Here is an uncomfortable test. If you are booked out more than two or three weeks in advance, you are undercharging. That is not a compliment about how in demand you are. It is the market telling you your price is below what people will happily pay.
The hourly rate is the trap. When you bill by the hour, getting faster and better at your job earns you less money, which is an insane incentive to build a career on. Value-based pricing flips it: you charge based on what the work is worth to the client, not how long it takes you. Freelancers using this model reportedly earn around 42% more per project than those billing hourly. The common benchmark is charging 10% to 20% of the annual financial value you create, adjusted for risk and how much you actually know.
This is something the TDY community deals with regularly, especially members who moved to Thailand partly because a lower cost of living made a low rate survivable. It works, right up until it does not. Cheap living quietly funds the habit of underpricing.
The practical version is less scary than the theory. Test new rates on new clients only. Quote 10% to 20% higher on your next inquiry and watch what happens. If nobody blinks, go again. If everyone walks away, the problem is your positioning, not your price, and you have learned that for free. Give existing clients 30 to 60 days notice before any increase and do it once a year as a matter of routine, not as a nervous confession.
A 5% to 10% annual raise is not ambition. It is just keeping still while inflation moves.