Wednesday night I attended The Runway Project’s brainstorming session that brought together a group of independent workers for a discussion about how to determine your prices. As a person who is just starting out on my own this is the biggest challenge I am dealing with.

Here is what I learn:

• You must have a vision of where you want to go and how you going to get there.
• Know what your cost of living is. Also make sure you have at least 6-8 of living expenses to live off just in case you hit a dry spell. Knowing how much you need on a month-to-month basis would allow you to assess what your minimum rate should be.
• Be honest about what you are good at and what you can accomplish in the allocated time.
• Don’t devalue your own services. Giving away your services pass the point the point of building your portfolio will bring down you value. Also doing work for next to nothing will not only hurt your bottom line but your business won’t be able to survive.
• Think about other things that you can do in between projects that can bring in additional income.
• When it comes to discussing price with a client, allow them to tell you what they can afford or what they are expecting to pay for your services. Your rates shouldn’t be the first thing discussed.
• Doing a job for free? Presents client with an invoices with the balance of zero, but include the lines items to show the worth of your services.

Cool Quotes:

“A friend of mine applies the ‘bitch’ factor.” When a client is a particular pain, she pads the numbers in anticipation of fickleness.

Regarding potential clients who lowball you: “There has to be a point where you just say f*** you.”

Brainstorm: Factors to Consider When Determining Your Price
The Runway Project
Twitter: @runwayproject

This event was hosted by the good folks of New Work City, a community coworking space in NYC. For more info please check out or their twitter page at @nwc.

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Stepping Out on My Own: The Chronicles of a First-Time Entrepreneur