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Business success is dependent on a solid financial foundation & success looks different to everyone & there is a lack of equity of access to resources and information for small business owners and independent contractors & there is a societal narrative making us believe “balance” is our ultimate goal & … There are so many “&”s that impact being your own boss. Let’s have some frank discussions on the basics of business with a holistic focus on everything that helps business owners define and find success.
Molly Beyer: [00:00:08] Welcome to The Ambiguous &: Business Basics and Beyond, the podcast where we have frank discussions on the basics of business with a holistic focus on everything that helps business owners define and define success. Each episode is a reminder that success isn't one thing. It's a whole lot of ambiguous ands. Like subscribe or follow and let's explore these ambiguous ands.
[00:00:34] Hello and welcome to The Ambiguous &: Business Basics and Beyond. I'm your host, Molly Beyer, and I'm here to lead you through frank and holistic conversations on the basics of business. Today we're going to talk about something we've touched on in past episodes and something that gets way less attention than it should, and that is intuitive pricing. This is especially relevant for my service providers out there, but it's also valuable for any business where no two clients or projects are the same. Now, if you're someone who's been told to pick your pricing and stick to it, or you've created tiers, packages, or minimums that are supposed to streamline your sales process, this episode might ruffle a few feathers because I'm here to tell you: pricing doesn't have to be fixed. It can be fluid, it can be intuitive. And honestly, for many small businesses, it should be. Let's start with the reality of small business pricing. Most of the business owners I work with are solopreneurs. They're small teams, they're creatives, or they're service providers who are building their business as they go. There's no finance department. There is no pricing analyst. There's often just you making your best guess on what you should charge based on what someone else is doing, on what you think people will pay, or maybe what you hope your time is worth.
Molly Beyer: [00:01:49] And the result is often one of two extremes. You're under pricing because you want the sale, you're worried about scaring people off, or you haven't quite stepped into the full value of what you offer or your overage is ify. You build beautiful packages. You set minimums, you draw hard lines in the sand, and then you watch potential clients walk away because they didn't quite fit inside the box. Now, I've been to both places, and I found that intuitive pricing, when grounded in a solid financial foundation, can give you the space and flexibility to turn a no into a yes and still stay in integrity with your value. So what is intuitive pricing? Let's define it here. Intuitive pricing is the practice of setting or adjusting prices based on your experience, your gut instinct, and on real time feedback, rather than just formal pricing models or competitor benchmarks. Now, this is not winging it. It is not discounting your worth. It's a responsive, human centered approach to pricing that allows you to adapt while staying connected to the numbers. This is especially useful when you're launching a new service, when you're working with a client who has unique needs, when you're offering something custom or high touch, or when you're learning your market as you go. So instead of saying, here's my rate and that's that, you start to ask questions. You start to ask, what's the value here and the value to this person? What's the scope and impact of this work? What would feel aligned for me at this moment based on my capacity, my income needs, and my time? So why does intuitive pricing work for small business? Let's talk the benefits of it, because intuitive pricing isn't just flexible, it's strategic.
Molly Beyer: [00:03:41] And that's if you're doing it with purpose. First, a benefit is that it gives you the room to say yes or no with confidence. Have you ever met with a potential client that you really wanted to work with, but they didn't quite fit your pricing model. So instead of ghosting them or stressing yourself out by giving away too much for free, intuitive pricing would then give you permission to adapt. You might create a smaller offer for them, you might spread payments or adjust scope, and not because you're devaluing yourself, but because it works for both of you. Intuitive pricing also honors the fact that no two clients are the same. Not every client needs the same level of support. Not every job takes the same amount of time, and you aren't in the same season all year long either. Intuitive pricing lets you flex up or down. It gives you the room to raise your prices when you're blocked out or booked out, and to scale back. Then, when you're onboarding or trying something new. Intuitive pricing also builds a responsive business instead of a rigid one. Rigid pricing systems can lead to missed opportunities. Intuitive pricing lets you stay connected to your market and adjust in real time, as long as you're also tracking and reflecting on what's working.
