he is immature or lacking experience even in the face of evidence to the contrary.
One way to at least mitigate this is to solicit opinons from many people that originally turned him down.
Don't believe me? Consider: Barely anyone works 40h/week of billable time. Most full-time freelancers bill 4-5h/day and do non-billable work the rest of the time. That's 20-30h/week of billable time about 50 weeks of the year. Say you bill 25h/week for 50 weeks, and you want to make about $80k. That comes to $64/h, and that doesn't even account for your expenses!
Here are some resources on freelance benchmarks and rates.
http://www.freshbooks.com/reportcards/all-industries.php
http://freelanceswitch.com/rates/
(Disclaimer: I work for FreshBooks.)
The point is, you're worth spending the money and if they're paying you enough they're worth putting in extra effort. It's mutually beneficial.
Some of the variables to consider. 1. Location - NY and SF are going to be more expensive. 2. Type of work. HTML is going to be lower generally the C for embedded devices. 3. Length of contract. My rate could go down if you hired me for more than 3-4 months work. (the more time you have to spend looking for work the higher the premium) 4. The Client. Large corporations are going to spend more money generally then a local restaurant. Note you're not going to get a lot of large clients working only part time.
if your "freelancing" boils down to being referred in real life by past clients, $50 is pretty low.
Most of my projects tend to be as a subcontractor to other developers/designers, so the requirements are very well-defined. If you work directly with clients and quote the whole job you need to make sure the scope is WELL defined and you fully understand the client's expectations or you could get burned with changes and out of scope aspects.
All of my work comes from referrals or directly from conversations with acquiantences.
You don't have to wait for a meeting - most groups have a mailing list / discussion group. You can introduce yourself and tell them openly that you're looking for work. You can also sign up for (your platform here) groups on LinkedIn. I signed-up for a few and received several "cold calls" for work within a week.
Sometimes there isn't a catch, and sometimes there is. Unfortunately, in my experience it is a pretty safe bet with most people I could conceivably subcontract my work to that if they are naive enough to work for an obscenely low rate, they are not up to the task because they are also naive in other ways. I hate that this prejudice also hurts people who are just legitimately happy with a lower rate, but that's just how it goes.
I've found its often better to quote per job than by the hour, especially for new clients. $50/hour is cheap if you get a lot done per hour, but expensive if you don't.
Both you and your client benefit from knowing exactly what they're getting and for exactly how much. Plus, a concrete spec and price will help them get the expenditure approved, when applicable.
In my experience if potential clients know that you are working at a day job, then they will try to beat you down. So better not to tell them that.
The best rates come from person-to-person contact that comes from networking. The more you understand the clients' area the business the more you can charge. Charging by the project also works well, especially when you translate that into a value proposition that is appealing to your prospective client.
A solution that work: build something and make it open source and free.
For example build a Wordpress template (a premuim one) add SUPER functionnalities, good silk design...
People who will love your design, will hire you. You'll get a lot of requests, then choose the best.
I'll defintely try raising my price.
Any thoughts on good places to look for work. I have been primarily using Craigslist. I've been getting a good amount of replies. I do not like the sites that make you bid for the work. Seems like that requires a lot of effort, for low prices.
There's a ton of other services and non-traditional sources including tech blogs like Techcrunch and GigaOm (sounds nuts, but biz people go through them).
In the long run - you'll make more money. And will find clients who won't quibble if you take an hour more to get the job done. No time pressure - better output - and better pay.
100,000 / 100 * 1.15 = 1150$
At 1/4 time 1150$ * 20hours a week * 25weeks = 575,000.
PS: I would say current salary / 500 for part time work ( < 20 hours a week for less than 1 month) and around salary / 1000 for full time work for 6+ months. With a sliding scale between those numbers.