My uncle told me to never take a job for less than $75 an hour and I lost a great client because of it.

I turned down a steady $60/hour blog writing gig from a startup in Austin last year, thinking I was holding out for better, but they hired someone else and I ended up with no work for two months, so has anyone else gotten bad rate advice that cost them?

3 comments

3 Comments

samf9514d ago

Remember my cousin swore you should always charge a day rate instead of hourly. Got me into a huge fight with a regular client who wanted to track hours for a website redesign. They felt nickel and dimed and just hired a cheap agency instead. Sometimes rigid rules ignore how real work actually goes down, you know?

ben13814d ago

Man, I gotta disagree hard here. Hourly tracking keeps everyone honest and stops scope creep dead. That client wanting to track hours? They probably got burned before by a flat rate project that ballooned. A day rate just lets you hide inefficiency, and a cheap agency will give them exactly what they paid for... a cheap site. Your cousin's rule isn't rigid, it's just clear business.

the_river11d ago

Wait, is any single piece of rate advice ever that perfect for everyone? Like @ben138 said, clear rules can help, but that Austin gig sounds like it was actually pretty solid. Turning down steady work for a number your uncle picked seems wild. Sometimes a good client and a decent rate beats holding out for a perfect number and getting zero.