How to negotiate your rates

Learn Harvard-backed strategies for freelancers and entrepreneurs to maximize their earnings.

Mary ·

Goal: Learn Harvard frameworks to understand your worth and bring the other party on board, whether you're quoting a freelance rate or negotiating a business deal.

Watch: BATNA in Negotiation: A Key Source of Power (Harvard Program on Negotiation) —

Members are encouraged to read beforehand, but a quick recap at the meeting works too. Two shorter companion reads, if you have time: Making the First Move (on why naming a number first usually wins) and Should Women "Lean In" to Create More Value in Negotiations? (on framing a rate increase).

Meeting Agenda · Approx. 60 mins

  • Member Updates · 10 mins
  • Icebreaker · 10 mins
  • Key Takeaways · 5 mins
  • Activities · 20 mins
  • One Action · 10 mins
  • Wrap-Up · 5 mins

👋 Member Updates · 10 mins

Go around your Circle and share personal updates. Keep them brief and focused on significant changes or important decisions since the last time you met. It's OK not to have one every month. If you have a One Action update from last time, share that too.

🧊 Icebreaker · 10 mins

Invite everyone in the group to share. Keep answers to one or two minutes per person.

Think of the last time you quoted a rate or asked for a raise from an existing client. Did you name a number first, or did they? How did the negotiation turn out for you?

🔑 Key Takeaways · 5 mins

  • Knowing the market gives you a real advantage. If comparable freelancers or businesses charge $80–120/hour for similar work, you need to know that and adjust your rates accordingly.
  • Whoever names a number first usually ends up with a better outcome. Decades of research on "anchoring" show that the first number spoken pulls the rest of the negotiation toward it — sellers who go first tend to land higher, buyers who go first tend to land lower. This only works in your favor once you actually know the market (Key Takeaway #1).
  • Decide your walk-away number before you negotiate. Figure out what you'd do if this deal falls through: another client, other work, or savings that let you wait for something better. That real alternative helps you determine the lowest price you'd accept.
  • How you frame your request changes how it lands. Research shows that women get better outcomes when they frame negotiations around a legitimate objective or external reason — "my accountant flagged that my rate's been below market for a year," rather than simply asserting your value: "I think I'm worth more." This framing helps defuse the backlash women can face when they assert their own worth. Women also benefit when they refer to wins and successes shared with their negotiation partners.

🏋️ Activity 1 · 10 mins

Benchmark Your Rate and Calculate Your Walk-Away Number

  1. Google the current rate for one type of work you regularly do. Add context, like your qualifications and how many years of experience you have doing the work.
  2. If you're comfortable, share what you learned with the group. Is the rate you just researched higher or lower than the rate you've been charging?
  3. If the researched rate is higher, this should be your "anchor point," the number you name first in a negotiation. Does it feel realistic to begin charging that higher amount?
  4. List your realistic alternatives if your next negotiation falls through (another client, other work this month, savings that let you wait).
  5. Based on that alternative, calculate your walk-away number — the lowest rate you'd accept before you'd genuinely rather take the alternative instead.
  6. How strong is your actual walk-away alternative right now? What could make your alternative (and therefore your walk-away number) stronger before your next rate conversation?

Practice Naming Your Number First

Part 1 — Rehearse in pairs (5 mins):

  1. Tell your partner a real type of project you get asked to quote a rate for.
  2. Your partner plays a prospective client and asks you: "What would you charge for this?" — using the real project you just described.
  3. Answer with your real number, out loud, immediately. This helps you practice naming your number first, without asking questions that could allow your negotiation partner to set the anchor point.
  4. Switch roles and repeat with your partner's real project and number.

Part 2 — On your own, then share with your partner (5 mins):

Think of a real, existing client whose rate you're overdue to raise.

  1. Write down one legitimate, objective reason you could point to for raising it (e.g. a rate benchmark you've seen, the scope of the work having grown).
  2. Write down how you could frame that request more communally — using "we," not just "I" (e.g., "We've had a great year working together, and I want to make sure my rate reflects that").
  3. Roleplay your request with your partner, using the material you just wrote down. Then switch roles.

Discuss as a group:

  1. In Part 1, how comfortable were you answering with a number right away, instead of asking questions first?
  2. Are there times when asking questions first would be unavoidable (for example, genuinely unclear project scope)? How would you navigate that to ensure you still get to set the anchoring number?
  3. In Part 2, how comfortable were you making your ask? How do you think you could improve on it?

🎯 One Action · 10 mins

Commit to one concrete action — big or small — you'll take before next meeting. Go around the Circle and share (1 minute or less per member). Vocalizing it helps hold each other accountable.

In your next rate conversation, name your number first, anchored using what you learned in Activity 1. If you're negotiating a rate increase with an existing client, pair a legitimate reason with communal framing from Activity 2. Come back ready to report what happened.

📅 Wrap-Up · 5 mins

Before you break, plan your next meeting and close on an energetic note. Go around your Circle one by one and finish the sentence:

Now I am feeling… (choose one word).

  • Set the day, time, and location
  • Choose the next topic or resource
  • Confirm who's leading the discussion
  • Decide how you'll stay in touch in between