[StavrosK]

That was very informative, thank you. Is $100/hr typical for the US? Maybe I've been undercharging at $55...

[kgermino]

I don't know what's typical but the best way to see if you're charging too little is to put in some bids for $60, then $65, and so on and see what happens.

I have worked for a guy that was able to increase his prices nearly 25% (for new customers at least, he understandably didn't want to raise rates for the longtime customers who got him started) just by slowly raising his bids until he found what enough people would pay.

Disclaimer: This was for a construction company that got new customers by word-of-mouth YMMV

[portman]

This.

I vividly remember the day that I woke up and decided that from now on, I would charge $175/hr instead of $125/hr. Bookings actually increased.

Just keep raising your rates until

(a) You can't get any more gigs, or

(b) You feel too guilty to raise them anymore.

[krelian]

Just curiosity but how exactly do you market yourself? How do your clients find you?

[StavrosK]

Yep, good advice. I don't even think #2 is necessary, really...

[StavrosK]

I will, thanks. Currently I'm way more busy than I'd like, which tells me I need to raise my rates. I might even end up making more...

[portman]

You have definitely been undercharging.

$75/hr is the low end, and $200/hr is the high end.

As one data point: when I ran an independent consulting practice from 2002 - 2006, my prices started at $125/hr and grew to $225/hr.

[StavrosK]

Yep, it looks like it... Prices go down the larger the project is, but I have a tendency to cut them 30% for more than a few hours... Maybe I should keep them high and see what happens, thanks...

Do you mind if I ask what you did, roughly? I mean, what was the object of your work?

[Jd]

That's about my experience, although under a shorter time frame (6 months instead of 4 years).