This content was created by George Kao. This content was uploaded by George Kao. This is a YouTube video titled "If people think your service is too expensive..." (published 2026-04-14) in which George Kao speaks solo, giving practical advice to service providers about pricing: when to raise rates, handling clients who say a price is too high, dealing with imposter feelings, using lower‑price entry offers (single sessions, group programs, courses) as funnels, and reframing or repackaging services to differentiate from cheaper competitors. The talk references global vs. location‑based rates, ideal client filtering, and concrete examples (coaching, spiritual mentoring, tutoring) to illustrate strategies.
Chapters
A question here about rate, our prices for our services and rates. And this person said they are wanting to raise their rates. However, then the reason is because they've been feeling a bit of resentment against how much they are charging. It felt, it feels too low. And that is a good signal for, you know, your conscience to say, no, this, this work deserves a higher rate. So I agree with raising the rates at that point, um, one of the reasons. But, uh, and, um, you, you're— this person wrote, for new clients, I've been playing around raising the rates, and some clients have no problems, but I've also heard a couple people who told me it was too expensive. So when that happens, I, I feel a bit worn down, and naturally I feel a bit insecure that I should be raising the rates at all, kind of an imposter syndrome situation. So I really I appreciate this question and how it was phrased because I think a lot of us can relate to that. So I'll just share a couple remarks, and then if you want to add any questions below, comments, welcome that as well. So the fact that some of the clients are okay with the new rates is a good sign. It means that not the entire market doesn't think your rates are too high. And actually what's interesting is when you raise your rates, and I believe probably everybody watching this, listening to this, is gonna raise their rates at a reasonable pace. And then when I say reasonable, what I mean is it's still within the range of other people who do this, who do similar work as you. And if you serve people worldwide, meaning on Zoom, so your market is global, then you can compare with worldwide global rates, particularly, of course, North America is dominant with a lot of services, virtual services. So North America rates, I think, are kind of by default global rates. I know with certain location-dependent businesses that, you know, that economy might not be able to sustain that rate, and that's a little different. But if you're serving globally, I think it's fine. So I'm glad to hear that some people don't think it's too expensive. It's still within range of expectation. And the people who think it's too expensive, you're starting to have a stronger filter for who is more of an ideal client. And who is less than ideal client. Now, an ideal client for that particular service or package. So the other thing I want to say is your skills and talents can be packaged in many different ways. And so this is a signal for you when someone says, I'd like to work with you. I mean, they're talking to you because they're interested in your work. But this thing you're presenting me is more than I would like to spend right now. Not affording, whether they can afford it or not is a separate issue. Some of the wealthiest people I know are least willing to spend money on things, right? I know because I've seen that in my own life and in the lives of other people I know. It's like, I'm not wealthy by any means, but I think I do better than the average American, and I am quite stingy myself in spending on services to some degree. So here's the reality is that they like your work and they're saying, can I have a different format that makes me more comfortable paying for this kind of thing? Because whether or not I have the money, I'm not comfortable paying. Like for example, a very common example is, You know, life coaching. We know so many people can benefit from coaching of some kind. And yet maybe they're used to just talking to their friends or to their pastor or priest or to their family members. You know, they use these people as their coaches and therapists instead of— and they're like, well, why should I pay when I could just talk to my friend or my sister, right? Even though they have the money. So they like your work, and now they have to get used to, oh, uh, I, I pay you to do something that I thought maybe my sister can help me with, or my best friend can help me with. Obviously, they don't realize that you are— your presence and your skills are going to be a different level. Um, and the fact that it's impartial and not, you know, conflict of interest, all that stuff. So Long story short, I want to hear about your lower rate offers that help them to step in, because once they step in with a first step offer— right now they might be, you know, complaining about the rate of your first class offer. It's like, oh, you know, work with you every week or twice a week or whatever it is for, you know, 6 months, I can't afford that, or I don't want to pay that, too expensive. But maybe what's your first step offer? Maybe your first step offer is, you know, 3 sessions or 1 session, or maybe it's a group program where they pay even less than a one-on-one client, but they still access you in a group. Or maybe it's an online course. But to have them start getting the exposure to paying for this kind of thing and realizing it's really worth it, then they're more willing to say, well, gosh, you know, Another example is spiritual, you know, spiritual mentoring, healing, counseling, advising of some sort. A lot of people say, no, spiritual? What are you talking about? I go to my pastor, my priest, my spiritual guide at my church, or whatever, that they're the ones who do it, not knowing, not counting the fact that they donate on Sundays, or what, you know, they donate to their church, and they don't think about the fact that there's money being exchanged. Otherwise, the church can't even you know, pastor, who's going to pay the pastor, right? Or the priest. Or so, so spirituality is another common example where it's like, well, once they start, you know, well, now that I bought a course about spiritual growth, like, that was really worth it. And it was really worth— it was really worth it for me. But it's also, I now understand how much it was worth for, for the teacher, to support the teacher in this way. Wow, can I, can I actually spend time with the teacher one-on-one? That'd be amazing. How much is it? You know what I mean? So, uh, so yeah, so I think, I think two things. One is you are building, uh, more of a filter for your ideal versus less ideal client for that package. But secondly, can you offer other price entry points for the prices? And, um, and if you can, Then basically the conversation goes something like this. Oh, oh, you think my $500 a month one-on-one coaching is too expensive? No problem, because I have a more of an entry-level program. It's a group program, but small group. It's small group program and it's only $100 a month. $100 a month. And you're gonna be in a group with only 6 other people. And we meet for 1 hour a week or whatever it is. And you get to not only learn from me or get coached by me, but you also learn from the, you know, whatever, learn from the others in the group. So I just wanna let you know that, you know, stand in your belief about your rate. If you believe that you've raised your rate fairly, it's within range of the industry, you feel good about the new rate, I think that's important, obviously. Um, but they're always going to be people who say it's too expensive, always, always, even if they want to work with you. So therefore you need a consolation prize, the lower tiers. So let me know if this is helpful. What if you're— just to add to this, like, what if the market rate is starting to have competitors that you've been hearing? Well, let's say you charged, um, you know, $100 an hour for some kind of service, and then you're hearing people say, well, gosh, I can easily hire someone for $30 for that service, or $20 for that service. Why should I pay $100 for your service? And the answer— there are two answers here. One, well, is I'm not anybody. Uh, sure, you can go ahead Go ahead, go ahead. You get what you pay for. In this case, it's definitely true. And what I bring to the service is not just what these other freelancers do, but I bring this. And you are welcome to go work with someone else because there are others who are eager to work with me. And I think it's a really good value for those who kind of understand the uniqueness of what I offer. So that's one answer. The second answer is You're right, maybe I shouldn't be offering the service. Maybe I should be offering something else. At least it's not called the same thing that people would say, wait, what you're calling this thing tutoring? For example, you're charging $50, $75, $100 an hour for tutoring? I can hire a tutor for $25. So maybe I should stop calling it tutoring. Maybe I should start calling it coaching. Maybe I should start calling it mentoring. Maybe it's something else entirely. But so in other words, you either have to reframe your offer so it's not compared as the same thing as what they're saying. Well, that's, that's, I can find something half as half the price of you. No, it's not the same thing, right? One is yes, it's the same thing, but I'm unique. But secondly is no, it's not the same thing. It's different. It's a different class altogether. It's different category. So, um, Yeah, so that's my suggestion. I hope that helps.
