How to price custom projects

Chapter

Get Paid What You're Worth

Experience

Just Starting OutBooked My First 3 ClientsGrowing & Scaling

Format

GuideVideo

Lesson Description

A step-by-step process for pricing and building custom proposals for projects that don't fit your standard packages — including how to research a client's budget, scope the work, and structure your tiers.

Suggested Order

7

Tags

RatesProposals

Est. Time to Complete

‣

Video Transcript

How do y'all? I got asked how I make my custom proposals and I'm gonna show you starting with how I set the rates and then I'll also show you an example of a finished PDF of a custom proposal that I sent to a real client that actually won me a contract.

00:16

So the first thing you want to do is figure out what your base line is. That's your base line hourly rate.

00:22

We've talked about this before. Um, you can use the rates calculator to figure this out. And got this spreadsheet template is in the free line.

00:32

That's resource library. Um, so you'll just make a copy of this spreadsheet and you'll fill it in. So first thing you want to do is fill in your personal expenses.

00:40

I do this based on what I personally spent. So go into your credit cards or if you use bookkeeping software like QuickBooks out the employee, you can also track your personal spending.

00:51

So you can connect your credit cards and your personal accounts to that as well. I track all of my spending in QuickBooks even though it's like technically for my business.

00:59

It just helps me because the only thing I pay for with my business is my own life. It helps me think you're this out.

01:05

Umm, you could also use a paper spending tracker, a spreadsheet, or uhh really anything. You could literally just look at your bank statements and add it up.

01:15

So you just want to find out on average how much you're spending on everything personal every month and then all of your business expenses.

01:21

So is like your website. Any software you use like keyword search software or things like that. And then don't forget to include your debt.

01:29

It's really easy to be like oh I don't have to pay my student loans back right away. But like 20 years from now you might thank yourself if you paid attention to how much debt you have.

01:38

And then lastly you're gonna head to the rates calculator. This will all auto populate. The only thing you'll have to fill in is how many hours per month you want to work.

01:47

Um so this is an example of what mine looks like. I need to charge $150 an hour minimum in order to profit.

01:58

So um now I know my baseline hourly rate. It's gonna be a lot easier to determine a starting point for how much I want to charge for.

02:08

Thank you. A custom project. So now I'm gonna look up the clients data. So let's start with the first project we're looking at.

02:17

I'm gonna find out all of these things about this company before I decide how much I want. To charge them.

02:25

Um. So their valuation, I don't think I found their valuation. They do have a profile on crunch base. I looked this up yesterday for, one of you guys.

02:41

So that's why I know all this already. So they have two hundred fifty one to five hundred employees. That's helpful to know.

02:47

Um. I usually, the stuff on the homepage isn't really relevant. The financials. They acquired another, Company in November of 2023, which is a horrible time to acquire a company.

03:01

So that's very interesting. The last quarter of the year. Um. There in Florida. And this company is in Nashville, Tennessee.

03:09

So it looks like they're trying to expand their company. Um, which means they must have money to do it. Uh.

03:17

People's not really necessary. It looks like they're getting a lot of web traffic. And that their web traffic is really growing.

03:23

So they're working on marketing for sure. Um. And as far as news goes. So they must be doing pretty well or trying to expand or both.

03:36

And it looks like they're rapidly growing. They've added new service areas. So that was the assumption that we had made already.

03:43

Um. And it looks like this was an internal hire. So this information is all helpful but it is not their valuation.

03:55

Because this is a private company and it's not a startup they probably haven't gotten any funding but we can probably- only find their revenue.

04:11

Okay so they made 80 million in 2023 80 point. 3 million. Okay. It's just really helpful to know. They're not gonna have funding.

04:27

We might be able to determine their profit if we can find usually they don't share th their profit, but we can try.

04:42

So, I don't know about that. Um. What I would look up as see if you can find a project proposal.

04:56

I looked this up yesterday. Um. So here is a city project from 2020. So they would be charging even more than this now.

05:08

They charged $68,000 just for a kitty pool. Which I imagine one or two people is probably working on. And if you look at what they're paying their employees, the maximum I think you could make was like 120, yeah, 129, 132.

