Setting Your Hourly Rate On oDesk

Psst...Click on the picture to read the entire series.

So now, after my last post, you've settled on a useful title for your oDesk profile and managed to write a good overview. The next hurdle you face is a fair hourly rate. This is one of the most challenging aspects of your profile. It takes a lot of thinking to come up with an appropriate hourly rate. You are bound to worry about it being too high or too low. 

A major worry expressed by most users is that they will be unable to compete with the profile of the Philippines based freelancer with an hourly rate of 5$.  While an understandable concern, it is one you should put out of your mind! You need to understand that the clients who hire freelancers willing to work for such low prices are unlikely to have a very high quality of requirements. These are not the clients you want to go after anyway, so don't worry. 

First off, there is simply no industry standard to determine how much you're worth. I know, this most definitely sucks, but, it is an unfortunate fact that you need to make peace with. However, this does not mean that you have to set an arbitrary rate. You need to consider a variety of things when you do choose to set your rate. One of the most important things is your skill level. This is even more important when you start out. If you want to work as a writer on oDesk and hold a college degree in creative writing, you are a league ahead of all your competitors. Your rate automatically goes up!

If you do not have a college degree in the field you want to freelance in, don't despair. That is the beauty of freelancing, even a person with absolutely zero certifications can end up earning more that a person with a PhD. But, you need to be practical. If you don't have a college degree in the field and are brand new to the website, with no real portfolio, you cannot charge a 100$ an hour!  No one will hire you. What you can do, is  start at a lower rate and work your way up. This way as you build up your experience, you get great portfolio samples, good ratings and can start commanding a higher rate.

One more thing that is extremely important in deciding your rate is your work experience as an industry professional in that field. While not everyone will have such experience to back them up, those that do, can easily use it to command higher rates.  An experience in the industry signifies that you are good at what you do, and most importantly, are familiar with the corporate atmosphere. Considering the fact that a majority of clients who hire on oDesk are themselves either small companies or employees of large corporations, this really adds to your value. 

One thing that many freelancers overlook is their location. If you are located in a native English speaking country like the USA, Canada, UK or Australia, you can automatically charge a higher hourly rate. This is one of the key features that gives you the edge over your lower priced Filipino counterpart. oDesk is a global marketplace and English is its lingua franca. Being a native English speaker is a skill unto itself. Use it!

In the end, keep updating your hourly rate as you gain more skills and experience. This is key to maintaining a fair competitive rate. If you're worried about repeat clients not hiring you, don't be - if they're happy enough with your work to want to rehire you, they won't have a problem paying a few dollars more to work with you. Always remember, don't sell yourself short, but at the same time, don't overcharge. 

Keep reading the series on working successfully on oDesk. I will be blogging more about setting up a portfolio. Stay connected to find out more, I would be more than happy to field any and all queries, just post a comment. Also, take a minute to join the Freelance Writer's Club. It's a great way to get periodic mails about new posts, useful resources and also, the occasional writing gig!