Hourly pay or fixed?

Question

Freelance

Since I am a student, I don’t have enough money, I need to look for a job, but after couples go somewhere for a part-time job, something is not quite a hunt.
I decided to work as a freelancer, a few projects a week are quite satisfying, I have time to take couples and girls to the cinema;)
I don’t have experience as such in freelancing and it’s often difficult for me personally to estimate the cost, if the customer, let’s say, has already set there that the layout is 2500 rubles / project I find it easier to agree or not with the price that he offered.
But often the customer asks to indicate the price + execution lines of the same layout layout. And here problems arise, sometimes the process of completing a task depends on luck, well, it’s rushing me and I can do the task well in an hour, but it happens that the work doesn’t go on and that’s it.
It's more convenient for me to say there that my rate is $5/hour (example) and then I'll get my five bucks in an hour and spend more time more money.
But the fixed price is fixed for that, for example, I agreed that the price for the project will be $ 25 (example), then I will do it in an hour or two or less, then in the end I will get my 25 bucks.
Although it is now difficult for me to really estimate the cost of the project, probably due to the lack of experience in freelancing.
Or he can say to the customer that he is ready to work both on a fixed payment and indicate the price or hourly payment and also indicate the price:
my rate is $ 5 / hour or 5000 rubles for the project and let the customer decide (and not to take a person who knows exactly what payment wants ).

Answer 1

Personally, I think that small projects at an hourly rate should only be done when you are confident that you understand the topic and consider yourself a professional. Then the hourly rate will allow leveling all the problems associated with an indistinct explanation of the task by the customer and his small Wishlist. 1 hour changed the color of the button? Pay.
And if you have little experience, then it is better to work on a fix, having previously calculated in your head whether this fix is ​​profitable by multiplying your desired hourly rate by the expected time to complete the task. For due to inexperience, there is a risk of spending much more time on the task. And in the case of a fix, in order to maintain your reputation, you will sit until the night and finish everything. But if you screw up by the hour, then the sediment will remain not only with you, but also with the customer. And if you complete the task faster than expected, then there will be joy in general.

Answer 2

Hello, I wrote an article about this in the article: What is better Hourly or Fixed Price and If you are afraid that you will not have time to meet the adequate ...

Answer 3

Can you imagine how you will count the number of hours spent on a task? Especially if you have little experience, and you will spend 1/3 of every hour of work on Google?
It is better to estimate approximately the number of hours that you need to solve the problem, multiply by your hourly rate. After the amount received, adjust in the right direction (more / less), taking into account the fact that you will spend part of the time on Google. You also need to take into account the risk that some part of the problem (which is not familiar to you) can take 80% of the time to solve the whole problem, so the total amount can be slightly increased.
As a result, you will receive a fixed project cost, but with some reference to hourly payment. And there will be no situation that you work for 25 rubles / hour, and the price tag for the customer will be adequate.
This is purely my personal vision, and I myself sometimes do this.

Answer 4

Based on my experience, the first order is most easier to take on a fixed rate, because customers are skeptical about new freelancers, and with a fixed fee, it is easier to convince them of their professionalism.
After that, you can already safely set the hourly rate, if you prefer.
For example, I work with both fixed-price and hourly projects. With a fixed-price, I simply make an estimate, estimate the amount of work in hours and multiply by my current rate and send this estimate to the client, thereby showing exactly where his money will go.