05:34

Umm. Thank you. And those are all like senior staff. So let's say we have two employees working on it. Let's say that costs them 200,000 dollars a year.

05:45

But this project is only going to take probably three months maybe six. Uh and they're probably- we're working on like five different projects.

05:56

So let's divide it by five for the projects and then I'll also divide it by 12 for just to get one month.

06:05

So they're probably losing about six to nine thousand dollars on employee labor and then you'll also have to consider the materials.

06:15

So profit on this very small project is a minimum of probably 20k and that's a very small project. This is a huge design firm so I imagine they're making much more than that in profit per project but let's just say that's the minimum.

06:31

You want their minimums and your maximums basically. We don't know what their marketing spend is so that's fine. This is enough information that I- I feel like I know the company pretty well now.

06:42

Um, they asked for proposal copy for those proposals that they send to try to win clients and they want two versions of each part of those proposals.

06:55

So those are going to be three hundred words or 500 words for each version and that they wanted ten snippets.

07:06

There is old proposal copy that you can refresh but as we know as right. There's often that means you're still going to have to write it from scratch and they just think that they have something.

07:17

They do not have a style guide. So it is going to turn out to be about thirty to fifty thousand words and the time I asked me to for it is thirty to fifty hours depending on.

07:28

Which package they decide to go with? So as far as packages goes, what I would do for tier one is full service.

07:39

So that will include two versions. The versions of each snippet, ten, ten snippets total. And then, It'll also, I would include a style guide and I would say it's complimentary but I would still like assuming, you you're charging for it and you have to put in the work to do that because it'll make your

08:12

work so much faster and easier if you make a style guide and they need one anyway. And it, looks really nice to get like a complimentary style guide in there.

08:20

Umm so this would be like the most expensive here obviously. Tier 2 would be middle of the road. I don't know what I would call, I call it something else.

08:29

I'm gonna go. Umm but I would say just have 500 word versions of each snippet again 10 total and that's it and then for tier 3 it'll be the description or snippets 10 snippets total.

08:57

So basically honestly I would include a style guide in all of these and I would upcharge for that. Umm. Like no matter what I would make a style guide for them because it's going to be easier for me to do my job that way.

09:11

That's what I would personally do. Obviously you don't have to do that. Umm. And I would include that at the hours that it would cost to make that.

09:20

In these lower tier options. But I would note in my proposal that there is a complimentary style guide included in the tier 1 services.

09:29

And I wouldn't give them the style guide if it was if they chose tier 2 or tier 3. Umm. Because they- basically by including the style guide as a complimentary service on this bigger tier they're going to be more likely to pick it because it's just more beneficial.

09:46

And this is what this tier is exactly what they asked for. So, in order to- to price this out, we're going to think about the fact that it's going to take 30 to 50 hours.

10:01

So let's say it took 30 and let's say it took 50 and I want to charge 158. We'll see you next that's going to be $4700 minimum.

10:13

Where is it? I always lose it. 30 oops. And I would round that up to 5k. And then if it was going to take let's say 50.

10:31

That's 7900. I would round that up to 8. So honestly I wouldn't charge less than 6 grand for this because, no matter what it's probably going to take you more than 30 hours I would imagine.

10:46

Umm. So I would say that's the bare minimum. And honestly that's just basic, So my hourly rate. That doesn't even include like the style guide or the fact that they're a massive company who are going to afford more.

11:05

Style guides, you can charge anywhere from like 200 to 2000 dollars for it. It really depends on how you do it.

11:12

And what the company can afford. Umm. Personally I charge a minimum of 500 dollars plus for the style guide. Umm.

11:22

Which is basically just covering how long it takes me to make it. Uhh. If I include it complimentary, that's what I ask.

11:28

Add on, complimentary. Umm. If I am charging for an individual style guide as an add on or I'm selling it as a service, then I would charge at least a thousand dollars for it probably too.

11:41

So I would personally say that the full service should be 10K and I would charge 8 for this one and I would charge 6 for the bare minimum.

11:58

Umm, so I hope that helps you figure out how to plan these custom proposals. That whole process is literally written out here.

12:06

You want to find your baseline. Then you want to figure out if you can any data on their company about what they're earning, what they're charging.

