When you first earn on your own terms the obvious step is charge clients by the hour for a rate higher than your previous job.
It’ll feel amazing at first. Like a big f*ck you to your previous employer. But, soon you’ll realise you weren’t even considering all the insurance, accounting, tech and (endless) subscriptions you need to even do your job. Quickly you increase your rate to barely break even. Then you try again. Only this time your clients grit their teeth at your price hike. And soon enough you start to feel like an employee without the benefits and with all the risk.
Such is often the life of the freelancer.
But it doesn’t have to be like this. Beyond the simple hourly rate that your clients set for you exists a plethora of alternatives worth striving for. Each can remove yourself from the burden of the clock to start earning without your time. Here are the three levels to get you there.
Level 1 - Dictate Your Rate
When you dictate your hourly rate you’re selling your expertise.
The client is buying YOU. Your brain. Your skills. And most importantly, your decision making. They want access to the combination of experiences that exist within your head. And if your niche knowledge matches their specific need they’re more than willing to pay you good money for it.
To set a rate that truly captures the finitude of your time you need to be perceived as an industry leader in your field. Either through specialising your expertise so narrowly that there are so few alternatives that exist, or by combining your unique skills to create an entirely new category of one. With the former you won’t struggle explaining what you do, but you will end up spending a lot of time finding the exact clients you help. With the latter you’ll have to educate others on your new category, but once they’re onboard you become the only option in their minds.
When you’ve refined yourself into the go-to within your industry, there are number of ways to slice the rate:
Hourly - the obvious one.
Daily - normally assumes an 8 hour day.
Weekly - great for sporadic tasks spread across the week.
Monthly - similar to weekly. But, beware the scope creep of clients who will take advantage of your fixed rate by increasingly asking you for more.
To get started with either delve into
’s post below:Level 2 - Productise Your Services
When you productise your services you’re selling your value. Not your time.
That means you have to create an offering that matches the specific needs of your client. This time the main selling point is the outcome of the process you’re pitching to them. Your expertise is part of the package. But, it isn’t it’s entirety. It’s all about the transformation they will experience as a result of the programme you’re delivering. And how you will take them from point A with all the struggles they currently have to point B that achieves all the aspirations they have for the future.
To remove yourself even further from the offer it’s smart to involve frameworks, product tools or even a team that combine together to form a fixed price that is impossible to break into individual parts. With an offer defined you can either customise for individual clients as per their needs or refine into menu of packages to pitch to mostly similar personas. Custom solutions demand higher prices, but lack the scalability of packaged solutions that will enable you to delegate and eventually remove yourself from delivery.
If in doubt, start custom. Then package up later.
To price a productised solution consider the following options:
Set project fee - 50% upfront, 50% on delivery.
Revenue share - fixed % of monthly revenue.
Commission model - % or flat fee per new client / customer.
Share options - own a piece of the company you support.
With a clear solution and a no-brainer price that is below the value you’re delivering keep pitching to clients until they bite. This will require greater sales skills. But, these can always be learnt. Here’s how:
Level 3 - Sell a Digital Asset
With a digital asset you’re going one step further.
You’re removing yourself from the process entirely. In fact, from start to finish there’ll be little to no direct interaction with a human being. Instead the productised solution you create once can be shipped an infinite number of times through simple duplication. It’s the holy grail of a solopreneur and will offer you the ability to earn while you sleep. Here are just a few options:
Writing an e-book
Creating an online course
Building a paid newsletter
Or even designing an app (see no-code on how)
However, this time you don’t get the luxury of your newfound sales skills. Because if you’re earning while you sleep you’re also needing to convince while you sleep too. This means marketing, and in particular copywriting is your best friend. You’ll need it to create a marketing funnel that you can test, measure and tweak. It’ll be a lot of up-front effort. But, once you get the conversion rate healthy it becomes a pure numbers game. More top-line audience means more bottom-line profit.
Before you even think product, focus on building an engaged audience ready to buy from you instead. With no traffic even the most optimised website in the world will never convert anyone. So, here’s how you do exactly that:
Summary
As with most things as a multipotentialite, the above options are not simply either or. They’re likely everything, all at once, or one after another. But, to not overwhelm you, here’s a simple rule of thumb:
If you’re lacking clients and need cash right now focus on level 1.
If you don’t have enough time to deliver your services switch to level 2.
If you’re financially secure and can make the time build out level 3.
And if you’re all in on your portfolio career, earning independently from a full-time or even part-time job do a mix. Solve your cash problem with level 1, productise the services that are working with level 2 and build something for the long-term with level 3. Your future self and your current self will thank you for both keeping your head above water and building something to remove yourself from the monotony of direct delivery.