

Remind HN: Raise your rates - oscardelben

With the new year coming, I think it's the right time for every freelancer to consider raising their rates.<p>I know this is something that most people hate to do, but we're in business and everyone of us know how hard it is to keep going at certain time.<p>I've found these templates very useful in my situation: http://freelancember.com/email-templates/<p>Don't forget that raising your rates means that you'll be able to stay in business for a longer time.<p>Even if your clients rejects your proposal, it's still worth trying.<p>What to do with the new money? Start a saving account and use it as your personal insurance for tough times, or invest them in your business to provide even more higher quality.
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jpwagner
The author of those templates should read this...

[http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-
People/dp/14...](http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-
People/dp/1439167346)

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jpdugan
By all means, try to raise your rates. The first step toward being paid a lot
of money is asking for it.

But if these templates sound like a good idea to you, you need to focus on
something else first. The only way you could change your rate via email is if
you're doing your freelance work without a formal contract, which is a
colossal mistake.

So, forget these email templates. First, get all your clients to sign a
services agreement. The time to negotiate your rate is when you and your
client draft and sign the statements of work appended to that agreement.

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swah
With the new year coming is time to think: how have I improved my value?

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gte910h
I've found this is better to do at non-xmas times, especially when you're
really busy and need fewer clients.

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larrik
In my experience, customers generally expect new rates to start with your
fiscal year, and Jan 1 is an obvious start to a fiscal year.

YMMV

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corin_
January 1st is an obvious start to the _calendar_ year, not the _fiscal_ year.

In the UK the fiscal year begins in early April, and while different countries
do have different starts to the fiscal year, few of them (not, for example, UK
or USA) start on January 1st.

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gte910h
For many types of companies in the US, you have to basically convince the
government to let you have one other than jan1 - dec 31.

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corin_
Not according to Wikipedia:

"The U.S. government's fiscal year begins on October 1 of the previous
calendar year and ends on September 30"

Or About.com:

"The Federal Fiscal Year runs from October 1 of the prior year through
September 30 of the next year."

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smountcastle
That's the government's fiscal year, not your company's fiscal year.

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corin_
My bad: "The tax year for a business is governed by the fiscal year it
chooses."

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mattmanser
Those templates are awfully written and I'd do it face-to-face anyway.

I find people who drop bombshells in emails even though I see them all the
time to be a particularly distasteful form of business associate.

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petercooper
I agree with your latter point, but nowadays a lot of freelancers rarely or
never meet their clients (especially if they're overseas).

That said, I'd still put e-mail as a better medium for this than the phone.
Even if you worded it just right, it's awkward for the client too because it's
not exactly something to celebrate but nor do they want to look cheap. E-mail
provides the right level of formality for contractual/pricing discussions,
IMHO at least.

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robryan
If you don't raise rates once a year you will need another reason when you do
decide to. At very least you would want to tie and increase to inflation.

Completely different business but my dad got into the trap of leaving his
rates constant for many years, so each year your in effect making less and the
client has an expectation that the rates won't move.

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ahoyhere
Hi, I'm the writer behind Freelancember. I agree with the other commentor who
said you shouldn't just drop a bomb shell like this in email. That's why,
naturally, Freelancember has several other rate-increasing-related guides
before the templates:

[http://freelancember.com/top-10-reasons-to-raise-your-
freela...](http://freelancember.com/top-10-reasons-to-raise-your-freelance-
rates/)

<http://freelancember.com/downloads/FreelancemberDay6.pdf>

<http://freelancember.com/raise-your-rates-checklist/>

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lhnn
Is it 'right' to raise your rates on such short notice? Wouldn't most contract
work have stipulations regarding changes in price?

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tapvt
I've survived, and even succeeded (by some, maybe most, measures) through my
first year of full-time freelance web development.

I have some clients, who came onboard very early on in my professional and
personal development as a freelance dev, and who are still being billed at
their original rates. I notified these clients at the beginning of November
that I am working to bring all rates "on par" across the board.

Even clients who are currently receiving the benefit of your older, lower
rates will agree to the economics of paying a competitive price for the same
quality of service that you provide to your highest paying clients. The dialog
that began in November has proven fruitful in terms of developing a strategy
to get all of my current, ongoing clients to agree to the new rate structure.

Bottom line: Have too much work, or too many "potential clients" hounding you
for proposals? Raise your rates. Want to keep your clients? Give them notice
well ahead of time, then raise your rates.

