Your Hourly Rate Is Not Your Worth
The price you charge is not your value as a person.
It is not a test of how “good” you are. It is not a test of how confident you are. It is just a number you choose for a business offer.
Brené Brown reminds us, “You are imperfect, you are wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.”
Your human worth is already settled. We are just talking about business math.
On Copying Other People’s Prices
You do not have to charge what everyone else charges.
It’s not apples to apples.
They may:
Live in a different city
Work with a different type of client
Offer a different result
So if you set your price by looking sideways at others, you will always feel a little weird.
Investor Warren Buffett says, “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”
That is the shift: stop asking “What is the right price number?” and start asking “What is the real value here?”
Price the Outcome, Not the Hours
Your price does not have to be cheap. Your price does not have to be luxury. Your price should match the outcome you create.
If you are not clear on the outcome, pricing will feel hard. If your outcome changes from client to client, pricing will feel even harder.
Consultant Alan Weiss puts it simply: “Clients don’t buy your time. They buy results.”
Your client is not really buying 60 minutes. They are buying a different life.
Make Pricing Easier: One Client, One Outcome
Here is a simple way to make pricing easier.
Pick:
One type of client you want to serve
One main outcome you help them get
For example:
“I help therapists fill their practice with first bookings.”
“I help health coaches sign more long-term clients.”
“I help relationship coaches get more first sessions with right-fit couples.”
When you serve one type of client with one clear outcome, a few good things happen:
Your message gets clearer
Your calls feel more focused and simple
Your pricing has a solid basis in outcome
The Money That Outcome Is Worth
Now ask: “What is this outcome worth to them (in time, in money, in quality of life)?”
Stay concrete. For example:
You help a business owner go from five 10/10 stressful moments per week to only one; that quality of life improvement (while the hardest to quantify of the 3) is worth something. How long does it take them to come back to baseline? Are they making poor choices that cost them money in the mean time? Are they damaging important relationships? Are they getting a reputation as undesirable to work with?
Management thinker Peter Drucker said, “What gets measured gets managed.”
When you measure the money side, you can finally manage your price.
Look At The Ripple Effects
Money is only part of the picture. The outcome you help your client produce has ripple effects.
Your job is not to promise every detail. Your job is to notice and name them.
When you tell this story out loud, your client starts to see a better life. Their sense of the value grows. Your price starts to feel small next to the whole picture.
How To Set A Number
Here is a simple path to a price that makes sense.
Name your client and outcome
“I help [type of client] get [specific outcome].”
Estimate the money impact in a normal case
Not a wild dream. A solid, honest estimate.
Add some of the ripple effects
Time saved
Stress reduced
Fewer wasteful expenses
Reputational cost
Put a rough number on that total value for one year (the time horizon is flexible, a month, a lifetime)
Set your price as a fair slice of that number
Often 5 to 20 percent of year-one value
You are not charging for your worth as a person. You are charging for a clear change in their life and their business.
Use Your Brain And Your Imagination
You don’t need a fancy spreadsheet. Just a little critical thinking and imagination.
Ask yourself:
“If this works, what changes for them next month, next quarter, next year, your whole career?”
This is where your empathy as a practitioner helps you. You already know how your clients live. You can see the story they are stepping into.
Then Discount From Value, Not From Fear
Once you see the total value, you probably do not want to charge that full amount. It’s probably pretty big.
But you do use it as a place to start discounting.
Example:
Total honest value of the outcome over one year feels like $24,000.
You might price your offer at $2,000 or $3,000
Your process are still a small part of the value you create. Now your price is grounded in a real number, and not a guess.
Make A Promise That Builds Trust
Price is only a part of the safety your client needs to make a strong choice.
They’re also considering their risk.
You can lower risk in simple ways:
A clear guarantee (for example, “If we do not reach X by this date, here is what I will do for you.”)
Extra support if the result takes longer than expected
A smaller, first project that proves the outcome before a larger one
You aren’t promising what you cannot control but you are showing that you have confidence and are invested in their success.
Wrapping It All Up
In summary, here is the short version.
Your price is not your self-worth
Your price does not need to match everyone else’s
Your price should match the outcome you create
Outcomes are clearer when you serve one type of client
When you tell the money story and the life story of that outcome, your client can see the value
You then set a fair price as a slice of that value, and you back it with a real promise
This is how pricing starts to feel clean and honest, instead of scary and random.
For Waitlist Ready, this is the same idea we apply to your marketing. We are not trying to make you “look expensive.” We are helping you tell the story of the real outcome you create, so the right people are glad to pay a fair price and book their first session with you.