It might sound strange, but most service providers are "selfish" in their pricing. Meaning, a rate is determined by looking inward — how much do I need to charge to make more than my monthly fixed expenses? What's the equivalent hourly rate when I was a salaried employee? What are my peers charging?
I've been able to continuously raise my rates over the years ($50 -> $250+/hr) by getting better at understanding the business problem at the root of a project request (i.e. they don't "want a new website designed", they really just want more walk-in customers) and tailoring my proposal, discussions, and execution toward that end.
As long as you can position yourself as an investment instead of an expense, and wield your technical + business skills to make your client's business better off than they were before hiring you, your ceiling is whenever the project cost outweighs the potential payoff.
It might sound strange, but most service providers are "selfish" in their pricing. Meaning, a rate is determined by looking inward — how much do I need to charge to make more than my monthly fixed expenses? What's the equivalent hourly rate when I was a salaried employee? What are my peers charging?
I've been able to continuously raise my rates over the years ($50 -> $250+/hr) by getting better at understanding the business problem at the root of a project request (i.e. they don't "want a new website designed", they really just want more walk-in customers) and tailoring my proposal, discussions, and execution toward that end.
As long as you can position yourself as an investment instead of an expense, and wield your technical + business skills to make your client's business better off than they were before hiring you, your ceiling is whenever the project cost outweighs the potential payoff.
(FYI, I wrote a book on this: http://doubleyourfreelancingrate.com)