How Knowing Your Project Floor Prices Changes Your Mindset
Raise your hand if you've undercharged for a content writing project…(I'm raising both of mine!). Every freelance writer has left money on the table, but when you know what your floor limits are in terms of what work and clients you'll take on, it changes your mindset so more of those dollars flow into your bank account. This week's livestream that I hope you'll join is going to detail how to set your project floor prices, how this exercise changes your pricing and client mindset, how it prevents you from leaving dollars behind, and how this mindset shift impacts your future earning potential.
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Let's talk about money and let's talk about floor prices in terms of them having an effect on your business and your mindset. So this is really, really important. And it took me many, many years to try to figure this out. And I'm hoping that you don't make the same mistakes that I did. So when I started out as a freelance writer, I didn't have, have like a minimum that I would accept. I would just accept anything. And I knew nothing about floor prices, and I knew nothing about basically like money mindset or how to price your work so that it actually, you know, made money. So for me, when I was finally discovering floor prices, I was like, oh, you're supposed to have, have like a limit of what you will accept. You know, like what's the bottom limit, right? The bottom amount, your floor price of what you will accept in terms of work.
Right. And that totally made sense after I figured it out. So for me, I think it's really important to tell other freelance writers, right? Like let everybody know that you should have a minimum, right? You should have a floor price that you always stick to. Like the minimum amount. You're like, yes, I would love this is like my ideal rate, but I wouldn't go below X amount for this type of blog post or this type of case study or whatever. So we're gonna talk about that today. And we're gonna talk about how to actually set your floor prices. We're gonna talk about, um, how that really affects, like going into new projects, new relationships with clients and how really your mindset around pricing really makes a difference in how you see yourself as a writer, the value that you give clients and really like your mindset and your self esteem, how you feel about yourself.
Right. Let's get into it. I'm gonna put my numbers up because I have numbers. So last time I forgot, but this time I didn't. Oh, and we have a question. So I'm gonna pop the question in at the end it's Daisy's question, Daisy commented last time. Um, and if you ever have a question, you can always leave a comment below the video and I will a answer them in the next week's livestream or put them in the hopper. Um, and, and we'll answer them as they come in. So if you ever have a question, if you have anything about pricing or anything about mindset or anything, you can always drop it below or anything about freelance writing that pops up, you can drop it in a comment below. So let's talk about setting your floor prices. So for me, this took a while and it took some trial and error.
So I think, you know, like I have my free pricing guide. Let's pop that up so you can get it. So if you don't have my free pricing guide, you can just go to mans.com/pricing guide. It's free. It's all the, the pricing that, um, I've collected over the years. So over the last 10 years, I've collected a lot of different prices and I'm constantly asking, uh, different freelance writers and different groups and different friends of mine, of what they're charging for different things. Uh, and I put 'em in this guide and I'm actually about to update it. So, uh, if you sign up for the pricing guide and, um, you, that's part of joining the email list and getting my weekly emails with all the helpful tips and tricks, you're also gonna get the updated guide that comes out when I, um, when I submit it to everybody.
So I had a C like a freelance writer ask me to add some pricing on some things. So that'll be in the new guide. All right. So greets. Um, so if you have have, right, like in the freelance writer pricing guide that I have, I go over all these different projects and what they price, right? Like what you would price basically on the low end and like the, the high end, but also you can always go over the high end. The deal is that I always feel like your floor price is the price that you would pick where you won't feel bitter working for someone at that rate. Yeah. It's not your ideal rate, but you know, if you're getting paid that amount, you're not gonna feel angry or bitter, or like you price too low, you know, two weeks into your project, which happens.
It's happened to me many times where I start pricing a project. Um, and I'm like, okay, cool. I feel, you know, good about this. Right. Um, and then the, you end up getting into some kind of negotiation or you really wanna work with that client. And you're like, yeah, I, I guess I'll work $200 per post or, uh, this amount less on this type of work, because I really want this client. I really want this work. Hey, Vicky, welcome in. I like your wave. Um, yeah. So the deal is that your floor price should be a number that you feel like, okay, if I was writing four blog posts a month at this rate, let's say, um, I was writing four blog posts a month at $300 a post. I feel really good about getting $1,200 a month for these blog posts, or let's say your, um, I don't know, your pricing is a little bit higher.
Let's say, um, you end up being like, I really want a dollar, a word I'm doing reported articles. I'm doing all of these things for different businesses. I really want a dollar, a word, but I wouldn't be bitter. And I wouldn't be upset getting paid 80 cents a word. So like my, my bare bones price for a report, an article for a business would be 80 cents a word. So you have to kind of think about the, the limits. Like, what would you like on the high end? What would you like would, would be your ideal pricing, right? Like what would you charge if it was just like, basically like crazy times, you're like, I wanna get paid $2 a word to do this thing. Right. But you're like, ah, normally I get paid like a dollar, a word, but my bare bones, bottom, bottom price is 80 cents a word.
