Permission to Charge More (Or Want Less)

I worked with a new client this week and asked him what he thought about raising his pricing. His face did immediately what happens so often when I talk to my clients about their pricing: a visible mix of panic, deep thinking, and overwhelm.

I could see him thinking:

1. The people I want to serve can't afford it if I raise it.

2. What if people don't come?

3. Am I worth that much?

4. What kind of business will I be building by charging that much?

And like many things in solopreneurship, how much you charge is never just about how much you charge. It's layered with all the things underneath.

I've talked before about calculating your actual revenue target. Not just your minimum, but the number that includes what you need and what you want. Use this tool if you haven't done it yet.

But... Knowing your number and actually charging for it are two very different things.

There's this gap between "I know I need €100K" and "I'm going to structure my offers to actually generate €100K." That gap is where all those thoughts and feelings come up—the ones that leave us stuck not knowing which way to go.

If this sounds familiar, there are two permissions you might need right now.

Permission to Charge More

When you're first getting started, pricing is often on the lower end. You don't really know what the market will support. And whether it's true or not, you feel like because you're new—even if you've been in the field for years—you should charge lower.

So you do that. You start to build momentum. You get clients. Things are moving.

But then you realize: you aren't getting paid quite enough to build a financially sustainable business.

Something needs to change. You need to either:

• Charge more for what you're already doing

• Do less (fewer clients, fewer hours)

• Move from 1:1 to 1-to-many offerings

And that's when all those feelings kick in: What if no one pays it? What if I'm being greedy? What if I'm not worth it? What if my current clients leave me?

Let's look at it this way though: Charging your minimum keeps you stuck in your minimum.

If you keep pricing at just-enough-to-scrape-by, you'll never build the breathing room you need. You'll stay in survival mode.

So how do you move through?

1. Look at the market.
What does the data actually show about how your pricing compares? Ask peers. Research competitors. Most of the time, you'll discover you're undercharging, not overcharging.

2. Calculate what you need per client.
If you need €100K and can realistically take on 10 clients per year… Does your current pricing get you there? If not, something has to shift.

3. Test incrementally.
You don't have to double your prices overnight (in fact, please don't). Raise them 20% for new clients. See what happens. It's all data to inform your next move.

4. Remember: Your pricing reflects your value and your business model.
Depending on your business model, higher prices can mean fewer clients. Fewer clients mean more capacity. More capacity means better work. Better work means better results. Better results justify higher prices. It's a cycle.

Permission to Want Less

But let's also talk about the flip side. You're allowed to want less.

Maybe you looked at your max number and thought: I don't actually want to build the business required to generate that much.

Maybe charging more means you'd need to provide more value, more access, more delivery, and just more… and that doesn't appeal to you. Maybe you don't want 30 clients, or a team, or to be "on" all the time.

Maybe your version of max is actually smaller than what you know you could get in your industry, or what a past version of yourself thinks you should earn.

That's more than okay.

Wanting less doesn't mean you're not ambitious. It means you're clear about what you actually want your life to look like. And building a business that generates double but requires you to work in ways that drain you isn't success. It's golden handcuffs.

So how do you move through?

1. Define what "less" actually gets you.
What does a smaller revenue target give you? More time with family? Creative space? Energy for other projects? Fewer anxiety-inducing obligations? Name the trade-off clearly. When you see what you're gaining, it stops feeling like settling.

2. Calculate your actual lifestyle cost.
Sometimes we think we need more than we do because we're using someone else's benchmark. Go back to basics: What do you actually need to live well (not just survive, but live well)? You might discover your "less" is plenty.

3. Look for efficiency, not just scale.
Wanting less revenue doesn't mean staying stuck. It might mean: better systems, higher-value offers to fewer people, or shifting from 1:1 to group models. Sometimes you can earn the same with half the effort.

4. Remember: Your business should fit your life, not the other way around.
You didn't leave your salaried job to recreate the same exhaustion under a different brand. If your target number requires you to work in ways that don't align with your values or capacity—that's not your number.

So if you feel resistance, ask yourself:

Is this fear of charging what I actually need?
Or is this clarity that I don't actually want what that number requires?

And remember, if this were easy everyone would be doing it.