5 lessons on how not to do pricing from Elon Musk

5 lessons on how not to do pricing from Elon Musk

Author: The Happy Startup School January 24, 2024 Duration: 23:31

When we approach pricing without research or strategy, we end up with uncertainty, ineffective communication, and demonstrating a lack of understanding our customers’ needs.

We need an outside-in approach that starts with researching the value customers get from our product or service. By focusing on the customer and their needs, we can develop a pricing strategy that is clear, confident, and effectively communicated.

This week, Carlos and Ben discuss a blog post on the perceived mistakes Elon Musk made in the wake of his attempt to charge $20 per Twitter account that wanted to receive a blue Verified badge.

What Musk saw was resistance, ambivalence, and ultimately the need to make quick pivots. Pricing solely based on internal needs and without considering customer value can lead to missed opportunities and an ineffective pricing strategy, so what lessons can be drawn, not only from Musk’s pricing strategy, but from the value he placed on buying the company to begin with?

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For freelancers and founders who believe their work has genuine purpose, the conversation around money can feel like the most awkward part of the job. The Happy Pricing Podcast, from The Happy Startup School, steps directly into that discomfort. It operates from a simple, radical premise: pricing shouldn't be a silent calculation of fear or greed, but a clear, confident dialogue about shared value. This isn't about racing to the bottom to please clients or inflating rates to exploit them. Instead, each episode focuses on building the practical capability to have those necessary, often avoided, financial conversations. You'll hear real strategies for articulating your worth in a way that feels authentic, ensuring the exchange is equitable and that you are properly compensated for the impact you create. The discussions move beyond theory into the nuanced reality of running a purpose-driven business, exploring how to structure fees, negotiate with clarity, and ultimately create arrangements where both you and your clients feel good about the investment. Tuning into this podcast means re-framing pricing from a transactional headache into a core component of your professional integrity and happiness. It's for those ready to move past anxiety and into a practice where everyone truly shares in the value being delivered.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 75

The Happy Pricing Podcast
Podcast Episodes
You're pricing your projects wrong [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:21
Most projects a priced based on people's time.The proposal, as well as containing lots of justification for choosing you as a supplier, is essentially a shopping list of project member's time and how much their hourly ra…
The pros and cons of selling yourself by the hour [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:49
Earlier in the week I found this article on Medium entitled "What to charge as a freelancer: does value-based pricing live up to the hype?"You can read it here - https://medium.com/free-code-camp/what-to-charge-as-a-free…
Make money while you sleep [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:32
Do you want to make money while you sleep?That's the promise of passive income.And anyone who doesn't make as much money as they'd like selling their time is attracted to this promise.According to Tim Ferris’ Four Hour W…
Are you pricing your worth? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:03
Pricing for serviced based businesses is such a dark art and many agency owners, coaches and consultants have had to learn it the hard way.But why should it be so hard?There should be more courses about this stuff out th…
Pricing, marketing and selling - how does it all fit together? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:17
Focussing on pricing in isolation isn't going to help you get customers.If you don't align how you price with how you market you can waste a lot of time selling to the wrong people.On this episode we talk about how prici…
How can I earn more without talking about money? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:10
On this episode we tackle the challenge of trying to earn more when you don't like talking about money.The bad news is that it's impossible.The good news is that while you can't get away from ultimately talking about mon…
Pricing a new product or service [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:18
On this episode of Waking up to Money we were joined by Nicola Forristal, a People Talent specialist.She has a service that weaves the threads of her corporate career as a People & Talent professional, her therapeutic ca…
Being bold and being easier to buy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:05
Welcome to the new season of Waking up to Money.This episode is the first one after our break following the second Happy Pricing course we ran in April.We learned a lot during that course. Not only about how to run it ev…
Are you reassuringly expensive? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:08
While you may feel like selling something is difficult remember that buying is difficult too.Our customers are always conscious about whether they’re making the right decisions. When choosing a product or service they’re…