Why Pricing Feels So Hard

_{[Read time: 3 minutes]}

I’ve been talking about pricing a lot recently.

For good reason.

It’s a humongous problem for 1-2 person business owners.

(it’s 1 of the 6 problems that keep showing up in nearly every conversation I have)

Here’s the 3 core reasons why it feels so hard:

1. Not enough good advice out there → leading to pricing by guessing

2. Pricing is reflective of worth and confidence → leading to pricing by fear (and insecurity)

3. Doing ‘sales’ is emotionally taxing and most don’t have deep enough pipelines → leading to pricing by scarcity (of clients)

Ok, let’s go down the rabbit hole, shall we?

Not enough good advice out there — leading to pricing by guessing

There is no formal (or informal) education on how to price services.

I’ve only found specks of advice worth considering. Why? Because pricing isn’t as sexy as content marketing, automations, AI, or sales. So, most business owners throw a dart.

You pick a number that feels “fair,” or worse, a number loosely tied to your costs or value.

Then the brain magically anchors to this random price point. Once that happens, it’s incredibly hard to unstick yourself from it (even if you realize it’s way off the mark).

Pricing is reflective of worth and confidence — leading to pricing by fear (or insecurity)

Hearing “no” isn’t fun.

But what’s worse is the story you make up about what clients think of you when you reveal our prices.

Your self worth is in question…and when that happens your confidence gets shaky, fear takes over.

Pricing becomes less about reflecting value and more about avoiding rejection. It’s a defense mechanism — a way to feel “safe.”

Doing ‘sales’ is emotionally taxing and most don’t have deep enough pipelines — leading to pricing by scarcity

Selling is hard.

It takes guts to put yourself out there. And when you don’t have a steady pipeline of leads, every single client feels like a make-or-break moment.

In that kind of pressure cooker, it’s easy to settle:

• You take on clients who aren’t a good fit

• You cave to lower prices

• You justify it with, “Something is better than nothing.”

Scarcity is contagious. It creeps into how you market, how you sell, and even how you see yourself. Before long, you feel stuck.

I’ll continue to shout this from the rooftop — pricing is the biggest driver of profit, let’s spend more time getting it right.

If you’re guessing, letting fear guide you, or settling (from scarcity), do yourself an favor and fix the broken pricing strategy.

Thank you for reading.

See you next week.

— Peter

P.S. I’m running a little survey for 1-2 person businesses to demystify pricing. I’m interviewing business owners and will package the findings in a way to help you price smarter (with strategy). And if you participate, I’ll make it to free you.

P.P.S. When you’re ready, here are 2 ways we can work together.

1. $10K in 1 Day: Reserve your 1-day business audit to stress test the overall health of the business model (sales pipeline, operating workflows, pricing, finances, and offer stack). As the name implies, we’ll find you $10K in 1 day. Here are what people are saying…

2. Price Like A Pro Workshop: We work together to nail your pricing strategy and avoid underpricing or overpricing your services. Book a free fit call.