How much is your worth?

July 3, 2025

Although I call myself a writer, I actually haven't written anything professionally in about five years. I'm currently a web designer. Why? Well, the money is larger and more consistent than freelance writing. I also got laid off from most of my gigs during the pandemic, and so web design was sort of an emergency pivot that turned out surprisingly well.

I mostly work with Wordpress and Shopify, with clients that tend to predominately be women with side hustles. It's not the most lucrative client base as these people don't have large budgets, but they do tend to stress aesthetic over function, which makes them more fun to work with. I get annoyed with clients who only care about getting 100% on PageInsights and being at the top of Google search results. Yes, SEO is important, but being a designer and an SEO expert are two different things. Personally, I'd rather design something bespoke that feels like it's worth both my and my client's time than worry over metrics¹.

But every time someone asks me for a quote on a project, I'm always a little anxious. Despite running my business for a few years now and having a decent portfolio, I still feel nervous about sending people quotes, because building a site is way more time consuming and expensive than people think. I think people assume you just whip it up in Elementor in five seconds, and that's it. Although I'm fully aware there are developers who do do it that way, you get what you pay for. And it's difficult to explain to clients why that's not the right way beyond, "Well, Elementor is slow/bloated/limited."

Many times I'm stuck trying to justify to a client why my rate is so high². So lately, I've been low-balling. I tell myself the project won't take that long, so I don't have to charge that much. So instead I give them a quote that's half as much and then bust my ass trying to get it done within that quote's time frame, which is hard with the workflow I currently have (designing, waiting for edits, building off an old framework, then hand-coding the rest, and using ACF).

But shouldn't I know my worth? Why charge someone less for something I know is worth a lot more? And then a part of me thinks, "Well, it's better to stay on good terms with the client." But then the client just thinks I'm cheap. I've also had nightmare clients who would trap me in never-ending projects with tons of revisions I had to keep doing because, if I didn't finish, I wouldn't get paid.

So when a client asks me, "How much do you charge to do XYZ?" I'm not only giving them the quote for the project, but I'm also slapping a sticker price on my intrinsic value. It almost stops being about the work and about my self-worth. Then the invasive thoughts start: Do I have the right to charge that amount? I'm not even a real designer, this is just my back-up career. I'm not really that serious about it and will probably segue back into writing whenever the right job or opportunity comes along. What right do I have to charge that much? Maybe they don't think I'm worth that much. Am I worth that much?

And when I do, in a moment of panic, put that low price tag on myself, am I saying I'm worth little? That I have little confidence? That I have the same low vibrational, desperate energy as the exploited Fiverr freelancers who tap dance for quarters while working twice as hard and doing twice the work?

What's funny is that the reaction from the client is so varied. Some of them are thrilled at the quote while others just ghost me. Probably the worst ones are the ones who agree to the quote, sign the contract, pay the deposit, and then ghost me. 🤨

Client work not only takes patience but also a strong ego. Because it'll test you. Make you question yourself. Make you think you're not deserving of what you're worth. And unfortunately, even if you might lose a client or two, you have to stick to your guns. You have to hold your head up high. You have to look at your client on a Zoom call that you took the trouble to put on makeup and real clothes on for, and tell them, "It's a large project that'll take weeks of my time. The quote is $2,000." If they're a client worth keeping, they'll respect it. If not, there's always Fiverr.

#career #web design