15+ Signs You Need to Raise Your Rates

No matter what's happening in this economy (and freelance jobs / remote work)

Author

Diana Kelly Levey
December 31, 2024

In partnership with

Hey Freelancer (or Wannabe Freelancer),

I hope your holidays have been….whatever you want them to be (relaxing, energizing, or packed with work to do!)

Feel free to check out the sponsors who help support this content if you’re curious.

2025 Prediction: A Surge of Self-Serve CTV Buyers

Roku predicts that 2025 will be a breakthrough year for self-serve CTV advertising. Roku Ads Manager makes it easy to integrate CTV into your 2025 marketing mix. Easily segment your target audience, optimize campaigns in real-time, and drive conversions with interactive ad formats and shoppable ads with a Shopify integration. Roku Ads Manager makes CTV advertising accessible and impactful for businesses of any size.

#ad

One of the hottest topics my readers who were surveyed told me they couldn’t get enough of?

Why freelance rates, of course.

I’m with you all. I am always looking for additional tips to help negotiate higher rates, signs that my rates are what they should be for several clients, and signs that I need to raise them.

(Usually, when I feel a “UGH!” at a client’s email landing in my inbox, I know I’m either not loving the work or I’m not being paid enough.)

This post isn’t at all about rate shaming! I hope we all get paid better for our work in 2025.

Keep in mind that while one person is happy to take on $100 for a 1,200-word assignment, someone else would scoff at that rate. (You do you, boo.)

What I will suggest for 2025 is that you try to find instances to raise your rates.

It could be with a new client, pushing back on an existing client’s rate, or promising yourself you won’t go beyond what an assignment requires so you’re protecting your time and energy.

Here, 20 Signs You Need to Raise Your Rates in 2025

  1. Your rates are the same as when you started freelancing.
    (Are you still charging 2015 prices in 2025? No other service business in your life probably is. Get on board with cost of living increases.)

  2. You’re struggling to get by.
    (Sure, there are times when this happens but, in general, your business should support you—not the other way around.)

  3. You feel burned out all the time.
    (Burnout isn’t glamorous. Here’s how to avoid freelance burnout.)

  4. You say yes to *every* possible freelance opportunity that lands in your inbox.
    (I was guilty of this! Yeah, it’s a problem.)

  5. You’re working around the clock, weekends, and holidays (and you aren’t happy about it).
    (The government workers get time off, so should you.)

  6. Your clients email you assignment add-ons and increase the scope way too often.
    (A “quick favor” isn’t quick if it’s eating your entire day.)

  7. Sometimes you feel like you’re working with too many clients.
    (More clients don’t always equal more income—just more stress.)

  8. You spend far too much time bidding on low-paying jobs on freelancer platforms without securing work.
    (Enough with the Hunger Games for freelancers. It’s fine once in a while but these platforms shouldn’t be your main source of freelance income.)

  9. Your clients don’t know the meaning of “boundaries” and text, call, and email at all hours.
    (“Hey, it’s midnight! Can you just tweak this real quick?” Um, no.)

  10. Clients comment on how affordable you are all the time!
    (“Affordable” is cute for a thrift store, not for your business.)

  11. Most days, you don’t wake up looking forward to working on the freelance projects you’ve been assigned.
    (Your work should bring joy—not dread. I love going up to my office and opening my laptop to work 80% of the time.)

  12. You always make space for last-minute work without increasing your rates.
    (Emergency and “quick-turnaround” fees exist for a reason. Don’t skip them!)

  13. You haven’t had a day off in...you can’t even remember.
    (Reminder: You are not a robot.)

  14. Your freelance friends gasp when they hear what you charge.
    (And not in a good way. If they’re saying “Gulp. That’s all?”—it’s time to rethink your rates.)

  15. Your favorite barista makes more per hour than you do.
    (Love a good latte, but it’s always good to aim higher than minimum wage rates. According to a ZipRecruiter survey in July 2024, the average hourly rate of a freelancer was $23.) Follow these lessons to learn how to earn $100 an hour.

  16. You haven’t updated your rates since gas was $2 a gallon.
    (Inflation isn’t just a buzzword. Chances are, your bills went up so your rates should, too..)

  17. You’re working harder but not seeing bigger paychecks.
    (If effort doesn’t equal earnings, your pricing structure needs a shake-up.)

  18. Your clients are thriving, and you’re barely surviving.
    (If they’re profiting exponentially from your work, you deserve a slice of that pie!)

  19. You can’t afford to take a sick day.
    (If your rates don’t ever cover downtime, they’re not cutting high enough)

  20. You’ve hit your “dream client,” but they’re paying you in “exposure” or “peanuts.”
    (If you’ve secured a byline or two in a major publication that doesn’t pay well. Feel free to say thank you, use it, and move on. I do this all the time with major consumer magazines.)

Get more rate-setting tips 👇 

Thanks for reading!

Diana

P.S. Missed last week’s newsletter or a recent post? Check it out here.

P.P.S. Keep scrolling for jobs.

#ad

There’s a reason 400,000 professionals read this daily.

Join The AI Report, trusted by 400,000+ professionals at Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Get daily insights, tools, and strategies to master practical AI skills that drive results.

Liking What You Read?

I try to add value to every reader with each newsletter I send. If you don’t click on a link at all, no biggie. Hopefully, you learned something by opening this newsletter and reading it.

Three of the best ways to show your support?

 📢A testimonial: Feel free to reply to me here about what you like about the newsletter, how long you’ve been reading, etc., and if I can use your name if I share it. (FREE!)

Share this newsletter with a friend: Hit forward and send to a few people in your network you think would benefit from the content. Encourage them to subscribe.👇

You could also share this link to subscribe on your social media channels and tag me.

Feeling extra generous? You can buy me a coffee over at Buy Me a Coffee. ☕️ (Think of it as a monetary tip.💰) It helps cover newsletter costs, website maintenance, the time it takes me to write these each week, and paying awesome freelancers who write for the blog.

Every little bit means the world—thank you! 💖

Receive this email from a friend?

(Thanks, friend!)

Subscribe to the weekly freelance writing tips email here. You’ll get a freelance “pitching tips” PDF resource as a thank you for subscribing.

What’s Happening in My Business

  • I’m trying to calcuate how much I actually earned (AKA money that in my accounts) by 12/31 from freelance clients, digital product sales, courses, affiliate links, sponsored links, and coaching clients. If this is a number you’d like to see, reply to me here and I’ll add you to a list of subscribers I share it with.

  • I’m still working on my new 2025 Freelance Marketing Calendar but I’m trying to make it be super helpful, unique, and great for those of us who like to “check things off.”

  • I’m trying to stick closer to working in my preferred niches for the bulk of my freelance earnings and get more retainer clients and contracts in place.

  • 🎉I hit 13,000 Followers on LinkedIn recently: While I agree (probably with many of you) that social media numbers can be a “whoop dee do” kinda vibe and they don’t matter if the following doesn’t translate into business. I did get over 300,000 impressions in 2024 and over $60,000 (USD) worth of freelance client work came from connections I made on the platform and people who saw my writing.

    🧨That’s why I created this PDF of scripts and templates you can use when you want to send a message (or note) to someone on LinkedIn.🧨

Freelance Jobs, Contract Jobs, or Remote Jobs I Found

(These were active and available within a few days of this newsletter going out. I have no connection with them.)

How to work with me