Ep 01: The Pricing Mistake That Costs New Entrepreneurs Clients
This is the the most valuable principle entrepreneurs can understand about the psychology of pricing
Most people assume the pricing mistake that costs them clients is charging too much — that the number itself is the thing standing between them and a yes. So they price low to feel accessible, to remove the friction before it starts, to give themselves a fighting chance. It makes total sense as a strategy. It also doesn’t work the way you think it does.
I figured this out sitting across from another entrepreneur at a coffee shop, the kind of meeting I’d been stacking my calendar with because I was hungry to grow and I knew it...
She was running a full marketing agency — exactly what I wanted to build. So when she asked about my plan, I laid it out confidently: start with a low-end offer to get clients in the door, build trust, then upsell them into bigger packages over time.
She nodded. Then she told me her own version of that story.
When she launched her agency, she’d done the same thing. Priced herself low to seem accessible. Got in front of a dream client. Nailed the pitch. And when it came time to talk numbers — they said no.
Not because she was too expensive.
Because she wasn’t expensive enough.
The client told her they were looking for someone who “could do more.” Her price had told them a story before she ever got the chance to. And that story was: I’m not the one you’re looking for.
I sat with that for a long time after we said goodbye.
Then I went home and blew up my entire offer structure.
No tiers. No upsells. No more “starter package” designed to feel safe for people who weren’t sure yet. One branding package. One price. A number I was proud of.
The following week I went to a networking event and said it out loud for the first time.
I was so nervous I was convinced my foundation was sweating off my face. My stomach was doing somersaults and I had to fight my feet from instinctively running for the door. But I said the number. Clearly. Without flinching — or at least without showing it.
A few days later, that person referred me to a colleague and that referral became my first big client.
She paid in full. Didn’t negotiate. Didn’t blink.
And I learned the lesson that has shaped everything since:
You get what you sell.
Sell cheap and you attract clients who want cheap — who will question every invoice, push every boundary, and exhaust you for a fraction of what you’re worth. Sell quality and you attract people who value quality, who trust your expertise, and who are actually a joy to work with.
I want to be clear about something though. Charging what you’re worth isn’t about inflating your prices to the ceiling or squeezing every dollar out of someone. It’s about not discounting and discrediting your own work. It’s about standing behind the value you deliver without quietly apologizing for it through your pricing.
High ticket doesn’t mean out of integrity. It means in alignment.
Your price isn’t just a number. It’s a signal. It tells the market who you are, what you believe about your work, and what kind of client relationship you’re inviting.
Most service providers I talk to are sitting on a version of my old plan — starting low, hoping to earn their way up. I get it. It feels safer. It feels humble. It feels like you’re being realistic.
But here’s what it actually is: it’s playing small before anyone even asked you to.
You don’t have to earn the right to charge what you’re worth. You just have to decide you’re worth it — and then say the number out loud.
It will feel like you might throw up. Do it anyway.
Until next time, Rebecca
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