Do You Know How Much Your Time is Worth? `April 16` Do you know how much your time is worth? A dollar? Two? How about five? or ten? As a freelancer, this has always been the question that I ask myself. I often have difficulty answering. I always fear that I might charge too much or too low. If I charge too much, chances are, I will lose a potential client. If I charge too low, well... I will be regretting it. So how much should I charge my client? Greetings my dear readers. It's Black Saturday. In the past two weeks, I was contracted to install some wireless network equipment in different municipalities. Initially, I was already offered a price that I could not refuse. So I accepted the offer. One problem here in the Philippines is, that different areas have different rates. However, because of that offer alone, I realized that I have been charging far too low for my services as an IT professional. Now, I have an idea of how much my time is worth.
*Created using Canva* Freelancing Gigs. In Fiverr. I used to offer a vector tracing gig for five dollars. A work that I can do within a day. But that was more than ten years ago. There was no option to offer some value-added services to earn extra in a gig. I think it was due to a very slow internet speed that I stopped my gigs after about three gigs. For months, I wanted to start offering my graphic design services in Fiverr again. However, I'm no longer sure how much I should charge for my services initially. Since my reputation is zero, I'm not sure if I can attract clients if I start with a high rate. However, starting at the lowest rate, (at $5 per gig minus $1 for Fiverr), seem a bit low. How much do You want to earn? I used to work as an IT department head for a real estate developer in our city. The company has over a hundred workstations with a few remote offices. Suffice to say my primary expertise is in network system design and installation.
Although, I was planning to leave this type of work so I an focus on a home-based type of work like offering my graphic design skills through Fiverr, and content creation. I came to realize how much my time is worth because of my latest project in the IT field. In the first two weeks of April, I achieved my earning goal of $1,000 from that project. Though that was a rare opportunity, I will use that amount to compute my time's worth. Monthly earning: $1,000 Number of days per month (at 5 days a week): 20 Number of hours per day: 8 Daily rate = $1,000/20 = $50 Hourly rate = $50/8 = $6.25 per hour I know this does not look so big if you are living in a developed country like the U.S., or a country in Europe. This rate is more than the average wage earner in the Philippines. If I use that rate to offer my services through Fiverr, I may charge $5 for a basic service. Something that I can finish within an hour. Computing for your hourly rate based on your (expected) monthly salary is just one method of computing your time's worth. However, different industries have different rates. Moreover, different countries have different rates as well. Thus, it is wise to check the existing rate for your chosen industry in your area. Lessons From The Past. Doing things quickly doesn't mean you have to lower your rate. This was my mistake. I thought that if a job is too easy for me, I charge a low rate. I forgot the number of hours that I have used in the past to develop the skills that I have. To finish a job quickly means you know what you are doing and you also value your client's time. Thus you can charge high. In Closing Knowing your worth means, knowing your true value. It doesn't matter if you are a full-time employee, self-employed, or freelancer. Then you can decide when you need to improve your work, thus continuing to develop your skillset. When you continue to develop your skills and work habit, you can expect or even ask to get paid bigger. To close this post, let me share with you an episode from Salamondrin's YouTube Channel. (Thanks to Mr. Demesel for sharing his channel in noise.cash). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AXLKZzh3BM&t=6s Live an abundant life Thanks for reading Credits: All images are from Unsplash unless otherwise specified Previous Posts https://read.cash/@JLoberiza/non-stop-rain-and-flood-2acbdab3#previous-posts https://read.cash/@JLoberiza/a-simple-yet-awesome-celebration-thanks-to-bitcoin-cash-6b1705f5#previous-posts **Why Do You Need To Have a Passive Income Stream?** https://read.cash/@JLoberiza/why-do-you-need-to-have-a-passive-income-stream-c6c5a2a5 **A Simple Yet Awesome Celebration, Thanks To Bitcoin Cash.** https://read.cash/@JLoberiza/a-simple-yet-awesome-celebration-thanks-to-bitcoin-cash-6b1705f5 **Paid For To Travel- A Perk I Missed in my Old Job** https://read.cash/@JLoberiza/paid-for-to-travel-a-perk-i-missed-in-my-old-job-e649a747 **I need to prepare for a more grueling week** https://read.cash/@JLoberiza/i-need-to-prepare-for-a-more-grueling-weekapr-77834ddc **How to Make Your Earnings in Read.cash GROW** https://read.cash/@JLoberiza/how-to-make-your-earnings-in-readcash-grow-e1bb9534 **March Was A Remarkable Month, Let's Make April Fantastic** https://read.cash/@JLoberiza/march-was-a-remarkable-month-lets-make-april-fantastic-3c00b730 **What Would You Do When You Can't Think of Anything To Write?** https://read.cash/@JLoberiza/what-would-you-do-when-you-cant-think-of-anything-to-write-c4dee879 Check out my other posts in **Read.Cash** https://read.cash/r/JLoberiza Check out my other Articles on **Publish0x.com** https://www.publish0x.com/?a=YRdG5RZyaD Join me in **ForumCoin.Com** https://forumcoin.com/index.php?r=2628 Follow me in **Noise.cash** https://noise.cash/u/JLshub Follow me on **Twitter** https://read.cash/@JLoberiza/my-painful-ordeal-continued-5113f2db#bad-link
14 comments
Yeah know the worth of your time. 6.25 dollars per hour is really considered a quite high per hour rate especially here in the Philippines because we have such a low minimum wage income that was offered for a day. It's also lucky if you get a job that have a wage of 500-1000 pesos a day because some people works for the whole day and they just get a little and it's really hard especially that the groceries and stuffs is increasing continuously.
Yup. Pataas ng pataas ang presyo ng bilihin. Pero yung sahod, hndi tumataas. 😭😭.
Exactly we must try to to our value realize the importance of our time and skills. I believe this video channel will be beneficial I will check it in a while
Time is precious, whosoever waste it on something not worthy is actually doing the wrong thing.
that is right.... I sometimes waste my time on playing games... but usually I delete the games after a while
Growing includes competence and salary increase. Haha knowing your hourly rate helps you work well to get to your goal
You are correct to say you shouldn't just charge by how quick you finish a job, because it has taken you a lot of time to master those skills
The thing is, the quicker you can finish the job means you can charge higher
Having a skills you can add some in your hourly rate. Skills being developed in a ling period of time is different from just working on something more easier.
It's great that you got to figure that out. This is a reminder to us all to know what our worth is. I think it's the fear that is holding us back, the fear of losing our jobs and our clients but as the video said there is so much more out there for us. I wonder what happened to that woman he mentioned :)
Tama.. most of us feel "secured" if we have regular job. Problem is, having a regular job is not 100% guaranteed. Plus our growth is often limited even shunted in a regular job. As for that waitress, whatever happened to her, she started her journey to her freedom. It's not easy, it takes time and lots and lots of effort, but at least she started.
Well, if I were I should on my skills. Indeed that income from your mater piece is exaggerating and its really great friend. Just focus on that imagine if you tend to focus more on that you'll probably make things possible.
Exactly. That's why I do not waste my free time for using facebook instead I use for socializing on noisecash and making articles here on readcash and I must say I am doing the best in my time.
You should never undervalue your skills. There will always be freelance clients who are willing to pay more for quality.