First-Order Cheat Sheet: Prices, What to Sell to Whom, and a One-Page Checklist
Everything you need to open before your first reply to a job post is scattered across a dozen articles: prices in one, niches in another, what to say to the client in a third. Here it is collected into one three-page document: price ranges by type of work, what different niches buy and how to say it to the client, and a checklist from the first reply to payment. Download it, print it, forward it to someone else who is starting out.
Everything you need to open before your first reply to a job post is scattered across a dozen articles: prices in one, niches in another, what to say to the client in a third. Here it is collected into one three-page document: price ranges by type of work, what different niches buy and how to say it to the client, and a checklist from the first reply to payment. Download it, print it, forward it to someone else who is starting out.
In short, if you have no time
Sheet 1: prices. Ranges by type of work from a feed of 5,986 orders. The lower end is your floor, the upper end is for those who have done this before.
Sheet 2: what to sell to whom. Six niches: what they buy, what skill is needed, and how to say it to the client without the word "AI".
Sheet 3: the first-order checklist. Before the reply, before the start, at delivery, after payment.
The median one-off job is around $60. This is the reference point everything else is counted from.
The document is a guideline, not a promise of income. The figures are the market, not what you will earn.
Why one document
The price of a first order is usually named blind. 83% of job posts have no budget, and in 6,502 posts of eleven large channels about neural networks, price guidelines appear nine times.
We have the ranges broken down in the price list. Niches are in separate articles. Checklists are in others. But at the moment when a client has written "send me the cost", there is no time to open five tabs.
So there is one document. It is meant to be kept at hand at the moment of the reply.
Where the numbers come from
I collect the order feed with a parser: a program goes through the Telegram channels with job requests every day and puts each post into one table. 5,986 orders over four months, 49 a day from one source.
The honest limits of the data: the amount is stated in 17% of posts. The overall median is reliable; the breakdown by type of work is a guideline, not a measurement.
The niches and the wording for the client come from the sales module by Sergey Molokov, a sales expert with six years of practice. He runs our "Sales" course.
Why without a cheat sheet the wrong price gets named
The root cause: there is nothing to compare the price with. The client sees other people's offers; you do not. They compare, you guess.
The misconception: "I will start cheap and raise it later". The price of the first message becomes your rate. A client who bought for $9 will come for $9 next time too, and will bring acquaintances with the same budget.
The systemic factor: people sell the tool instead of the result. "I will make pictures in a neural network" does not sell. "Product photo on a model, no photo shoot and no studio" sells. The second sheet of the cheat sheet is exactly about this.
The document
Below is the full text of the document for download. Layout: three A4 pages or one Google spreadsheet with three tabs.
Sheet 1. How much to ask
From the Parselona feed, 5,986 orders over 4 months. The upper end of the range is for someone who has already done such work.
| Work | Range |
|---|---|
| Editing finished material | $12–35 |
| A single image | $5–35 |
| Short video | $18–45 |
| Logo | $25–90 |
| 2–3 minute animation | $250–550 |
| Landing page from a beginner | $125–375 |
| Turnkey AI video | $245–550 |
| Marketplace card set (6–10 images per product) | $45–230 |
| Multi-page site | $245–730 |
| Turnkey bot | $100–3,000 |
| Assistant/agent/automation for a department | $240–1,200 |
| System or pipeline | $490–1,460 |
The median one-off job is around $60.
Monthly work is a separate column; do not add it to the first: median $723 a month, lower and upper quartile $361–1,145.
Three rules when there is no budget:
- The lower end of the range is your floor. Below it you are not negotiating, you are paying extra for the chance to work.
- Do not name an exact figure in the first message. Name two or three parameters the price depends on and offer a short call with two slots to choose from.
- Count your cost. An order brought $40, generations cost $3: fine. The other way round means the problem is not the model prices but the process.
