I was recently hanging out with a friend who is a photographer. He’s trying to get his business off the ground and figuring out his pricing is proving to be a bit of challenge.
Truth be told, everyone has this challenge. I’ve been in the game for a while and I still sometimes struggle with pricing my products and services. I also still make some pricing mistakes every once in a while.
While I may not have it totally figured out, I do know what to avoid thanks to some pricing mistakes I’ve made along the way. Here are some of the pricing mistakes I’ve made when pricing my services in the past.
Not taking edits into account.
At this stage in my career, I just assume certain projects may require edits.
While this does depend on the client, I know from experience to expect it from certain kinds of clients versus others. For example, I know banks are going to require at least some edits because they want to make sure everything is perfect.
Edits are just a part of the process. I didn’t know that when I first started, so one of my first pricing mistakes was not taking this extra work into account.
With that being said, I definitely make sure to add it to my quotes now. Especially if they are corporate. Small businesses tend to be a little more laid back.
Low-balling myself all the damn time.
When I first started freelancing several years ago I thought $4 was a good deal for 500 words. After all, when you’re looking at job boards that want to pay $1, an extra $3 looks like a sweet deal.
Fast forward a few years and I’m obviously making way more than that, but the fact still remains that I have to be careful to not low ball myself. Otherwise, it’s one of those pricing mistakes that might never go away if you don’t keep it in check.
Charging by the hour.
Okay, so I actually never made this pricing mistake this because I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the work of Carol Tice in the beginning of my career. However, I’ve seen lots of beginning business owners charge for their services by the hour instead of by the project.
Forgetting to take expenses into account.
As any business owner will attest to, it takes money to make more money. Your business has costs it accrues just to get work done, so you must take those into account when pricing your services.
Again, this was one of the pricing mistakes I made when I first started my business. Granted, I didn’t have a lot of overhead back then, but now I make sure to keep an eye on it because it costs me money to earn money.
Final Thoughts
Everyone struggles with pricing their services, so you’re definitely not alone. While what you choose to do depends on your business, just make sure to avoid the pricing mistakes mentioned in this article.
