When I first started off as a freelance writer, my biggest confusion was pricing. I used to see the competition on the online marketplaces and see the bidding wars. What if I charge more and lose the project? What if I am undercharging and losing out on good money? The uncertainties were large and confusing. I researched and also asked a number of my freelancing friends. I came across a number of pricing models – per word pricing, per page pricing, hourly pricing, etc.
I believe that any pricing model can be right only and only if you find it to be comfortable. After a project delivery, sit back and look at the cheque you received. Does that cheque justify the time and effort you took to deliver this project? Many times your answer will be yes and that means you are doing things right. Don’t be greedy. Look at things from the correct perspective and make this decision.
If you are not happy and you come to the conclusion that you are finding yourself compromising in your pricing just so that you get more projects then that’s where you should stop and rethink. You should decide for yourself the best pricing model that will suit your needs. I cannot make that decision for you but I will share with you one of the custom models I made for myself to deal with the problem.
Once I gained experience and learned the ropes of freelancing, just enough to survive, I realized I was working more for much less. I had to make some adjustments to my pricing model. I was spending too much time in churning out more articles but the pay I was getting did not justify. If you have a fulltime job and you write part time, then you might not feel the pinch as much. But when you have decided to make freelance writing a fulltime career then you need to pull up your socks.
I drew up a custom pricing model for my project needs. This pricing model is combines the best of the different pricing models that I came across and a few tweaks from my end. I call it the ‘CreativeBug Pricing Tracker’ named after my venture with the same name. This model cum tracker is still evolving and I will keep customizing it as it goes. This might not be the best model for determining pricing of small projects but is useful when it comes to large project pricing.
The benefit of following the CreativeBug model is that it allows you to quantify your time which is a major pain for writers. How to make allowances for time and how to determine an hourly rate? You need not be very good with math to work this model. This will help you set monthly targets and start earning revenues that justify your efforts. I will discuss this pricing model in my next article in this series. custom brand socks