By Susan Johnston
Three years ago, when I left my job to freelance full time, I had a hard time shifting my mental math from salary to an hourly rate. When a client agreed to pay $30/hour for my copywriting services, I was over the moon, thinking it was an outrageously extravagant sum. After all, $30/hour x 40 hours in a week x 52 weeks in a year = $62,400, which was way more than the salary I'd just left. (I'm sure some of you are already laughing at that equation, because you know where I'm going with this.)
One of my mentors encouraged me to ask for almost double that rate next time, and I scoffed, worried I'd look greedy. "You can't base your freelance rates on a salaried position," she told me. "This requires a whole new mindset." As I'd realize over the next several months, she was right on the money.... More...
