Your Hourly Rate Isn’t Your Price

Sometimes it may seem like hourly pricing is the only option because the client will ask you, “What’s your hourly rate?”

And if they ask for it, don’t you have to give it to them?

Well, no, actually, you don’t.

Clients and prospects often ask this question because they don’t know better. They don’t know that there are many other pricing strategies to choose from, many which are actually much better for everyone involved. This is your opportunity to educate them a bit. Instead, you can give them a better way to price that gives you more control.

You see, the problem with answering that question with a number is that your hourly rate is not a price. It’s just a number. And unless you actually estimate how many hours you’re going to spend at that rate, you’re not giving them a price. So it’s a false premise. And they think they're getting a price when they're actually not.

[This is an excerpt from my latest article for AWAI, Hourly Pricing: Should You or Shouldn't You? Read the rest here and check out my online course for copywriters, AWAI’s Simplest Guide to Pricing Copy Projects.]