Ankur Syal

Feb 03, 2025 • 3 min read

How I went from ₹3K to ₹20K per project as a Freelancer

Why charging more isn’t just about pricing it’s about strategy

How I went from ₹3K to ₹20K per project as a Freelancer

Helloooo,

FREELANCERS... ASSEMBLE!

Are you ready for foreign deals?

Big BUCKS!!?

I can't hear you over the loud noises from the graphic designer's laptop.

Okay, I know you’ve already read tons of articles and watched a million podcasts on:
🔹 How to get clients
🔹 How to grow your freelance business
🔹 How to sell

Blah blah blah...

Yet, we still struggle with ONE thing.

Drum roll, please...

How to Increase Your Prices🎉🎉

Let me tell you my story.

When I started freelancing, I designed a landing page and charged ₹3,000.

For three years, I settled at ₹7K-₹8K and sometimes ₹10K.

I wanted to charge more, but HOW?

How do I justify doubling my prices?

I had another problem too.

My clients came from my own network. If I charged one client ₹6,000, how could I charge another ₹20,000 when they were referred by the first one?

So, I changed my strategy. Instead of just offering webpage design, I started offering solutions.

I asked myself:

"Many others are offering the same service at a lower price—what can I do differently?"

I realized that a business owner's ultimate goal for a website is sales or lead generation.

What if I designed websites that actually delivered results?

Then I could charge more.

The Shift That Changed Everything

This shift helped me:
✅ Increase my prices
✅ Work with fewer clients and still make more money
✅ It also filtered out clients who weren’t serious about their business and were too risky to work with.

These are the ones who might ghost you in the middle of a project, leaving you with no money and an unfinished website.

It also improves your portfolio.

Scalability Matters

Of course, both methods work.

But the first method isn’t scalable. The only way to make money that way is by keeping a constant flow of new clients.

And as we all know...

With great quantity comes great management problems.

In the beginning, you might rely on low prices to get clients. But as you grow, you need to switch.

I’m not saying you should do exactly what I did or this is the only way.

I reached this point through trial and error.

You can find your own method. I might even switch to something else in the future. Who knows?

If you want to keep growing as a freelancer, you have to find new ways to serve your clients.

What works today may not work tomorrow.

Observation

When I was an employee, I watched a service-based company grow like crazy.

They went from two tiny coworking cabins to five full offices across the Tri-City area.

And then... they shut down.

All within a year.

Why?

They couldn’t retain clients. They had nothing new to offer, just the same template-based websites.

They took on so many clients that they couldn’t maintain communication with their existing ones.

This led to a mass exodus of clients moving elsewhere, somewhere they felt heard and valued.

In the end

Raising your prices isn’t just about asking for more money.

It’s about offering more value, solving bigger problems, and avoiding the burnout in your 30s.


If you’re new to freelancing and don’t know where to start, I’ve created a toolkit to help you begin from level 0. For everything, you need a strong foundation, and this toolkit helps you build that foundation. It’s a roadmap you can use anywhere.

Get your guide: https://topmate.io/ankursyal/1134525

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