Money -- how to charge more

As a freelancer, I've had good years and bad years when it came to money. The last two or three years have been very good years, with some long-term, lucrative contracts. But the last quarter has not been that good. I command a pretty good hourly rate from most of my clients, and when business is good I have no trouble naming that price. But in the lean months, I'm always tempted to drop my rate to find more work. I know bigger business call it "cash flow" or "loss leaders", but to me it's just a lower rate.

I found this article about charging more as a freelancer very interesting. It's got a lot of great advice about believing you're worth the high rate and why clients won't question it if you believe you're worth it. But the final comment was most interesting:

You’ll have a much easier time convincing clients that you’re worth it if your work is outstanding, or if you increase your potential to do outstanding work by building your skill-set and capabilities.

Part of charging your dream rates is a personal transformation into the kind of freelancer you’ve always dreamed of being.

In light of what I learned last week about passion and its relationship to money, this last sentence got me thinking a lot.