Start from your week, not from the market

Count the hours you can sell in a normal week. Holidays, admin and sick days come off first. What is left is the room your prices have to fill.

A studio of two with one week of holiday a month sells about 52 hours a week together, not 80.

Your floor price

Add rent, software, insurance and the salary you want, then divide by the hours you can sell. Below this number every project costs you money.

For most small studios this lands between 85 and 120 euros an hour. Write it down.

Packages people understand

Three packages with clear results beat an hourly rate. Name what the client gets, not what you do. A website in four weeks, not forty hours of design.

Keep each package to five lines. If it needs more, it is two packages.

Anchor with the largest package

Show the largest package first. The middle one then reads as the sensible choice, and most clients take it.

A small anchor works too. One line with your largest project from last year does the job.

Raise prices every January

Tell existing clients in November, new clients see the new prices from day one. Five to eight percent a year keeps you in step with your costs.

Send the letter with a short look back at the year, so the new price reads as the next step.