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Hourly Rate or Flat Pay Rate

Hourly Rate or Flat Pay Rate
June 15, 2021

 

Which is better, an hourly rate or a flat pay rate?

 

With uncapped earning potential freelancers get hold while fixing rates of their projects. With an open market system, you are your own boss, and setting a benchmark in terms of pricing is the greatest challenge many freelancers face. It’s always debatable to get a comprehensive answer from a freelancer to give quotations to clients on an hourly or flat rate basis?

Let’s get in to see the insight of the issue and how freelancers can fix their rates with ease.

 

Why is pricing freelancer rates so difficult?

 

It’s been a debate amongst freelance workers across the globe for years: is it better to charge a flat rate fee or be paid by the hour?

It is quite imperative to answer such a question with clarity before taking it forward to the client as this might impact you in a long run in terms of managing the income and your relations with the client.

 

A good pricing strategy creates a perfect balance on the wheels of your career and this shapes your personality to understand the market, target clients, and a broader and in-depth picture of the market.

 

So what should you do? To get freelance work online with better rates, Well, it depends! It majorly relies on the job, it depends on your expertise, it depends on the client. However, we all know that your answer should not be like this. It should be firm and when you say it depends it shows you are not confident about your work and capabilities. A well-researched and industry-accepted pricing strategy can help you get quality clients and projects.

 

Cash on Just-In-Time hiring

 

This is a great opportunity for all those people who are looking for home-based jobs and a good payoff in a short time.

The concept is not new but this is heating up more in the pandemic scenario where companies are trying their hands on freelancing their projects to the skilled freelancers around the world. They are no longer dependent on full-time employees. In such a competitive market good pricing can help you get ongoing freelance job work in Indian with minimum effort. This is a golden chance for freelancers as a project from a reputed brand can give an upper edge to their portfolio over the competitors.

 

Setting pricing can be challenging, uncertain, and Darwinian with relentless competition among peers. Even after emerging victorious from the frantic, blurry haze of the start-up phase, freelancers must genuinely commit to lifelong learning to survive and succeed in business only if they know what to “quote”.

 

Time is Money!

 

There is no scientific formula that can tell you what to charge and how to charge right? But we all are somehow aware that hard work pays off and hence time is always equals to money no matter what job we are in. But it all depends on how worth your time? In reality, there is no strategy behind the pricing be it hourly or flat. The best way is to pick a market-accepted price and rule out if this suits your client or not then gradually you can lower or increase this price as per the demand.

 

A flat rate has more income potential

 

A flat-rate pay is always controllable and many people are fine with this billing system. So instead of shooting the number of hours spent on the project, you can fix a price for the entire project in one go. This is However possible for projects where the deliverables are fixed with fewer complexities from the client. Flat rates are eventually rewarding in the long run for working faster and effectively with minimum time and high quality. This way you can take on more gigs and earn higher.

 

A flat-rate pay goes well with clients

 

A flat-rate pay is generally preferred by Startups and clients with a minimum budget scope or depending on the project deadline and urgency. A flat-rate pay system also gives a sense of security to the client as they can monitor their spending here. It makes freelancers more competitive and approachable for clients. Flat rates pay suit most of the web development or design jobs like PHP development, web designer, android development, iOS development freelance jobs, and project.

 

Clients consider hourly a risky business

There is less scope for negotiations and they cannot trust the freelancers on an hourly basis. If you charge a $100 /hour rate this might restrict you to get more clients and recurring work as many clients will find the pricing too high and going above their budget. First-timers find it risky as they don’t know how much time it will take to complete a project and hence this might increase their overall project cost. But that doesn’t mean a flat rate pay will always be a profitable business.

 

Hourly rates are much safer with less time taken

Flat rates give you low income in terms of hourly rates as the project will be completed on a set time frame, unlike the flat rate system where you will work for months without additional payoff. Then there will be endless revisions from errant clients. Again if we talk about how flexible you will be within those parameters then it will be solely based on your choice and how you want to take it ahead. To please new clients you can do additional tasks as a goodwill gesture so that they can assign you more tasks in the future and that just builds a good rapport and trust between both parties. Always play smart and judge the pricing based on your previous work and how much time and effort it will take to finish it this way you will never undersell yourself.

Hourly rates suit majorly for online freelance jobs like customer support and technical support work where the deliverables are defined and Clear.

 

Tips for setting the right pricing plan

 

  1. Project Projection: it is advisable to analyze the project before starting and giving your commitment to the client. A project which requires a higher level of expertise needs to be priced accordingly.
  2. Certifications: clients prefer certifications and a good educational background freelancer and it builds trust in the mind of the client.
  3. Geolocation: though you are not restricted to work with Indian Clients only as you may get projects around the world. Location plays a vital role here as you must keep the pricing based on the client's location and not based on general perception at all.

 

Conclusion

We can say that you need to dig deep to get what suits you best, and set a pricing benchmark for your future projects and your overall Growth. Always keep in mind the bigger picture and act as per the industry norms only then you will be able to succeed in the long run. Check out OnBenchMark.com now for freelance job opportunities globally.

 


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