How much to charge (for beginners)

You decided to be a service provider, and your goal is to be able to pay all your bills and live a comfortable life! (you can have a goal to be rich too, it’s all good, your goal, your rules)

You have something amazing in your hands right now that’s deciding how much to charge.

You decide!

You!

Feel the power in your hands right now! You are the owner of your future!

I will show you a method called 70-30 to take it for life.

It’s the best method out there to figure out how much you need to live.

70% of your income represents the PRESENT and 30% is your FUTURE.

Don’t worry, there are examples.

Disclaimer: This is a re-write of another post from my business blog. The difference is that one was made towards coaches and this one is towards service providers.

👉Some links in this post are affiliate links, if you click and buy from them, I’ll get a small tip. No extra for you. They are marked with an asterisk (*)

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Let’s start with How much do you need to live

The first thing you need to figure out is how much you need to survive.

Per month!

The fixed and variable expenses.

Mortgage or rent, electricity, internet, water, phone, transport, taxes, software, groceries, your kid’s education, eating out, things you can’t live without, a.k.a the essentials.

The sum of all these things is the bare minimum you need to make.

Let’s say you need $1650 to survive. This is your Safe Month!

💵TIP: If you think this is too high right now, look at your spreadsheet and think about what you can cut. Are you really watching Netflix every month? Have you considered signing up for just the months you use? Or do a 3-month Netflix, 3-month Disney+, 3-month Crunchyroll, and so on. 

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🌶️I DON’T WANT YOU TO LIVE PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK, SO LET’S SPICE THIS UP!🌶️

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Your Safe Month is 55% of your ideal income!

Be a sotrepreneur is not easy, but that doesn’t mean you have to suffer each month.

You need to aim for the ideal income, what I call the Amazing Month! 

As I said before, the Amazing Month follow a 70-30 ratio. This means, 70% represents the Present and 30% is for your future. 

Here is what you need:

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The Example!

It’s a simple rule of third! 

Hey, I am not a math genius, I use a rule of thirds calculator. 

If you need $1650 to survive, and $1650 is 55% of your total, your Amazing Month is $3000! 👀

If you don’t have an RRSP or Investment account yet, do this today! (here are 2 free stocks to start *on WealthSimple!)🍁

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Your Dream Month can be any number! 🔥 Go wild.🔥My Dream Month is 7k. Some months I get really close, sometimes I go just a little over my Amazing Month, but every month is at least my Amazing Month.

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I created a Notion Template that helps you calculate this.

Click here to get it

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SO WHAT ARE YOUR SERVICES?

Now that you know how much money you need to make every month, you need to figure out which services to offer.

Do you want to work 40h per week? Is this your dream? 🤨🤨 Or have you decided to become a solopreneur because you wanted to spend more time with your kids? Or to have time to do whatever you want?🎉

💡What do you sell? A service? A package?

💡How do you work? Intensive days? Per hour?

If you are going to charge per hour, I am going to use the example of the $3000 month.

To get your bare minimum your hour must be $9.49

To get your amazing month, your hour must be: $17.27

But then, you must work 40h per week to get this. You can play around with this Online Calculator.

✨REMINDER: A freelancer/solopreneur is not an employee! ✨

🟣We don’t want to work 40h per week!

🟣You’re your own boss! You make your own rates, based on your experience and your own goals!

🟣Don’t be afraid to charge what you deserve.

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Let’s say the person in the example is a Web Designer that makes 3-page websites for $1500.

She only needs 2 clients to achieve her Amazing Month.

Yes, way!

💵TIP: In Canada, you only need to register when you make 30k a year. Until there, you will pay your CPP + 30% in Income taxes (there are ways to lower this number – but just for the sake of this example – grab 30% of each payment you receive and save it) 

I added them to a savings account with 1.45% interest (seems low but at least I won’t have a surprise when April arrives – I use Neo* (Here $20 for you to join) 🍁

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How many clients do you need to reach your Safe Month? How many clients do you need to reach your Amazing Month?

If you are just starting, don’t charge too much. But make a promise to yourself right now: for every X clients you get, you will raise your prices. Don’t be ashamed of this. You’re getting more experience as you go.

You deserve to make money!

Also, don’t charge too little. You are an amazing person who deserves to be paid! You are offering a service that only you can do. If you are going to charge $5 an hour, donate your time.

If people want to pay you $5/h they need to get their shit together before hiring someone. Not you! Know your value! Say “I am sorry, I can’t do pro bono right now”, and move on.

I will quote Kelsey Formost here:

If you want to organize your entire solopreneur business using Notion, I created a Notion Dashboard with everything a freelancer needs to start.

I am now offering it to you.

PS: This product is not ready - so I am preselling.