What's a fair rate for freelance creative work?

I have a straightforward question for the group... How does one actually determine the price tag for intellectual services? And please, spare me the "it depends on supply and demand" cliché... :P

To be specific, a consulting firm is looking to bring me on as a contractor to develop business plans, and they want me to name my price. Since I’m still early in my career and haven't quite found my footing yet, I’m struggling with how much to quote them (I was thinking somewhere around $13/h, but I honestly have no clue if that's too low or way too high...)

If you're young and still figuring things out, honestly, just be glad someone’s actually footing the bill for once.

You just call up someone who’s already working as a consultant and ask them what their rates are. It’s pretty straightforward—and honestly, it's a way to keep things fair for everyone in the industry by keeping prices stable.

I actually went through something similar when I was second-guessing what to charge for a shoot. So, I called up a local photography studio and played it cool—telling them I was looking for a photographer to handle "this and that"—and they told me exactly what their fee was. And boom, there's my benchmark.

I pitched that same number to the client, and yeah, I landed the gig.

First, figure out your monthly overhead—let's say it's $2 $0.00. Then, add the monthly salary you actually want to take home, say $5 $0.00. That’s a total of $7 $0.00 per month. Yearly, that's $84 $0.00.

In a single year, you have 52 weeks x 5 days x 8 hours = 2,080 working hours. Subtract about 13 non-working days, which is 104 hours. You're left with 1,976 hours. Take out 2 weeks for vacation—that's roughly 10 business days, or 80 hours. Now you're at 1,896. Factor in another 2 weeks for sick leave, another 80 hours. That leaves you with exactly 1,816 billable hours per year.

It all depends on what you do. A chunk of those hours will be swallowed up by running the business. Answering emails, invoicing, handling shipping, etc. Let's assume that eats up 25% of your time.

1,816 minus 25% equals 1,362.

So, if you want to pull in $84 $0.00 annually, you have to divide that total by the actual hours you can charge for—1,362. That works out to roughly $21 per hour.

And obviously, don't forget to factor in equipment costs, supplies, taxes, and all that other stuff.

I highly doubt anyone is going to tell you their hourly rate just because you called them on the phone.

Thanks for the advice. You're absolutely right—no one is going to be upfront with you about what they actually charge...

Sam Cook4 said:Thanks for the advice. You're absolutely right—no one is going to be upfront with you about what they actually charge...

If you simply present yourself as a serious client looking to hire, the matter usually settles itself rather quickly.🙂