Competing on price is a disadvantageous business strategy.

Good clients want to pay enough to get good results…they want to pay you to do it right. Good clients have budgets to cover this and a low price is a red flag.

Bad clients don’t care if you make money and are attracted by low rates.

If you have a low rate you won’t be paid well and will be dealing with bad clients.

And on top of all that, no client wants to hear that you don’t want to work hard…and to the degree your question is intended as an indirect way of marketing your services, it is a footgun.

a hundred percent. just a poor choice of words on my end. I'm generally asking higher pays, but I can literally take 1k a month if all I have to do is check some PRs 2 hours per week. pretty much what I was pointing at, even though it's an extreme example.

I've had my fair share of cheap a* clients in my early days with upwork (which I never figured out, my bigger clients came from outside), it's easy to spot one.

about hard work, I just wanted to set a boundary for the weekly hours I can contribute, and the intensity part is actually secondary (I think I should've left that out). but you touch on an important point, some things you just don't want to hear -- we are all adults, I get paid and I deliver, we all know that most likely everyone will get what they ask for, just that explicitly excluding "hard work" might raise unnecessary questions. useful info, thanks