Working out what to charge

What it is good at

• Good at building a clear costs-plus-margin calculation you can adjust live.
• Can organise scattered competitor research into a comparable table.
• Helps translate 'value delivered' into a number using a structured framework.
• Useful for stress-testing a price against different client-size scenarios.

Where it falls short

• It has no real knowledge of your specific local market rates, treat any suggested figure as a rough starting point.
• Confidence in the number it gives you can outpace the accuracy of the underlying assumptions.
• It cannot know your reputation, waitlist or leverage, all of which should move a real price.

How to use it for creative work

1. 01

   Build the cost floor first

   List your actual time, tools and overhead cost for the work, and ask the model to calculate the minimum price needed to hit your target hourly rate after all costs. This is your floor, not your price.

2. 02

   Organise the market range

   Paste in whatever real pricing data you can find, competitor sites, past client conversations, industry surveys, and ask for it organised into a low/mid/high range table.

3. 03

   Quantify the value delivered

   Describe the outcome your work produces for the client in business terms, and ask the model to help translate that into a value-based price using a simple framework: what is this outcome worth to them.

4. 04

   Stress-test against scenarios

   Ask what the price should logically be for a small client versus an enterprise client given the same scope, to check whether one flat rate makes sense or whether tiers are needed.

5. 05

   Make the final call yourself

   Use all three numbers, floor, market range, value-based, as inputs, but set the final figure based on your own confidence, demand and goals, which no model can assess for you.

Ready-to-use prompts

Help me calculate my minimum price floor. My time for this project: [X hours]. My target hourly rate: [Y]. My tool and overhead costs for this project: [list]. Show the calculation clearly.

Here's pricing data I've gathered for [type of service]: [paste]. Organise it into a low/mid/high range table and note any patterns, like what seems to drive the higher-priced end.

My work on [project] will likely produce this outcome for the client: [describe, e.g. 'save 10 hours a week' or 'launch a collection 6 weeks faster']. Help me estimate what that's worth to them and how that should inform pricing, using a simple value framework.

Given this scope: [paste], what would a fair price look like for a solo client versus a 50-person company client? Should this be one flat price or does it need tiers? Explain your reasoning.

Write a short, confident paragraph explaining why my price of [amount] for [service] is fair, that I could say out loud to a client who pushes back, without discounting or over-justifying.

Questions people ask

Can AI tell me the 'right' price?

No, it can organise the inputs and do the maths, but the actual figure depends on your market, reputation and confidence, which only you can judge accurately.

Is it risky to share my cost structure with an AI tool?

Treat it like any other business tool, avoid pasting highly sensitive figures into free consumer accounts if your organisation has data policies against it.

Should I ever discount because a client pushes back?

That's a judgement call based on your goals for the relationship, you can ask the model to help you draft a firm, polite response either way, but the decision is yours.