Pricing, for many Ugandan freelancers, begins with anxiety. You open WhatsApp groups, scroll through Telegram channels, or browse online platforms, only to discover someone offering the same service for a price that barely covers transport to town. Fear creeps in quietly. You lower your figure, not because it makes sense, but because survival feels urgent. In that moment, price is no longer a decision. It is a reaction.
Most freelancers are taught, directly or indirectly, to price their time. Hours worked, nights stayed awake, bundles bought, power outages endured. These struggles feel real, so they seem worthy of compensation. Yet the client does not pay for your candle when electricity goes off. They pay for the problem that disappears when you deliver. Value is not effort. It is effect.
This is where many get stuck. When value is unclear, pricing conversations become uncomfortable. You start apologising for your own rates. You offer discounts before they are requested. Negotiations feel like personal judgment rather than business discussion. A client hesitates, and suddenly you doubt your skill, your relevance, even your future in the market.
But value becomes clearer when you step outside yourself and into the client’s shoes. That business owner in Kikuubo does not care how long you designed the website. They care that customers can now find them online. That NGO in Gulu is not paying for your data bundles. They are paying because reports are now submitted on time, donors are satisfied, and operations run smoothly. Value lives in outcomes, not processes.
There is also a painful truth freelancers must confront. Not all work deserves the same price, even if it takes the same effort. Some tasks keep you busy but leave you stagnant. Others stretch you, scare you slightly, but move you forward. Pricing from value forces you to choose growth over comfort, impact over activity.
In Uganda, where many people are underpaid yet overworked, confidence in pricing is often mistaken for pride. You are told to be grateful, to accept what is offered, to “start small.” But clarity is not arrogance. When you understand the difference your work makes, your price stops sounding like noise and starts sounding like reason.
Over time, pricing from value changes the kind of clients you attract. You stop dealing with endless bargaining and start having real conversations. Projects reduce in number but increase in meaning. Work stops feeling like hustling and starts feeling like building. Income becomes steadier, not because prices are high, but because they make sense.
The market, just like the roadside vendor or the city shopkeeper, remembers quality. It may flirt with cheap options, but it returns to what works. When freelancers understand value before setting prices, they stop selling labour and start offering solutions. And in a market as unforgiving as ours, that shift makes all the difference.
