Setting your rate, and raising it later

Your rate here is one number: pesos per hour. Clients see it converted into their own currency with the peso figure beside it, at a daily European Central Bank reference rate, and the page says which day the rate is from.

Pick a number you can say out loud

The test is not what you think you are worth. It is whether you can say the number to a client, in a sentence, without softening it. If you cannot, it is either too high for your evidence or too low for your self-respect, and both are fixable.

What it is compared against

Clients filter by bands rather than by exact figures, so the difference between two nearby numbers matters less than you think. What matters is which band you are in and whether the rest of your profile explains it.

The floor here is ₱100 an hour. If you were on the platform when the floor was lower you keep your old rate for as long as you like: it is grandfathered, and it only has to meet the floor when you change it.

What raises a rate

• Evidence. A rated skill with a start month, an ID check, a verified speed test and a video intro all answer questions a client would otherwise price as risk.
• A full pipeline. The fastest way to raise your rate is to be visibly unavailable at the old one.
• Saying it once. Announce the new rate, do not negotiate it in the same message. A rate you defend in the sentence you announce it is a rate you have already discounted.

What does not raise a rate

Working more hours, being more available, or dropping your price to win a client you then hope to grow. That last one is the common trap, and it is common because it works right up until you want the raise.

A client who chose you because you were the cheapest is a client who will leave when somebody cheaper turns up.

Raising it on existing clients

Give notice, in writing, with a date. One month is generous and normal. Do not apologise, and do not offer the old rate for "just this one".

Yours is a single field: your profile.