Hey, she welcome in glad you could hang out. It's always nice. When everybody hangs out, you know, you guys can ask questions where you guys can participate with each other. Always like when everybody says hi to each other, that's always fun. So pick that price and it takes trial and error. Like for me, I would pick a price and I'm like, okay, I won't feel bitter or angry working at this price. Like, even though it's below the ideal number that I really want, even though it's below the number that, um, I feel really good about and that I feel like challenges me a little bit. Right? Like your top price should feel more like you're challenging yourself. Like you're pushing yourself a little bit and it should make you feel like, you know, you're like, oh my gosh, like, am I really gonna charge this?
Oh my gosh. Like, it should make you feel like a little nervous and a little excited. And that's how you really know that it's the right price at the top end is like, you're pushing yourself a little bit. You're charging a little bit more. It's like a little bit out of your comfort zone, but it's not like outrageous, you know, like I've seen stories of people charging like outrageous prices for things. Um, like there was, there was a story this one time where a writer wanted to make six figures. So they, they charge, they wanted to charge someone $10,000 a month for four blog posts a month, which is like insanity. Right? So like those posts being $2,500 each, they were just like 500 to 700 word blog posts. They weren't complicated. Ultra researched like, like tons of interviews, types of blog posts. They were just regular blog posts.
And you know, it was it's that kind of stuff. Like, we don't wanna go crazy Daisy time. We wanna pick something that, where we feel a little bit nervous and we push ourselves a little bit. That's our high end price. We have a price that we normally get paid, which is kind of in the middle. And then we have like our bare bones price. Hey, Annie, welcome in. I like your, uh, I like your little, uh, little bottle pop there. Hey Jenny, thanks for hanging out. So feel free to say hi to each other too. I know that some of you guys know each other, so always feel free to like talk amongst yourselves too. I always feel like that's fun. All right. So when you're setting your floor price, it's gotta be the number where you won't feel that are doing that work and you won't feel resentful and you won't feel annoyed every time you go do that work.
And you're like, oh my gosh, I'm only getting paid X. That was kind of the thought that I had. So for me, one of my mindset, things was like, what are my thoughts around this? Like, am I really charging too low? Or is my floor price really too low? And I wrote that down. Like, I don't, you know, like I'm only getting paid a blank to do this work. Right. That's when you start realizing I need to raise my floor price. So that's kind of the experimentation part, pick a price, you know, where you won't feel bitter and resentful, but also when you start having these thoughts of like, I'm only getting paid X to do this, or this is a lot more work than I thought, or, um, it's taking you a lot more time, then you thought like you're working over the weekend or you're doing something that you're missing.
Things like you're missing a lot of time off, or you end up getting in this thing where, um, you have to do a ton of edits or it's a lot more comprehensive than you thought, like you need to raise your floor price. So don't feel bad if you end up setting a floor price and you end up having to change it and raise it. That's just part of the process. The goal is to pick a price like, um, that you feel good about. Yeah, I, yeah. Crazy Daisy. That is something I like to say a lot too. Um, so the deal is you're setting your floor prices and this is kind of like a, it should be a fun experiment. Like write these things down. Like whenever you kind of have these thoughts that are negative, like around like that you hate doing this work or it's too much, or, you know, like I'm only getting paid X to do.
Y that's when you're like, I need to raise my floor price. So always have a floor price set it, but adjust as you go along. So that's part one part two is that we're gonna talk about how it kind of changes your mindset and your client's mindset. So when we're kind of going through these things, we don't really wanna leave dollars behind. We don't really want to put like leave money on the table and that comes with adjusting your floor price over time. Right? So the deal is that when we're adjusting our floor price, we're raising our prices over time and our floor price adjusts to that. Plus we're realizing as we do more work, what's the minimum that we feel good about doing that work. At first, we might have thought it was $200, but then we realized it's actually $600, right. That comes from experimentation.
And that comes from putting all of our projects together. So we don't really wanna leave dollars on the table. We wanna make sure that we're adjusting that floor price along with raising our prices. And you should always do an annual price rate, uh, price raise because every year you've gained more skills, right. You've worked with more clients, you've done more types of work. Um, you've gotten more experience. You've gotten better at your work. All of those things mean you should get an annual rate raise, like, and usually what I've found. Hey, Getty, welcome in. Yeah, it is. It's tough times Getty. It definitely is for sure. Um, so as you kind of do your rate raises over time, right? Um, think about the way that you, like when you win a big project, like, how does that make you feel? Does it make you feel like you overcharge someone or does it make you feel like you are getting paid?
What your work is worth or does it make you feel like you're like, oh my gosh, they're gonna find out I'm a fraud or does it make you feel really excited? Cuz you finally charged a number that you've been hoping to charge for a long time. So for me, when I'm thinking about that, um, that helps me not leave dollars behind because if I'm at the right kind of, and I know what my thoughts are around it, then I'm like, no, I feel, I feel good about this. Like I feel good about this number. Um, or maybe it's like, I picked a big number just cause I was like, this makes this most sense. You know, I'm nervous about charging this, right. But I'm not leaving dollars behind because my mindset is like, I know this work is worth that amount. I know the value that the client is getting out of it.
