What should you charge?
Start from the income you need each month, add what the work costs you, and divide by the hours you can honestly bill. This page does the arithmetic, and your numbers stay on it.
Why freelancers undercharge
The classic mistake is taking a salary and dividing by 160 hours, as if every working hour were a paid one. It isn't. Quoting, invoicing, chasing payment, emails and learning new tools are all unbillable, and for most independents they swallow a third of the week or more. Charge as though you bill 8 hours a day and every one of those hours comes out of your own pocket.
Your rate also has to carry your costs and your time off. Clients don't pay separately for the internet connection, the laptop, transport to meetings or the software subscriptions, so all of it lives inside the rate. Same for leave: Mauritius has plenty of public holidays, and you will get sick at some point. Nobody pays you for those weeks, so price them in.
Freelancers who undercharge tend to give up within a couple of years, and that doesn't help their clients either.
Once you've settled on a rate, our free invoice generator lays out a proper invoice with everything the MRA expects.
Tracking unpaid invoices
One invoice a month is manageable. Ten a month, half of them unpaid, is how Sunday evenings disappear. Biro keeps track of who owes what, which invoices went out, and what actually got paid. It's made in Mauritius, priced for small businesses, and free for the first month.
See what Biro does →This is arithmetic on your own numbers, a starting point rather than market-rate data for your field. Ask around, check what others with your experience charge, then hold the line.