Re: So has anyone else been feeling the pressure to lower their hourly rates?

[Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>]

I've only just entered the contract market while looking for full-time
work, but it seems that a lot of companies are looking for the lowest
bid these days. Should that mean you lower your rates? I can't say.
Whatever gets the bills paid in the end ultimately wins. If you can do
it while maintaining your rates, great. If it means lowering them,
great. Just remember either way that there are always hidden expenses
to deal with and of course taxes.

On Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 7:04 PM, Lisa Skillern <lisaskil -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
> I know, I know... The economy stinks. And I totally understand that budgets are getting squeezed, but my mortgage isn't any cheaper than it was four years ago--the last time I raised my rates--and the work hasn't gotten any easier.
>
> It's been a while since I've seen anything on this, so... just out of curiosity, what is the "going rate" for a seasoned technical writer? I hear from recruiters with jobs at rates that I consider ridiculous but I know that someone is going to fill them....
>
> I've got my ROI pitch down: seasoned writers are more efficient than less experienced (read: cheaper) writers, etc, but when it comes down to it, there's no getting around the "so what is your rate" question. Even my existing clients are asking whether my rates are going down. (I feel like asking them whether they've had to take pay cuts: I suppose I'd consider one if I knew they had to as well.) I don't know whether to stay the course--because we all lose when rates go down--or whether I'm out of touch.
>
> Is anyone else feeling the pressure, and how have you handled it?

-- 
Bill Swallow
Twitter: @techcommdood
Blog: http://techcommdood.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/techcommdood
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing 
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor,  Microsoft Word or 
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. 
http://www.doctohelp.com

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat