When thinking of your freelance business, you should follow four steps. 1. Calculate your expenses (non-business related) 2. Calculate the total cost of business 3. Calculate the total number of hours worked in a year 4. Calculate your hourly rate.
This is a pretty sure-fire way to find out how much you should be charging for your freelance work. This website takes you through each step and how you should go about calculating these numbers. But basically you want to know how much you spend, including things like any software you use, internet, phone bills, rent, utilities, office equipment, furniture, gas, travel, certifications, etc. Then calculate your cost of doing business with a profit margin, usually 10-20%. Next, you’ll calculate hours worked while taking into account national holidays, vacation days, sick days, and potential business travel days. Now that you know your cost of doing business and billable hours you can calculate your minimum hourly rate.