Recently I posted at Freelance-Zone.com about the rising costs of living and surviving as a freelancer. Every time I read something about food costs going up, gas rising to four bucks a gallon or more, and the ever-increasing costs of health insurance, it makes me double check my bank account.
Pure paranoia on my part, to be sure. But as costs go up you have to ask yourself if your rates shouldn’t increase as well. That’s a hard call to make with your loyal clients, and even tougher to do with new clients. It’s a catch-22 situation. You don’t want your reliable standbys to think you’re getting too expensive for them, and it’s easy to be seen as a price-gouger with the newcomers.
There’s no easy answer to this one. It boils down–for me, at least–to going with your gut instinct. In my own personal case, my instincts tell me that some of my new clients may NEED a price increase due to a variety of factors–typical doing business stuff. The economy is just an additional factor. If the economy suddenly gets worse, I’d be tempted to do a re-evaluation at the six month mark in the business relationship. As things are now, it’s wait-and-see.
But for my old standbys, I’m currently inclined to ride out the financial rollercoaster and see what happens. This time next year my rates may NEED to be higher for survival’s sake…but they could just as easily remain where they are if the current global financial craziness starts to settle back down to a reasonable level again.
Hurry up and wait…
