I have imposter syndrome to a MAJOR extent.
I am a freelance software developer, have been doing it for many years (mostly at companies, before I went freelance) - I wouldn't say I'm the next Linus Torvalds, but I'm at least adequate at what I do and have a history of successful delivery. I have worked on big government and enterprise projects (as part of a previous company)
I have been massively, massively undercharging clients (sometimes between $25-30/hr or even less with the free time I give them) - even below what my old rate was at my job. I also frequently work a decent chunk of hours for free, as I don't want to send them big bills.
I've been surviving, but not really thriving - it has led to me having liquidity issues twice (nearly went broke), which I have gotten through. Anyway, my new issue is that I've got a very hot lead that wants me to sign a contract.
I know, for actual fact, that his previous developer charged him $300k over a period of 6 months (and hired eastern europeans to do the actual work...). I am struggling sending him an estimate for 35k-65k for the next 2 to 2.5 months. Like, I know I CAN charge that - he probably expects a bill in that range or maybe even higher and that is actually a fairly cheap rate for the skills he wants me to use (iOS development). I am also capable of delivering the product that he wants.
How do I get over this hump? How do I convince myself I am worth this rate? I have about 7-8 years of development experience (only about a year of iOS specific experience though). However I grew up extremely poor, where $12/hr was a lot to my family growing up. Whether there was enough to eat or whether the utilities would get turned off was an open question.
The problem mostly seems to be psychological here - I feel that clients will be upset, or angry at my ridiculously high rates or bills (which has never happened). And all it seems to do is lock me in with clients that want to pay basically nothing.
I am sitting here wanting to send him these numbers, but they just seem ridiculously high for me. Another client I do similar work for (and have been quite busy), I've charged them maybe 20k for the entire year.
How do I get myself out of this mental head space?
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