$30K On A Single Project SAY WHAT?!

This week, I’d like to tell you all a story about freelancer pricing that genuinely blew my mind.

(It’s about a super successful solo freelancer and her ability to charge her worth, and I promise, it will inspire you, or at least give you hope for your own freelancing career).

Allow me to break it down for ya:

I have a freelance hero

A few months ago, I jumped on a video call with a freelance writer who I had been following for quite some time.

(She was in a Slack group that I was also in, and she had been running her business for 15 or so years, so I was SUPER excited to pick her brain to learn how she was doing it)

One of the big reasons why I wanted to chat with her,

(Other than the fact that she is possibly one of the most generous and kind people I have ever chatted with!)

Was that she regularly talked about how she was able to build an incredibly sustainable freelance business without using social media, ads, or regularly cold-pitching clients

🤯🤯🤯🤯

(The above sentence is not the point of this article, but yes, I totally agree with all of you when I say DAMN THAT IS IMPRESSIVE. Hold tight though, this story gets even more wild).

During our chat, I asked her a bunch of questions, and we somehow got to chatting about her work schedule and a recent client call she had made.

As a solo freelancer (AKA she doesn’t run an agency or employ freelancers under her to help with her workload),

She was talking about how she has had to become super selective about the projects that she takes on.

(Honestly, we love a queen who knows her worth and her boundaries, SLAY)

But, despite having to say NO to a lot of potential work,

She was explaining how her more selective process for taking on new clients has also bred a new sort of fun side effect,

Where she dares herself to high-ball her rates to new clients just to see if they will say yes.

One more small piece of context

A brief time out before I get to the absolute BANGER of an ending to this story:

I cannot undersell how much CONFIDENCE this woman radiated when she was talking about giving potential clients a high AF budget.

For so many of us (myself totally included OMG), I am always terrified to send high rates to new clients because I am TERRIFIED of rejection.

Alternatively, this writer has done such a good job building a sustainable business,

That she has gotten to flip the script on those stressful moments and uses them as an excuse to push herself to ask for more.

Honestly, if this isn’t queen behavior, I don’t know what is. I am so impressed and in awe of this person I think about her almost daily.

Anyways, back to the story

(It’s about to go so hard, trust)

I cannot believe this is actually real

So, while I was already taking a second to process what she just said,

She casually was like,

“Yeah, it’s so wild. I had a new client reach out recently, and I was like yeah, I could do this project, but I don’t really want to or have a ton of time. So I emailed them back and was like, yeah, I can do that project for you, but my budget would start at $30K.”

(I need you all to understand that this was the closest instance in my entire adult life where I almost did an honest-to-God spit take all over my laptop. Like a water-all-over-the-screen, ruining-my-keyboard-style spit take.)

As you can imagine, my brain was barely holding on for function after this bomb of a factoid,

When she finishes the story with,

“And then I got an email back and they were like “Sounds good, let’s set up a call to chat more about the logistics.”

(AHHHHHH WHAT OMG HOW AHHHHHH INCWJBCWJNCWKBD3YEJ)

It’s time to start asking for more

The big reason why I wanted to share this story,

(Besides the fact that it is coco BONKERS and so inspiring and exciting to know that solo freelancers are out here ✨THRIVING✨ like this),

Is that recently, I have noticed that I have been slipping into the feast or famine mindset when trying to land new work.

As freelancers, ups and downs in your schedule are unavoidable,

And yet, every time the downs happen, it’s so easy to panic and assume you aren’t going to land another client again.

When this happens, it’s super easy to fall into a “fight to the bottom” mentality,

Where you are more willing than normal to compromise on your rates and deadlines because you are in a tizzy to just land anything again.

(I am speaking about this outside of the context of survival work, of course, which is a different beast entirely and I would never shame or blame people in that situation).

So, if you are finding yourself grumbling (more than normal) about how “cheap” freelance contracts are these days,

I hope this story acts as a reminder that there ARE good paying clients out there — and you are capable of landing them as a solo entrepreneur.

Hope this story helps add a bit of pep into your step for the rest of the week if you are in the throes of finding new clients.

Don’t be afraid to charge your worth and challenge yourself to send higher-than-usual rates.

It’s one of the only ways you will elevate your business and get used to flexing your CEO muscle!

Claire :)

P.S. This freelancer is the same lady who told me about the “how does that hit ya?” strategy for pitching higher rates to potential clients. Talk about an inspiration AND a legend!