About asking for a bonus - it sounds arrogant, and you come across as too focused on the money.

Instead of this, quote a rate you think you're worth. Then do great work. Your bonus will come in the form of increased demand/word of mouth. Adjust your rates accordingly.

I'm not sure I know what a "bonus" is in a freelancing context.

I buy graphic design / interaction design work from freelancers. If you quote me N*$1000, I'm not going to pay anything more than that.

I sell application / software / hardware security review work. I've never been paid a "bonus".

So it's not that this sounds arrogant to me, it just sounds weird.

Same here. If someone quotes me their hourly rate "plus bonus" my first reaction would be to ask "What bonus?" and silently mark him as fishy.

Most customers are very concerned about getting an exact quote. I can't imagine that throwing around such statements helps with anything.

I have been paid a bonus by a client even though I never asked for it.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but what freelancer isn't freelancing for the money? From my experience, most (not necessarily all) are freelancing as a transitional period from working full time to self-employment in a startup or in between full-time jobs. It's a very tedious thing to make your life-long career, so why not optimize?

I charge a healthy rate considering the difficulty of my work, and it is less strict on my performance. Meaning, if I don't provide a perfect product every time, it's okay, because the client is paying a competitive rate, but if I do well, as I strive for with every project, they know the option to pay for the delivered excellence is there.

You'd be surprised how many clients spring for keeping their designer happy in return for promise of future results.

Regarding the arrogance, I think having a healthy dose of self-confidence is an asset to your career. It lets you realize you can say no to a client, turn a bad client down, and it creates a certain level of mutual respect I find a lot of designers oft complain about not having.

There is a large difference between arrogance and self-confidence. Arrogance is asserting, confidence is suggesting.

I didn't say it was wrong to consider money (after all, freelancers aren't special in exchanging time for money), just that it was not a good idea to have your clients think that you're too focused on the money.

Asking for a bonus might be arrogant, or it might be self-confident. How do you know what your prospective client will think?

The whole bonus idea sounds wrong to me. You're risking a long term relationship for a few points of profit. None of your competitors are doing it - yes, I know that sounds like a bad reason, but is your stand on this means of compensation motivated by what's good for your client?

Bonuses add complexity and misunderstanding to what should be fairly straightforward: Increase your rates as you get better at helping your clients. That's self-confidence.

I should clarify how I go about introducing the idea to a client. I don't say anything about it at all or even mention it in email. There is simply space on the invoice labeled for any additional bonus if they would like to. Some people bite, some don't.

My niche is very fast-paced. Many clients come to me needing a quick project done within 3-4 hours of the point of contact, so I think it's within reason to charge a competitive rate (though still very reasonable on my part) and also let them the chance to give a reward for being ready and able to take their work on such a quick turnaround. It's a fast-paced niche, and it's not the most attractive, but it works.

The whole bonus concept might only work for someone with my personality and it could very well be that it is best (or only) suited for work that is not long term, but I figured I'd share it because I know there are plenty of similar designers and freelancers out there.

Collaborating on a generalization here, I'd change the last statement to:

"confidence is asserting while arrogance is imposing."

Also, keep in mind that asking for a high rate can provide credibility in the absence of other data.

Think about the way many people buy wine: the pricier the bottle, the better it must be, right?

If you're asking $175 for a landing page, you probably do need to ask for more.

The LP's I do take roughly 60-90 minutes. When I'm not focusing on school, I can log on to IRC or AIM and find a day's work within 30 minutes if I don't have any lined up before. $175 in that time frame adds up. I fill my role well.

Maybe he meant per hour.