When you’re running an online freelance business, I always recommend creating packages for your services based on what you’re creating, rather than charging hourly. Here’s how to create packages for your freelance services.
How to Create Packages for Your Services
First, if you’re a general virtual assistant or social media manager, you might be wondering why you shouldn’t just charge hourly and be done with it.
After all, you might not be creating a concrete deliverable like a website design or a brand photography shoot.
But if you want to grow your business and be able to raise your rates over time, the it’s super important that you create packages and CHARGE BY THE PACKAGE instead of charging hourly. And if you’re providing an ongoing service like social media management, then I’d recommend charging a monthly package price (not daily or weekly).
Why You Shouldn’t Charge Hourly as a Social Media Manager
Here’s the thing: as you gain experience, you will get better and faster at your job. But if you’re charging hourly, then you will actually be punished by being more efficient at your job. And your job as a freelance business owner is to provide a quality service or finished product, NOT to spend your days filling out time sheets or clocking in and out like you’re at a 9-5 job. Nope!
So when you create a specific package based on what deliverables (or finished product) your client will receive, you can raise your rates over time while you also get better and more efficient at your work. And THAT is how you can grow and scale your service-based business as a solopreneur.
How to Create Freelance Packages
Ok, so how do you know how to create packages? You’re going to do what Courtney Chaal calls “productizing your service” which is basically creating a repeatable process or framework to ensure you deliver consistent, high quality work for every client you work with.
Listen: you do not want to reinvent the wheel for every new client. That doesn’t mean you’re taking a cookie-cutter approach, but it does mean you are coming up with standard packages and processes so you can continue to deliver great work.
If you order spaghetti carbonara at your favorite restaurant, you don’t get something great one time and soggy the next, or something worse than the customer next to you. They’re following a recipe.
If you’ve been creating a brand new custom proposal from scratch for every potential client who comes in, then I’m about to blow your mind. ? Instead what I want you to do is come up with about 3 different levels of packages for your service.
If you’re a social media manager, this might be 3 different tiers of service that increase in quantity of posts / content and price. You could have a bronze tier with X number of scheduled posts per day and X number of graphics per month, a silver tier with a little more, and a gold tier with a lot more (and maybe X amount of account engagement too as a bonus for the top tier).
If you’re a copywriter, then maybe you have a package for a sales page, a package for launch copy, and a package for ALL your website copy. Or a few pages like the about page or landing page copy could be add-on options.
Same idea for a graphic designer. You could have a package for a simple logo, a package for a full branding suite, or a package for 10 custom social media templates.
And if you’re looking for software to help you manage your clients and save time on sending out monthly invoices, etc, check out my Dubsado review.
If you’re burned out or overwhelmed, then creating standard packages for your services will change your life. No more custom proposals, no more scope creep, and no more confusion. As a bonus, you can also turn ongoing tasks like social media management or perhaps some graphic design into MONTHLY packages and forever avoid the freelance feast or famine cycle.
Whoo hoo! ?