Hey there,
Today, we’re talking about pricing. Specifically, the argument that charging more isn’t always better.
We know. We know. You’ve heard the opposite your entire career. Raise your rates. Charge what you’re worth. But we’ve been in the weeds with enough clients to say, with full confidence, that more money on the invoice doesn’t automatically mean a better business.
We kick off the episode with a client story. This client runs a marketing ops consultancy with two main tiers: $10K/month and $15K/month.
When we did a retro with him, we realized his $15K engagements kept falling apart. The quality was just as good as the $10k engagements, but the expectations had shifted.
At $10K, clients wanted deliverables. At $15K, they wanted him embedded in the business. More access, faster responses, deeper involvement. And that’s a completely different business than the one he wanted to run.
From there, we get into the psychology behind why solopreneurs keep pushing their rates up. There are two traps: playing a personal high-score game with your own pricing, and saying yes to scope creep because you genuinely want to deliver for people. Both feel noble. Neither is a pricing strategy.
We also share our own pricing journeys: Nick’s path from $750/month retainers and performance fees, through the floor-raising years, up to where Duo is now. And Erica’s content sparring era, which started as a launch price of $1K/month for four sessions, ballooned to 18 clients, and ended in burnout (because there was no actual offer underneath it).
The bigger point threading through all of it: the math of your client portfolio matters more than chasing a higher number. One $20K client who consumes your entire week is a job. Four $10K clients you can actually manage is a business. The sweet spot is where the scope, the price, the buyer’s expectations, and your energy all line up. And that spot is different for everyone.
If you’ve been told to just raise your rates and see what happens, this episode is worth your time.
Cheers,
Nick and Erica
(00:00) Intro
(00:52) When pricing is a choice
(05:03) Figuring out energy and business fit
(07:09) How to find the expectation threshold
(09:51) The psychology behind charging more
(13:06) A take from our pricing journey
(18:29) What is the value beyond money and affordability
(23:13) How to find the sweet spot
(24:04) Some launch pricing mistakes
(28:55) A lesson in audience mismatch
(34:02) Choosing your market season
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