Rate Mate
An interactive pricing tool designed to calculate an hourly rate for contractors and freelancers.
Tools used:
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The challenge here is that freelancers have faced ongoing difficulties when it comes to setting the right prices for their services. A lot of them find it really tough to put a value on something intangible, which often leads them to unintentionally charge way less than they should.
To create: A short guide to pricing methods along with an automated pricing tool to allow freelancers to calculate an hourly rate, a day rate or a project rate.
The goal of rate mate is to help freelancers set prices for their services that ensure they are paid properly for the work they do. That they are charging rates that are sustainable and truly reflect the value being provided to the client.
I surveyed 300 freelance creators across social media communities and the majority specified that they struggle with both charging too little and also knowing how much to charge in the first place. After digging a little deeper and having some one to one conversations, many stated that they didn't know where to start.
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To provide a solution to these challenges, I created a step-by-step formula to help freelancers price their creative products & services. This contained varied pricing methods with varied formulas, all designed in a way that considered each person's individual set of circumstances. These formulas were (almost) nine years in the making and were incredibly well received.
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After asking for feedback overall, although greatly received, there were suggestions of finding a way to automate some of the formulas for those who have great difficulty following processes, or working with numbers in this way. So I got my head down and came up with 'Rate Mate'. An automated hourly pricing tool. I wanted Rate Mate to be its own entity rather than an extension of the existing pricing kit, so I started from scratch with the visual branding colours & elements.
To add some context, I also included some short explanations as to how the formula works.
This came with it's fair share of challenges! The biggest was working out how to use javascript to adhere to a very specific, unique set of calculation rules that matched the steps outlined in the guide version of the kit.
This is still a work in progress as the ultimate goal is to streamline the automation even more to reduce the steps further (as there is currently one manual step remaining) and to also provide an automative solution to the other pricing formulas created.
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