Raising Prices Without Losing Sleep
Module: What to Actually Charge
You've got a number now. You said it out loud, maybe to Jami, maybe just to the bathroom mirror. Good.
Here's the part nobody warns you about: eventually you have to raise that number, and it feels worse than picking it the first time.
I know because I did it wrong for a long time. I priced my first few catering jobs low, kept them low out of habit, and then when it came time to move the number up, I about didn't do it. Actually raised a quote once and emailed it at 11pm because I couldn't send it in daylight while I had to look anybody in the eye. Sat there after I hit send, sure I'd blown it. Didn't sleep great. Client wrote back the next morning, said that sounds fine, see you at 5. Didn't blink. I was the only person in that exchange who thought the number was crazy.
That's happened to me more than once since, and it's never stopped surprising me.
Why raising your price feels like a bigger deal than it is
Part of it is math. If your first price already covers your costs and your time, raising it just means more sits in your pocket, and your brain doesn't love change even when the change is good for you.
Part of it is that you're not just quoting a job anymore. You're telling people who already know your old number that the old number is gone. That feels personal even though it's not.
And part of it, honestly, is that a lot of us grew up thinking asking for more makes you greedy. I don't buy that anymore. Charge for your time or you don't have a business, you have an expensive way to be nice. I've said that before in this class and I'll keep saying it, because it's the whole engine of the thing.
When to actually raise it
You don't need a special occasion. But here are the honest signals I watch for:
- You're busier than you can comfortably handle at the current price. That's the market telling you something.
- Your costs have gone up. Groceries cost more than they did two years ago. Gas isn't free. If your costs moved and your price didn't, you're quietly losing ground every job.
- You dread booking a certain kind of job because you know what it pays. That dread is information.
- You did the math from a couple lessons back and the number came out higher than what you're currently charging. Trust the math over the feeling.
How to actually do it, step by step
1. Pick the number on paper, not in the moment. Do this at your kitchen table with your actual costs in front of you, not while you're on the phone with someone asking for a quote. Decisions made under pressure tend to be either too soft or too dramatic.
2. Decide where the line is. Existing customers, the ones you already have a relationship with, or new inquiries only? I generally raised prices for new business first and let existing folks ride the old number a while longer. Not required, but it's a way to ease into it if the whole thing makes you queasy.
3. Write the sentence before you need it. Something like: "Starting in January my rate for a luncheon like this is $X." Have it ready so you're not composing it live, sweaty, at 11pm like I was.
4. Send it and put your phone down. This is the actual hard part. Not the math, not the sentence. The sending and then not staring at your phone waiting for a reaction. Go do a dish. Go outside. Whatever gets you away from refreshing your email.
5. Let the answer be the answer. Most of the time, in my experience, people say okay and move on with their day. They were never doing the math the way you were doing the math. They just want to know the number.
A plain caution
If someone pushes back hard on a raised price, that's not an emergency and it's not a verdict on your worth. It's just a data point. You can hold the line, you can offer a smaller version of the job at the old scope, or you can decide this particular person isn't your customer anymore. All three are fine. What's not fine is caving every time just to avoid the discomfort, because then you've taught yourself the price increase doesn't count.
And a real caution, not a dramatic one: don't raise prices on a job that's already booked and confirmed. That one's just fair play. New number applies to new bookings going forward.
Before next time
If you've got a real price sitting in front of you from the last lesson, ask yourself honestly whether it's already a little low for what you're actually worth, and if it is, write the sentence you'd send to raise it. You don't have to send it yet. Just get it out of your head and onto paper, where it's less scary.