The first is to consider the rate you need to give you the kind of life you want. Have a look at your annual budgeted expenditures (rent, utilities, food, entertainment, vacations, whatever). Then, divide it by the number of hours you expect to be working in the year. Make allowances (if applicable) for the number of hours you might need to do networking or other forms of marketing. You may not be able to work 2000 hours a year if you have to take time away for business development, holidays, etc.

The second thing is to see what you can do about finding what the market is paying. Is there a professional association you can contact? Does it keep data or recommendations on billing rates?

Next, could you get a sense of what people doing similar work get paid? What about technical writers for example? Is there enough overlap that their rates might help? Are there other professions that might be a better match to be helpful.

My powers can only be used for good, so I end up working for causes and organizations that I care about, many of whom I know have very limited resources. I've often been shocked to find out what they are paying other consultants / professionals and have upped my own rates to be closer to what others charge.

It's also, quite simply, a matter of being taken seriously. I once missed out on a strategic planning contract because the board of the organization was convinced that I couldn't possibly have the same experience and abilities as the other consultant if I charged such a modest fee.

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Originally posted by Scott Piatkowski:
I've found that I have to overcome an inclination to charge too little.

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At the U of Manitoba, we had a person from Golder International come in to speak to us about professional development, so we asked her about what to charge for our services.

She said the usual way is to determine what your annual salary is, figure out what hourly rate that works out to for full-time work, and multiply by 2.3.

So £35000/year works out to £17.50 an hour, multiply and you get about £40 an hour. That is _apparently_ how consulting businesses charge out their employees: in other words, the corporation gets $40 an hour, you get $17.50. Since you're asking for freelance work, her suggestion was to follow the same procedure. The excess in this case goes not only to profits, but also to equipment, transport, everything the company you work for would be providing you on top of your hourly wage.

Another way is to ask some of your competitors to sub-consult on a project or two. They'll give you a price that will be a little bit higher that what you should be able to do it for. We have done that on two occasions, and it worked well. You don't make any money on that project, but your price will be right on for the next one.

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Originally posted by Contrarian:
I am a self-employed historical researcher and have the feeling that I do not usually charge enough. I think the most I have charged was $60/hour, and much less for various jobs, for varying reasons. A while ago someone suggested $75/hour was usual. Any comments, or website suggestions?

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