I know that I'm charging this based on a bunch of data and information from my own work and my friends work and you know, collaborating on rates and saying like, what do you guys think? Is this like, what do you think I should charge? Uh, and I also know that I've been in, you know, I've been a freelance writer for like 10 years. I know that there are, um, certain like certain types of projects that just live on for years. This is something that, um, I think we forget about a lot is these projects like case studies and white papers or even blog posts, they live for a long, long time. People use case studies for years to get new clients or they use white papers for years to get new clients or new leads or new subscribers or new sales. They also use blog posts to continually drive traffic to their website forever, forever.
Those blog posts, right. They're blog posts that are like, like 10 years old that still drive traffic to people's websites like that. That's crazy. Uh, and that kind of stuff has a value. It's not just paying for the content itself. It's not just paying for the physical exchange. Right? Like you send them a document and they have, you know, they've paid for it. It's like the thing that lives on for are a long, long time. Right. We have to keep that in the back of our mind, that's part of your mindset, like how long does this thing live? How much value is it really giving the client? How much is it showcasing? What the client does and the good things that they do and the helpful things, um, that attract new leads in sales, all of those things are really important. Um, and as you kind of go through this, you'll start realizing it's sort of like rubber.
Bandi almost like the mindset part becomes kind of rubber bandy where like at sometimes you're like, okay, cool. Like I'm gonna price a little bit higher than I thought. Um, okay, I'm gonna price a little bit. You know, this isn't as complicated, I'll go a little lower. Um, for me it's also like a mindset thing where I'm thinking about the implications of the work for my future, right? Like what does my future look like? Like future will future Mandy be proud of this work will future Mandy wanna show this in my portfolio? Uh, will future Mandy be really happy that I, I worked with this client or that I could showcase them as a client.
Hi buddy.
Uh, will future Mandy? Um, I always kind of like play, you know, it's that thing like you kind of think about like play it forward, right? You think about like, am I gonna be happy about this? Is this gonna be cool? And of course there's lots of things you can't predict. Hello? Oh no. Now you've awoken the beast. You've a woken. The stretching beast. Hello, stretchy beast. And then we have bear sitting over here. Hi Charlotte. Welcome back from your nap. All right. Let's do a quick puff date. All right, Barry, can you go back to your HAA hole? I don't know if you can cause
Go back to your ha hole buddy. Ready? Go get that. There
You go.
All right, Charlie. Right?
Good job. Other one other one. Good job.
All right. We're doing really well with our high fives. Just wanna let everybody know. We're doing really great with our high fives. Barry, you gotta go sit in your hot hole.
Can you back up and sit. Good enough.
Good job buddy. High five other one other one. Good girl. There you
Go. Good job. Everybody's like you, I just have this lifelong struggle of getting everybody on camera. Like you guys just love to move around. Even if you lay in the right way and you all lay sort of in the camera, you guys are don't care. We just want more trios. Oh, you know what? Hold on one second. Let's
Fix something so you guys can actually see, you guys actually have light on you do do that. Might actually work
Better. All right. Let's see if that worked. There we go. That helped a little bit. So you guys aren't blown out. All right, one more. All right.
You go, Barry, are you ready? I five good job. Other one. Good job.
All right. So let's get back to our thing. So let's talk about continuing our, um, I have notes. So I always look down at my notes to make sure I'm on track. So here's the deal. Um, we are looking at our mindset in terms of what the future will look like. Are you gonna be happy at that rate? If you worked at that rate for the next three to six months, would you feel good about that at your barrel bottom price? Like let's say you, for some reason you end up working at your floor price instead of your traditional regular medium price or not your like super high price where you're like, you know, pushing yourself a little bit to charge some more, like, would you feel good about that? How would future you feel about that? Or the mindset thing too also comes down to things I've been talking to students with, um, students about talking with students about there we go.
Um, so basically it's like, what's is your imposter syndrome say about what you're charging and what does your self doubt say about what you're charging? What does your, um, that little person that lives in the back of your head that like tells you all those horrible things about yourself? Like, what are they actually saying? This is the other thing too, that I've been seeing is, um, self sabotage, right? Is like, there are, um, you don't like him sniffing near you right now. You're like, I don't want, I don't like this very want you lay down buddy. So think about like, self-sabotage are you self-sabotaging by prioritizing, just getting work by getting, instead of getting paid, at least the minimum of what the work is worth. So this is something that is really interesting. And it's a mindset problem where you start self sabotaging being like, why would they hire me?
Or why? Like, if I'm charging this little, like, how am I even gonna make money? Or, um, it ends up being this thing where you're just like, I'm not qualified. I'm not even gonna try or, um, this problem where you like, this is a good example, myself and a lot of other six figure freelancers that I know have lost thousands of dollars by being on the phone and charging on the phone or being on a call right now. We're all doing zoom calls because COVID so you're on a call and someone's like, can you just tell me what this thing costs? And you're like, I don't know. You just told me what it is. Like, I need to think about it. I need some time to put it in the noodle and like stirred around and think about it. So this is something that's a mindset thing where you're like nervous.
