The freelancers edge in a soft market
Every downturn separates people who sell hours from people who sell outcomes. A soft market feels scary but it is also when careful packaging and sharp pricing can give you a real edge over other independents who keep doing more of the same.
Why soft markets feel brutal
When demand cools clients behave differently even if your skills did not suddenly get worse. They shop around more they compare prices harder and many of them bring work back in house because they want more control.
At the same time the supply of freelancers usually goes up because people leave full time jobs or add side work to protect their income. More people chasing the same projects drags prices down especially on big platforms where visibility already feels hard.
What your edge really is
Your edge is almost never that you are cheaper. Your edge is that you reduce risk and increase the likelihood that the client gets the result they want with less stress and less management overhead.
Clients in a soft market do not secretly wish for discounts they want fewer bad bets. The freelancer who can frame their work as a clear predictable solution rather than one more pair of hands usually wins even at a higher price.
From generic skills to sharp offers
Most freelancer profiles still read like vague menus. Writer designer developer marketer these labels tell the client almost nothing about outcomes or risk.
To create an edge you move from role labels to specific offers for specific problems. That may sound limiting but better positioning usually raises perceived value and the rates you can realistically charge.
Examples of stronger offer lines
These are the kinds of shifts that matter
- From I do websites to I rebuild cluttered service pages so they convert more visitors into booked calls.
- From I do social media to I manage your LinkedIn presence to create a steady flow of discovery calls each month.
- From I do data dashboards to I set up one revenue dashboard founders actually open and use every week.
Each version names a narrow audience and a concrete improvement instead of a tool or a task list. That is what lets you package and price around value instead of minutes and hours.
Choosing a niche without panicking
Niche advice often makes freelancers nervous. It can sound like you are being asked to ignore money on the table which feels reckless when the market already feels fragile.
The trick is to define a working niche that gives you focus while still letting you take other projects when needed. For example you can position yourself publicly around growth content for B2B software while still quietly accepting a few brand writing or editorial jobs to keep cash flowing.
A simple niche draft
Use this quick formula as a starting point
I help type of client who face problem using your skill to achieve result.
Fill the blanks with simple language. You can tighten it later. The main thing is to commit to one clear theme so your packaging and pricing make sense together.
Turn services into products
Soft markets reward freelancers who present their work as defined packages instead of open ended engagements. Packages calm anxious buyers because they show exactly what happens when and for how much.
A productized offer usually includes
- A specific outcome or transformation
- A fixed scope and rough timeline
- A clear process and client responsibilities
- A price and sometimes optional add ons
This format lowers friction for the client and for you. You stop rewriting every proposal from scratch and you gain a clearer sense of your capacity and margins.
Examples of simple packages
Here are a few package structures you can adapt
- Discovery and roadmap week a fixed price including a call notes and a 30 day action plan
- Starter implementation package two weeks to ship a minimum version of the solution with one revision round
- Ongoing support retainer where you handle monitoring optimisation and small iterations for a monthly fee
Later you can stack these into a ladder so new clients usually start with the smallest risk offer and then climb as trust grows.
How to blend pricing models
You probably know the main pricing models already but the way you mix them in a soft market is where strategy really shows up. The big options are hourly project based retainers and value based approaches.
It is usually smarter not to cling stubbornly to just one. Instead you keep a backbone model and add other models where they reduce friction or protect your downside.
Hourly
Hourly pricing is easy to explain and feels safe when scopes are fuzzy but it caps your upside and can make clients nervous about costs. In a soft market hourly offers often attract the most price sensitive buyers and can invite micro management.
This model can still work for
- Audits and diagnostics with unclear workload
- Tiny experiments or bug fixing work
- Overflow work where the client manages scope closely
You just do not want your entire income to depend on this model alone.
Project based
Project pricing gives clients cost certainty and lets you earn more than your time sheet would if you are efficient and experienced. It does ask for better scoping and boundaries which is exactly what many freelancers skip when they feel desperate.
In a soft market project pricing is usually the sweet spot for core offers because it aligns with how buyers think and budget. They want to know if the investment makes sense in terms of risk and reward not your internal effort.
Retainers
Retainers offer recurring revenue in exchange for being available and delivering ongoing outcomes. A good retainer is anchored in specific deliverables or metrics and gets revisited regularly so it stays fair on both sides.
Retainers shine when
- You solve an ongoing recurring problem
- The client hates context switching and vendor rotation
- Your work benefits from compounding knowledge of the business
In a soft market a few steady retainers can buy you mental space to pursue better clients and bigger experiments.
Value based
Value based pricing ties your fee to the financial impact or strategic importance of the result rather than to your hours. It tends to deliver the best margins but demands stronger trust evidence and sales skill.
You do not need to dive into pure value based deals on day one. You can start by using value to anchor your flat project rates then move into partial performance models once you and a client have history.
Reading client signals
You are not just picking a price in a vacuum. You are reading the situation. A stressed buyer with a sudden deadline needs clarity and reliability more than a small discount and an early stage founder may trade cash for speed or future upside.
Look for clues in things like
- How they talk about risk and past disappointments
- The size and urgency of the problem
- Whether they mention internal politics or budget cycles
These cues help you decide whether your first move should be a low friction starter package a high margin rescue project or a slower consultative engagement that leads into a retainer.
Designing your price ladder
A price ladder is simply a sequence of offers that move clients from low risk to deeper commitment. This structure is incredibly useful when budgets are tight because your entry point feels safe while still positioning you as a serious expert.
