Been adjusting my rates over the past year and honestly can’t tell if it’s helping or hurting my bottom line.
Sure, I can see individual project earnings, but tracking the bigger picture of how rate changes affect overall income feels messy. Wondering what systems other solo folks use to actually measure this stuff properly.
I keep a simple spreadsheet with columns for:
Every time I bump my rates, I add a note about when it started. Then I can actually see if higher rates mean less work or more money overall.
The key thing is tracking your effective rate, not just your posted rate. Sometimes you end up doing more unpaid revisions or scope creep when rates go up, so the real number tells the story.
I also look at revenue per client type. Some clients handle rate increases fine, others disappear. Helps me figure out which markets can actually pay what I want to charge.
I learned this the hard way after losing track of things during a busy period. Now I keep a dead simple chart on my office wall.
Every time I change rates, I write the date and new rate on the chart. Then I track my monthly income for at least 4 months after each change. The visual makes it obvious when rate changes actually stick.
What really opened my eyes was tracking income per hour of actual work, not just billable hours. I was raising rates but working way more unpaid hours per project. My income looked better but I was making less per hour of real work.
I also started noting which types of projects generated the most pushback when I raised rates. Turned out some project types could handle increases while others couldn’t. Now I adjust rates differently based on the work type.
I check my earnings at the end of each month.
I just compare what I made this quarter versus last quarter. Pretty basic but it works.
I track it by looking at my actual weekly take home pay before and after rate changes. Weekly numbers show the impact faster than waiting for monthly or quarterly totals. Here’s what I watch: if my weekly average drops for more than 6 weeks after a rate bump, I know I priced myself out. If it stays the same or goes up, the change worked.
I also keep notes on which clients stayed versus which ones walked away. That tells me more about my market than any spreadsheet formula.