In this series about hourly rates and pricing strategies for freelancers or small businesses, we’ve looked at:
9 Reasons to Stop Charging Hourly Rates
4 Reasons Why Hourly Rates are Bad for Clients Too
Charge What You Deserve–Project Fees & Flat Fees
Should You Be Paid for Performance?
But now you may be wondering…Are hourly rates ever a good idea?
The answer is yes—hourly rates can be a good approach when there are too many unknowns about a project. For example, if the prospect is being very vague or you haven’t done anything similar before.
In cases like that, where the time required and/or extra expenses you’ll incur are far too difficult to predict, charging an hourly rate may be the safest approach for you.
But most of the time, you’ll find it much easier and more profitable to use one of the other pricing strategies above.
[...] happy with per hour arrangements. So I'm looking for better alternatives. I found this series of pricing advice posts immensenly helpful. Just can't wait until Tracy, the gal that writes them, talks about [...]