[weirdwes]

This has often been a hesitation of mine when being asked to do freelance projects. Before I took a web programming job, I had no formal training or experience so I always felt like I couldn't ask for high hourly rates because I wasn't confident enough in my work. After landing a job and doing it for a living, I still felt like I couldn't charge much because I would compare it to my salary which was a FAR cry from anything close to $50+ an hour. Because of the inhibitions, I've always just stuck with friends, friends of friends and family members when doing projects.

Now that I'm unemployed, I really think I need to reevaluate what my work is worth and start asking for a decent rate when projects come my way. The comments in this thread are definitely telling me I'm selling myself short - both in freelance projects and in what I fought through to earn what I earned at my last job.

Enjoying this thread. :)