You're like, oh my God, I have to give them an answer or else or else what, like, nothing's gonna happen if you say, Hey, let me think about it. Right? But that's our mindset problem. As we get on this thing and they're like, oh my gosh, we have to answer everything that our client says. And, oh my gosh, if I don't say this thing, I'm gonna lose the deal or I'm gonna lose the work. Or if I don't charge this little amount, this like client with their tiny budget is gonna hire me instead of the mindset of like, I need charge what my work is worth. Even on the low end, even on my floor prices. Uh, instead of the mindset of like, I'm looking for a fit, like even at the floor price, I'm looking for someone who sees the value in my work and sees that this is like a reasonable rate for what I'm charging.
Um, and instead of being like, you know what, I'm not gonna keep losing fat, thousands of dollars on the phone by lowering my prices because I have all this self-doubt and imposter syndrome, um, and you know, self, uh, self sabotage going on, and I've done that. I've done that lots of writers, I know have done that. You get on a call and then you're like, you know, talking about someone's budget. And you're like, oh yeah, you know, I normally charge this. And they're like, oh, well, our rates are 50% of that. And you're like, oh, well maybe I'll just do that. And then you lose, you lose all this money. Um, and I've been negotiated, like not anytime, um, recently, thankfully, cuz I don't char, you know, I don't do that stuff on a call usually every once in a while I will just because if I have packages like content strategy, I, I have like for kind of prices on that because I have packages.
But when I do like custom projects that are like, you need two white papers and four case studies and this thing and that thing, that's when I need time to kind of noodle it out. So the deal is that if you're on a call, you don't have to let all that mind stuff take over. You don't have to get in this position. I where, um, where you are getting negotiated down by your own insecurities, right? Like you don't really want to be in a position where there's like, someone could just ask you a simple question. Hey, like, you know, what would you hard for that? And instead of saying, you know what, I need to think about it. Like it takes me a while to kind of like noodle it over. Um, and I, or like I don't price on the phone. You're just like, oh my gosh.
And then your insecurities are like, they need an answer. And really the person on the other end is just, just curious, they're just asking. Right. And you can just tell them a regular answer. And they're like, oh, okay. Right. It's like the times when you feel you're being pushed a little bit and they're like, no, I need a price. No I a price. And you're like, you don't need it right this second, like I need, you know, I can think about it. I can send you an email. Don't let those insecurities take over. Don't let those little mindset things pop up and tell you, like you have to take this or else, or you have to work with this client or else. Or you have to like, just agree to whatever pricing they say or else we are. We wanna shift our mindset even when it comes to our floor prices.
Even when it comes to the, the lowest amount we wanna shift to, like, we still are looking for fit. We're still looking for a client that makes the most sense for our business. That like actually fits our personality. That actually fits, you know, how we work or how we write. We're still looking for that. We're not trying to, um, just force a square peg in a round hole just because we had to price on the phone or because our mindset issues are taking over and we're like, I shouldn't be writing anyways. I suck at the, I should be working at desk job and everyone hates me and oh my gosh. Oh, Charlotte's Charlotte. Do you not like mindset issues? Is that why you're making so much, so much noise? You don't like mindset issues. Charlotte doesn't have any mindset issues. She thinks she's queen of the planet. She thinks she just
She's just like the boss of everybody legally. Good job. All right.
We only have a few more in this bag. We only have two more. All right. Yeah. Now you're just like Poddy. This is the unfortunate side effects. So far of teaching you how to do high fives. Is that you just like scratch the air now.
Right buddy. Ready? 1, 2, 3 dogs. Good job. Good job, Barry. Good job. All right, Rennie. Good job. Other one other one. Good job.
All right. Cool. So, um, here's the deal? Let's see. Is there anything else? I think there's a third thing I wanna go over. So let's do that. Let's do our third thing. And then if you feel like this has been helpful so far, give it a thumbs up. If you feel like you wanna learn more about building a hiring freelance riding business subscribe, uh, always feel free to leave comments. I'm always curious about other people's pricing strategies. Like I have my own and I have my pricing guide, but I always am interested if there's like some weird thing that happened or you're like, you know what? This is how figure out my floor prices always feel free to share that stuff in the comments. Cause I'm always curious about what other people do. All right. So let's talk about this. Let's talk about future earning potential.
So when we make these mindset shifts and we kind of like stop listening to our self-doubt and our insecurities, um, and our self sabotaging behaviors and all of our posture syndrome that tries to take over, then we can kind of make right. A better future for ourselves because we're like raising our floor prices and we're raising our prices over time. And we're kind of erasing those things from our mindset. We are not so much, um, worried about whatever everybody else is doing. And we're not so much worried about all of these like chattery things in the back of our head. Right. We're worried about the future. We're worried about not worried. We're like shifting towards the future of like, what changes do I have to make now that will impact my future and make it better? Like what kinds of things do I have to do now to make a fut a better future?
Right? These are kind of things that, um, we have to think about when it comes to pricing our stuff, when it comes to the value of our work and what types of work are really working well for our clients. These are things that we have to think about. We, because you have to start making changes now so that you can see things in the future. Right? A lot of times people think like, oh, well I'll just do that later. Like I'll just do that later. And then I'll do that later. Turns into like two years down the road, they're still charging the same for an article or they're still charging the same for, uh, a case study and they haven't raised their rates or they're just like, there's no good client. It's like, Nope, Nope. You're, you've missed it all. Like you've let yourself doubt in your imposter syndrome and all the insecurities and all of the, like, not, you know, like not having a floor price. You let all of that kind of take over rather than focusing on like how we can kinda shift our mindset to give ourselves more confidence or feel good about charge a higher floor rate or kind of erase some of those thoughts that we have in the back of our head. Right? Yes. Hello.
