My rule of thumb is take what you'd expect at a full-time job and divide by 1000. So, if you'd make $130k in salary, charge $130/hr for that work as a freelancer.
When clients ask you why, the answer I give is that professional services people typically bill about 1000 hours a year. The rest of the time goes to sales, marketing, learning new tools, and other non-billable work.
That said, once you are consistently busy, you should raise your rates, just like the article says. When clients ask you about that rate, just say, "Well, that's what other new clients are paying." Nobody can really argue with that.
I've also found a lot of value in having a high headline rate that I discount when I actually want the work.
Another formulation of that rule of thumb is double the per-hour salary (equivalent since there are roughly 40 * 50 = 2000 working hours in a year). $130K/yr salary -> $65/hr salary, so you should charge 2 * $65/hr = $130/hr
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My rule of thumb is take what you'd expect at a full-time job and divide by 1000. So, if you'd make $130k in salary, charge $130/hr for that work as a freelancer.
When clients ask you why, the answer I give is that professional services people typically bill about 1000 hours a year. The rest of the time goes to sales, marketing, learning new tools, and other non-billable work.
That said, once you are consistently busy, you should raise your rates, just like the article says. When clients ask you about that rate, just say, "Well, that's what other new clients are paying." Nobody can really argue with that.
I've also found a lot of value in having a high headline rate that I discount when I actually want the work.
Another formulation of that rule of thumb is double the per-hour salary (equivalent since there are roughly 40 * 50 = 2000 working hours in a year). $130K/yr salary -> $65/hr salary, so you should charge 2 * $65/hr = $130/hr