12:18

What they're worth, if they're getting funding, if you can find anything about their marketing, because that's what you're doing, you're marketing.

12:24

Uh and then you can take the scope and decide how that relates to the rates that you want to charge.

12:32

You can also consider like the type of copy you're doing. So for example, here's another project. Um, six moon designs.

12:40

It's a backpacking company. They don't make a lot of money. Let's see. Six moon. and I'm friends with the person who runs their marketing and product and all of that.

12:55

They make less than five million dollars a year. There's like no info on them really because they're a tiny company.

13:03

I'm it. They literally have like five people that work there and literally five people. Um and they're really like I want the project.

13:16

I love working with them every time I do and I want more outdoor projects. So let's say they want, let's just do the whole tiers for them.

13:28

So let's say they want six product descriptions and two product bundle sales pages. They also have no style guide. I would want to have a style guide.

13:38

So let's say this is going to take me. I would say it would take me about 24 hours, including if I made a style guide for them.

13:46

Umm so at a bare minimum I would need to charge if I wanted to make. My bare minimum hourly rate.

13:55

I need to charge 3792. So for this actual project I gave them three options. Actually let's see if I- have that proposal.

14:09

I could just show that to you. There we go. So this is the constant proposal that I actually ended up making for them for this project.

14:23

Also, hello. I used my general pricing guide as a template for this proposal. You can just use your pricing guide and edit it to make a constant proposal.

14:34

That's what I do. And I accidentally didn't edit it well and I put email in here instead of a project.

14:40

Like descriptions by accident. Umm so make sure you pay attention if you do that. Umm but basically they had estimated 300 words per page which by the way was not accurate in the end.

14:51

But I gave them two options which we talked about on the call the whole pattern. So I make them a style guide, do the product bundles, do the product pages.

15:01

Or I also offered them a lower price option for just the product pages so that they could edit those and make the product bundles themselves and then they wouldn't get a style guide.

15:12

Umm but I would still make one. I just wouldn't give it to them because they're not like choosing a luxury tier in which I would want to include that.

15:21

So I ended up pricing a little bit lower than what I actually needed to make which I don't always recommend doing.

15:27

I only recommend that if you like really want to work with a client specifically or if you're like friends with them and you're giving them friends with family discount or if it's something that you really want to get in your portfolio.

15:39

And for me that was all the above. Umm. So this is how I- ended up pricing it. Hopefully that helps you.

15:46

I went through that same process on the other page but a lot of that information I couldn't find because it was such a small business.

15:52

So I went based on umm what their products already cost. So you can see like on their web. Say it because I knew how many they had uhh I knew sorry.

16:07

I knew what they were already charging for their backpacks. So let's say they were going to charge the most for this backpack.

16:15

Let's go. Say they were going to charge $350 for it. You can then find out how many backpacks minimum. Um.

16:30

Man, you fact sure ride. So if you were going to manufacture backpacks, how many minimum do you have to get?

16:36

So. Sometimes it can be kind of hard to find this information. Um. But. I don't want capacity. I want. How many?

17:02

What is the minimum? quantity for backpacks. There we go. So let's say 20,000 units. Perhaps. Backpacks in a year. I forget how I found it.

17:31

But I did find it. I think I just did a lot of Googling to figure it out. So let's just say they got 10,000 backpacks.

17:41

And they charge 350 for backpack. And it cost them. Let's say it cost them. 7. No. Let's. They cost them $20 at most to make each backpack.

17:58

So they're spending $200,000 plus employees marketing, whatever. No, not $20. Backpack. They're charging $350. Oh, I was missing a zero.

18:15

I was like mentally that does not add up. So let's just subtract 10. Wait, what was it? Let's subtract- the results of this, so it's 200.

18:29

From that. And then you can subtract let's say another 10 for putting it out. They're still gonna make so much of that, right?

18:42

So I don't feel bad charging. What I need to charge for this, $3400 is extremely reasonable because they're going to make so much off of this copy and they could do another run of this copy forever.

18:56

And they're going to use a style guide forever. So anyway, that's why I figured that one out. Uh and then the last example I was going to show you is just Grammarly.

