Hello Amazing!
It still scares me. After an inspiring meeting with a potential new client, the question inevitably comes up: how much? 12 years of self employment and still I have to stop and swallow, while I try to dig up that perfect spiel I had prepared, only to discover that my confidence has left my body. I wish I could just look someone straight in the eye and calmly say it. But I’m always a little bit afraid that they will laugh–how dare I ask for so much? Safely back in my own home, I find it interesting–fascinating, even. In this week’s homework you’ll get to explore your own price.
Set the frame
You can do this either with a product, a service or with your employment, but first you must decide which. Draw a frame around your page and define your scope. It could look like this:
Leave plenty of white space for your notes.
Questions to explore
It’s easy to think of price as tied to some sort of “real value”, and that may be how it is. However, for this exercise, try to let it go. Here, price is just and arbitrary number that we can play with.
- How do you currently think of price? What purpose does it serve?
- What is the basic unit you sell? (items, hours, months, words, sessions, projects)
- What is the price based on? Results? Exclusivity (art)? Absence of violence (mafia “protection”)?
- At what price do you think people would laugh at you?
- If you knew people would always pay, how much would you want? Why?
- What is your cost price?
- What if your price was based on how fun/boring a project was–what would that look like?
- If you had $1bn in the bank, would you still charge your clients? How much? Why/why not?
With love until next week.
Mathias
(Traduction disponible en français)
