Tom Hirst
@tom_hirst
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Builder who sells. Programmer who writes. Autonomy, price theory, Ethereum. Personal website maxi. Author of Pricing Freelance Projects. EVM engineer @MagicEden
Wakefield, UK
Joined May 2009
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2023 year in review:
- My personal co. made $364,217.96
- I grew my X account to 33,347 followers
- I began working with a web3 unicorn
- I did zero WordPress work for the first time in 12 years
- My education business’ growth stalled
- I travelled to Ireland, Mexico, Spain, and
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Pricing freelancing projects.
Everything I've learned.
A thread.
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I'm 36 today.
Here are a few things that I wish I learned earlier:
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I made £500K+ from freelancing in the last 4 years without working all the time.
Here’s everything I learned.
A thread.
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The only partner you should look for is one that aligns with your values.
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How to create a freelancing website that makes money.
Everything I've learned.
A thread.
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Freelancers! You’ll have heard this before, but I’m still seeing people getting burned.
Do not lift a finger until you get a deposit.
50% preferably. A third at least.
In my experience, no client is fully commited to a digital project until they’ve parted with some money.
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My personal website is my greatest asset:
- £100,000s of revenue
- 100s of opportunities
- 4x income streams
Here's how I built it.
A thread.
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Learn these pricing methodologies:
- Hourly billing
- Daily billing
- Retainers
- Fixed-pricing
- Value-based pricing
Understand their pros and cons.
Understand your circumstances.
Understand the project.
Choose appropriately.
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I made $38,172 of side income as a creator in the last year.
Here's everything I learned.
A thread.
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The only audience you should look for is one that aligns with your interests.
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Being attractive (in business and in life) is within your control.
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- Getting clients is easier when you show proof of work
- Negotiation is easier when you have other projects
- Pricing is easier when you don't need the money
Freelancing is easier when you make marketing part of your job.
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If you find a partner who supports your endeavours hold on to them for dear life.
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Keep a close circle of local friends and a network around the world.
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Want to go freelance?
Scared of selling?
I've sold over £500,000 of projects in the last 4 years.
Here's everything I've learned about getting over sales fright.
A thread.
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Rules for fixed-price projects:
1. Get a deposit
2. Get a fixed scope
3. To reduce the price you must reduce the scope
4. Don't use estimated days x day rate = price
5. Add a minimum 20% contingency
6. Price high enough to make a profit after you've paid yourself
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There are two ways to bill daily:
1 day = 8 hours
Or
1 day = 1 day
Always use the latter.
The former robs you of your autonomy.
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The freedom to choose where you work from, who you work with and what you work on is worth a lot of money.
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Don't get tricked into sharing tons of project specific information in a proposal.
If you can't write a proposal without research then you need a pre-project.
Discovery work has value and should come at a price.
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Charging by the hour doesn't work in favour of freelancers.
If you need to use it to get started,
Stop using it as soon as you can.
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Things that increase perceived value and thus project price:
- The scarcity of your time (availability)
- What you've done before (credibility)
- The project price itself
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If you want to raise your rates in future,
When billing by the day,
Max out at selling 4 days per week to clients.
Give yourself time to grow your own business.
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Hourly billing is by far the worst pricing methodology to use for profit.
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I've worked on 100+ freelance projects since 2009.
Here's how to get good clients and avoid bad ones.
A thread.
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Having one pricing strategy that you can apply to every real-world engagement is often a fallacy.
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Do you want to avoid:
- Estimating every small task?
- Filling out timesheets?
- Sending tons of invoices?
- Having to justify every time you go "over"?
Avoid hourly billing.
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To understand the benefits of doing something for a long time, do something for a long time.
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There's a middle ground between billion dollar founder and 9-5 office job that will make you very happy.
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Get comfortable talking about money or it will give you headaches, resentment and anxiety for life.
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Hourly billing is by far the worst pricing methodology to use for efficiency.
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If you can code, design, write or sell, your worst case scenario is getting a decent job.
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My coding journey:
- HTML
- CSS
- PHP
- JavaScript
- TypeScript
- Solidity
You?
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If you bill your client daily, you're giving them a day's work.
Nothing else.
It's a rolling engagement for a reason.
Day rate can't come with a guarantee of completion.
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If you're instantly available, expect to be asked to lower your price.
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"I can't get clients"
Do you advertise?
