Short advice from Tim Frey warning new service providers/start-ups against matching incumbent pricing when they lack experience or social proof. He recommends starting with lower prices to gain clients, feedback, and credibility, then raising prices slowly as demand and reputation grow.
A big mistake we see and we've seen with our clients is they are like, cool, I want to start a coaching program, I want to do a service, and I want to do X. And then they go in and they charge what everyone else is charging in their niche. Problem is they have no reps and they have no runs on the board. They have no experience, and they have no social proof. So then you're going in and you're getting compared against someone who's been doing this thing a long time, and you're getting absolutely nowhere. Our advice is always keep prices low when you start so you can get clients, you can get social proof, you can get feedback, you can improve your service offering and then build credibility and demand. Okay? So the prices from there can increase slowly over time rather than going in and charging what everyone else is charging. And then I think, like, what comes up here is people have this mindset, well, I'm worth more, or, well, like, I deserve to be charging X or I want to make $150 an hour. And I hate to break it to you, but that's completely incorrect because you're just getting started. No one wants to pay someone above market when they're just getting started.
