Set a price you can defend

Price from the outcome, not from your time

Clients buy a result. If you charge by the hour, you are punished for getting faster. Price the deliverable: a five-page site, twenty product descriptions, twelve posts a month.

The three-step method

1. Find the range. Look at what three or four comparable providers charge publicly. That is your market range, not your value.
2. Pick your starting point. For your first three jobs, price at the lower end of the range. Your goal in those jobs is proof and a testimonial, not profit.
3. Raise it after every third job until you start losing more than one in three enquiries. That is roughly your market rate.

Always charge a deposit

For anything over a day's work, take a deposit before starting — half is normal. It filters out people who were never going to pay, and it protects you if the scope changes.

Answer the three questions

• What exactly do I get? Write the deliverables in a list.
• When do I get it? Give a date, and say what you need from them to hit it.
• What if it is wrong? State your revision policy: how many rounds, and what counts as a change of scope.

If they say it is too expensive

That is information, not rejection. Ask what budget they had in mind, then either reduce the scope to fit it or walk away. Never cut the price and keep the full scope — you will resent the work and deliver it badly.