As Freelancer.com rolled out its service in Mexico today, we decided to take a look at a Mexican app that hopes to serve freelancers all around the world.
Known as MyPrice abroad, and as CuantoCobrar in its home country, this free iOS app helps independent contractors decide how much to charge for their services on a hourly rate and on a project basis.
If you are a freelancer, this problem is certainly on your mind every time you find a new contract. While MyPrice doesn’t make a decision for you, it gives you an idea of how much money to ask for, based on a series of personal and external factors.
To get started, you need to enter detailed information about your background, personal situation and expenses. If you are worrying about privacy, the startup insists that it encrypts all the data, and will never use it individually or share it with third parties.
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It is worth noting that it caters to a wide range of freelance jobs, from programming and design to writing and SEO. According to MyPrice’s creator, Antonio Macías, “the goal is to be able to help any freelancer on any field.” Here’s a short video presentation about the app:
Once you get past the intrusive aspect of the questionnaire, the app is simple and quite pleasant to use. If you never think about your expenses, it is also a good time to stop and think about how much your daily Starbucks coffee costs you – and factor it into your daily rate.
In total, it only takes a few minutes to get an estimate of your ideal hourly rate, which also takes your location into account. At the moment, MyPrice is optimized for 6 countries – Canada, United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, Spain and Australia.
In addition, it used World Bank data to include a variable for the rest of the world. While the team acknowledges that these suggestions are less reliable, they make for a starting point for freelancers in those countries.
According to Macías, the inspiration to develop MyPrice came from the team’s personal experience:
“Coming from a freelancing background, we decided to create MyPrice because this growing industry struggles a lot when it comes to pricing a service. The market consists mostly of young freelancers with less than 3 years in the industry.”
With that profile in mind, the app also includes advice for new freelancers. “The tips have the objective of helping the user on its professional path as a freelancer or even on taking the leap to form their own business,” he explains.
MyPrice currently uses CloudSync to let users access their information and personal history from multiple devices. iPhones and iPads aside, the team is now working on making MyPrice available as a full platform, which it hopes to transform into a market reference for every freelancer.
➤ MyPrice, via the App Store
Image credit: Altrendo Images / Thinkstock
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