Just over a month ago I received a request from a buyer on fiverr that was interested in some writing work. I had logged back into my account just a week earlier to help out a friend who wanted to set up his gig, so waking up to a message was surprinsing.
I thought it would be a one-off job and there wouldn’t really be a lot to worry about. The usual article for a fixed rate for a company that simply wanted to launch their product? But it had been so long since I last worked as a freelance writer that I:
- Did not know about the rates that I should be charging
- Did not know how much work I was signing up for
Surprisingly enough, this was also during my self-enforced break from work. After catching omicron and closing down offices for a week since everyone was sick and productivity was low, it was nice to simply shut off my brain and write for someone once more.
value of time
Time is an incredibly valuable thing and ever since I started working on my company, it became apparent that I was massively undervaluing mine. I look back at my freelancing days with no regrets though, because I learned a lot while writing those 500 words for $5 on fiverr. Later raising my packages to be $10 for a thousand words, and then $15 for the same number amount of work.
But that was all three years ago. Over the last three years not only had I become a lot more confident in my skills and abilities, I had also gained negotiating experience in business. I was now pricing my services based on the value that I am providing someone instead of the amount of work that I am doing.
Meaning that while my company may charge a small client only 50,000 rupees for a project, we also charge 500,000 for a project that would take just twice as long as the first one. We had abandoned fixed pricing, hourly pricing, and everything else that came with that notion. We charge based on what our service means to you. That is it.
Back to the problem at hand. It took me just under two hours to write a single article for this client. But after writing two articles in a single day, my brain completely noped out and refused to function any more. I knew my limits. Let’s talk about some facts.
- The minimum monthly wage in Pakistan is just around 20,000 Pakistani Rupees, that is just under $120 US (Feb / 2022)
- There is absolutely no need for me to earn money from writing articles. I am comfortable without this money.
having the upper hand in negotiations
Not actually needing any of this money meant that I had the upper hand. I can walk away without regret if I feel that my time is not valued. When I say “I cannot keep working with you at the same rate”, it is not a bluff.
Since I am from Pakistan, buyers would pay less to me than they would to someone who’s living in the west. For Pakistanis, this means that during the first interaction, you should be on the backfoot and accommodate as much as possible. Switching freelancers is incredibly difficult. When you are already satisfied with one, someone who understands your needs and your requirements? It is better to keep working with them. This is something I learned from experience as I hired freelancers for some projects.
Here is a guide that I follow with the work of my company as well. And it has allowed me to raise my prices without ever being questioned on why I am doing so.
- Provide the best possible result that you can.
- Do not let the quality of your work ever go down.
- Negotiate for more time if that means you will be able to provide a better quality.
- Only negotiate for a higher payment if your client is completely satisfied with you.
figuring out a writing rate that I was happy with
Writing is a tedious job. I hadn’t done it professionally for over three years at this point. I needed to be up to date on the local rates. And then charge twice, if not thrice that. Reached out to friends far and wide, local and international ones. Realized that while the USD rate of entry-level writing had not increased much.
Alright. So $15 for a thousand word article is what most high quality local writers are charging nowadays. The problem? I offered that as my price for a 1,500 words sample article. Time to panic.
This is the weird thing about money and the value of time. If I hadn’t reached out to friends to figure out what the rates are, I would be perfectly happy making $500 a month of part-time work that I just do over the weekend. But now that I knew that someone else was already charging that same amount? For work that is far, far inferior to mine? Yea I need to raise prices.
Took an axe to my gig, every $10 become a $25 – turned off my brain and gave a quote to my new client accordingly.
the problem of the Pakistani flag
I love Pakistan. Our image on a global scale? That could definitely be improved. It seems like when people see the flag, all they see is an opportunity to get a lot of work done at a relatively low rate. This is not untrue by the way, there are a lot of people willing to work for endless hours, all just for a mere $25. But people cannot afford to lose the work they have. It is difficult to negotiate when you need to pay bills.