How to Price Your Services to Allow You to Take Time Off as a Freelancer

Especially during the holiday seasons, as freelancers and small business owners we often find ourselves getting ready for some time away from our desks. Since we work for ourselves, this can feel both exciting and worrying in equal measure. On the one hand, we’re looking forward to some well-deserved rest and relaxation. But on the other hand, we’re unlikely to be earning much while we’re away.

Unfortunately, if we’re worrying about making ends meet at the end of the month, we’re unlikely to have a very relaxing break! But the good news is that if we adjust our prices to take into account the time we’re going to have off, we don’t need to worry about our finances.

Click here to learn the benefits of building time off into your prices as well as what you should be considering and how to set your allowance.

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Pricing Your Services to Prepare for Freelance Maternity Leave

Taking a period of extended time off from your business can feel daunting. When you work as a freelancer, there’s no-one else to keep things ticking over while you’re not there. Both your business and your customers rely heavily on you as an individual.

As freelancers, we experience so many worries and fears when we take leave. We’re afraid we might end up losing our clients because we’re not available, or that our business simply won’t be able to survive without our constant presence.

However, the financial side of things doesn’t have to be a concern. If we adjust our prices to take into consideration the time we’re going to have off and our new financial requirements, we should still be able to earn enough money to make ends meet and maintain our business.

In this blog post, I’m explaining how to prepare for parental leave, or any period of extended time off, through your pricing.

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Negotiating with Clients - Figuring Out Your 'Walk Away' Point in a Price Negotiation

Negotiating with clients can be intimidating. It’s something that many freelancers and small business owners struggle with, but it’s also an essential part of ensuring you earn enough on your projects to make a decent living.

One of the biggest hurdles you’re likely to encounter during a negotiation is being persuaded to agree to something you’re not actually happy with in the heat of the moment.

Preparing thoroughly for a price negotiation and fully understanding your numbers can help you avoid ending up in this situation. If you know what you’re not willing to accept before you even start your discussion with the client, you’re far less likely to find yourself agreeing to something you don’t want.

In this blog post, I’m setting out the 3 most common negotiation scenarios for freelancers and explaining how to identify your ‘walk away’ point in each situation.

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What to Do If You Feel Shame Around Your Small Business Finances

When it comes to managing our small business finances, we might have a sense that things aren’t going particularly well in our business from a financial point of view. However, if we don’t make the time to look into the specifics, it can be a long while until we realise quite how bad things are.

When we finally see what’s going on, the shame can be crippling. We start believing that because we’ve allowed things to get this bad, we’re terrible business owners. And we often try to hide the extent of the problem from others to save face. We pretend things aren’t in such a state and attempt to convince ourselves we can deal with everything on our own.

If you’re one of the many freelancers and small business owners experiencing shame around your business finances, this blog post is for you. I’m suggesting some steps you can take to break the shame cycle and improve your money management.

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How to Raise Your Prices When Your Clients Have Always Set Your Rates

In the past, I’ve spoken about how common it is for freelancers and small business owners to set their prices based on what others in their industry charge. Another approach that many freelancers take, particularly when they work predominantly with agency clients and are just starting out, is to accept whatever rates their clients offer them.

However, pricing your services in both these ways can lead to problems. This is because what others charge and what your clients offer won’t guarantee you’ll be earning enough to cover your expenses and make a decent living without having to work all hours.

When you accept a rate proposed by your client in particular, it can lead to you feeling underpaid further down the line, and you might not know how to rectify the situation.

I’ve been asked about this topic a few times recently, so here’s a 5-step plan to help you raise your prices if your clients have always set your rates.

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Pricing Advice – Why Having an Aspirational Rate That Feels Unachievable Is a Good Thing

As freelancers and small business owners, it’s easy to feel as though there’s a limit to how much we can earn. Having said that, the likelihood is that you’re actually able to earn far more than you think you can.

While I often talk about understanding your minimum hourly rate being crucial for running a sustainable business, another part of what I teach through Charge with Confidence is how to calculate an aspirational hourly rate that would bring in enough money for you to live your ideal lifestyle.

Sometimes when you calculate your aspirational rate, the result is a number that you can't imagine ever being able to charge. However, I’d argue that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Here, I’m looking at why it’s useful to have a minimum and an aspirational hourly rate, as well as explaining how your aspirational rate can benefit both you and your business.

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How to Manage Small Business Finances – Where to Start When You Feel Overwhelmed

Many freelancers and small business owners feel overwhelmed when it comes to dealing with their finances. They tend to set up their businesses because of their specific skills and passions, so it’s only normal if the financial side of things isn’t a priority for them.

However, sooner or later, all freelancers and small business owners have to take stock of their finances to run a sustainable business. You need to know you’re earning enough to make ends meet and to support your own financial requirements in the long term.

If you’ve never paid much attention to your business finances, they’re likely to be in a mess, and the thought of going back through your previous finances probably feels like too much to handle.

I’ve therefore written this blog post to help you make a start if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the numbers in your business.

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How to Ensure You Earn Enough When Outsourcing as a Freelancer

When your business grows, you might find yourself too busy to manage all the work that comes your way. You’ve built your client base to such an extent that you can no longer do everything requested yourself.

There are various ways of dealing with this problem, one of which involves increasing your capacity by outsourcing paid work to other freelancers and trusted colleagues.

However, it’s important to ensure that going down this route doesn’t have a negative impact on your business. Outsourcing work to other freelancers is only worthwhile if you can earn enough by doing so.

Since outsourcing work often involves a delicate balance, I’ve created a 3-step strategy to help you put together a quote for a client when you want to outsource work to fulfil their project. Read on to find out more!

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How to Price Your Services to Allow for Volunteering and Unpaid Work

In my role as a pricing mentor, I’ve noticed that a lot of freelancers and small business owners have a drive to help others through their work.

One of the benefits of running your own business is being free to make decisions in terms of who you help and how you help them.

Having said that, it’s all too easy to fall into a situation where you're helping others at the expense of your own financial stability. If you choose to help others through your work, you need to make sure that your business remains financially viable.

In this blog post, I’m explaining how to account for volunteering and unpaid work in your pricing so you can make sure you’re running a financially viable business while still enjoying the freedom to help others.

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