Freelancers and agency owners: how much should you charge your clients? If you’re average, you should charge market prices. If you’re below average, you should charge below market prices. If you’re above average, you should charge above market prices. If you have your own market, you have ultimate pricing power. Most people get this wrong because they’re not honest about where they are in relation to the market.

Too many designers are looking for clients in the exact same places. Dribbble. Upwork. Contra. Fiverr. Here’s the problem: → Too many supply, not enough demand. Dribbble has over 12 million designers showcasing their work. Upwork has 18 million freelancers competing for roughly 800,000 active clients. That’s not a market. That’s a knife fight. If you want clients, stop going where everyone else goes. Start thinking in terms of supply and demand tension. From the book Blue Ocean Strategy: “Competing in overcrowded industries is no way to sustain high performance. The real opportunity is to create blue oceans of uncontested market space.” Translation for independent designers: Go where there’s demand for design, but fewer designers fighting for it. That could mean: • Niching down into a specific industry • Partnering with local companies who don’t have in-house design • Embedding yourself in communities where your ideal clients hang out The goal isn’t to be seen by everyone. It’s to be found by the right few. Where’s your blue ocean right now?

“Full service” sounds strong, but it’s actually some of the weakest positioning. Here’s why saying you’re “full service” hurts you: 1️⃣ Prospects don’t search for generalists. They want a wedding photographer, not a “creative image maker.” 2️⃣ Offering everything dilutes your message. A store that offers “oil changes and pizza” doesn’t sound appetizing. It sounds confusing. 3️⃣ People are used to paying more for a specialist. Generalist doctor = $130k/year. Specialist surgeon = $400k+/year. My former agency didn’t break $1M+ revenue until we outwardly focused on design systems. That’s when clients said: “We couldn’t find anyone like you.” What’s one service you can stop offering to sharpen your positioning?