What is your professional time worth? Part 2

Last month I published a post that encouraged professionals and business owners to put a dollar value on their time.

I conducted a small survey with a handful of responses (certainly not scientific here), but it was interesting to read how much  other professionals deem their time to be worth.

I averaged the survey results up and out of its respondents the average professional believes their time is worth $262.50 per hour.

So why was I interested in this?

Personally, I freelance my skills and time as a contractor on many occasions, and it's always interesting to me the responses I get when I share how much I charge for my time, services and the overall value to the client of the service I provide.

Just to be clear, often the response is negative...as in, I can't believe you are charging that (and trust me, my rates are average to low for the services I provide if said potential client went to a full-blown marketing agency). 

However, when that happens it's my opportunity to share how I create value for the client and their business far beyond  the amount they pay me...

...and that's probably the bigger lesson here:   if potential clients are not willing to pay you the price you've set forth you're either marketing to the wrong people, or you haven't justified your  value to them and their business...or both.

Back to the survey...

The survey from last month was another way for me to validate to myself, and to prospective clients, why I might charge what I charge on an hourly basis (if the project is something where I am in fact charging  for my time).

The thought process was, if I could gather survey responses from a good cross-section of my target audience and identified among them how much (at least on average) they believe an hour of their time is worth, then I could align my hourly rate with a similar prospective client and further justify why I should be paid my price (again, you do absolutely have to be able to also present your value here).

So, on average those in my target audience are suggesting their time is worth $262.50 per hour.  If I presented an hourly rate that is more than a 50% off of their hourly rate (i.e. $130/hr.), wouldn't they be coming out ahead saving time and money?

What's to complain about in that price or approach?

Posted by Nick Venturella