How to calculate your freelance day rate, step by step
Work out the day, half-day and hourly rate your studio needs from take-home pay, costs, tax and the days you can bill, in one worked US example in dollars.
Sections · 02 of 07
Pricing & Money
What to charge and how to get paid: rates, quotes, invoices, taxes and an irregular income, for creatives who send their own invoices.
A day rate has to pay for more than the days you bill: software, insurance, retirement, the weeks spent finding work, and US self-employment tax of 15.3% on top of income tax. Then the money has to arrive: deposits, payment terms and invoices are where a price becomes income.
In this section
- Day rates, project pricing and value pricing
- Quoting and estimates
- Raising your rates
- Deposits and payment terms
- Invoicing and chasing late payments
- Usage and licensing fees
- Accounting and bookkeeping software
- Taxes for the self-employed: estimated tax and deductions
- Business bank accounts
- Retirement savings when self-employed
- Health insurance for freelancers
- Budgeting an irregular income
Notes in Pricing & Money
Two notes, newest first.
How to ask a client for payment when an invoice is late
Chase a late invoice in four dated steps, from a friendly reminder to a final notice, with wording for each and what a US freelancer can do if it stays unpaid.