How do I price my services?

Start from your costs, sanity-check against the market, and land on a number you can say out loud without apologizing.

1. Work out what it genuinely costs to deliver, including your own time at a rate you could live on.
2. Add the margin the business needs to survive a slow month — many small service businesses target [30]% or more.
3. Compare that number to what similar providers in [Location] charge, so you know where you sit and why.
4. Decide deliberately whether you are below, at, or above the market — and be able to explain the reason.

Two common mistakes: pricing from what feels polite rather than what the work costs, and competing on price against businesses with lower overheads.

If your price feels uncomfortable, the usual fix is to make the value clearer in the proposal — not to lower the number. The Offer Creation Worksheet walks through the maths.