Want Better Pay in 2025?

Helloooooo!

How have you been?

Happy Belated Makar Sankranti/Khichdi/Pongal/Lohri/Bihu (and sorry if I missed yours) to you!

I hope we've updated our portfolios and already started reaching out to people through mail/LinkedIn.

I wrote a newsletter back in September on How I increased my prices by 2.5x. Now, that edition talks about how I gradually increased my rates with newer prospects and how my LinkedIn profile and website helped bring in the leads.

While helpful, it was a bit superficial.

How do negotiations actually happen?
How do you increase rates with current clients?
What if a prospect disagrees? How do you negotiate back?

In this edition, we'll cover all of these questions with 3 real-life scenarios, exactly how I did it.

See, I didn’t want to enter 2025 with the same old pay. So I made up my mind. I’d ask every underpaying client for a rate increase.

But it wasn’t unplanned.

Here’s what you need to keep in mind:

• Be confident in your ask, have justifications ready, and take a stand.

• Either continue working at the current rate or be prepared to let them go if they don’t agree to your new pricing.

Scenario 1: Working at ₹1.5 pw (per word), ready to let go

He was my first client. I took up work at ₹1.5 per word because I needed to back in May. He assigned 8-10 blogs a month, averaging 1200 words each. It was manageable initially, but soon the workload and revisions became overwhelming.

I pushed through for three more months and finally decided to ask for a pay increase. I also decided I wouldn’t take on projects below ₹3 per word, even if it meant having fewer clients.

I sent a message, and we negotiated and ended up agreeing on ₹2.5 per word (for now).

Since this is through an agency, I understand a significant rate hike isn't always possible (reminder: this isn't SaaS).

Scenario 2: ₹3 pw, okay with current pay but wanted to take a shot

This one’s for an agency working with SaaS companies. When I signed them, we agreed on ₹3 per word for 1600 words, making it ₹4800 per article. It worked fine at first since most articles stayed within that range.

Then they tied up with another client who needed longer articles, averaging 2000-2500 words, while keeping the same ₹4800 rate.

It no longer felt justified. I continued for a while but eventually asked for a revised rate.

My ask: ₹4 per word for an average of 2000 words.

It felt bold, but I was prepared to continue with the original rate if they declined. I just wanted to take my shot.

Here’s what they responded with.

And after 15 days and a follow-up, this happened

I agreed. It worked out.

Scenario 3: Cash or Kind

A new client negotiated during onboarding. I didn’t want to lower my rates but also didn’t want to let the opportunity slip away.

Original ask: ₹4 per word for 5k words across 4 blogs a month (₹20,000 per month).

Their ask: Retainer for ₹15k per month for the same deliverables (bringing the rate to ₹3 per word).

Given I was also supposed to pick the topics, this felt too low.

So, I countered with a retainer at ₹18k with one bylined article (out of 4) each month.

Here’s how they responded:

There you have it!

Three examples of negotiating higher rates or setting a minimum rate for yourself.

One thing in common? Clients always ALWAYS negotiate.

Once you’re clear on your desired outcome:

whether to let them go,
continue as is,
or propose a win-win alternative,

you can handle these conversations confidently.

Let me know if this was useful and if you’d like to see more real-life examples :)

On the work front:

How’s your outreach going?

I tried Hunter.io but it requires a business email, which I don’t have yet, so I couldn’t fully test it. (Is this sentence too weird?)

This week, I’ll explore Apollo to find prospect emails and see if it works better. I’ve been following up with previous leads for now (not too aggressively since people are still shaking off holiday hibernation).

I’ll be in Delhi this weekend. Any recommendations for places to check out?

Manifesting this for you!

See you next Friday!

Love,
Nikita