It’s been two weeks since Black Friday.

Did you buy anything?  Did you offer anything?  Did you regret anything?

I have a newborn baby, so I’ll probably never have the time or cash to buy anything for myself ever again, but during a bottle feed on Black Friday this year, I noticed – whilst online – an increase in the number of my fellow freelancers using the opportunity to put forward offers and deals on their products and services.  This move may very well have served them well, I don’t know, but I was a little sad to see them doing this, because freelancers by their nature are already some of the most cost-effective workers you can ever commission to support your ventures.

As a freelancer and a bit of a rebel/ pain in the arse, I marked Black Friday in my own special way.  I raised my prices.

It occurred to me that I haven’t raised my prices since Spring 2014, so I considered this gesture to be a small early Christmas present to myself.  I love looking after my clients, but I need to look after myself, too.

I awaited a backlash.  It didn’t come.

As a freelancer, you have to be wary of the fact that even if you offered your products and services for minimum wage, there will always be one client who will act like they’re doing you a favour by allowing you to work on their project.  However, you also have to be wary of when the norm is when nobody questions your prices at all.  Whilst you could always view this positively in a way whereby you know that this is because people trust, value and respect you, it’s always worth considering if those clients are so rapidly saying yes to your quote because they were prepared to pay out a higher figure in anticipation of your work.  It’s all about finding a balance of being fair and competitive, but also knowing your worth.

Three and a half years with no increase in my prices, despite my portfolio getting bigger and my work becoming more high profile.  Inflation is applied annually on almost everything in business, and so I feel that as of 2018, this really needs to apply to agoodwriteup as well.

People don’t have to like, respect or buy into your worth, but as a freelancer, you always need to know it.