Too many freelancers I talk to haven’t raise their rates in over a year.

Maybe you’re scared of awkward conversations.

Maybe you’re still struggling with imposter syndrome.

Maybe you’re worried the client will find someone else.

But here’s the truth:

If you don’t learn how and when to raise your rates, you’re not running a business.

Every business raises their rates from time to time, or they won’t grow. And if they don’t grow, they die.

Got your attention?

Good...

Just because you’re a freelancer, doesn’t mean the same general principles of business don’t apply to you.

So let's fix that...

When to raise your rates

There are 4 good times to justify a rate increase: 

1. When you’ve gained more experience

More experience on the job usually gets you a raise in the corporate world. The same should apply to freelancing.

Got some new skills? Learned some of the ins-and-outs of a particular niche?

Raise your rates.

2. When you’ve built more confidence

Freelancing is very much a journey of building confidence. It comes with experience and knowing you have what it takes to get the work done well.

If you’re feeling 50% more confident than you were 6 months ago, it’s time to raise your rates.

3. When you have results to show

Results speak for themselves.

But sometimes you have to make them speak for you.

Leverage the results you’ve gotten for clients to raise your rates with existing clients, and with new clients.

4. When it becomes a necessity

You shouldn’t wait for this to happen.

Do it before you NEED to do it.

How to raise your rates

Next comes the how.

So, what’s the best way to go about raising your rates without actually rocking the boat?

The first and best way is:

#1 Upsell existing clients.

If you’ve put the time in to do good work and build a good relationship with your clients, your value to them is constantly growing, so it makes sense for your rates to reflect that.

Think about it: it will cost them a lot more time, effort and inconvenience to find someone else to work with, than to cover your (reasonable) rate increase.

It also makes sense to upsell them on additional services you can provide, since by now you have a better understanding of their business and their needs.

Here’s a template for an email you could send your clients:

Hi X,

I hope you are doing well.

We want to thank you so much for being a client – it’s been almost X years already!

I’m reaching out because our expenses have increased over the years, and we’ve remained at the same amount (X /mo) for this period.

To remain profitable, we will need to increase this amount to X /mo going forward.

The current results are fantastic and it’s no doubt a great return on investment.

Another option is to improve on what we’re currently doing.

Would you be interested in trialling the following additional services for 6 months starting from X Date?

· Additional Article + Infographic Design

· Social Media Management (Weekly Posting on Facebook + LinkedIn) + X towards ads

· AdWords: Increase Spend to Focus on Targeted Procedures (XYZ, XYZ) + X towards ads

These additional services will result in more awareness, credibility, and high-earning patient procedures.

Please advise if you are fine with this increase or if you would like to add these additional services?

Thank you and regards,

Bob

The second strategy for raising your rates is:

#2 Increase your prices for new clients.

How much and how often?

It depends.

A guideline is:

For every 3-5 clients, increase your rates.

By how much?

If you’re charging under $1,000 for X, increase your rates by 30-50%.

If you’re charging $2 - 5k for X, increase your rates by 20-30%.

Even this is “bad” advice.

The thing with pricing is to keep experimenting.

Bottom line:

Don’t worry too much about the details.

Just raise your rates.

Takeaways

Most freelancers haven’t raised their rates in over a year.

• Businesses need to raise rates to grow; freelancers should too.

• Raise rates when you gain more experience, build confidence, show results, or need to.

• Upsell existing clients with new services to justify rate increases.

• Gradually increase prices for new clients; experiment with pricing.

Have a good one, and chat to you next week!

Thanks for reading!

-Kyle