Oh my gosh. Why are you so snuggly?
Why are you so snuggly and loud? You just love to like make noise on this live stream, right at the end, right at the end. You're just like, I should get something. So you have to hold on, I'll give you something in a second. Um, so the deal is that we have to start making changes now. So that future us, you know, can enjoy the benefits. And then we kind of have to push ourselves over time to get out of the whole. You can submit all of your grumble complaints to the grumble department. There's no grumble apartment open today. So you're gonna have to deal with your own grumble complaints. You look like a bat, okay. So we have to start pushing ourselves. Now we have to start raising our floor prices. We have to start understanding what that feels like, right? What is our mindset around that?
When we raise our floor price, like what thoughts come into our head? How is that preventing us from actually earning what we deserve or earning what our work is worth? How does that prevent us from raising basically raising our income in the future and how does it prevent us from actually working with good clients who see value in the work, right? There's also this idea that I think is really fascinating. There are clients where if you, you charge too low, they're like suspicious. That your stuff isn't good. This is an interesting thing. If you go in there with your floor price and you're like, I would like to be paid. This
Sh Shsh, my little friend, sh
Good boy, Barry, you're doing great. If you go in there and you give 'em your floor price, and they're like, that's suspiciously low. You're like, uhoh, you know, like, there's this weird thing, right? Your mindset, like you've attracted a client who's like on this good level. And you're like down here, swimming in the swamp being like, yes, I hope they hire me. Please help you know, like that stuff. But then they're like suspicious of you now because they're like, well, your work is so good. Why are you charging so low? And then you're like, oh, like that happens. That's a real thing. Um, I've, I've done that before where I've said like, yeah, my rate is this. And they're like, actually our rate is a dollar 25 award. Or actually our rate is a dollar award or actually our rate is this. And it's like a thousand dollars more than I would've charged. And I'm like, oh, I think I'm, I'm doing something wrong here. So the deal is that we aren't like, it's not about balancing like that. We have to create really low rates just to get to the work. It's about balancing the value part and attracting those right clients who see the value in the work. Right.
I hear you. I hear you. I hear you. You're cute. And you look like a tiny little gorilla.
You look like a tiny Gor little gorilla, but this is important.
You left your ha hole. You have to go back to your ha go back to your ha hole. No, you have no, you have to go back to your Hava hole. You can't just high five me in the middle of nowhere. That's just, that's
Just crazy time back up, back up, back, up, back up. All right, Barry. Ready? 1, 2, 3 dogs. Good job. All right. Now you're getting high five now the other one. Good job. All right.
Okay. So this is important,
Charlotte, this is important
Or I'm gonna pick you up
And squeeze you up here.
So the deal is that we have to kind of like work on those. There are clients out there who will be suspicious if you don't charge a rate that they're used to. Right? They're let's say they were working with a freelance writer and that person charged way more than you. Um, and you know, they are like, oh yeah, it's this. And you're like, what? Like, there are clients that won't say like, oh sweet. We can save like 500 bucks. Like, let's just do it. There are clients that get real, weirded it out. When you charge a number that's lower than what they expect. They're like, the quality will be different, right? Like it's just like shopping in the store. And you're like, oh, well, the quality's different in this priced product than this other one. Right? It's uh, it's an interesting
Phenomenon. I mean,
So when you're thinking about that, write down these mind set things that happen. So I think this is one of the most important things to walk away with today. When these things happen, when you're thinking about your floor prices, write down what happens both ways, right? Write down like you, you pick a floor price and you do a project. Write down. If you have these thoughts that are like, I can't believe I'm doing this work for this amount of money, or I should have charged more for this. You know, like write those things down so that you're like moving on, not getting bitter and raising your floor price. That's the first part. The second part is when you're working on this stuff, you know, when you come across a client, that's like suspicious of you charging a low floor rate.
Sh hi, oh, now you like to stuff a
Over my feet, when you're come across a client, that's suspicious of your floor rate. You need to raise your floor rate. Okay. You need to start being on par with these types of clients.
Oh my gosh. You're just
A mini boss. Come here. I'm gonna squeeze you. I'm gonna squeeze you.
That's what I thought. Come here. Let's say hello to everybody. She doesn't wanna be picked up right now, but she wants to like grumble at me and stare at me with her big, giant brown bug eyes. Would you like to buy a vow? It seems like your recent vow is just, oh, your like, Ugh, you're grumpy over there. All right. So when you're with these clients that are suspicious of your low floor price, you need to raise your floor price going forward. You also need to make sure that you're aligning with people who have the same ideas about content. When you have an alignment with someone that has the same value prop about the content, or sees the value in working with you, like they hire you. They're like, yes, we saw your clips. We want you, or they understand why they're creating their content.
