About asking for a bonus - it sounds arrogant, and you come across as too focused on the money.
Instead of this, quote a rate you think you're worth. Then do great work. Your bonus will come in the form of increased demand/word of mouth. Adjust your rates accordingly.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but what freelancer isn't freelancing for the money? From my experience, most (not necessarily all) are freelancing as a transitional period from working full time to self-employment in a startup or in between full-time jobs. It's a very tedious thing to make your life-long career, so why not optimize?
I charge a healthy rate considering the difficulty of my work, and it is less strict on my performance. Meaning, if I don't provide a perfect product every time, it's okay, because the client is paying a competitive rate, but if I do well, as I strive for with every project, they know the option to pay for the delivered excellence is there.
You'd be surprised how many clients spring for keeping their designer happy in return for promise of future results.
Regarding the arrogance, I think having a healthy dose of self-confidence is an asset to your career. It lets you realize you can say no to a client, turn a bad client down, and it creates a certain level of mutual respect I find a lot of designers oft complain about not having.
There is a large difference between arrogance and self-confidence. Arrogance is asserting, confidence is suggesting.
The LP's I do take roughly 60-90 minutes. When I'm not focusing on school, I can log on to IRC or AIM and find a day's work within 30 minutes if I don't have any lined up before. $175 in that time frame adds up. I fill my role well.
[+] [-] comatose_kid|17 years ago|reply
Instead of this, quote a rate you think you're worth. Then do great work. Your bonus will come in the form of increased demand/word of mouth. Adjust your rates accordingly.
[+] [-] tptacek|17 years ago|reply
I buy graphic design / interaction design work from freelancers. If you quote me N*$1000, I'm not going to pay anything more than that.
I sell application / software / hardware security review work. I've never been paid a "bonus".
So it's not that this sounds arrogant to me, it just sounds weird.
[+] [-] symptic|17 years ago|reply
I charge a healthy rate considering the difficulty of my work, and it is less strict on my performance. Meaning, if I don't provide a perfect product every time, it's okay, because the client is paying a competitive rate, but if I do well, as I strive for with every project, they know the option to pay for the delivered excellence is there.
You'd be surprised how many clients spring for keeping their designer happy in return for promise of future results.
Regarding the arrogance, I think having a healthy dose of self-confidence is an asset to your career. It lets you realize you can say no to a client, turn a bad client down, and it creates a certain level of mutual respect I find a lot of designers oft complain about not having.
There is a large difference between arrogance and self-confidence. Arrogance is asserting, confidence is suggesting.
[+] [-] teuobk|17 years ago|reply
Think about the way many people buy wine: the pricier the bottle, the better it must be, right?
[+] [-] david|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] symptic|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] iron_ball|17 years ago|reply