Rush Jobs: An Opportunity to Boost Your Income

Pricing is a major question for freelancers. People often debate charging per hour or by project, but what is less frequently discussed is the speed of a project. Delivery time should be a factor in your freelance pricing since you can make a lot of money on rush jobs.

“People want results, and they want them now.” -Chris Lema

If you position yourself to make someone’s dreams happen faster, you can charge more for that. Chris Lema covered this concept in a recent webinar. This is where hourly and even per project pricing don’t necessarily reflect the realities of what a client wants and what they’re willing to pay for it. Let’s say you bid a website project and say it’s going to take three months to deliver the finished product. Three months is a long time for a client to wait for their new site. They’re itching to get something going right now. In the end, they may just have to wait because that’s how long it takes. What if you could offer to finish that site in three weeks? Your client would be thrilled to make it a rush job. They’d jump at the opportunity. And they’d pay for it too. But hourly pricing would likely miss out on that payday. If anything, it takes less time, so hourly pricing would charge less (way less). Hourly pricing rarely makes sense for rush jobs. Even project pricing might miss out and charge the same, regardless of how long it takes. Project pricing also needs to be reconsidered for rush jobs. This is why you need to be aware of what your clients really, truly want and then charge accordingly. In this case, they want that site now, and they’ll pay for it. So you can jack up your price. And you should. You’re clearing your schedule, giving them priority, not answering the phone so you can get this site done in three weeks. You can totally charge an arm and a leg, and you should. You’re justified in charging more because you’re offering your clients incredible value. This new site will likely increase their profit margin, making them more money. So by delivering it in three weeks instead of three months, you’re making them more money. That means you can charge a lot more for rush jobs. And your client will love you for it. Why? Not because you charged them more, but because you delivered on their schedule. You made their dreams a reality, more quickly. That’s worth a premium.

More

• Watch Chris Lema explain this point in his Value-Based Pricing webinar.
• For more insights on pricing, check out 22 Freelance Pricing Tips.