Try thinking and calculating the other way around:

1. How much do you need as a yearly income to be happy with your life ?
2. How much money would you put aside for any unfortunate situations ?
3. How much would you be paying as taxes or benefitting as deductions ?
4. What costs do you expect for being able to do your job, professionally ?
5. How many hours do you think you'll be working per day >; week >; year ?
6. How many of those hours do you think you'll be able to invoice ?

You do the math:
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = your estimated gross income;
divide by 6, and you know your average rate !
Now you know which kind of clients you need.
Happy hunting !

What's that number 5 ?
Don't underestimate how many time and effort goes into stuff like studying, research, commuting, promotion, acquisition, managing, paper work, accounting, invoicing, bookkeeping...

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst op Quora: What's the average hourly rate for a graphic designer?"