I told both of them the exact same price.
Spoiler: she said cheap, he said expensive.
There’s this trepidation with which you approach the discovery call. The stutter in your breath as you say your price out loud. The sweat dripping down your back as you await their thoughts.
I’ve been freelancing for more than six years now and since I transitioned from writing blogs to only writing website copy, something I’ve realized is that telling my price out loud is something that frightens me.
Mostly because getting people to pay for blogs is a lot cheaper than asking them to pay for website copy.
I’d even cut down on my price before the client even asked for it.
Perhaps you relate. There is always that bit of confusion in the beginning, where you’re not sure how much to charge and if you have any right to charge ‘your worth’.
There’s two reasons why I changed the way I think about price.
One reason was this incident back in March. I had two back-to-back discovery calls. I think one was a Tuesday, the other a Wednesday.
Both calls didn’t go that well and now that I look back it, perhaps you’ll find it a little funny as well.
The Tuesday call found me via LinkedIn, was more than ready to work with me until he heard my price - he thought I was too expensive.
The Wednesday call should’ve been a yes. Brought to me via a referral, she loved my process and work ethic - and obviously, I thought this was a shoe-in.
Except, she heard the price, a frown made its way to the middle of her eyebrows. “That sounds a little cheap.”
I was oscillating between hot and cold, considering that I told both of them the exact same price.
At least, their reaction are acceptable, in comparison to the response I heard from this next individual.
This was the MD of a big firm in Singapore, who was planning to start a venture of his own. He wanted to bring me on on a contract position for six months - let’s just say I would be doing the role of copywriter+social media+marketing manager. It would be about 30 hours of work per month and because I knew he was looking for a cheap retainer, I quoted $1000 per month (yes, I know).
He did three things after receiving my proposal. We got on a call, and for the next 40 minutes, he went line by line on how unprofessional my proposal was. He also said, “You have no business charging the way you are’ and informed me that by our next call, I would need to cut down the price by a lot.
You know what the worst part is? He initially thought I was charging $1000 for the entire six months and started the call with a giddy, “I never expected it to be so cheap.”
Of course, I sent him a post-call email stating that this will not work - looking back, I was a little too nice in my response (and yes, I’m working on it).
Even if I didn’t have the courage to stand up for my price, I should’ve had the courage to stand up for my work.
And that’s really what price is about. It talks about the value your work provides to the client and also, the value you see in your own work.
That was a big problem for me last year, when I was still considering myself as a ‘freelancer’.
I’d say so much of the advice out there in the market is rubbish. Especially when they go ‘charge your worth’ - but how can you assign a value to your work? Or ‘here’s how you’ll earn $5k in your first month’.
(I’ll be talking from my own perspective, but I’m sure you can relate).
I’ve seen newbie copywriters who’ve never written a word in their life try to charge $4k for a website copy project because an ‘expert’ told them to and copywriters five years into their career charging less than $2k.
These experts who promise $5k-$10k months in a short period of time conveniently forget to tell you there’s so much to do before you get there.
Your first few projects are going to be bad - my first two projects were in the vein of $100-$200 (yeah, this was for full-fledged website copy), so maybe don’t do that? You also won’t know how to deal with typical project deliveries, costing you a few extra hours of work. And it’s only once you complete 3-4 projects that you begin to actually understand how much a project should cost you and how much you should charge the client.
And once you get the hang of it? It’s important to charge a high price so that you can afford to invest in your business.
Before you step into your next discovery call and consider lowering your price, remember this:
Your client is not doing you a favor by purchasing from you.
Someone is buying from you because they need your expertise.
Don’t put your clients on a pedestal - remember that you are equal to your client.
I’m not saying that only individuals with a high net-worth are allowed to buy from you. But, in the case of a client with a lower budget, reduce the deliverables, i.e the amount of work you’ll be doing for them, to accommodate for the budget.
After all, you shouldn’t price poorly for the value you do provide.
Price should not be a guessing game
On the more personal side…
Something that brought me joy: I definitely weirded out some of the waiters in this restaurant because I would not stop laughing at the display they created for the sushi we ordered.
But come on, you have dry ice flowing out from under your dishes (that are lit up), one dish inside a gigantic ball of ice, calling a lot of attention to your table and you’re telling me you’re not going to let out a giggle?
The sushi was incredible - maybe the best I’ve ever had? And yes, indeed - I did have sushi for a second week in a row. It was sushi night but we were wholly unprepared for how much sushi they would provide for just two people - the below picture doesn’t even contain all of it!
And hey, here’s a way people can charge more in a different setting - just by perception of ‘value’ and adding some dry ice.
But I don’t want to turn this into one of those newsletters that start off with random moment in my life and translate that into another random business philosophy.
Instead, I’ll just be inserting random moments in my life for the heck of it. I’d like to treat this newsletter as a way for you to get to know me and my perspective on running a business and marketing.
I’ve been loving the whole experience of writing this. Though, I wonder, if you’ve been enjoying these add-on ‘personal’ notes?
End Notes
People don’t realize this but price is a part of marketing and positioning.
Think about it, if there’s a seller selling the newest iPhone for $200, would you buy it?
As you can see, price doesn’t just mean ‘cheap’ or ‘expensive’. There might not be much difference in the quality of work from someone charging $2k and $16k for a website copy project, but there’s a world of difference in how their audiences perceive them.
To get there? It helps if you stop looking at it from the freelancer perspective and from a founder perspective.
Unfortunately, wearing too many hats is something that nobody can prepare you for - so maybe, stop considering yourself as a just a ‘freelancer’?
Happy marketing,
Maria John
Ps: Here’s my Website & LinkedIn, if you’d like to connect.
This was a great read! Thank you for sharing your experience, and be so honest about it! This is a tricky point for anyone providing a service. I have struggled with that myself. It's incredibly hard to land on the correct price structure, but its even harder to gain the wisdom you just shared. Thank you Maria!