Hey HN,<p>I've been working in a small startup as an iOS freelancer for almost 2 years (bug fixing, features implementation, etc). I landed this contact by publishing two apps to the App Store (one got a fairly good amount of downloads) and doing some small gigs.<p>Anyway, I have some free time now because this small startup doesn't have much work for some time. My first reaction was to go after some projects to work on. I stumbled upon UpWork and Guru and, as everyone else seems to be saying, it's pretty hard to compete with some programmers applying to work for $15/h for example. I'm trying to maintain my price as $35/h (I receive $30/h after UpWork's fee) as I think it's fair for my service, but I not having much success with that.
Is my price too high? Is my cover letter wrong? I've never applied to this kind of thing before and I'm having a hard time writing a good letter... do clients on websites like UpWork even read all cover letters? Some projects has over 100 proposals.<p>I have tried to move to websites like Crew and Toptal (I don't think I have enough experience to toptal yet). Can anyone help me?<p>Thank you!
Do you live somewhere where $30/hr is a good wage? In the US, a decent iOS freelancer should be getting at least $100/hr -- you can't do that by competing on these platforms.<p>The standard advice for getting better rates (you'll see all over HN -- and I can tell you that it's what I do personally)<p>1. Charge by the week, not by the hour.<p>2. Sell the business result, not the app's features.<p>3. Your cover letter should reference how your portfolio projects delivered (profit, cost saving, risk reduction) to the client.<p>4. You need to convey that you are the low risk choice -- money to you definitely turns into an app for them.
Your price <i>is</i> too high for the clients you <i>don't</i> want -- maybe low for the ones you <i>do</i> want.<p>It's a Market for Lemons.<p>And competing in the race for the bottom will cause you to get lost in the noise. Some small number of clients will prefer higher rates and take the gamble -- and upon a happy conclusion of a project, will seek you out in the future.<p>hth
What keeps you on odesk/upwork or similar race-to-the-bottom sites?<p>Eliminate the middle man, contact directly to prospective clients. There are a lot of opportunities for mobile devs.