Do you have a website?
Have you told people you're available?
Do you document your work, thoughts & progress?
Are you sharing any of this online?
Do you build rapport with like-minded people on social media?
Do the work to get work.
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Clients who try to replace payment with future opportunity are usually the ones who never provide it.
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You don't have to use the same pricing methodology for every engagement.
Client 1: Day rate
Client 2: Fixed priced project
Client 3: Ongoing retainer
Use the strategy that fits the work best.
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Everything you consume is learning.
Everything you build is understanding.
Everything you share is marketing.
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Advice to my 22-year-old self about to start a remote freelancing career. A thread. 👇
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Pricing freelancing projects is tough
There's no 1-size-fits-all solution
Understand each method
Have your preferences
Be aware of your position
Gauge what your clients are most likely to accept
Apply the most appropriate strategy to get the job at a price you're happy with
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I use Twitter to make friends with smart people doing cool stuff.
You?
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Freelancing, indie hacking, solopreneurship, being self-employed.
Whatever you want to call it, I've done it for 12 years.
Here's everything I'd do earlier knowing what I know now.
A thread.
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Sometimes pricing a freelancing project can be as simple as :
Freelancer: "I'm happy to do the work for this price".
Client: "I'm happy to pay this price for the work completing".
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You can't charge a premium if your individual value isn't obvious.
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Questions to ask yourself to help narrow your focus:
- Who do I like working with?
- What do I do better than most?
- What feels like fun to me and work to others?
- What can I do for a long time?
- Where do I want to take this eventually?
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If you're the most expensive option,
And a prospect who cares can't understand why,
Your positioning is off.
Price tells it's own story, but it needs back up from credibility.
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Remember that when you give a fixed-price for a scope of work,
You are guaranteeing completion.
Going back to the table for more money at this stage leaves a bad taste.
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The key to fulfilment is working on things you like, spending time with people you love, and having the freedom to choose your next step.
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How to get freelance clients and keep them.
Everything I've learned.
A thread.
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Jack Gordon Thomas Hirst.
Born on 5th October at 18:30.
My wife is a legend.
🙏
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Value-based pricing TLDR version:
Your client's average lead value = £500
You estimate that your work will get them 100 leads in year 1.
That's £50,00 of value.
You give a price for your work based on a % of that figure.
If you can show the value, you can justify the price.
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How to build a personal website that pays for your life.
Everything I've learned.
A thread.
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The only freelancing “growth hack” you’ll ever need:
Narrow your focus and stick around.
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When a hard deadline is introduced to a fixed-price project,
Add 20%.
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Fixed-price projects are highly beneficial to efficient freelancers.
*If* quality is retained.
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7 ways to gain trust online:
- Be discoverable (website, social)
- Be authentic (don't fabricate)
- Be transparent (show results)
- Be accessible (help people)
- Be relatable (tell your story)
- Be brilliant (do great work)
- Be useful (spread value)
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A note for parents who love their work:
Don't put making memories on hold.
I know it's hard.
You like working, so it's easy to keep going.
An extra hour here, an extra hour there.
Maybe you have an evening project or two.
Then the weekends sneak in.
You might be doing it
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How to work for free for yourself:
- Self-initiate projects that prove the results of the service you want to sell
- Write articles and tutorials that make your expertise obvious
- Build an audience of connections that see you as an authority by helping people
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How to build a fully on-chain NFT project in 7 steps (with code):
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5 ways to stick around in freelancing:
- Do a good job
- Do a good job
- Do a good job
- Do a good job
- Do, a good job
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If it's most risky for you to work with the client the price should be higher.
If it's most risky for the client to work with you the price will be lower
Price mirrors risk.
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The 3 stages of self-employment:
1. I want more work
2. I want less work that pays more
3. I want to get paid for work I've already done
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Give preference to retainer engagements that sell your availability to deliver knowledge, not your labour.
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If you think there's a chance you might kick yourself for not charging enough,
It'll probably happen during the project.
Add 20%.
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"Why should I pay so much for something that you did so quickly?"
Because I just saved you a ton of time.
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7 ways to gain trust:
- Be discoverable (online and offline)
- Be authentic (don't fabricate)
- Be transparent (show results)
- Be accessible (help people)
- Be relatable (tell your story)
- Be brilliant (do great work)
- Be useful (spread value)
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