19:05

Um, they have a standard per word rate which I didn't know before I met with them for my discovery call.

19:12

Before our call I actually went and looked them up. So I looked up Grammarly valuation. Just 13 billion. That's huge.

19:24

And. I looked up. Let's see. I'll just write this down for you guys project. Grammarly. The fact that it's in the billing.

19:44

And it's just is mind-blowing to me. So let's say they make 13 billion. Or their valuation is 13 billion. Their revenue.

19:54

I want to say it was like in the tens of millions. 178 million. And they've raised 400 million. So that's the thing.

20:17

And then they're profit. We'll see. We can find the profit. Profit's harder to find. You often will not get that.

20:31

Not yet profit. Because they're a startup. So no profit. But their marketing spend is probably pretty high. Marketing spend is often something I just speculate about.

20:43

Uh. You know. Twenty to thirty percent of their budget. Over a hundred million dollars. Just on advertising. Okay. So. This information is really helpful because I just compare it to so my first tech client I just like shot in the dark and was like let's say 40 cents a word because I'd never been paid

21:16

that much before. But I was comfortable. It wasn't that much more. I wanted them what I would normally make. Like was charging $400 a blog post before that.

21:24

Uh but I wanted to start oaching towards making more off of blog posts. I knew people who were making like a thousand dollars off of blog posts but I didn't think it was possible.

21:34

So I was like slowly oaching towards that. So I went from $400 to wanting to earn $600 per blog post.

21:40

But I was like what's a middle ground? So I went for 40 cents a word with loom. And if you look at looms information of this, it's like an eighth of all of these numbers, right?

21:52

So I knew that Grammarly could afford more than 40 cents a word. So I said I'm just going to keep ooching and I charge 50 cents a word.

22:02

So it was definitely in relation to my experience. Um, but this is where having friends be being a part of a community, getting connected with people on LinkedIn, joining places like Pop Club and Old Girls Club and these different groups where people have knowledge and saying I think I'm going to charge

22:20

this. What do you guys think or has anyone work for this company? What did you charge? Or um, those sorts of questions, has anyone worked in this industry?

22:31

What do you charge? Can be really helpful to have a frame of reference, but at the end of the day, no matter what you do, make sure that you are at least charging your baseline unless you desperately want the client, you those.

22:55

Feel free to use that. I'm not pricing guy templates in the freelance resource library for free. The race calculator is also in the freelance resource library for free.

23:02

And I will put this process in a lesson in the freelance resource library. Let me say it again. I'm just going to call it the FRL from now on guys.

23:11

This is too hard for me to pronounce. So yeah, I'll put this in a lesson in the FRL and I'll link all those things below the video.

23:18

I hope you make some awesome custom proposals.

⚠️ Please Note: This video was recorded 2 years ago – some of the info in it may be a bit outdated. The Lesson written out below it is likely more accurate.

I’m in the process of updating the library.

How to Create Custom Proposals

Custom proposals are for projects that don't fit neatly into your standard pricing guide — a large copywriting project, a multi-service retainer, an e-book, a website overhaul. Anything where the scope is unique enough that a flat package doesn't quite cover it.

Here's how to build one from scratch.

Step 1: Know Your Baseline

Before you price anything, you need to know your numbers. Pull up the Rates Calculator and make sure you have your three tiers locked in:

→ Settle — the rate you need to make → Goal — the rate you want to make → Reach — the rate you'd love to make

If you haven't set your rates yet, do that first. Everything else in this process builds on those numbers. → Rates Calculator

Step 2: Research the Client's Financial Situation

This step is where a lot of freelancers leave money on the table. Before you price the project, find out as much as you can about your potential client's financial situation. A company bringing in $35 million per year can afford to pay you more than a bootstrapped startup — and your pricing should reflect that.

Look up any of the following:

→ Valuation — what the company is worth → Revenue — what they're bringing in → Funding — have they received investment? How much and how recently? → Profit — if available → Marketing spend — how much are they investing in content and marketing?

