Buzz
When considering a new freelance project, I aim for a rate of at least $100 per hour.
For instance, if someone asks me to write a $500 article, I’ll evaluate if I can complete the research, writing, and revisions in under five hours.
However, this doesn’t mean my true hourly wage is $100. A freelancer’s career involves much more than just writing—there’s pitching, bookkeeping, marketing, and other tasks. While I’m not directly earning money during these activities, they are essential to my freelance business.
The same applies to traditional employees. You might get paid for every hour worked—though if you're an exempt employee who often works over 40 hours a week, that’s another story—but there’s still a lot of unpaid work required to do your job.
For instance, commuting is one of those tasks.
Also, maintaining your wardrobe is another factor.
Not to mention all the networking, career development, and post-work social events.
And don’t forget the extra time spent arriving at your station before clocking in (and not being able to prepare to leave until after you clock out). That could mean taking the 6:40 a.m. bus instead of the 6:55 one, adding another 15 minutes to your day. You get the idea.
Vicki Robin, co-author of Your Money or Your Life, recommends that we all calculate our real hourly wage—the actual money we earn per hour, factoring in all the time we spend on work-related activities.
Khe Hy, from RadReads, has created a spreadsheet to help us calculate our true earnings. You just input your salary, the hours spent working, your commute, weekend work, and the time needed to decompress after work—along with other details like your tax rate and expenses related to your job, such as clothing and social outings.
Read Hy’s breakdown of how the calculator works or jump straight to the spreadsheet (you’ll need to make a copy of it to enter your personal data).
After running the numbers, my $100/hr rate dropped to $26.88 per hour post-tax. Financially, I’m still doing well—I’m among the top 50% of American earners and live in a reasonably priced Midwestern city, so my income comfortably covers my expenses—but it’s a revealing way to see how much my unpaid work really costs me.
What about you?
