A Rate Is a Condition of Relationships, Not Only of Skill
The rate for solo work is not decided by working hours alone. Accumulated experience, the relationship with a client, and circumstances where you cannot refuse all pile up, and before you notice, the same conditions have continued for a long time. What needs review is less the rate itself than the occasions when you judge whether you can continue under the current conditions.
A price increase is not an act that breaks a relationship with the other party. If you leave conditions you cannot sustain in place, strain appears in quality and delivery dates, and the relationship collapses as a result. Reviewing your rates is a judgment that should be considered regularly, as part of the arrangements for continuing your business.
Use Venus's Cycle of About 225 Days as a Guide for Review
Venus goes once around the Sun in about 225 days. In astrology, Venus is read in connection with value, what is paid, and human connections. A period of about 225 days is a turning point slightly longer than half a year and shorter than a year. There is no need to repeat a review of rates every month, but if you do not think about it even once a year, the drift in conditions grows large.
In this article, the cycle of about 225 days is used as a guide for confirming what is paid and the conditions. Each time the cycle comes around, compare the content of the work you are accepting at your current rate with the effort it actually takes. Whether to raise the price is something to decide after that confirmation. The cycle itself does not decide whether a price increase is advisable.
In a Review, Check the Scope of Work Before the Amount
When you feel your rate no longer fits, the cause is not necessarily the amount alone. It often happens that responses to revisions and consultation work that were not there at the start have increased, and the scope of work has widened. As the order of a review, the first step is to write down the work you are actually doing now, and compare it with the scope of your agreement or promise.
If the scope has widened, there are several options: return the scope to what it was, make the increased portion a separate charge, or raise the overall rate. Which you choose changes with the relationship with the client and the future prospects of the work. A form that enters from confirming the scope, rather than entering immediately from talk of the amount, is easier to advance as a discussion.
Choose an Occasion with a Clear Turning Point to Raise the Topic of an Increase
An occasion suited to considering a price increase is one where the turning point of the work is clear. For example, in photography work run by one person, one occasion can be considered: toward a client from whom you continuously receive requests, at the stage before the next contract renewal or before a busy season begins, you review the conditions together with a confirmation of the scope of work.
Conversely, if you bring it up just before delivery or in the middle of trouble, the talk of conditions is more likely to become talk of feelings. If you confirm regularly on Venus's cycle, you can avoid having to bring it up in a rushed situation — that is also a benefit of this turning point. When you convey it, a form that presents it concisely, as a condition for continuing, rather than explaining the reasons at length, is what works.
Deciding Not to Raise Your Rate Is Also a Fine Judgment
As a result of a review, a conclusion that you will not change the rate this time is also possible — for example, when it is a period for expanding the business, or when there has been much to learn from the relationship with that client itself. What matters is to decide not to raise it not out of inertia, but with a reason.
Also, if the conditions differ greatly between new work and work of many years, how to handle that difference is also an object of confirmation. There is no need to close the gap all at once, but whether or not you yourself grasp that a gap exists affects the next review. It is recommended to briefly leave a record of the date you confirmed and the conclusion.
Decide What Is Paid by Your Own Numbers, Not the Stars
Venus's cycle is a guide for deciding the day of review. The final judgment is made on the basis of the numbers of your own business: the time taken, expenses, and the income needed for living. Please keep a horoscope to the range of a tool for checking, so that you do not miss the period for thinking, rather than something that pushes a judgment forward or stops it.
Once every roughly 225 days, compare the scope of work and what is paid. If you have that habit, you can settle a rate problem with a small adjustment before it grows large. Precisely because it is solo work, it is important to keep the review of what is paid as your own turning point, rather than leaving it to someone else.
It is also recommended to leave a record of reviews for cycles that did not lead to a price increase. By leaving one line on why you did not change it this time, the next cycle's confirmation becomes a continuation from the previous judgment rather than a matter of feeling. A rate problem is not something solved once and finished. If the content of the business changes, the appropriateness of what is paid changes too. Accumulating records becomes the basis for your own judgment in situations of negotiating conditions as well.