Or the goal is for the content that usually aligns a lot on price that usually leads to being buddy, buddy on price. Like, especially when they say things like we wanna work with you or when they see your clips and they, you just sit on her. Why do you do this? You just sit on her and she's like help. I'm stuck my bug eyes. Um, so the alignment on values leads to alignment on the value of the content, which leads to a alignment on the value in terms of money and price. That's really important. Um, this is why I always say this on client calls is like, what are your goals? Or what's the point of the con if they didn't mention it, um, already, but like, what are your goals with the content? Or why are you creating content? Or why does your audience need this type of content?
There's a lot of different things that we can talk about on the call to find alignment in rates and find alignment in pride scope and find alignment and values on the content or why it's being created. That helps a lot, um, with making sure that you price your projects well, and that you kind of like figure out, you know, the zone that makes sense for your floor prices and the zone. That makes sense for your middle prices and your super high prices. When you're like, you know what? This is really complicated work. There's a lot of steps involved. This should be my highest priced work because you know, like I have to do a lot here and it's bringing a lot of value to my client and it's gonna live on for a long time. Okay. And he says, I need to listen to this video every day.
Listen, I had to, so that's something, uh, I'm gonna pop my, my number off. But so that's what I had to do for a long time. Annie is write these things down. I spent years doing all this stuff. Like when you say need to listen to this video every day, this is like years of me talking to myself and telling myself these things of like, where should I be? Or like learning like, oh man, this is I way undercharged on project. I should have charged way more. Like these are all the things I used to write down or pay attention to. Or like, remember in my noodle of like negative things, I would say to myself or ways that I would price my projects where I would end up being like resentful about it or annoyed or frustrated. Uh, I would write all these things down.
I would pay attention to them. And then I would work on fixing my mindset. I would start shifting to like, how do I make my pricing and the value that I'm providing to my clients better? Like, how do I fix that? And how do I kind of move through a, all of this self-sabotaging and all this self-doubt and imposter syndrome. And I still have that. So I still do all of those things. It's just like on a smaller degree. Right? So like I used to do it on a huge degree. And now I just do it on a much, like a much smaller degree, cuz I've dealt with it over time. I've dealt with these mindset issues over time. Um, some of them, you know, they just take a while to, to go away or to handle or to kind of like figure out where the root is.
Cuz sometimes you think the root is here and it's actually over there. That's just part of it. But yeah, I think for me, a lot of times, like what you're hearing on this live stream are like things I've told myself for or years to like get over the hump of all of these different things. All right. So last thing we're gonna do is we are gonna go through Daisy's question. So Daisy popped a question in the comments of last week's livestream. So we're gonna go over that today, like a hair. Um, and if you ever have questions, you can always pop 'em in the chat while I'm on live or you can drop 'em in the comments below I'll pop 'em in the next livestream. We'll talk about 'em. So Daisy said, can you give us more examples of the types of compliments we can use for our Lois?
Congrats on new funding is good, but what are some of your other go-tos to use that you could share with us? Yes. Let's talk about this. I have a bunch. So when you are, um, oops. So when you're kind of putting all of these things together, right. When you're kind of, when you're putting all your Lois together, don't spend more than 15 to 30 minutes looking for a compliment. Okay. Lesson number one, if it takes you more than 30 minutes to find something, to congratulate them on, literally just say like hot, like hope, hope you're doing well. And like I've just been leading with like hope everything's been going, you know? Well, in this roller coaster ride that we're all on. Right. It's okay to just kind of like get to the point, right? Like a lot of times when we send our Lois, people are scanning.
So if it takes you more than 30 minutes to find some kind of compliment, just say like, hope you're doing well, you know, in these uncertain or hope, you know, your, you and your family have everything you need during this roller coaster ride that we're on or just say like, hope you're having a great week filled with amazing wins or something like that. That's number one, if you can't find anything, just say something nice that you would normally say to, to someone, not something cheesy. Just say something nice. You would normally say the second one is, um, I always liked like if I was sending an LOI hybrid, a pitch LOI hybrid to a magazine, or if I was sending an LOI to someone who had a lot of content, uh, I would always pick something that I really liked. I would read through their content, I'd read through their blog posts or their case studies or um, their downloadable or whatever, their guides.
And I would pick something I really liked and I would compliment, Hey, I really enjoyed reading this neighborhood guide about Barton Creek or you know, south Austin or whatever. Uh, and this is what I loved about it, right? Not only that you say like, I loved this thing, you say, I loved it because of X, Y, Z, that shows you actually read it. The things that you're interested in and it makes a connection with someone, you know, it oftentimes allows them to see something interesting. And they're like, yeah, I wrote that it was really exciting, blah, blah, blah. And you can make a connection with someone. So I find that reading their content and complimenting it, um, on a piece that you really like, don't just pick the first thing you can find and be like, I liked it because you talked about the three steps to do this.