Molly Beyer: [00:04:58] Using intuitive pricing led to one of our most popular engagement levels, which is reconciliation and support. We had people who wanted cost savings and one who wanted a real time opportunity to manage their own bookkeeping, and they wanted the ongoing support and monthly account reconciliation benefits of having a bookkeeper. And so we do both. They get to have great bookkeeping that's affordable and feels good for them in their situation. And we get the monthly recurring revenue and a relationship that may either lead to increased income as their business scales or has increased in needs, or also for referral relationships still. Now, let me be clear. Intuitive pricing only works if it's rooted in reality, and that's where your bookkeeping and cash flow foundation come in. You need that solid financial foundation, because when you know how much money you need to bring in, you know your average monthly expenses. You know, your project timelines and time commitments and you know what's profitable and what's not. That's when you can make flexible decisions with confidence. So before you offer that discount or that custom scope, you want to ask yourself, does this price cover my costs? Is it aligned with my income goals this month? Am I saying yes because it feels good or because I'm panicking? Your numbers don't tell the whole story, but they do help you spot your patterns. Know your margins and see your blind spots.
Molly Beyer: [00:06:30] If you have employees, you need to know exactly how much those employees cost per hour. This is not just what you pay them, but their total cost to you with wages, taxes, and all benefits put together. If you're selling products, you need to know the actual cost to produce, not just the materials, but also the labor costs. If it's just you, you need to decide the bare minimum hourly rate that you will accept for yourself. And please don't sell yourself short. People are paying not just for your time, but for your experience, your education and your expertise. So here are some of the risks of intuitive pricing and how to avoid them. Because it's not all upside. So some of the things you want to watch for are inconsistency. If your prices swing wildly from client to client, people are going to notice and you can really erode trust. That doesn't mean you have to charge everyone the same, but you do have to have a clear internal compass for how and why your pricing shifts. So you want to be documenting your pricing logic. You want to check in with your offers at least every quarter, and notice if you're dropping prices out of alignment and of course, correct. You also want to be aware of under pricing Out of fear, because sometimes intuitive pricing is actually code for. I don't feel worthy of charging more, but that's not intuition. That's insecurity in disguise. So you want to ask yourself, is this pricing coming from clarity or from fear? And if it's from fear, pause.
Molly Beyer: [00:08:02] Get grounded. Talk to a coach, a mentor, or even look back at your own client testimonials. You need to reconnect with your impact before you move forward. You also need to be aware of time drain, because custom pricing can take more time and you may need to build out some different scopes, draft different proposals, and have more detailed conversations. And that's fine, but build in boundaries. You want to use some templates. Set response windows really protect your calendar. So you've decided to go the intuitive pricing path. How do you implement this within your business? So here are some sort of practical ways to start. First, you want to create a flexible framework. Have that base package or starting point. But then allow yourself room for that customization. Give yourself ranges not rigid rates. So if you're saying oh this package is $1,500 flat. Instead, you could say this typically ranges from $1200 to $1800 depending on your needs. Let's chat. You want to be using intake conversations or discovery calls to assess value, and in those calls you want to ask deeper questions, not just what they need, but why they need it, what it's worth to them, and what success looks like for them. When you understand the real stakes, it's easier to align your pricing with the value you're delivering. You also need to track your offers, your prices, and your results. You can use a spreadsheet. You can use a journal. You can use your CRM, whatever works for you.
Molly Beyer: [00:09:36] Just keep notes. You want to know what you quoted. You want to know what you delivered. You want to know what they paid, and you want to know how you felt about it afterward. Patterns are going to start to emerge from this, and those patterns are going to help you refine your instincts over time. You want this to be a conversation with yourself and within your business. Pricing doesn't have to be rigid. It doesn't have to be performative, and it doesn't have to be perfect. So again, a conversation with yourself, with your clients, with your numbers. Let it evolve. Let it reflect your growth. Intuitive pricing isn't about charging less. It's about charging wisely, flexibly, and authentically. It's about knowing your numbers and then making human decisions in a business world that often forgets to do just that. So if you've been stuck in your pricing, if you've been unsure how to navigate a maybe from a client, or if you're feeling ready to shift but not sure how. This is your permission to experiment, to trust yourself, and to keep on building what works for you. Thanks for hanging out with us today. We'd love to hear your feedback on today's episode, as well as any requests for future content, drop a comment or suggestion and join us next time for more frank and holistic conversations on the basics of business. Please also like, subscribe or follow so you never miss an episode. And until next time, I'm Molly Beyer and this has been The Ambiguous &: Business Basics and Beyond. Have a wonderful day!