I’ve been freelance writing for a small outlet for the past few months. It’s shift work and they pay me £110 per shift. I do it a few days a week but it’s not that great money (they first offered £100 but I asked for more and that was all their budget could stretch to.)
The past few months have been our busiest period of the year and we smashed our highest daily and monthly views. I contributed heavily to this and I also work the night shifts, which no-one else tends to do. It’s demanding because I have a business to look after too. And the time I work for them comes out of my business time, so it needs to be worth my while. Which, currently, it isn’t, but I enjoy the work and I need them to build up my portfolio and gain experience.
I’m planning on telling my boss all this and saying my rates are going up (telling him, not asking.) I’d be happy with £120 for the time being but should I say that number? Or should I wait and see if they come back with a number (potentially higher or lower). I know I’m valuable enough to justify a raise but I don’t want them to say ‘okay, £115’ when that’s less than what I want. But it’s possible they may be able to give more too after we had a great few months so I don’t wanna undersell my work too. I know it’s only £5 here or there but it adds up.
For what it’s worth, they’re good people and good employers who are pretty transparent. It’s still a relatively new company and my boss has people who he has to make funding requests to, it’s not strictly his decision. And I don’t have any other clients because I just got into the industry and they’re my first regular job. So it’s not like I can take an offer to them or something.