5 mins
Bits & Bobs
The Realities of Freelance Pricing in Ireland:
Stop looking for price lists - in Ireland, nobody posts them anyway. Start by finding a specific pain point, talk directly to founders at local meetups, and tailor your offer to their budget. Start, try, fix, repeat. That’s the whole game.
Lessons from a LinkedIn DM
A few days ago, a creator named A. reached out to me on LinkedIn.
We had a mutual connection through my time at Common Purpose, and he was at a crossroads many creatives face in Ireland: he bought a camera, had editing experience, and wanted to transition into social media management and content creation.
Then came the question that stops almost everyone in their tracks:
“Do you have advice for someone starting out on what you should price, and do you get a lot of pushback from clients? I want to avoid ads where people ask for 15 videos for €300 a week.”
Pricing is a constant headache when you’re going solo. It’s a topic people in Ireland rarely talk about openly. Most freelancers hide their rates, companies view marketing as an afterthought, and low-ball job posts make you question if building a sustainable freelance business here is even possible.
I sat down and wrote him a detailed breakdown based on what I’ve actually lived through in the Irish market. Here is the exact roadmap and perspective I shared with him.
1. Identify the Specific Pain Point First
Before you even think about putting a euro sign on a page, ask yourself: What exact problem am I solving?
It’s easy to say, “I offer social media management.” But that’s too broad. A busy restaurant owner in Dublin doesn’t care about “management”-they care about getting seats filled on a quiet Tuesday night. A tech founder at a local startup doesn’t care about “content” - they care about looking professional enough to secure their next funding round.
In Ireland, a lot of businesses (from small local shops to surprisingly large companies) either neglect marketing or view it strictly as a cost rather than an investment. Many secretly hope that one “viral hit” will solve all their sales problems.
When you frame your offer around fixing a specific headache rather than selling a bundle of deliverables, your pricing conversation completely changes.
2. The Early Phase: Building Proof Over Profit
When you start, you lack three things: a local portfolio, client trust, and confidence.
There’s a lot of debate online about never working for free or for low rates. But when you’re starting out in a close-knit market like Dublin, doing early work at lower rates (or selective strategic project work for free) can be a shortcut - if you do it intentionally.
A few years ago, when I managed social media for a restaurant in Dublin, I charged €400 a month for daily posts and a weekly reel. No stories, just pure execution.
Looking back, was it a massive amount of work for little money? 100%. Was it worth it? Yes.
That project gave me real-world proof. It taught me where I made mistakes, how long tasks actually took me, and gave me an active local case study. I recently saw a friend with years of experience charging €600 for a similar package, proof that pricing isn’t a fixed rule, but a reflection of positioning and efficiency.
The rule for early pricing: Start lower to build confidence and refine your workflow. For every new project or client after that, raise your prices gradually. Test the market. Talk to the client, adjust, and keep moving.
"Stop looking for price lists—in Ireland, nobody posts them anyway. Start by finding a specific pain point, talk directly to founders at local meetups, and tailor your offer to their budget. Start, try, fix, repeat. That’s the whole game."
3. How to Prospect and Avoid Nightmare Clients
A. raised a very real issue: seeing ads online offering €300 for 15 videos a week.
That volume of work for that payout is completely unsustainable. The best way to avoid those gigs isn’t to complain about them—it’s to change how you prospect.
Here is what worked for me:
Target Specific Niches: Pick industries where you understand the language and operations. I started with hospitality because I knew the environment firsthand. I didn’t reach out to industries I didn’t understand (like casinos or niche corporate finance) because I couldn’t deliver authentic value there yet.
Go Local & Network in Person: Ireland runs on direct connections. Instead of applying to cold job boards, go where decision-makers gather. Attend events like the Liffey Founders Club or local founder meetups on Eventbrite. Founders and local business owners are far more likely to hire someone they’ve shaken hands with over a stranger sliding into their inboxes.
Use Modern Platforms & Direct Outreach: Build out profiles on platforms like Contra or Upwork, talk to friends running businesses, and partner with people who are already freelancing and need extra hands.
When you prospect directly and build relationships, you pull yourself out of the bottom-tier job board race entirely.
4. Stop Using a “Menu” Strategy
When clients ask, “How much do you charge?” the temptation is to send over a PDF with static prices:
€X for 5 posts
€Y for 2 reels
Don’t do this.
When you send a fixed price list, clients treat you like a commodity and shop around purely on price.
Instead, switch to a tailored proposal approach:
Have an initial discovery chat to uncover their actual budget, goals, and primary struggles.
Build a custom solution that fits their current financial reality while ensuring your time is fairly compensated.
Structure options so it feels like a partnership, not just an order form.
This method completely removes the awkwardness of pricing and ensures both sides get a fair deal.
The Continuous Loop: Start, Try, Fix, Repeat
There is no magic formula or secret central database in Ireland telling you what to charge. The market moves fast in some ways, but moves conservatively in others.
The path to building a sustainable freelance business comes down to momentum:
Start ->Try -> Fix -> Repeat.
Once you get well-positioned, you repeat the exact same loop at a higher level. It takes time, resilience, and a lot of uncomfortable conversations, but pushing through that initial uncertainty is what makes the journey worth it.
Are you building something or freelancing in Ireland?
Reply to this email or drop a comment below. I’d love to hear how you handle pricing and client outreach in your field.
Until next time,
Leandro
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