How to price your expertise: 5 steps from your judgment to your first client at the number it's worth
You're selling judgment it took years to build, and charging for the hours it takes to deliver. Here's how to package it, price it from value, and hold the number when someone pushes.
Reviewed for business accuracy by Kathryn Finney, serial entrepreneur, investor in 100+ companies, and author of Build the Damn Thing.
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Nothing on this page is legal, tax, or financial advice. The numbers below are ones you fill in yourself. How this pricing math works.
The Solopreneur
Every step on this page, walked through, so you can name your offer, price it from value, and sell it to a first client.
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What you need to start
The guide's own quickstart. The how for each one is inside.
What you're really selling: judgment it took years to build, packaged as a product a buyer can understand and pay for.
The five steps: productize the offer, price it for the years, find who actually pays it, sell it and hold your boundaries, then put every number in one place.
The mindset: you set the price from value, in private, before any client sets it for you.
The goal: one productized offer sold at a real price, and a plan to earn past your own calendar.
Your effective rate
A package price only means something next to the hours it really takes you. Run the worked example from the guide down the left, then fill in your own numbers on the right.
| Line | Example | Your number |
|---|---|---|
| Package price for one engagement | $8,000 | $____ |
| Hours the engagement really takes you | 40 hours | ____ hours |
| Effective hourly rate, price ÷ hours | $200/hour | $____/hr |
| Your old hourly or salary-equivalent rate | $120/hour | $____/hr |
| Effective rate above your old rate | +$80/hour | $____/hr |
If your effective rate isn't well above your old rate, either the price is too low or the scope is too loose. Raise the price or tighten the scope before you send the proposal.
The $8,000 package at 40 hours is the illustrative example printed in the guide, not a guarantee, a benchmark, or a rate BUILD supplies or verifies. Your own package price, your own hours, and your own old rate go in the blank column.
The point of the table isn't the example, it's the gap. Effective rate is the only honest way to compare a productized engagement to what you used to make. None of this is legal, tax, or financial advice.
Price it for the years, not the hours
The one-sentence offer builder, the value-based pricing model, the five-buyer willingness-to-pay worksheet, and the your-numbers page.
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Where these numbers come from
The example in the table comes straight from the guide, and every other number on this page is one you fill in yourself. See how this pricing math works. Kathryn wrote Build the Damn Thing for Builders in exactly this spot, and this guide is the pricing version of that method.
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Rates, demand, and what a buyer will pay all vary by market and can change. Run your own numbers, confirm current requirements with the appropriate agency, and get professional advice where you're unsure.
Related resources
The monthly income your own thing needs to replace a paycheck.
Eight questions to find out which kind of Builder you are.
Which entity to pick, how to file, and where the SBA tool lives.
Build a realistic first-year number for your own offer.
Every free planning tool in one place.
Guides, articles, and templates for Builders getting to a first sale.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from generic pricing advice I've already read?
It isn't generic pricing advice. It's built on Kathryn Finney's own track record, an investor in more than 100 companies with companies she built and sold herself, and on the method in Build the Damn Thing. It ends with a real offer you can sell at a real price, not another course.
What if the price I land on makes me flinch?
From the guide: that's usually a sign the price is too low, not too high. Sit with the pricing step before you drop the number.
What if my effective rate isn't higher than what I used to make?
From the guide: either the price is too low or the scope is too loose. Raise the price or tighten the scope before you send the proposal.
Do I have to join BUILD to use it?
No. The guide stands on its own. Members get this guide and every future one free, and membership is there if you want the tools to build what it teaches.
Is $9.99 really all it costs?
Yes, one time, delivered instantly, and it's yours to keep. The regular price is $19.99, and $9.99 is a limited-time launch price.