Originally Posted by Tess

Not only that but the quality of the work has GOT to be questionable. How much can you really expect for $2 per hour?? One example: I met a client through Get A Freelancer when I was first starting out, literally just months into my practice. I designed a logo for him and did some other small projects. I did decrease my rates a bit but I felt OK with that as it was a good experience for me all the way around and I enjoyed the work. This client approached me later with further work and I requested my regular rate (which was still quite low, considering). He decided he didn't have the budget for my services and contracted someone from Elance for literally pennies on the dollar. Long story short, he ended up coming back to me three months later to FIX the absolute mess that had been made of his project and was more than happy to pay the higher rate.

Not an unusual story - I hear it lots of times. We should never undervalue what we're worth and whilst I agree that charging less for a service we're still learning or developing is a good thing to do, we should always charge our full rates for any other services. Unfortunately there are going to be a number of 'tyrekickers' out there who quibble about price and then when they get serious they decide they need the 'real' VAs after all!