Over nearly 10 years of speaking engagements, I have really struggled to set my rates. For a long time, I let the organization who invited me dictate what they would pay me. However, as a younger woman speaking in an industry dominated by older men, it slowly became evident to me that I was being under-compensated for the same services rendered by my male counterparts. For instance, I would keynote at a conference alongside a 60-something man only to find out later that he had been paid twice the amount I had been paid. Now, I understand that there may be a reason to compensate more for experience or expertise, but nothing can justify that pay differential. From that point on, I vowed to be more intentional about my pricing.
Whatever your skill set or product, it’s important to feel good both about the work you are doing and the financial return you receive. Here’s the process I have followed to help price my services:
Reset Your Mindset: Early on, I didn’t want to appear greedy or self-centered, so I graciously accepted whatever was offered. However, I eventually realized that by sticking with a lower rate I was continuing to contribute to (and even reinforce) the pay gap. Advocating for myself was one way I could help equalize pay across the industry and advocate for those who would come after me. I changed the question from: “Is this an amount I would do a speaking engagement for?” to “If another young woman in the industry told me she was going to be paid this much for this engagement, would I tell her that was a fair wage?” As someone with a giver personality, this was a mindset game changer.
Tip: Before you start crunching numbers, be clear with yourself what brings you joy about your work, and the intangible benefits that come with it. For me, it’s the chance to share my passion with others and the hope of giving them a different perspective on their relationship with money.
Determine Your Hourly Rate: Depending on your industry, this can be an easy step or a difficult one. If you work in an industry with a clear hourly rate, spend some time researching what an appropriate rate would be for your work and experience. Let Google be your friend on this. For speaking and consulting, the rates were a bit less clear so I took some time to talk to a few trusted colleagues in my industry to see what rate they used. Generally, my colleagues said they budgeted about $100/hour for their freelance time on projects related to research, speaking, or consulting, so that’s the base rate I decided to use.
Tip: Too often when we set rates we’re thinking about the money we will receive rather than the time we will expend. Remember, you’re trading time for money. For me, doing a speaking engagement means less time with my spouse (potentially even a few nights away from him), less time with friends, and less time to take on projects in my kitchen. After years of not considering this cost, I now make this a lead factor in my decisions.
Count the Real Time: After you have your hourly rate in hand, you need to total up the amount of time it will take. Don’t rush through this step! Think through every step of the process. For me, an in-person speaking engagement involves more than just the actual presentation time, but the time spent putting the presentation together, editing it, practicing it, and traveling to and from the destination. While I likely wouldn’t charge my hourly rate for every hour of travel, I do want to take the time away from my family into consideration as I’m crafting my fee.
Tip: If the type of work you do is different every time, I suggest following this step carefully until you find trends that can help you standardize your pricing a bit. That being said, I would suggest quickly checking in each time you receive a new opportunity to make sure your pricing doesn’t need to be adapted. For a while, I used one standardized fee for all of my speaking engagements, whether it was an hour-long keynote, day-long workshop, or multiple keynotes over the course of a conference. I found myself feeling resentful when I was receiving the same amount for each of those engagements. It didn’t honor the additional time spent.
Do the Math: Now for the easy part: Multiply the amount of time by your hourly rate and that will give you your total rate for the project. It may get a little more complicated if you have multiple tasks at different rates, but overall it should still only take a few seconds to put this together.
Tip: This step is only needed if you plan to give a specific fee to the customer. You may find that when you’re just starting out or if you aren’t sure of the amount of time it takes that it makes more sense to charge by the hour rather than doing a flat fee. If you go this route, be sure to be careful about tracking your time for everything related to the project. That includes things like communicating with the customer, billing, planning, and ideation, not just the time spent on your specific skill.
Compare the Market: Notice that we don’t start talking about the work of others until the 5th step in the process. Most people make the mistake of going here first and choosing their pricing based on everyone else. Don’t do that! You and your work are unique, so take the time to determine your own pricing and then check in with the market. This will give you more confidence about your own rates. If you discover you’ve priced yourself significantly lower, go back and double check your math. Are there other pieces of the work you forgot to take into consideration?
Tip: The biggest concern you likely have though is: “What if I’m priced too high?” Before you jump to that conclusion, take a look at the entire marketplace. Depending on your industry, you may find people charging much, much less than you for your service. For instance, a graphic designer may charge anywhere from $25-$150/hour depending on their experience. However, you can also find people who are willing to do an entire project for $5. Don’t let the people who are “low balling” their pricing impact your price point. If you are legitimately higher than your competitors, is there a reason why? If so, be sure to highlight that in your marketing. If not, you may need to reconsider your pricing structure.
Pilot Your Pricing: Even more important than your competitors is the customer you are serving. If your customer is not able or willing to pay your rate then your business will not succeed. Make sure as you are researching competitor pricing that you are looking at competitors who serve a similar audience. Then, put forward a few test offerings to see if people are willing to pay for your services at your desired rate and adjust accordingly. For instance, you might offer a discounted price to those who are testing the product if they agree to give you feedback. As part of the feedback, ask them how much should someone pay for this as well as how much they would be willing to pay for this. Both questions are important, since the customer may have received a $250 value, but may only be able to pay $100 for it.
Tip: Depending on your business, it may make sense to offer a tiered pricing structure or even a sliding scale. If you’re considering a sliding scale, check out this article about the pros and cons from mindmoneybalance. While the article is designed for therapists, it has helpful advice for any business. In my speaking business, I have different prices available for congregations, non-profits, and for-profit businesses (who are generally working with a much larger budget). Since the for-profit business can help to offset the lower rate I give to congregations, I’m careful to balance the opportunities I say yes to – and seek out.
Stand Firm: And now, the hardest step of all: upholding your prices. Occasionally I have had to say “no” (or a customer has said “no”) due to pricing constraints, but more often I really want to help or I really want the business so I’ve said “yes” to whatever they offer. This leads to resentment. That’s why now before I take on new work I check in with my spouse to make sure I’ve considered all of the variables before I say “yes.” Be very careful about offering discounts — it may make sense when you are piloting a product, but otherwise it’s good to stick to the pricing you’ve carefully curated.
Tip: If you’re sticking to your pricing and still finding yourself feeling resentful, that’s a good sign you may need to reevaluate and potentially raise your prices.