You're pricing your projects wrong

You're pricing your projects wrong

Author: The Happy Startup School November 24, 2021 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 rates are.

This is helpful in terms of being transparent and making feel the client is informed.

But IS it really helpful?

More information doesn't necessarily mean more power.

Unless your client is empowered to make a choice and believe that the price you're giving them is worth paying then it doesn't matter how granular and transparent you are about your pricing it won't help them.

In the end you're providing a number and your client needs to able to make sense of that number and explain it to others.

Also, when it comes to doing work that includes some inherent uncertainty, such as creative work or developing an innovative app, then defining price based on time isn't necessarily helpful either.

More than anything clients want certainty about what they're going to get and what they're going to spend in order to get it.

And they want to avoid any regrets about how much they spent (i.e. they want to feel good about spending more money).

They want definite outcomes without feeling like they've been conned.

They want solutions and good feelings.

How does you project pricing help create these?


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
Pricing based on value [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:20
Getting paid what your worth isn’t about accurately itemising your time.It takes acknowledging what your customer says they want, understanding what they need, articulating why they need it and helping them figure out ho…
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…