What should I charge as a freelancer (and put on one page)?

The leak is the reply box

I run a one-person shop in Nepal. BuyEbooks.Store is the shop; SoloOps is the imprint. I still freeze when a number has to leave the house. That freeze is not a personality. It is a missing object: no floor on a sheet, so the number gets invented in WhatsApp, in Gmail, in the form reply, anywhere a client is waiting and you want the week to start.

Underquoting is an ops failure. You skip the sheet, you type a number that feels polite, you write “I can be flexible,” and two unpaid weeks get scheduled because the scope was never on a page. Point at the missing object, not at your character.

This guide is the object. A floor from take-home. One page with scope then price. A cheaper-please move that takes work off the page. I am not going to invent an hourly rate for you. I am not going to name a fake client who paid me a fake number. Your floor is a sum you type.

Write a floor from take-home, on a sheet

Download the free 16-line CSV at https://buyebooks.store/free — file https://buyebooks.store/free/quote-floor.csv. No email wall. Duplicate it. Name it with the year. Do not silently edit history when you raise.

Four lines do the work. Take-home: what you need in the bank after tax, in a year — not revenue, not a lifestyle board. Tax/buffer: one percent that covers tax plus tools, health, bad months, unpaid quoting. Billable weeks: calendar weeks minus vacation, sick, admin-only, unpaid quoting, dead weeks; if you do not know, start at twelve non-billable, not two. Floor hourly: gross needed divided by sellable hours; round up, never down.

Below that floor you lose money even if the week looks full. Example numbers in the CSV are round figures, not my bank. Currency is whatever you actually invoice. USD, EUR, NPR, GBP — pick one per sheet and convert once. The formulas are in the CSV, in words. This is not tax advice. This is not a contract.

Put scope, then the price, on one page

A quote is one Google Doc. Not a thread. Not a voice note. Scope first, price after. Seven blocks: who it is for, what you will do, what you will not do, timeline, the number, how to say yes, an expiry date.

Read the number out loud before you send. Never write “I can be flexible.” Flexibility is a later conversation that takes work off the page. A yes on this page is permission to send a working agreement. It is not the agreement. I still hit send. You will too.

Hourly when you cannot name the deliverable. Project when you can. Two-tier is a smaller defined package versus the full one — not a fake good/better/best. Pick one default this week. I am not going to pick it for your trade.

When they say cheaper, take work off the page

Three moves: remove a deliverable, stretch the timeline, they do a piece. That is the whole script. The rate on the sheet does not move because someone asked. A no is allowed. Chat is not where the number lives — point them back at the page.

Old quotes stay. You do not email a manifesto to people already in a job. Duplicate the sheet, freeze a new decided-on date, send the next new inquiry a normal Doc. Someone already in a job is on the number you both already have.

What this is not

Not a contract, not a SOW pack, not retainers, not marketplace bidding, not tax advice. Not Get Paid in 7 Days — that book is invoices after the work ships. Not The Client OS — kickoff is a different week. Not a canvas that auto-sends prices. There is no JSON in this kit. You hit send.

The $24 PDF, The Quote You Can Send on Monday, is the how-to: the sheet explained, the one-page Doc, the cheaper-please scripts, two constructed quotes, a 90-minute install. Product https://buyebooks.store/products/quote-you-can-send-on-monday. Checkout https://buyebooks.store/buy/quote-you-can-send-on-monday. After Stripe, I email the PDF to the checkout address, usually within about an hour. The CSV stays free.

FAQ

What should I charge as a freelancer?

A number you can live with if they say yes — not a number you invented in the reply box. Write a floor from take-home on a sheet, then put scope first and the price after on one page. I do not publish an hourly rate here. Your floor is yours. The free 16-line CSV is at https://buyebooks.store/free.

Is there a free worksheet for a freelance floor rate?

Yes. The 16-line floor-rate CSV is live at https://buyebooks.store/free — also https://buyebooks.store/free/quote-floor.csv. No email wall, no form. Currency is whatever you invoice. The $24 PDF is the how-to: why the floor exists, the one-page quote, and the cheaper-please script.

Is this a contract or tax advice?

No. A quote is a page that says what you will do, for how much, until when. A yes on that page is still not a working agreement. The tax/buffer line on the sheet is one percent you type. It is not a filing, not Nepal tax counsel, and not yours either. Ask a person who files where you live.

What do I say when they ask for cheaper?

Take work off the page, not money off the rate. Remove a deliverable, stretch the timeline, or they do a piece. A no is allowed. Chat is not where the number lives. The rate on the sheet does not move because someone asked.

How is the free CSV different from the $24 PDF?

The CSV is the 16-line sheet from The Quote You Can Send on Monday. The PDF is the rest of the week: the leak, the one-page Google Doc, six scripts, two constructed quotes, a 90-minute install. Product: https://buyebooks.store/products/quote-you-can-send-on-monday. Buy: https://buyebooks.store/buy/quote-you-can-send-on-monday. I email the PDF after Stripe, usually within about an hour.

Is this Get Paid in 7 Days or The Client OS?

No. This page ends when the quote is sent and cheaper-please is handled. After a yes, kickoff is a different week. After the work ships, invoices are a different PDF. Close this at the yes. There is no JSON that auto-sends a price.