I tend to agree. But the definition of good and what's worth more is directly proportional to your client's ability to perceive things the way you do (adjustable through marketing), and how much money he has in his pocket (not adjustable).
Think of this scenario: there's you, for $50/hour, making slick stuff, well balanced, scalable, etc. Then there's el cheapo's websites for $10/hour. So your task now becomes: explain why you're worth 5x more. Now between us here, I know damn well why you're worth it, but your customer may not share our view of better. Or at least not enough to justify the increase. Then you'll find yourself haggling. In a good economy such as what we have here in AU, that's not so easily perceived . Put it simply, people/companies have more money in their pockets, and they're mostly willing to afford what's better. Change that, thanks to a recession, and your demographic suddenly becomes a lot smaller, competition ensues, and voila: rates will have to go down. That's my theory. I'm happy to hear counterarguments. ps: the human game of haggling is what usually puts me off of freelancing. On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 4:16 PM, Mike Bailey <[email protected]> wrote: > Money is only one component of price. > > I see pricing a job as a game of snakes and ladders. Here are some of the > things I take into account when setting a price for a job. My clients have > always been keen to include as many "ladders" as possible in order to get > the best rate. > > # Ladders > * Quick payment > * Flexibile hours and ability to work remotely > * Working with smart people > * Ability to release work as Open Source > * Working on things I want to learn about > * Work I see as worthwhile > > # Snakes > * Long payment terms > * Distracting work environment > * Frustrating beaurocracy > > The most enjoyable project I worked on recently was for a Not For Profit > after the bushfires. It was all ladders and I set my rate at $0. > Unfortunately I'm not in a position to do all my work at this rate! :-) > > - Mike > > On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 3:15 PM, Craig Ambrose <[email protected]> > wrote: >> >> Hi everyone, >> >> I'm not sure if anyone else is feeling like business is a little >> different to what it was a couple of years ago. I'm a bit concerned >> about it, and I've decided to drop my rates fairly dramatically. I'd >> be interested to hear what others are doing. More on my thoughts here: >> >> http://blog.craigambrose.com/past/2009/3/16/keeping_it_real/ >> >> cheers, >> >> Craig >> >> ------- >> Craig Ambrose >> Cogent Consulting >> http://www.craigambrose.com >> > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby or Rails Oceania" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rails-oceania?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
