When I started my business 5 years ago I had no idea what I was doing. There was very little info available online for female business owners so I had to wing it. I experimented with different prices, designs for my website, packages for my services and my client onboarding process until I found the sweet spot. It took years. And I know you don’t want to wait that long for your business to work.
So today I’m sharing the advice that I wish I had when I started my business. I used to be a graphic designer working with clients to design their dream brand identity. I quit working with clients after 4 years to focus on creating products instead. So while I don’t work with clients anymore I still gained a lot of experience of working with clients and finding what worked.
My business almost didn’t work out. But then I experimented with the tips below and finally my business got off the ground. I started working with clients from all over the world and my services were booked out months in advance.
Without further ado, here’s my advice.
Photo: Cliche Mignon
Don’t charge too little
I know when you’re starting a biz you’re tempted to charge less than your competitors. You feel like you don’t have the experience yet to charge premium prices. I totally get that because I did the same. I figured I wasn’t that good yet so I couldn’t charge a lot. I figured that it will help me get LOTS of clients. But guess what happened when I charged peanuts for my services? I got BAD clients.
The type that want to change everything you send them, who want to tell you how to do your job, who even want to haggle you down with your price, and who aren’t that serious about their own businesses. I had all of those.
When you charge too little, it tells the client that you aren’t a serious business. That you’re just doing this as a hobby, and that you’re not confident in your work.
Charging very little for my services seriously backfired on me. And the moment I started charging more I attracted the GOOD clients. It’s one of the best things I ever did for my business. Suddenly it was a joy to work with my clients because they respected me as a professional.
If you’ve been working with clients for a while now and feel that all they do is give you problems, it’s time to raise your prices and raise them good.
Show your prices on your website
I struggled with this one for a while. I read online that you should not show your prices on your website because you want to get in contact with your client first, make a personal connection with them and when you tell them the price they’ll most likely go for it. But it didn’t work out for me that way.
When I didn’t show my prices on my site, I got few enquiries. When I did, the process looked like this: people contacted me through my website, told me about their project and asked what it will cost. I then got back to them with a quote. Guess what happened? No one booked my services.
That went on for a long time. I started becoming super frustrated because I didn’t know HOW to get clients to book my services!
Then I thought, “if I’m looking for a photographer for instance, do I want to know what they charge before I contact them? Yes, I do.â€