[Sigia-l] Freelance IA consulting: Discovering the cost of do ing business

[Anders Ramsay]

On 6/7/02 4:52 PM, Victor Lombardi at victorlombardi at yahoo.com wrote:

> Another advantage of undercharging is to develop repeat business
> ("developing a relationship" in the lingo). Perhaps the undercharged
> project is simple, and when the client sees the quality of your work they
> offer you more complex work that is worth a higher rate. If not, then
> perhaps it was a bad investment. But to be so conservative to never take on
> some risk means you might never achieve better returns in the long run. You
> can look at it all as investment strategy, where you're investing your time
> and effort for some return. A more strategic approach might be better in
> the long term.
> 

I would agree.  The best long-term strategy if your portfolio is thin is to
take on any and all work that will enhance it, and to do it for any price
(though of course you would not want to let on to that while negotiating a
fee.)  You're essentially investing in your future.  And if you do good
work, that gives you more leverage to ask for more money for your next
project with that client. Or if it's with a different client, all they need
to see is your work, not what you charged for it.

-Anders