Freelancing and your daily price: an honest story
As a freelancer, you set your own hourly rate. But do you also know your daily price?
When you’re employed, it’s straightforward. You know what you earn, you know what gets deducted, and the difference is yours. When you freelance or run your own business, it’s a lot less clear-cut.
I run my own business. Two, actually. And the tricky thing about being self-employed is that your income varies but your costs don’t. My workspace rent keeps running, even in a quiet month. The insurance keeps running. The fixed costs don’t stop when the work dries up.
That’s why knowing your daily price is especially useful as a freelancer or business owner. Not your revenue, not your profit — your personal daily price. What it costs to keep you and your life running, per day.
Because your daily price is also your break-even point. Everything you earn above your daily price is actual income. Everything below it means dipping into savings, or building up debt. That sounds harsh, but it’s simply math.
It also helps when setting your rate. If your daily price is fifty-five euros and you work eight hours, you need to earn at least seven euros per hour just to break even. In practice, you obviously want to be well above that. But it helps to know where the floor is.
Freelancing is fantastic. The freedom, the autonomy. But that freedom also demands honesty with yourself. Your daily price is a good place to start.