Should You Price Hourly?

So many designers hate talking about money, especially with their clients and prospects, which makes pricing one of the most dreaded aspects of being self-employed.

I think that’s why so many designers resign themselves to pricing their services by the hour, and that is truly a tragedy.

I get it. Pricing hourly is easy. All you have to do is track your time, multiply and submit an invoice.

This actually causes a tremendous amount of stress. You worry:

• “Should you bill for all the time you spend?”
• “Will they have sticker shock and fall off their chair when they see how long it took?”
• And most importantly, “Will they pay?”

Because if you’re like many designers I mentor, you may be a wee bit perfectionistic and therefore always worrying that your client doesn’t understand how much work is involved to get it right (if you even dare to bill for all the time you spent, that is).

This stress is the main reason I think pricing by the hour is the worst possible strategy for creative professionals.

read more/source: http://www.howdesign.com/creative-freelancer-blog/pricing-your-freelance-work/should-you-price-hourly-pricing-strategies/