The Problem with Underselling Yourself

I don’t care how saturated the market is, I won’t ghostwrite your novel for 50$

It’s okay to get scared when you start freelancing – you have no idea how many hours you’ll actually have to spend working on projects, you don’t know how to price your services, you have no clue what to expect, and you just want to attract as many clients as possible. I get that.

Market research is paramount; seeing how your competitors are doing, what they’re offering, and how much they’re asking is important to get yourself an idea of how you are going to do things. Basic market research also serves you to actually see how many offers are out there – and that can be overwhelming.

In this day and age it is hard to find a market which isn’t saturated. Take a look at ghostwriting gigs offered on Fiverr and you can quickly get lost in hundreds of offers, many of which aren’t asking for that much. Ghostwriting a 30k word novel is hard enough, ghostwriting it for 50$ is even worse.

So why are new freelancers (as well as small businesses) underselling themselves and their services?

Well, there’s a few different scenarios, and they all tie into each other.

• They think they’re not good enough.

Imposter syndrome is real and hard to overcome. When competing with experts who have been playing the field for much longer than you, it’s hard to not be intimidated. Professionals provide services which they’ve been perfecting for years. They’re good at what they do, obviously, and they’ve had the chance to prove themselves. For someone who’s just starting out it often isn’t the same.

• They believe asking for a higher rate will drive potential clients away.

Not everything has to be about getting the best possible deal. Imagine getting a bag from Shein – do you really think it’ll be the same quality as a Birkin? But those aren’t your only two options. They’re a huge difference between 5$ and 500’000$, obviously – yet if you want something of quality, you don’t have to burn through your lifetime savings. 200$ will more often than not get you a good product, wether we’re talking about bags or your landing page.

And potential clients know this. Someone who’s serious about their business will look for quality, not quantity.

• They don’t know their target audience.

Knowing what you want to do and the services you’ll be providing is important, but it’s also important to know who you are providing those services for. Knowing your clients will help you immensely: you’ll know what they’re looking for and what they’re willing to pay for it.

• They simply don’t know any better.

And yes, this is pretty much the summary of all the above reasons. You’re just starting out, you’re not so sure what you’re doing, you just want to get some hands on experience. That’s fine, most of us have been there.

Pricing yourself isn’t easy and I believe you can only learn with time. Setting my prices was hard when launching my astrology business four years ago, it was hard when starting my career as a copywriter and ghostwriter three years ago, and it’s even harder now trying to figure out OnlyFans. But hey, that’s one of the struggles of being self-employed.

And I’d rather set my prices too low and learn from it than have someone else dictate how much my work is worth.

At the end of the day, it is you who has to turn off the computer and pay the bills. It is you who needs to be content with what you’re doing. It is you who needs to market yourself, to talk to clients, to spend those hours needed for the perfect outcome of that project.

It is you who has to work with others and feel respected by them.

If someone’s serious about hiring you, it’s because you’re good at selling yourself. It’s because the experience you’ve gathered is valuable, because your skills are important to them.

Yes, price does play a role. But if you’re scared that those potential clients you’re talking to right now won’t pay more than 15$ for a landing page, know that so many others will.

Finding the right people to work with takes time, as frustrating as that may be. Use that time to build your portfolio, to master your skills, to learn what you can and to create the best possible presentation for yourself. Market yourself to jobs and people who truly deserve your time and focus on what is important to you.

If you’re just starting out and have absolutely zero previous experience it’s okay to price yourself a little lower, but be honest with yourself. Realistically speaking, how much are your services worth? How much would you pay for them?

Getting paid 10$ for a 14-hour job speaks volumes about your confidence. Inevitably, you’ll end up overworked and underpaid in no time.

Isn’t that the opposite of a freelancer’s dream?