Thoughts on Freelancing Rates

Our new freelancing friends often ask us about how much their hourly rates should be. It’s a common dilemma and one that inevitably ends with the phrase “it depends”. Sure there are average rates in the market, a range that collectively we feel the market will bear. But that’s a very localized thing. So much so that across the Denver metro area you’ll find significant differences north to south, east to west.

What everyone should be focused on is find a balance point between the market average and their skills—one that leans toward value for the client. It’s that value quotient that keeps you at the top of the list when clients have new projects. How do you figure out your pricing for new clients? What about repeat clients? What about work that comes to you through other freelancers?

Today Seth Godin takes and interesting view on issues around these questions in his post Open Buying and Open Selling.

New Ideas For A New Year

We like the New Year. It always feels like a fresh start. After a crazy year of change and uncertainty, we’re certainly ready for a new beginning. Yet through the chaos of 2009, and maybe because of it, great ideas still emerged. This New Year we thought we’d share three of our favorite ideas from 2009. In some way each of these challenged us re-think what we know about being designers, building a business and serving our clients. They’ve been inspiring and useful to Hero, we hope they’ll spark some creative thinking in you, too. Happy New Year from everyone at Hero.

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Seth Godin Has It Right.

Seth Godin’s blog is one of my favorite daily reads. Today he writes about the client’s role in the creative process. It’s a great list of dos, don’ts and straight talk about fostering innovation and leading a creative team to success. At Hero, helping clients become more informed marketers is one of our goals. Seth’s post, How to be a great client, is full of  insights every client will find useful.

Read all about it here.