How to set your rates as a freelancer working with international clients

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One of the toughest choices you have to make as a freelancer is your pricing. Overcharge and they'll seek alternatives. Then you charge too little, and you never get ahead and work all the time. Many of the freelancers in Nigeria price themselves insufficiently, setting a price that is fair for the local market, but much lowed than the international market price. The end effect is burnout, frustration and lost income. This guide will assist you in establishing your rates based on your worth and competitive in the world's market.

Why Global Standards Matter

Before you get to the numbers, it's important you know why global standards should affect your rates. Freelance work is now borderless thanks to the internet. You can be hired by a client in New York or London, as much as a client in Lagos. Those clients have budgets in accordance with their local economies, NOT yours. They hope to get paid based on quality; not geographic location.

If you offer the same service for which people pay $5 an hour in the USA, but $50 an hour in other parts of the world, you might find that you are actually regarded as not being very good. If the rate is very low, it may mean you are inexperienced or the work isn't good. Even worse, you get yourself into a trap. You're paid less for the hours you work. There's no time to attend to professional development. There is no room for additional tools or training. Low rates becomes a limitation to overcome.

To establish global rates is not some sort of extortion. It is professional. It gives you the opportunity to put money into your business, produce better results and create a viable career.

Who pays for what? Researching What the World Pays

You cannot set any rate without data. How much do freelance workers who have your skills make around the world? Do not guess. Research.

Try freelance websites like Upwork, Fiverr, and Toptal. Look for freelancers that have abilities comparable to your own. Check out their profile, particularly excellent ones with positive reviews and regular job performance. Record their hourly rates. If the project is fixed price, you can find the project price per hour by dividing the project price by the estimated hours.

Utilize salary websites such as Glassdoor, Payscale and Salary.com. Look for full time wages for your job in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia. Divide the annual salary by two thousand work hours to get an approximate hourly rate. Freelancers usually ask for more money than a full time employee due to self-employment benefits, taxes, and downtime.

Use Reddit, Facebook and LinkedIn to join freelance communities. Inquire from members what they charge for certain services. Practitioners with experience may be willing to share this information with other practitioners.

Check industry-specific surveys. Numerous professional organizations and sites offer rate guides on an annual basis. Freelancer Union, for instance, and Upwork provide rates for each skill and experience level.

You'll find that most of the quality free-lance services charge between 30 and a hundred and fifty dollars per hour around the globe. At the lower end, you could begin making as little as $15-$25 an hour. Rates for specialties such as software development, high-end design and consulting services can surpass two hundred dollars per hour.

This is where things get difficult. This is where it gets tricky.

The rates are averages across the country. This will depend on your experience level, the quality of your portfolio and the success you experience with your clients.

Newbies who haven't had any paid work experience and aren't yet producing samples should post at the bottom of the spectrum. That's about 15 to 20 dollars per hour for writing. For design, the cost is twenty to twenty-five dollars. Virtual assistance, $12 to $18. For social media management, $15-20 per month. Twenty to thirty dollars for web development.

Those who have 1-3 years of experience, have a solid portfolio and have good client reviews can charge mid-range rates, as they are intermediate freelancers. Writing: $25-$40 per hour. Design: between 30 and 50 dollars. Virtual assistance: $20 to $30. Social media: $25-35 USD. 35 to 60 USD for web development services.

Frequently, the more advanced freelancers those who have 3 years or more of experience, specialize in a niche, have great reviews and have proven results are able to charge in the top tier. Writing: up to 40 or even more. Design: $50-$100 or higher. Virtual assistance: $30 - $50. Social media: $40 to $75. Web development: $60 to $150 or even more.

These ranges are based on worldwide competition. If you have local Nigerian clients more often, then rates will be lower but that is up to you. For clients on a worldwide basis, these ranges are achievable.

The Value-Based Alternative to Hourly Rates

There are issues with hourly rates. They punish efficiency. The more quickly you perform, the less money you will make! Hourly billing is not preferred by clients because they can't calculate the expenses. Value based pricing is a better option for many freelancers.

Don't bill an hourly rate, charge according to results. Customer needs a logo. The logo is of value to their business. That does not mean how many hours you spend in design will make a difference to that value. The more efficient and the better at what you do you are, the more you should be making, not the opposite.

Value-based pricing begins by understanding the value that the client gains. Will a new web site make them more sales? Will a marketing campaign bring new customers? Can they get a higher ranking if they optimize the content? Give it a monetary value. Put a price tag on that gain. Then charge a percentage of that profit as your fee.

A client, for instance, thinks that a new page will generate an extra $50,000 in sales. That's a $5000 page, and that's a reasonable price. You're only receiving 10% of the value you're creating. The client retains 90% of the earnings. Everyone wins.

If you are not able to get a specific value, then consider using the project-based pricing. Calculate the time it will take to complete a project, multiply by the rate of pay you want, and then add some margin for error. Then quote a fixed price to the client. They know the cost and have no hidden surprises. If you're faster than you thought, it's a good thing.

Pricing for various platforms.

There are a number of various pricing models within the freelance platforms.

To attract your first clients on Upwork, it's best to start at a slightly lower price point to initially get some work done and develop reviews. When you have established a track record, offer to increase rates to the level of, or higher than, the market. You can reveal your rates to your clients on Upwork so gradually increase them. It's a fair amount to raise them five dollars an hour every couple of months.