#031 How to Determine Pricing Ep 2 of 3

The Essentials of Effective Pricing for Wedding Creatives

In the second installment of our three-part pricing series, host Melissa dives into the critical aspects of determining your pricing for long-term business sustainability. Covering topics from understanding fixed and variable costs to setting your desired profit margin, this episode guides wedding creatives through creating consistent income. 

Melissa also addresses common pricing pitfalls like undercharging and frequent discounts, and emphasizes the importance of value-based pricing. With actionable strategies and personal insights, this episode is a comprehensive guide for wedding professionals looking to elevate their pricing game.

00:00 Introduction to Pricing Series
01:17 Understanding Your Costs
03:22 Calculating Profit Margins
03:54 Researching Competition and Assessing Expertise
04:43 Belief in Your Pricing
05:44 Handling Pricing Questions
06:09 Common Pricing Pitfalls
07:20 Personal Story: The Hourly Pricing Dilemma
12:36 Building a Sustainable Pricing Strategy
17:00 Conclusion and Next Steps

Are You Ready to turn your creative business into the one you dreamed of? 🙌 The Bright Method 👈 Sign up for our FREE Newsletter right here🩷

Do us a huge favor and click the “Follow” button for the show where you listen to podcasts, so you’ll be the first to get each episode! And while you are at it we would love it if you would please leave a review!!!!! Thank you!

____________

Watch this Podcast Episode on our YouTube Channel
Check out our FREE 3 Module Training: Bright Momentum
Want to learn more about our 2025 Money Course?

Transcript

Hey there, welcome to installment two in our three part pricing series. In the last episode, we touched on limiting beliefs, what we believe we can charge for our products or services, basically discussing how these ceilings we have created for ourselves keep us stuck and unwilling to charge more because we don't think we're worth it.

We feel like imposters or frauds to charge more. And a lot of this comes from our own relationship with money or what we believe about ourselves. We limit our own businesses and what they're capable of earning by limiting. What we charge and what we can handle accepting for our services. One of the most important steps to take if you want a sustainable long term business to get paid consistently and grow audaciously is to break through that ceiling that you have for yourself. 

Welcome to Bright, the podcast for wedding creatives that want to earn more and have a life and business that they love. Hi, I'm your host and money mentor, [00:01:00] Melissa. I make understanding money in your business easy. Each episode, we'll be talking about finance, growth, mindset, and real strategies for your creative business.

Are you ready? Let's get started.

Now onto today's episode, how and why to determine your pricing.

First, let's start with understanding your costs. One thing that I truly want to help solopreneurs and creatives in the wedding industry with is creating consistent income in your business, or making quote a salary, a number you can rely on each pay period or each month, almost as if you're working for someone else.

Who's paying you a fixed salary, a predetermined number that, you know, you can make each month and that you can rely on. This is a game changer. Once you commit to this, because it regulates your business and your personal life.

 The idea is to operate from a financially secure position and not just wait around till the end of the month and take whatever scraps are left over in your business. And I know I [00:02:00] keep mentioning this cash flow concept of understanding what is coming in and what is going out of your business each month. These numbers are directly related to what you're charging and how much you're bringing in and spending. And they're numbers that you need to know because they help you understand what you need to make. And your pricing is at the center of this. 

Let's dive in a little deeper with numbers that you need to wrap your head around as they relate to your pricing.

Number one, fixed costs. These are expenses that you have each and every month. They do not change with the level of goods or services produced. Examples are rent, salaries that are the same every week, including yours, because that's what we want it to be, monthly subscriptions, and utilities.

Knowing your fixed costs helps you understand the minimum revenue you need to cover these expenses. So basically the minimum amount you need to bring in each month in order to cover these expenses. 

Next are variable costs. These costs [00:03:00] fluctuate with production volume, like materials or shipping.

Calculate these to ensure every product or service sold contributes to covering these costs. So for example, if you're a florist and you have a big wedding has you ordering a giant flower order. That is a variable cost. The flower bill varies based on the size of the wedding and what needs to be ordered.

Next, calculate your desired profit margin. Decide how much profit you want to make on top of your costs. This can be expressed as a percentage. For example, if your total costs, as we just mentioned, your fixed and your variable costs are, say, 1, 000 for the month, And you want a 20 percent profit margin. You would set your prices to ensure you make 200 in profit. 

This is another topic profit first that I truly want you to embrace so that you're not only earning a consistent salary, but you're also earning a profit on top of that.

Next, consider the competition, research what others in your industry are charging. [00:04:00] This doesn't mean you should match or copy their prices, but understanding the market can help you position yourself effectively.

Look for gaps in the market and where you can offer your superpower value. And remember, always be uniquely you. 

