Feeling constricted by your current job? Long since paid your marketing dues working in-house or for an agency? Whether it’s your work-life balance, your boss, or just a hankering for something new, the allure of freelance life can be strong. But the confusion around just how to get started — and particularly how much to charge — has kept many a good freelance marketer chained to “safe employment” for far longer than is necessary.

The age-old advice of doubling your employed salary to find your freelance rates can, sometimes, lead to a pretty good estimate, but for many people, that can be  off by a wide margin. There’s no perfect solution to this conundrum — and the answer will differ wildly by discipline, level of experience, industry, and location. But by way of a few simple questions, we can at least land on a better estimate. One that gives us the confidence to just get started. 

So here are five key questions to ask yourself when setting your rates as a new freelancer. 

How are you going to bill?

Let’s get some admin out the way before we start: There are a few main ways to bill for most freelancers in the world of marketing. Of these, project-based rates and daily/hourly rates are by far the most common. 



Which one is right for you and your clients will vary by industry, discipline, and personal preference, but we’d suggest you work through these questions with the aim of initially settling on a day rate. It’ll divide neatly into your hourly rate while keeping the math a little more manageable, and will help you price out projects in the future if that’s the way you want to go.

How much do you need to make?

Here’s where we get into the numbers. You’re going to want to figure out the absolutely minimum annual income you need to maintain an acceptable lifestyle. Don’t worry, we’re not aiming for this, but it’s an important lower bound. 

All of the questions here are by nature very personal, but this one in particular will require some introspection. Perhaps “acceptable” to you is no less than your current salary. Or perhaps you’re willing to sacrifice a little (or a lot) for the benefits that come with being your own boss.   

While current earnings are a useful yardstick, we’d recommend running the numbers from scratch here. Begin by considering housing costs, transportation, food, any children or other dependents and so on. Then consider costs that are likely to change as you transition to self employment. Depending on your circumstances, everything from taxes to insurance contributions, office space, software licenses, and beyond are likely to eat further into your income. On the other hand, perhaps working for yourself brings opportunities to save on commuting costs, office lunches, and so on. 

Once you’ve calculated the cost of simply being you, add on as much padding as feels necessary for your own level of comfort and write this number down. That’s the minimum annual income we can accept. 

How much do you want to make?

Here’s a nicer question. We’re hopefully going freelance with a view to improving our circumstances, so let’s set some income goals. As fun as it might be to fantasize about what you’d do with a few extra zeros on your bank balance, we’ll try to keep this within the realms of possibility — and within the timeframe of our first two or three years.

Take either your current salary or your previous answer as a starting point and add in a few achievable things you’d do if you had the means. Again, this is highly personal, but perhaps consider items like additional savings or investments, home renovations, a nicer car – whatever motivates you to strive towards better earnings. Keep in mind that  certain costs – particularly income tax, will increase in this scenario. 

Got a number? Here’s your targeted annual income. This amount should be high enough that you’d be willing to accept less, but not so high that earning more seems far fetched.

How much are you going to work?

Here’s where we start coming up with some day rates. It’s as simple as taking your two numbers up above and dividing them by the number of days you’ll work in a year. 

Of course, there’s some nuance to this too, so let’s walk through it step by step. There are about 250 working days in the average year – that’s 365 minus weekdays and around ten public holidays (this will vary depending on where you are, of course). Assuming you don’t want to exceed a five-day week too often, here’s your starting point. Now let’s subtract your desired vacation days (if you’re not sure how many you’ll need, begin with your current allowance) and a few extra in case of sickness (perhaps adding a few more if you have children to look after).

You have here your actual number of working days, but we need to perform one more calculation before it’s useful for setting your rates. Most freelancers, especially those starting out, aren’t able to bill every single day to a client. You’ll need to spend time finding work, dealing with admin, and so on. Like all our other calculations, this will vary greatly depending on you, but many freelancers will take 60% as a rule of thumb. That is, 60% of hours worked are assumed to be billable. 

If this estimate seems appropriate, divide both your minimum and target annual income numbers by 60% of your total working days to land on two possible day rates. For the sake of calculations, we’ll take these as upper and lower bounds.

How much is your time worth?

Here’s where our introspection meets the real world. You know how much you need to make, and you know how much you want to make — now it’s a question of how much people are willing to pay. Unfortunately, this is the hardest question to answer, but it’s also the most important. 

There are a few ways to come up with a ballpark figure here:

• From experience: if you have no freelance experience to go on, ideally you’ll have some client-side knowledge. What have you seen other people charge for the same or similar work? How do your skills and experience compare to theirs? Perhaps you’ve even sat on the other side of the negotiating table.

• Industry reports: If you’re in a major metropolitan area, there may be organizations that publish regular data on freelance rates for particular industries or professions. Take any numbers you find here with a pinch of salt, but they can provide a useful benchmark or even a tool for negotiation. 

• Job listings, Glassdoor.com, etc.: These sources are focused on regular employment, but can provide useful context, particularly if you feel your current salary may be outside of the norm or if you’re transitioning to a new discipline, moving to a new area, etc. The old device about taking your salaried rate and doubling it may not be accurate enough for our calculations, but it might help you guesstimate what others are charging.

• Other freelancers: If you know friendly folks who are freelancing in areas similar to yours, ask them! Many will be happy to share their knowledge, and networking among your peers can often lead to work down the road — if another freelancer is too busy to take on a new project, they may offer to recommend someone they trust (and you might well do the same for them). Don’t know anyone? Check out the websites of local freelancers — some, but not all, will list their rates up front.

So how do you arrive at that elusive day rate? There’s no final formula here, unfortunately. It’s always going to be a balancing act between what you need, what you want, and what people are willing to pay.

Ultimately, the only surefire way to set your rates is to pick a number, then go out and test it. Yep. You’re just going to have to speak to potential clients and make some proposals. In the best case, you’ll win some business and know for sure that you’ve landed on a realistic number. If you don’t? Gather data, adjust as necessary, and keep trying. 

With time, this is also your best bet for figuring out if your rates are optimal — if you’re staying busy, your rates aren’t too high. If you’re too busy, it may be time to think about raising them.