I Had More Problems Charging $75 an Hour Than I Do Charging $1,500

Back in 2009, I started doing consulting on the side. At the time, I was working as a physical therapist and making somewhere around $50 or $60 an hour. So when I started consulting and decided to charge $75 an hour, I thought I was doing pretty good. I was making more per hour than I was making as a PT.

Except something interesting happened.

The clients paying me $75 an hour gave me WAY more problems than the clients who would eventually pay me $500, $1,000, or even $1,500 an hour.

That taught me something about pricing that I think a lot of healthcare professionals still don't understand: Your price isn't just a number. Your price is part of your brand. And sometimes, the low price you think is helping you get more clients is actually scaring away the exact people you want to work with.

We’ve Been Trained to Be Afraid of Charging More

Healthcare professionals are some of the most educated people I know. You went to school for years. You took out loans. You did clinical rotations. You studied anatomy, physiology, pathology, movement, nutrition, speech, or whatever your specialty happens to be. You spent YEARS becoming good at solving problems for people.

Then someone asks you a “quick question” in the hallway, and you answer it for free. Someone sends you a DM asking about their knee... free advice. Someone wants to “pick your brain”... sure. Someone wants to know if you're the right person to help them... let's do a free consultation.

We've almost developed this reflex where we feel guilty charging people for what we know. Then when it comes time to actually set our prices, the fear kicks in.

“What if they think I'm too expensive? What if they say no? What if they go somewhere cheaper?”

So we keep our prices low because we think being affordable makes us more attractive. But here's the problem: Price sends a signal.

Would You Hire the $19 Handyman to Fix Your Roof?

Imagine somebody tells you they'll fix the leaky faucet under your sink for $19. Okay. Maybe you give them a shot. Worst-case scenario, you have a little water under the sink.

But now imagine that same person tells you they'll replace your entire roof for $19. Are you excited about the deal?

HELL NO.

You're wondering what's wrong.

Now imagine you need heart surgery. Are you opening Google and searching for the cheapest heart surgeon you can find? Probably not. Because when the stakes go up, our buying behavior changes. We start looking for the person we believe can actually solve the problem.

I see this everywhere. People will pay a wedding photographer $4,000 and wait months for them. Tattoo artists can charge $200 an hour and have people wait four or five months to get on their calendar.

Why?

Because the buyer has already decided, “I want THAT person.”

They aren't only buying time. They're buying trust, expertise, and the result. And price becomes one of the signals they use to determine whether you're that person.

Cheap Doesn't Always Say What You Think It Says

You might think your low price says, “I'm affordable. I'm helping people. I'm accessible.” And maybe it does to some people.

But to another buyer, it can say, “Why are they so cheap? Are they actually good? Why is everybody else charging more?”

That's the part people miss. A low price doesn't automatically make you more attractive. Sometimes it makes people question your value.

Cheap can whisper, “I'm not sure I'm good.”

And if you're trying to position yourself as the person who gets results, that's a problem.

Your Price Also Determines Who Shows Up

I occasionally offer free calls to people who genuinely can't afford to work with me. I remember somebody connected to my family booked one of those calls. It was a 15-minute call. Free.

The time comes... no show.

Then about 15 minutes later, I get a message basically saying, “Oh, sorry. I forgot.”

Now compare that with another group I spoke with. These guys were building an app, and they paid hundreds of dollars just to consult with me. Guess what? They showed up. They were ready. They had questions. They listened. And when we finished, they immediately wanted another consultation.

What's the difference? Was I suddenly smarter because they paid me? No.

Their commitment changed because they had skin in the game.

That's something I see over and over again. The more someone invests in solving their problem, the more seriously they tend to take the solution. They show up, do the work, pay attention, and implement. And when they get the result, they're often the people who become your biggest advocates.

I Saw This in My Own Consulting Business

As I mentioned earlier, I started around $75 an hour. Eventually, that became $500. Then $1,000. Then $1,500.

And here's what's crazy: The higher my prices went, the FEWER problems I had with clients.

Now, I'm not saying you should randomly triple your prices tomorrow. And I'm definitely not saying that charging more automatically makes you better. You still have to deliver. You still have to create value. You still have to solve the problem.

But your pricing has to match the position you want in the marketplace. Because the person looking for a $75 consultant and the person looking for a $1,500 consultant are often not the same person.

In fact, some of the people who eventually hired me at premium prices probably NEVER would have hired me at $75. The price itself would have created doubt.

That's why this idea that “if I lower my price, I'll get more people” isn't always true. You might get more people, but are they the RIGHT people?

One of My First Clients Taught Me This Again Years Later

Years after I started consulting, one of my early clients reached back out to me. We're talking somewhere around 12 to 16 years later. They wanted an old spreadsheet I had created for them.

During the conversation, I found out their business was struggling. They were having trouble paying rent. They weren't paying themselves what they needed. And one of the biggest things that stood out to me was that their rates basically hadn't changed.

Think about that. More than a decade of experience. More knowledge. More expertise. More results. More value. But the price stayed almost exactly where it was.

That's what happens to a lot of healthcare professionals. You keep becoming more valuable, but you never allow your pricing to catch up.

Then eventually, you start resenting the business. You resent the patients. You resent your profession. You're working all day and wondering why you're still not getting ahead.

And sometimes the problem isn't that you need MORE clients.

Sometimes you need to rethink what you're charging the clients you already have.

Decide What Position You Want

You have to decide where you want to sit in the marketplace. Are you trying to be the cheapest? Are you somewhere in the middle? Or are you trying to become the premier option for a specific problem?

There isn't necessarily a morally correct answer. If you're charging what you're charging, you love your clients, you're getting great results, your business is healthy, and you're happy... cool. Keep doing it.

But if you're constantly overworked, people aren't showing up, clients aren't committed, or you're starting to resent how much you're giving compared with how much you're making, then you need to look at your pricing.

And when you raise your prices, understand something: Some people might leave.

That's okay.

Your goal isn't to make sure everybody can afford you. Your goal is to create enough value that the RIGHT people are happy to pay you for the result you can help them achieve.

Then tell them the price and stop talking. You don't have to apologize. You don't have to immediately discount it. You don't have to start explaining why you're “actually worth it.”

Let them decide.

Your Price Is Your Brand

The biggest lesson I learned going from $75 an hour to $1,500 an hour wasn't simply that I could make more money. It was that pricing changes perception. It changes who comes to you. It changes how seriously they take the process. And it can even change the way YOU feel about the work you're doing.

So if you're a healthcare professional who knows you're good at what you do but still feels guilty about charging for it, I want you to ask yourself one question:

Is your current price actually based on the value you provide... or is it based on your fear that people will leave?

Because those are two very different ways to build a business.

If you've spent years becoming exceptional at solving a problem for people, stop assuming the smartest way to serve them is to be the cheapest person in the room.

Your price communicates something before you ever get the opportunity to prove yourself. Make sure it's communicating what you actually want people to believe.

Much Love,

Greg Todd

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