If you’ve been trying to figure out how to price your services with confidence, you’re not alone.

Most women starting service-based businesses struggle with pricing more than anything else. Not because they’re not good at what they do — but because pricing touches something deeper:

• worth
  
• identity
  
• confidence
  
• fear of judgment
  
• fear of losing clients
  

If pricing feels emotional, it’s because it is.

But here’s the truth:

You cannot build a profitable, sustainable business on shaky pricing.
Your prices shape your confidence, your client experience, and your long-term stability.

And if you’ve been undercharging or second-guessing yourself, today we’re shifting that.

The Lie: “Lower prices will make it easier for people to say yes.”

This is the biggest pricing trap new entrepreneurs fall into.

You may have believed things like:

• “I don’t have enough experience to charge more.”
  
• “I want to be affordable.”
  
• “People won’t pay that.”
  
• “I feel bad charging for something that comes naturally.”
  

But here’s what actually happens when you undercharge:

• You resent your workload
  
• You over-deliver to “make up” for low rates
  
• You attract clients who don’t value your time
  
• You operate from fear instead of clarity
  
• You struggle to raise prices later — because you feel guilty
  

This line from Rachel Rodgers in We Should All Be Millionaires says it perfectly:

“When you undervalue what you do, the world will undervalue who you are.”

Undercharging doesn’t protect you.
It drains you — financially and emotionally.

The Truth: Pricing Is Identity Work and Math

Understanding how to price your services is both identity work and math.
Your pricing must honor two realities:

1. Your value.

Pricing is an identity decision.
It requires you to own the transformation, energy, and expertise you bring.

2. Your business model.

Pricing is a math decision.
It must cover your time, effort, expenses, taxes, and desired income.

If you only focus on value, you’ll overdeliver and burn out.
If you only focus on math, you’ll feel disconnected and uneasy.

The sweet spot is both.

Let’s walk through the simple shifts that make confident pricing possible.

3 Simple Steps to Price Your Services With Confidence

These steps won’t give you your final pricing — but they will help you create a solid, sustainable starting point.

1. Get Clear on the Transformation You Deliver

People don’t buy hours —
they buy outcomes.

Your pricing must reflect:

• what changes for the client
  
• what they gain
  
• what becomes easier
  
• what becomes possible
  
• what problem you help them avoid
  

Ask yourself:

“How is their life or business different because of my work?”

This is the true foundation for aligned pricing.

2. Calculate Your Minimum Sustainable Rate (The Simple Way)

Before you can confidently decide how to price your services, you need clarity on what it actually takes to deliver your offer.

Here’s the simple starter method:

Step 1 — Calculate your delivery time.

Include:

• prep
  
• communication
  
• admin
  
• research
  
• revisions
  
• the actual time it takes to serve well
  

Most new entrepreneurs underestimate this by 50–70%.

Step 2 — Factor in your expertise.

Your years of experience, education, intuition, leadership, and problem-solving count.

This isn’t “just a session.”
This is everything it took to become you.

Step 3 — Add business expenses + taxes

This includes:

• software
  
• subscriptions
  
• ongoing education
  
• equipment
  
• taxes (a simple placeholder: 25–30%)
  

Step 4 — Decide what you need to earn.

Not dream income.
Your minimum sustainable income — the amount you need to run your business and your life without stress.

Step 5 — Put it together.

Here’s a simple starting formula:

(Total time required × desired hourly rate) + expenses + taxes = sustainable base price

You don’t need perfection —
you just need a number that supports the actual work you do.

This is the math part of pricing.
And the math should protect you — not deplete you.

3. Practice Saying Your Price Without a Disclaimer

Say this with love:

Start by releasing the habit of apologizing for your prices.
Then let go of the urge to shrink or make yourself smaller.
You also don’t need to explain your value.
And finally, resist the temptation to offer discounts before someone even asks.

Practice saying your prices out loud, calmly and clearly:

• No nervous laughter
  
• No “but we can adjust…”
  
• No “I know money is tight…”
  
• No “I’m still new, so…”
  

Confidence isn’t innate —
it’s built through practice and repetition.

You Deserve a Business That Pays You Well

You’re not building a hobby.
You’re building a business.

You deserve a business that supports your life.
You also deserve one that honors your time and your gifts.
And more than that, you deserve a business that allows you to serve with excellence — without resentment.

You deserve pricing that reflects that. And you don’t have to figure it out alone.

When you learn how to price your services sustainably, everything in your business becomes lighter.

Ready to Price With Clarity and Confidence?

Your next step is simple:

👉 Download the Start Smart Business Plan Guide

It walks you through the foundational decisions — including pricing — so you can build your business on clarity instead of guessing.

Once your pricing is aligned, the next shift is mindset. In the next post, we’ll talk about:

Essential #5 – Mindset – How to Build the Mindset You Need to Start (and Sustain) a Service Business

Your business grows at the speed of your belief — and I’ll show you how to build the belief that supports the business you want.