Ask HN: How much to charge for first freelance consultancy?
I'm a PhD student studying cyber-security (aviation security in particular) and was recently approached by an avionics company who wants to hire me for advice based on my academic research. The most money I've ever earned before this is something like $25/hr in an internship. They're asking me to quote them my monthly rates and I'm worried about either under-quoting and looking unprofessional or over-charging and looking greedy. The company is European if that matters at all.
How much do you all feel would be appropriate / non-presumptive to ask for as a student with high subject-expertise and low consultancy experience? Would something like $50/hr be crazy high or crazy low?
12 comments
[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 32.1 ms ] threadPlease figure it out for yourself how consulting works. If you can't do this, consulting is not for you.
I am trying to figure things out, but I'm seeing rates of like $500/hr in some sources and I just can't fathom how I could ever provide that much value to anyone.
Hopefully they're hiring me for my technical background and not my business intuition, otherwise any rate would be overpaying :)
If it's a common role chances are recruiters are looking for people and they will typically quote the budget for it, if so use that. If the rate isn't openly advertised, get in touch with the recruiter and pretend to apply for the position, whatever rate they suggest, add 10-20% (that's their markup) and use that for your rate.
If it's a more specialized position, search for more common roles which require your skills and look at those rates, and potentially go back to the above approach to figure out the rate.
2) Unless they’re hiring you as an employee, they’ll expect to deal with you via a company. Get in touch with an accountant ASAP and look into liability insurances.
If they want to hire you full time your guide is regular salaries for cyber security professionals in their/your country (whichever's higher, if they're different), plus a bit if your knowledge is super-specialised. If they want to hire you for a couple of months, or a few days a week, the rule of thumb is to calculate that on a pro-rata basis and at least double it. (Freelancers typically only get to bill for half the hours they actually work, and have to cover some of their own expenses)
Either way, an avionics company has deep pockets and hires expensive professionals for stuff that matters to it, and it's a lot easier to agree to drop rates (possibly in return for something like a longer contract or minimum number of days per month) than it is to negotiate them up.
Also, don’t forget to factor payroll taxes which are usually “invisible” to you as an employee and can be substantial. In Sweden, to get a salary €3000 pretax costs the company €3000 * 1,3132.
You may need to talk to an accountant. You may need to charge VAT and will almost certainly need to set up as at least a sole trader.
REDACTED.
>Would something like $50/hr be crazy high or crazy low?
Charge at least $300/hour. I'd say $500/hour. In France, it's more "jour.homme (JH)" (man.day). Compute your rate.
Set the precedent of someone actually looking at your rate and say "That's acceptable". You don't have much experience so it'll probably take you slightly more than the time you "bill" to actually do the job, but don't let that "delta" get big. Going above and beyond didn't hurt us.
You get more efficient with experience, and streamline your process to getting things done, document templates, your workflow, etc...
Do not think of it as "freelance consultancy", or that you're a student. You have expertise and you're solving a problem. What would happen if someone went on without that expertise? Would it mean a military plane being neutralized?
Here's something you may find useful for later, if you want to do consulting through a consultancy: https://twitter.com/jugurthahadjar/status/131066829330549965...