Like no, find something you really like and actually give them a genuine compliment about why you liked it. I liked it because of X, Y, Z. Right. Um, the other one that I think is always useful is like, obviously like, you know, we talked about funding, but, um, anytime they're growing, I think that's, you can always see their growth stats on LinkedIn. Um, anytime that they are, uh, have been featured in the press, like, wow, I just saw that you, um, made the ink 5,000 list, or I saw that you made the Forbes 500 or something Forbes list. Or I saw that, um, you got a spot in the New York times or that your CEO was a featured speaker at this conference or whatever. Or if you saw their company at the conference, like you saw their, um, CEO or whoever speak at the conference, you can mention that there's a lot of different ways that, um, we can use compliments, but honestly, pick something that feels really genuine, like pick where you're like, Hey, it's really cool that you got this thing.
It's really cool that you got this award. It's really cool that you created this content to help your readers do these things. It's really cool. I think you're bugging her. It's really cool that, um, you know, you're able to expand in this new neighborhood or it's really cool that you made these important lists or it's really cool that, um, you know, your CEO got named to the Forbes 44, 40 under 40 or 30 under 30 or whatever. Um, I think that we're just kind of looking for some warm connection that we can genuinely make. Don't just pick something at random. I, I think that's just the way to make it sound cheesy. Cuz if you ever have, like, if you do small talk, if you get on a call with them and you end up doing small talk and you pick something you didn't actually read and they ask about it and you talk about it, like that's gonna look really bad if you don't have, if you're not like, oh yeah, this is why I liked it.
And this is, what's really cool about that thing. And like you have to pick something genuine. And like I said, if you can't find anything, I used to do this all the time. I would spend like hours, I would spend hours looking for a compliment. Like, well, they don't have funding. They didn't make any lists. They haven't spoken at any conferences. There are companies not growing at this crazy rapid rate. Um, I can't find any press or like clips or whatever for them like, just move on with your life. Honestly, the compliment is a way to make a norm, a warm connection, but it's not necessary. You can like people will scan these things. So the deal is that if you can't find it in 15 to 30 minutes, just say like, hope you're having an awesome week filled with great wins or hope your company is doing X, Y, Z, or, um, you know, like I said, you can always like make a comment on the current time, since we're all have been going through COVID for so long.
Um, and just send like a well wish to them. Just say like, Hey, like hope everything's good with you and your family. Um, I think that's, you know, a genuine thing. Like you do hope for the best for everybody, right? So I think that should be enough compliments, but honestly like do a scan, look around at all their stuff, Google their company, look at some things, find something nice to say, but if you can't find something very specific to say, just tell them that you hope everything's going well. All right. Sherra says, okay, Shera says awesome advice. Today's topic is perfectly time for me. Yay. I always love to hear that I have two might be able to buy KIS, how I might be able to like KIS next month possible clients on the hook, one small dis retailer, and then says, um, hold on.
And she says, I haven't been able to dig up revenue info, uh, beyond man. I always have trouble. Is that the greater? That must be the less than sign, right? Less than five, 5 million. This is why I'm like not good at math. I'm good at like accounting, math. I'm good at like financial math. I'm not good at like symbols and stuff. Any tips on how to refine my initial floor price pitch. If she doesn't answer my what's your budget question. So if you can't find the revenue, that's always a bud, a bummer, right? That's always a pain in the butt. Um, but if you can't find revenue, at least if they're producing content or their company is growing, which you can see on their LinkedIn stats, that's a plus. If they don't answer, what's your budget question? My thing is to always just send them the proposal with the prices that I want.
Like I don't go in with my floor price. The floor price is something that I keep as a barrier. If I, if things get negotiated down, for some reason, don't keep the floor price as like me going in with that rate. So if someone doesn't answer my what's your budget question, and I can't figure out on my own, if we're aligned on price, I just send them my price. Like I, I send them my proposal saying like, yeah, if you want floor four blog posts a month, this is how much it costs per month. This is the upfront payment. Here's the contract. Here's the initial invoice. And I go about my business. Right. So it's greater. Okay. So it's greater than 5 million. Well, if they have more than 5 million, that's at least a like the minimum that we're looking for high.
Hi, gr I'm gonna squeeze you and pick you up.
I'm gonna squeeze you. Um, thank you, Vicky, for help on that. So the deal is that if they don't answer your what's your budget question, you just send your pricing. Like I just, there's not, this is an alignment thing you say like, this is what I charge for that service. If they don't tell you their budget. So you can say, you can either say like, oh, we're on the same page. Or you can say, oh, we're not even close to the same page. Right? If they don't give you that information, you just send your regular prices. The deal is that what ends up happening is let's say you send a price and they're like, oh, you know, we were, our budget is we, we just found out like our marketing person just told us that our budget is lower than what we thought. Uh, can you cut each blog post by a hundred dollars or something?
Or like, can you do this project for X amount less? That's when you start initiating the floor price buzzer. Right? That's when you're like, boo, all right. Is that close to my floor price? That's when you kind of put it in, but this is a question I get a lot from freelancers. Like, well, what do I do if they don't tell me their budget? Like send your rates, send them a proposal with the thing that you, that you charge for that, like, that's the deal. If they I've always kind of taken the approach that like, I'm not playing games with you. I'm not gonna like, guess what your budget is. I'm not gonna, um, spend my time, like trying to figure out like, are we in alignment? And maybe I'll price this. I don't do that. I'm just like, what do I wanna get paid for this work?