You can find this on Google, Crunchbase, Glassdoor, LinkedIn, or by asking Claude or ChatGPT to pull together a quick company profile. Something like: "What do you know about [Company Name]'s revenue, funding history, and marketing budget?" is a great starting point. You can also search "[company name] + funding" or "[niche] + Series C funding" to find companies that have recently received investment and are actively spending.

This research isn't about being greedy — it's about understanding what the company can realistically afford so you're not undercharging for work that will directly impact their bottom line.

Step 3: Scope the Project

Write out exactly what the client wants you to do with as much detail as possible. Note whether they have a style guide, brand assets, or existing content you can work from — anything that might speed things up.

If the project is large or complex, break it into phases or chunks. This also makes it easier to offer tiered options later if you're not sure what their budget is.

For each chunk, estimate how many hours it will realistically take you to complete. Then multiply by your hourly rate to get your baseline project cost.

Important: Always add a 10–20% time buffer to your estimates. Projects almost always take longer than expected — revisions run long, clients are slow to respond, scope creeps. Build that buffer in upfront so you're not eating the cost later.

You can use Claude or ChatGPT to help with this step too. Paste in the project brief and ask: "How long would it typically take a freelance [writer/strategist/etc.] to complete this scope of work?" It won't replace your own judgment, but it's a useful gut-check.

Step 4: Apply Value-Based Pricing Increases

This step is optional — but it's where you start charging what you're actually worth, not just what your time costs.

Consider adding a premium if:

→ Your writing will directly drive revenue — email copy, sales pages, product descriptions, paid ads. Add 10%+. → Strategy, planning, or research are involved — anything that lets the client be more hands-off. Add 10%+. → You have relevant experience — add 5–10% per year of experience in the field or niche. → You're in demand — if you're nearly fully booked and could afford to lose this client, add 5–10%.

For a deeper dive on how to think about and apply value-based pricing, check out the Value-Based Pricing lesson in the FRL. → Value-Based Pricing lesson

Step 5: Build Your Package Options

Now build 1–3 pricing tiers based on everything you've figured out so far.

A few things to keep in mind:

Three tiers work best. Presenting three options — a premium, a mid-range, and a basic — naturally guides most clients toward the middle option, which is typically what you want them to choose anyway. Price your tiers accordingly.

Use the client's financial data to calibrate. If your research in Step 2 showed that this is a well-funded company with serious marketing budget, don't be afraid to price at the higher end of your range. The tier structure gives them options without underselling you.

Don't offer more than three tiers. More options = more confusion. Keep it simple.

Examples:

Project 1: Barge Designs

→ Tier 1 — Full Service ($10k) 2 versions of each snippet (300–500 words per version), 10 snippets total, complimentary style guide

→ Tier 2 — Standard ($8k) 500-word version of each snippet, 10 total

→ Tier 3 — Bare Minimum ($6k) 300-word snippets, 10 total

Project 2: Six Moon Designs

→ Tier 1 — Done For You ($3,500) 6 product descriptions, 2 product bundle sales pages, complimentary style guide

→ Tier 2 — Product Descriptions Only ($2,500) 6 product descriptions

→ Tier 3 — Done With You ($1,000) 2 product bundle sales pages built from client's existing product descriptions

See more real examples in the Pricing Guide Examples Folder. → [Link]

For help building and formatting your package tiers, head to the Packages Workbook. → Packages Workbook

A Few Final Notes

→ Add an expiration date. I put an expiration date on every proposal — usually 3–6 months out. This protects you if a client goes quiet and comes back months later expecting the same prices. Rates go up, your experience grows, and you shouldn't be locked into a quote you gave six months ago. A simple line like "This proposal is valid through [date]" is all you need.

→ Always note when a proposal is an estimate. For larger projects especially, make it clear upfront that if the scope changes or the project runs over, you'll charge accordingly. Clients won't be surprised if you set the expectation early.

→ Format matters. A well-designed proposal signals professionalism. Use your Canva pricing guide template as a base and customize it for the client. → Canva Pricing Guide Template

→ Make it skimmable. Busy clients are not going to read every word. Use headers, bullet points, and clear pricing callouts so they can find what they need fast.

→ Include a call to action. End with a clear next step — a link to book a discovery call, a prompt to reply with questions, or a note about how to move forward if they're ready to go.