Ed Gandia explains why charging enough upfront matters for business writers. If you price too low, you end up nickel-and-diming clients for every small request, which erodes the relationship and your margins.
Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast, helping you propel your writing business to a whole new level. And now, here's your host, Ed Gandia.
Hey there. Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast. I am your host, Ed Gandia, and this is the podcast for business writers and copywriters who want to earn more and less time doing work they love or better Client this episode is a little different and much shorter than usual rather than my typical 45 minute format. Today I'm sharing a quick tip with you and this is part of the regular audio insights that I publish for my private coaching clients. I just thought you'd find it helpful. So here we go. I hope you enjoy it. A few years ago I was having a beer with my friend and colleague Gordon Graham when he told me, ed, I want to charge enough for my work that I don't have to nickel and dime clients. So in other words, I want to. When I quote a project, I want to quote high enough that I feel really good about that number. And I feel really good even when the client comes to me and says, hey, we want to make this slight adjustment or uncover a new idea that it's going to change the scope a little bit, but it's going to make this project that much greater. When those things happen, I want to feel really, really good about what I quoted and not regret the number I gave them. Now, I'm paraphrasing. I think he said it more elegantly than that. But bottom line is that the core idea that I just never thought about until he said it was, you know, you have a choice in what you charge, why not charge? And why not get to a place in your business where you can confidently charge enough not to take advantage of the client, but to do it in a way that is going to give the client value. You feel comfortable with that number. And then you also feel comfortable that if things change, of course, if they're way out of scope, that's a different story. But if they change just slightly, or if you find a better way of approaching it, you don't feel like you're now going to be in the red or losing money on the deal. And that's the approach I've tried to take throughout my business career, ever since he shared that with me, is rather than getting into a really tight situation where you're just trying to price it just right, just to win the deal and have zero margin of error available in that number, why not price it high enough and instead do the heavier lifting to show the client or the prospect where you add value and why they need to go with you, why you're the better choice in terms of value, in terms of reduced risk. And I found over the years that that is a much more valuable approach and an approach that I want to be known for and one that I want to build a business around.
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