Why Raising Your Prices Feels Terrifying — And Why You Have to Do It Anyway
Posted on June 29, 2026 by Sasha Sumling, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.
Underpricing doesn't get you more clients. It gets you the wrong ones. Here's what charging less than you're worth actually costs you.
Let me tell you what underpricing actually costs you. Not in theory. In practice.
When you price below your value, you do not attract more clients. You attract the wrong ones.
The client who hires you at a rate you have discounted out of fear comes in with a different energy than the client who chose you at your real rate. She feels, somewhere underneath the transaction, that she is doing you a favor. So when she wants something outside of what you agreed to — more access, more time, more accommodation — she asks for it. She has leverage, in her mind, because she gave you business.
You work harder to keep her happy. You do more than you should. You say yes when you mean no. And you resent it — because you are already being paid less than your work is worth and you are delivering more than you agreed to.
That is not a difficult client. That is a pricing problem wearing a client costume.
What I See With Established Service-Business Founders
The underpricing I see most painfully is not with women who are new to their fields. It is with women who have been doing this work for years.
She has a decade of expertise. She has a client list with real results behind it. She has certifications, continuing education, and a methodology that she has refined through hundreds of real engagements. And she is still charging what she charged when she was building her confidence three years ago, because she has never stopped to ask whether her price reflects who she is now.
The rate she started with was appropriate for who she was then. It is not appropriate for who she is now. And every day she holds that rate, she is telling her clients — and herself — a story about her value that is no longer true.
The Client Who Changed My Understanding of This
When I put my holiday unavailability in my contract — the specific dates I was not available, with clear terms about what would happen if a birth fell on one of those dates — something shifted immediately.
The families who were right for me read those terms, agreed, and moved forward without a question.
The ones who pushed back on a holiday clause before we had even completed a consultation? They showed me exactly who they were before we had ever worked together. And I did not have to learn that lesson inside someone’s birth room.
What your contract says about your availability, your terms, and your price is a signal. It tells every potential client who reads it what kind of practice they are entering — and what kind of client you are built for. The right clients are not scared away by your rates. They are reassured by them. A clear, confident price says: this person knows what she is worth and she is not negotiating it.
The Practical Question
Here is what I ask the women I coach when we get to pricing:
If your best client — the one who respects your time, shows up prepared, does the work, and gets real results — if she found out what you were charging, would she be surprised it was that low?
If the answer is yes, you already know what needs to change.
Here is what I know for certain: the clients you are afraid of losing with a higher price were not going to be your best clients anyway. And the ones you are meant to serve will not blink.
Pricing is not just a math problem. It is an identity statement. And getting it right is one of the first things we work
If you are ready to look at your numbers honestly, book your complimentary CEO Clarity Call here: https://massagemomma.kit.com/ceo_vip
