A freelance content strategist who'd undercharged a long-term client for 14 months spent three evenings role-playing the conversation with ChatGPT, asking it to play a friendly but budget-conscious client and then point out where they caved. They say they came away with a 15% rate increase.
I want to practise asking [CLIENT OR MANAGER] for a higher rate. I currently earn [CURRENT RATE] for [WORK], the market rate is about [RANGE] and I want to ask for [TARGET]. Play someone friendly but careful with money who pushes back with lines like 'the budget is tight right now'. Stay in role until I say 'stop', then tell me where I caved, where I was strong and what to change next time.
Replace the [PLACEHOLDERS] with your own details before you send it.
How to try it
- Give ChatGPT real numbers: what you earn now, the going rate and what you want.
- Run the role-play several times, ideally out loud with voice mode, and ask for blunt feedback after each round.
- Write down the two or three phrases that worked best and use them in the real conversation.
More work use cases
Tailor your CV to a job advert with ChatGPT
A consultant's main CV advice to one jobseeker was to paste the job listing and CV into ChatGPT and ask it to reword the CV to get past automated filters. The jobseeker found that advice demoralising, so treat it as a tool, not a substitute for your own judgement.
Here's a job advert: [PASTE]. Here's my CV: [PASTE]. Show me which requirements in the advert my CV already covers, which are missing or buried, and suggest honest rewording of my existing experience to match the advert's language. Don't invent skills or experience I haven't listed.
Sort a messy list of expenses into tax categories with ChatGPT
Someone preparing a client's tax return gave ChatGPT the client's list of expenses, including a few items they didn't recognise, and it sorted them into the broad categories needed for the return. They said it saved them hours.
Here is a list of business expenses for [TYPE OF BUSINESS] in [COUNTRY] for [TAX YEAR]: [PASTE LIST WITH DATES, SUPPLIERS AND AMOUNTS]. Sort each one into these categories: [YOUR CATEGORIES, OR 'the usual categories for a self-assessment return']. Put anything you're unsure about, or that might be personal rather than business, in a separate 'check' list with a short reason, and give me totals per category.
Write a tricky Excel formula with ChatGPT
One user had ChatGPT write an Excel formula for a billing file he fills in every month, saving him two to three hours of manual work each time.
In Excel, I have [DESCRIBE COLUMNS, E.G. COLUMN A: DATE, B: CLIENT, C: HOURS]. I want [WHAT YOU WANT, E.G. TOTAL HOURS PER CLIENT FOR LAST MONTH IN COLUMN F]. Write the formula, explain each part in plain English, and tell me how to copy it down safely.
Reference: Flowork