Undercharging rarely looks like undercharging. It looks like being busy all month and having little to show for it. Your books know your real hourly rate, even if you have never calculated it.
Find your true cost per hour
Add up a month of real costs — software, rent, insurance, taxes, and your own pay at a fair salary — then divide by the hours you actually billed. Most owners discover their break-even rate is 30 to 50 percent higher than they guessed.
Price the value, check the maths
Your price should reflect the outcome you create, but it must always clear that true cost with margin to spare. If a service line cannot clear it, that line needs a higher price, a tighter process, or a graceful exit.
Review prices twice a year
Costs creep — subscriptions rise, insurance renews higher, your expertise deepens. A calm twenty-minute pricing review every six months beats a panicked 40 percent hike every three years.
Bring us your last quarter of books and we will walk through the numbers together. It is the most profitable hour many of our clients spend all year.
