When you sell your time, the instinct is to pick an hourly rate that feels safe and multiply. The problem is that 'safe' is almost always a number based on your fear, not the client's budget or the value of the result.
Price the result, not the hour
Clients aren't buying your hours; they're buying the outcome those hours produce. A logo that wins customers is worth more than the afternoon it took. Anchor your price to what the work is worth to them, and the hourly maths stops mattering.
Raise it on the next one
The fastest way to find your ceiling is to quote the next client a little higher than feels comfortable. If they say yes easily, you were too cheap. Keep nudging until you meet gentle resistance — that's the edge of your real rate.
Package It, Don't Hand Over An Hourly Rate
The moment you quote '£50 an hour', you've invited the client to watch the clock and to see you as a running cost rather than a result. Bundle the work into a named package with a fixed price instead — 'Brand Starter: logo, colours and a one-page style guide, £900'. Now the conversation is about what they receive, not how fast you type, and that's a conversation you can win.
Packaging also protects you from the strangest trap in hourly billing: getting better and earning less. If your skill doubles and a job that took a day now takes an afternoon, the hourly rate punishes you for the improvement. A fixed price for the deliverable rewards it — your growing speed becomes profit instead of a quiet pay cut.
Offer Three Options, Not One
A single price is a yes-or-no question, and half the time the answer is no. Offer three tiers and you quietly change the question from 'should I?' to 'which one?'. Most people avoid the cheapest and the dearest and settle in the middle, so build your middle tier to be the one you actually want to sell.
A wedding photographer might offer 'Half day, £600', 'Full day, £1,100' and 'Full day plus album, £1,600'. The top tier isn't there to sell often — it makes £1,100 look sensible, and it gives the client who wants to spend more a way to do it. Remove it and £1,100 suddenly looks like your expensive option rather than your reasonable middle.
- Change the scope between tiers, not just the number — more deliverables, faster turnaround, more revisions.
- Make the difference between them readable at a glance, so nobody has to study a table.
- Name the tiers by who they're for, not 'Basic / Pro / Premium'.
- Design the middle tier to be the obvious sensible choice.
When They Say It's Too Expensive
'Too expensive' is rarely about the number. It usually means the value isn't clear yet, or the person simply isn't your buyer. Before you drop a penny, try restating what they get and what it's worth to them — 'this pays for itself the first time it wins you a client'. Often the price stops being the issue the moment the value lands.
And if they still say no, let them. Discounting to win someone who was never going to value the work sets a rate you'll come to resent and attracts more people exactly like them. A calm 'I understand — keep my details and get in touch if the timing changes' keeps your price intact and your reputation with it. The client who pays full rate tends to respect the work more, not less.