Like, what is the work worth? Right. Um, what is the work worth? The value that it's bringing to the client, the value that I'm bringing as an expert or someone who has worked in this niche, or someone who knows a bunch about this topic or someone who's good writer, like, what am I bringing? Don't sit on her. Um, and then charging that. And if they have a, an issue or a question, they can always ask that that's the thing is like, it's not, it's just part of the conversation. I feel like when someone really wants to work with you, it's part of the conversation. It only stops the conversation when someone's like, oh, I'm not gonna answer the budget. And then when you send your rates, they're like, well of those are way more than we thought. Cuz they wanna like hope that you charge less.
Like that's just a bad client maneuver anyway. So it's just, I don't play games. So that's the thing is like, we're not looking to play games. We're looking to just say like, here is, here's what I, what I charge for that work. Does that work for you? Then you wanna figure out if it's a fit, right? It's it's about fit. It's about that you guys match. And if they wanna play a game of like saying like, oh, I'm not gonna tell you my budget. And hopefully you'll charge less than my budget. Like, okay. Like you don't need to play games with anybody. The only time that you enact your floor price is when you get into this thing of like, um, them, their budget is lower than they thought, or you enact your floor price so that you actually still make money doing the work or you enact your floor price.
When someone's like negotiating with you a little bit. They're like, Hey, we really wanna work with you. But um, our budget, you know, is $400 less per month than what you charge. Does that work for you? Like basically $100 less per blog post or, um, we can afford this much for a case study or whatever. Um, that's when you start figuring out whether or not the floor price, like that's below the number they're giving you is below your floor price. So anytime someone doesn't wanna answer, what's your budget. You don't have to play games with them. Just send them over your proposal with the rates that you wanna get paid. You enact the floor price. If you have to negotiate down a little bit, but we're not starting with the ex expectation either that we're gonna negotiate down or that we are, um, that we're going in with our floor price. That's not it. We in with our regular price and our floor price is to prevent us from losing money on our gigs. Our floor price is to prevent us from making a bunch of mistakes or, um, ending up working like a bajillion hours on something. That's really not that well paid.
You can't sit on her
Fully down. No, no. Don't sit on her.
Why? Why do you do this to me? Go lay down over there.
You guys are the SAS twins today. You guys just like love picking on each other. Sometimes
You go
Just love that you guys are like, how do we bother the other one today? All right. That's it for this bag. We're gonna have to have open a new bag.
Luckily we have a new bag.
All right. Um, let's see. Um,
I finally learned by remembering the open mouth side is the eating the greater thing. Yeah. But see that's my problem is when I think about greater than in less than I can't remember which side is eating, what? That I, I can never, like I remember in school, right? They were like, this side is the alligator. Cuz it eats this and this is the other one. Cuz it's like moving slowly. I, I just remember the alligator thing and I was just, I can never remember which alligators eating which side. That's my problem. All right. You guys ready?
1, 2, 3 dog. Good job.
Ray. Charlotte high, five other, one other, one other, one other, one other, one other one. Come on, do one more. Good job.
We're doing great. All right, cool. Okay. She says thank you. You're welcome. Sherra. Welcome. And Bena. Glad you could hang out with us. Um, I don't think we have any more questions. I think that was the last question that I had at the hopper. Um, and the last question Socher had that in there and we answered share's question. Cool. So here's the deal? Um, we're here every Friday. If you ever have a topic or a question that you want me to answer on the live stream, you can pop it in here. You can go to mans.com/question and you can put that in there so you can put any kind of topic you want me to cover or any questions you have in there and you can be anonymous. So if you don't want other people, like if you feel embarrassed about submitting your question, that's totally cool.
You can be anonymous, but pop 'em in there. Uh, you can also pop 'em in the comments below. So like we went over Daisy's question today that she popped in the comments from before. So if you ever have a question or you have something unique to share, like I'm always interested in hearing how people go about their pricing. Like I know some people are really, um, like feelers. They're like, I feel like this price is a good thing and that that's never really worked for me, but I'm always interested to hear like how they actually do that. I less than three puffers. Um, oh, Valerie's here. Hi, Valerie. Welcome in. Um, cool. So if you ever a question or like something you wanna share, pop it in the comments below, I'm always just interested to hear. If you feel like this was helpful, give it a thumbs up. If you feel like you wanna learn more about building a hiring new freelance riding business, or you're just interested in these two scrubs over here who like to bother me and make noises while I try to
Tell people helpful information. Oh buddy. You just like that one just shot across the room. All right. Ready? Hi. Good job.
All right. Feel free to join us every four, right at noon central
Time. Hi.
And um, yeah, so I think I'm gonna hop off. I hope this was helpful. I hope you learned a lot. I hope that you raise your floor prices soon. Um, it's uh, You know, it's, it's a tough thing to raise your prices and especially, you know, like I know Y y'all are talking in the comments about all these different things, right? There's a lot of things going on in the planet and it can be tough to deal with that and deal with your work. So do the best you can, uh, you know, hope for the best kind of stuff. And um, yeah, so I hope this was helpful. And, um, I will see you next Friday at noon central. Bye All.
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