Yo, cutting your rates to get clients is a freelance death wish

I gotta warn you about something most freelancers won't admit. Everyone says to charge low at first, but that's how you get stuck. I did $50 gigs for months and was constantly stressed with no cash. Like, one client asked for ten rewrites on a cheap blog post and never paid on time. When I finally raised my prices, I scared off the bad clients and kept the good ones. Now I have steady work and way less panic. Don't let the fear of no jobs trick you into selling yourself short.

4 comments

4 Comments

the_susan3mo ago

My friend did the cheap gigs route at first to attract clients. Ngl, she ended up with people who haggled over every dollar and asked for endless changes. She was always stressed and chasing payments that never seemed to come on time. Honestly, it took her months to realize those clients didn't value her work at all. She finally raised her rates and the difficult ones all left quickly. Now she works with respectful clients who pay well and trust her process.

spencer4003mo ago

Man, @the_susan, your friend's story hits way too close to home. I totally did the same thing when I started, offering stupid low rates just to get anyone to say yes. It was a mess. I'd get clients who'd argue about paying for an extra revision on a $50 logo, or ghost me for three weeks and then demand their project done in a day. Raising my prices was scary, but man, it was like a magic filter. All the headache people just vanished overnight.

ivan7743mo ago

Ten rewrites on a cheap post, man, @spencer400 knows that pain.

mary_nelson713mo ago

Ever hear that saying "charge cheap, get cheap"? It really is true from what I've seen. Better clients show up when you stop working for peanuts.