I was freelancing for a real estate agent in Dallas last spring and she begged me to start a website redesign ASAP. I put in 15 hours over two weeks, sent her the draft, and she just stopped replying to texts and emails. Now I don't touch any work over $200 without a 20% deposit upfront, no exceptions. Has anyone else had a client vanish mid project like that?
After a year of grinding on a $500 monthly retainer for a small e-commerce brand, I finally did the math and realized I was billing less than minimum wage for the hours they were taking. What tipped me off was when a friend quoted me her own retainer for a similar scope and it was literally double what I was charging. Has anyone else figured out they were lowballing themselves by comparing notes with another freelancer?