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Serious question, did anyone else charge their first client a flat $50 because they felt bad?
I did my first paid gig as a freelance bookkeeper in April, and the client asked what I charged. I panicked and said 50 bucks flat for the whole month. It took me 9 hours. That works out to about $5.50 an hour, which is less than the guy who mows my lawn. What I keep seeing in this group is people pricing from guilt instead of from the work. The number that matters is not what feels polite, it is what covers your time plus a little for the hassle. So how did you all land on your first real rate, did you pick a number off a forum or just make one up like I did?
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dianawilson5d ago
Picked mine by adding up what I actually needed to live on for the month then dividing by the hours I could really work, and the number scared me so bad I almost hung up the phone. Here is the part nobody talks about though, that $50 first gig is not just a pay cut, it sets a ceiling. The client tells their friends what you charge and now every referral expects the same number, so you end up digging out of a hole you made in one awkward second. Send that first client a new rate card with a short note saying your intro pricing ended, most of them say ok because replacing you is a pain. Guilt pricing is really just fear wearing a nice outfit, and the fix is having the number ready before anyone asks.
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