Sheet 2. What to sell to whom, and how to say it
By niche:
| Niche | What they buy |
|---|---|
| Online stores and marketplace sellers | SEO product descriptions for thousands of items, product photos on a model instead of a photo shoot, a chatbot for consultation and order status |
| Marketing and agencies | posts, banners, ad copy, dozens of creative variants for testing, analysis of the ad account |
| HR and recruiting | job descriptions, resume screening, job offer letters, onboarding materials |
| Lawyers | a short summary of a contract or court decision |
| Experts, coaches, online schools | presentations, manuals, lesson texts, promotion posts |
| Clinics, salons, cafes | a website for a business without one, round-the-clock handling of inquiries and booking |
By skill: what to say to the client:
| Skill | What the client gets | How to say it to the client | Price guideline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texts and content | more content, faster, platforms filled regularly | "Your social media and website are filled every week, without delays" | no separate range, median ~$60 |
| Images and video | a dozen variants in an evening, cheaper than a photo shoot | "Product photo on a model, no photo shoot and no studio" | $5–35 per image, $18–45 per video |
| Websites | a site for a business without one, inquiries not lost | "A landing page by your launch date, with inquiries going to a place where they will not be lost" | landing page $125–375, multi-page $245–730 |
| Chatbots and automation | an answer to the client 24/7, staff not drowning in routine | "A customer who writes in the evening gets an answer right away, not in the morning, when they have already booked with someone else" | bot $100–3,000, system $490–1,460 |
| Analytics and reports | conclusions in hours, not weeks | "A review of sales department calls: where managers lose deals" | from $240 |
The word "AI" is deliberately absent from the phrases. A solved problem sells, not a tool. Rewrite the phrase in your own words and insert your niche.
What to make it with: the combination on the platform:
| What you sell | What to make it with | From which plan |
|---|---|---|
| Texts, analytics, work by profession | role-based assistants and prompts | Basic |
| Images and videos | Gen AI + mini-courses on the models | Plus + wallet |
| Landing pages and sites | 343 site templates with preview | Plus |
| Bots, apps, custom assistants | VIBE CODING, "AI-Assistants" | Creator |
| n8n and Make automations | automation templates | Creator |
Basic: you take orders. Creator: you build sites, bots, apps and assistants yourself and sell them.
Sheet 3. First-order checklist
Before the reply
- [ ] One service and one niche, not "I do everything"
- [ ] There is a piece of work in your showcase similar to what is requested, with an honest caption: task, solution, time
- [ ] I look in Telegram chats with job requests and on hh.ru, rather than starting with freelance exchanges
- [ ] The reply is about the client's task, not about me
- [ ] I do not name a price in the first message; I name what it depends on
Before work starts: in writing, in the correspondence
- [ ] Prepayment: a third to a half; on small orders, full
- [ ] What is included
- [ ] What is not included
- [ ] What counts as "done"
- [ ] How many rounds of edits are included in the price
- [ ] Delivery date
- [ ] I know how I will receive the money and issue a receipt
At delivery
- [ ] I deliver on time or warn in advance
- [ ] For approval, a preview or a link; source files after full payment
- [ ] I write what else can be done as a second step, in one line, without pressure
After payment
- [ ] I ask for a review right away, while the result is fresh
- [ ] I ask permission to show the work in my portfolio
- [ ] I record the cost: how much went on generations and how many hours
If the client disappears: after 2–3 days a polite reminder, after a week a firm one, then stop.
The document is a market guideline, not a promise of income. AI SKILLS · aiskills.team · ru.aiskills.team works without a VPN.
What to do today
One action, ten minutes.
Download the document and open the latest job post you replied to or wanted to reply to. Go through the third sheet: how many items from the "Before the reply" block have you covered?
If fewer than three, the reply is worth rewriting before you send the next one.
And forward the cheat sheet to someone else who is starting. Almost nobody discusses prices out loud, so let the two of you have something to compare against.
What to take on the platform for this task
- AI Sergey Molokov, sales trainer: a reply to a job post, an answer to "what is your price list?", an estimate; Basic
- Freelancer packaging: niche, profile, a plan for the first orders; Basic
- The course «Продажи» ("Sales"): ten lessons of the sales module and the series "First Order"; Basic
- The "💼 Кому и что продавать" ("Who and what to sell") button in the bot: the second sheet for your niche; free
How to get it
The document is at the link below, no registration. Registration on the platform is free, three days of Basic with one button, no card.
Download the first-order cheat sheet (PDF, 3 pages) →
What to read next
The AI freelancer price list: where the ranges come from and what makes the price jump within a range.
How to answer a question about price if you do not know how much to ask: the first sheet in a live conversation.
The client disappeared, does not pay, endless edits: the third sheet in detail.