Design Hireling: Pricing Models

Filthy lucre. A designer's life.What do you charge for your work? How do you get paid? What's your rate? These are the questions I whisper to myself while exporting files and writing emails. The answer? Not enough, too late, and too low. I criminally undervalue my work. The perk and curse of having a full-time job—I treat Freelance Me like a miserable little homunculi. You will do the work for dirt cheap and you will like it. Massive caveat going in—today's article is for me. Follow along if you like. Do as I say, not as I do. You know the drill.What's my goal for pricing?Allow me to don my mercenary persona. The most important thing for pricing is to make my life better. Ideally better than the average coder, insurance salesman, and—if possible—consultant. It's a tall order, but thankfully with a meager pay and a clean soul, I think we can scrape it.The goal of pricing is to:Make enough to live. Not survive. I can survive with a shopping cart and tarp. I want to live in a house with…