My aunt told me to charge $75 for a basic cut in my small town and I thought she was crazy

She ran a salon in Springfield for 30 years and said if you don't value your time, clients won't either. I started at $45 and was booked solid but broke, so I bumped my price up last fall. Now I make the same money in half the time and my regulars didn't blink. Did anyone else have a mentor give you pricing advice that sounded wrong but worked?

3 comments

3 Comments

webb.derek3mo ago

Your aunt is totally right. I had the same thing happen with painting estimates. I used to lowball everything to get the job, but then I was working all the time for no real money. A guy I respect told me to add twenty percent to my next quote, and I was sure I'd lose the bid. The client hired me on the spot. It's wild how charging more can actually make people take you more seriously.

ivan_cooper3mo ago

Yeah, but that doesn't work for everyone.

aaronlee2mo ago

Man I feel this so hard. @webb.derek nailed it with the added twenty percent thing. It's like people subconsciously think high price means high quality. So when you charge less, they assume you're cutting corners or don't know what you're doing. That lower price hurts your credibility even if you're just as good. I've seen it happen in my own circle, friends who fix computers and stuff. They'd quote cheap to be nice, but the clients would haggle or think they're amateurs. Once they bumped prices up, clients actually stopped questioning them. It's backwards but it works.