One client's complaint helped me fix my pricing overnight

I was cleaning houses for $30 an hour for years, barely scraping by. Then last spring a woman in Glendale showed me her receipt from another cleaner charging $45 per hour with a $50 travel fee. She said she'd hire me if I matched it, and I realized I was selling myself short. Has anyone else had a single conversation that made them rethink their whole pricing?

3 comments

3 Comments

milaw1422d ago

I read somewhere that a lot of service people just pick an hourly rate that feels comfortable, not what the market actually supports. Like we're scared someone will think we're greedy. That woman basically handed you a cheat code by showing you her receipt. It's wild how one honest conversation can just snap everything into focus. I bet you went from wondering if you should charge more to realizing you'd been leaving money on the table for years.

oscarhart22d ago

Yeah @milaw14 that's pretty much what happened, I bumped my rates up like 30% after a client straight up told me I was undercharging and nobody even blinked.

the_thea22d ago

The $50 an hour thing, @milaw14, that's the part that sticks with me. It's not just about the number, it's that most of us pick a rate based on what feels fair to us, not what the client is actually getting out of the work.