A simple ladder might be
- Free or low cost resources like guides or checklists that build trust
- A paid audit or strategy session
- A core implementation project
- An ongoing optimisation or advisory retainer
Each rung has its own scope price and purpose so you do not keep inventing ad hoc deals every time someone reaches out.
Calculating a floor not just a rate
Whatever model you choose you still need a clear sense of your financial floor. That means understanding your living expenses business costs realistic capacity and the non billable time you spend on admin and marketing.
Many freelancers undercharge because they only look at what others appear to charge on platforms instead of doing their own math. In a soft market that mistake becomes even more painful because there is less room to absorb quiet months.
A quick reality check
- Add up your annual personal and business costs
- Add the savings and buffer you want
- Divide by the realistic number of billable hours or projects you can deliver
If the implied rate is higher than what your current clients will pay something has to change in your positioning packaging or audience not just your courage.
Anchoring around outcomes
Once you know your floor you still want to present price in terms of outcomes. Clients usually compare your fee against doing nothing handling things internally or hiring an agency not against an abstract sense of your worth.
So in proposals point to the kinds of gains or savings your work tends to unlock even if you do not guarantee specific numbers. You might mention past projects where conversion went up or support tickets dropped or launch timelines came down.
Packaging proof and process
In a soft market trust becomes the real currency. You build it by showing that you have solved this exact kind of problem before and that you have a process so they are not paying you to experiment on them from scratch.
Strong packaging usually includes
- Focused case studies that mirror your target clients world
- Before and after snapshots of key metrics or workflows
- A simple step by step outline of how you work
- Clear expectations about communication and response times
This structure makes it easier for non expert buyers to say yes because they can visualise the engagement and feel safer bringing you into their organisation.
Handling negotiation without folding
In a soft market almost every buyer will ask for a better price at some point. That does not mean you must agree and it definitely does not mean you should slash your number without changing anything else.
Instead of dropping your fee straight away try moves like these
- Trading scope for price by removing a deliverable or a revision round
- Adjusting the timeline or payment schedule
- Splitting the work into phases so they commit to a smaller first step
- Offering a starter package that solves a narrower problem
This keeps your positioning intact while still meeting the client partway if needed.
Protecting your scope
Scope creep is where healthy margins go to die especially when you feel pressure to please. In a soft market some clients will push harder because they assume freelancers are grateful for any work.
You protect yourself by
- Writing scopes that explain what is in and what is out
- Limiting rounds of feedback and revisions
- Setting points where extra work triggers a new mini proposal
This kind of backbone signals maturity and often increases respect which oddly makes it easier to land better fees.
Dealing with platforms and race to the bottom spaces
Large online platforms are crowded and in many categories average rates stay stubbornly low even while a smaller group of top performers do well. In a soft market the lower end tends to sink further as new people join and cut rates to win their first reviews.
You can still use these spaces strategically if you
- Treat them as lead sources not your whole business
- Focus your profile and portfolio on one outcome instead of a long menu of services
- Use fixed price packages rather than only hourly gigs
- Move good clients off platform once the rules allow and the relationship is strong
Over time your real goal is to rely more on direct relationships and referrals where buyers care more about your specific strengths and less about sorting by lowest price.
Marketing that supports premium pricing
Pricing does not sit in a vacuum. It is tied to how you show up in public. If your presence is random and generic people will subconsciously expect bargain rates and short term engagements.
Strong marketing for freelancers in this climate usually looks like
- Sharing short useful posts that speak to client problems decisions and fears
- Publishing occasional deeper breakdowns of projects and lessons
- Showing behind the scenes glimpses of your process and thinking
- Making clear calls to action for specific offers rather than vague let me know messages
You do not need to pretend to be a big agency. You just want to behave like someone who takes their practice seriously and plans to be around for a long time.
Emotional traps to avoid
Soft markets stir up fear shame and constant comparison. Those emotions quietly push people into bad decisions like endless discounting chasing every ill fitting brief or silently accepting late payments.
Watch out for these patterns
- Making big price cuts after a handful of rejections
- Taking on work far outside your zone that will drain your energy
- Ignoring your own cash flow tax obligations and savings
- Waiting for perfect confidence before you reach out to potential clients
The freelancers who emerge stronger from rough years are usually the ones who stayed in motion while keeping their standards above zero.
Small experiments not dramatic pivots
There is a temptation to burn everything down and reinvent yourself whenever the market feels hard. That is rarely necessary. Instead you can run small experiments with your packaging pricing and audience and keep whatever works.
Examples of low risk experiments
- Test a new entry level audit offer with three previous clients
- Raise your project price slightly on new leads only
- Rewrite your profile to highlight one niche and leave it that way for a month
- Try a subscription style retainer with one existing client
Each experiment gives you data without putting your whole income on the line.
Keeping your pipeline warm
Even the best packaging will not help if you only talk to potential clients when you are desperate for work. Consistent light touch contact reduces emotional spikes and gives you more control in a soft market.
Simple habits include
- Sending brief check in messages to past clients
- Sharing occasional links or ideas tailored to their situation
- Asking satisfied clients for introductions to one or two peers
- Participating in one or two online communities where your clients actually spend time
These behaviours often lead to repeat work and referrals which tend to be less price obsessed than cold leads from crowded marketplaces.
Closing thoughts
In a soft market freelancers who act like replaceable labour usually feel squeezed while those who act like focused problem solvers often hold or even raise their rates. Your edge comes from clear positioning productised offers thoughtful pricing structures and the confidence to treat negotiation as a conversation between equals not a test you have to pass.
You cannot control interest rates company hiring plans or platform algorithms. You can control how you frame your expertise what you offer how you price and how steadily you stay visible to the people you want to help.