Next, assess your experience and expertise and evaluate the quality you offer your clients. Based on your specialized skills or your extensive experience, this is where you can justify higher pricing. Clients are willing to pay more for experts who can deliver results efficiently. The quality of your service or product directly impacts your pricing. If you offer a premium experience, your pricing should reflect that. Be honest about the quality you provide and ensure it aligns with your price point.

Next, belief in your pricing. We touched on this in last week's podcast. If you don't believe in your pricing, selling becomes a struggle. Setting prices based on fear of rejection sends a message to clients that your services may not be worth much. You need [00:05:00] to own your pricing to have authentic conversations about your value.

But believe in it, 1000%.

Is your business stuck or needs a little kickstart? Join our free momentum money series. After this core training, you will start turning heads and get that push you need to make more money and book more of the clients that you want to work with. Join for free link in the show notes below.

One other thing I want to add in here is creating your big audacious price list. This is going to be part of next week's topic, but I love this so much. Imagine if you could charge whatever you wanted. What would that look like? This exercise is going to help you stretch your thinking and set the stage for what's truly possible for you and your business.

Something else to consider, handling pricing questions. When clients question your pricing, view it as an opportunity to showcase your value, rather than getting defensive. Use this moment to collaborate and clarify, turning a potential objection into a productive [00:06:00] conversation. No apologizing, no discounting, no throwing in a ton of extras, and no talking yourself out of a booking because you sound too desperate.

And now I want to cover common pricing pitfalls to avoid. Ooh, the big one, undercharging. Many entrepreneurs start by undercharging due to fear of losing clients or not booking enough clients. Competing on price alone diminishes the perceived value of your services. If you're only known for being the cheapest, you'll struggle to ever be seen as the go to expert.

Instead, focus on your unique value proposition, your superpower that we keep mentioning. What do you do better than any of your competitors and communicate that clearly?

So many wedding professionals that we know and work with just don't charge enough for their experience, their expertise, and the quality they offer their clients. Take the time to recognize what you truly offer your clients and price accordingly. [00:07:00] Don't try to price to attract everyone, and say no to clients that don't appreciate the value of what you do.

Charging by the hour. This method can attract clients who tend to micromanage and can lead to burnout. Instead, consider value based pricing, where you charge based on the results you provide, rather than the time spent on the job.

Here's a personal story about charging by the hour.

And I know for certain wedding professionals, it is really hard to get away from this, or at least you currently believe so. here's a story of one of the few times we actually fired one of our clients. It was when we'd bid on a wedding, the bride loved us and wanted to book us. But then her mother stepped in and reached out to us and said that She saw in our price list in the little extras area that we had 500 an hour for extra hours to be added on.

Basically the hours that you add on if a client needs you to stay longer on a wedding day. So now she immediately valued us at 500 an hour wedding photographers. The problem is that when you have a client that is looking to [00:08:00] devalue you, 

negative math starts popping up all over. She said to me a bunch of crap that really made me dislike her, but the long and short of it is she wanted us to work for her math. Rather than go with the original package She now wanted an a la carte package at 500 an hour for the wedding photography.

She told us what we should be charging for the seven hour wedding day. There is no way in the world to properly explain or to justify to someone who doesn't value you why your packages are what they are.

The 5, 200 for our starting package was 7 hours of coverage plus a gallery and all the other things that we included. But she dismantled our pricing line by line. In the end, we ended up calling the bride and told her that unfortunately we could not work with her. Because we could only imagine, even if this bride convinced her mother of our value to her, if this is how mom was acting before the wedding, imagine what was going to happen after.

Everything would be scrutinized and devalued. But another [00:09:00] lesson I learned on top of this, and I know many in my niche would disagree, but Keith and I decided to go with a full day of wedding coverage for all of our packages because then there was no hourly math to do

our value as wedding photographers is that you're paying for our expertise, our skill set, our 20 plus years of doing this, our MacGyver like skills to deal with literally Any photography situation on a wedding day, including being a calming influence, a psychologist, a peacemaker, but above all else, a professional that has delivered gorgeous images for over 20 years to hundreds and hundreds of wildly happy clients.

How can you fit that into a charging by the hour scenario? Because we have been doing this for just short of forever. We know that most wedding days require an average number of hours. Very few really almost no wedding strays too far from that.

I'm not talking about multi day weddings or destination weddings But typical resort weddings. So for the potential clients, we aren't nickel and diming them for extra hours here and there. And we end up looking like we offer a [00:10:00] ton more value.

Quite honestly, I don't even know a wedding professional that truly benefits from charging by the hour. I honestly believe that pricing by the hour just seems to take value away from you. Anyway, I have a lot to say on this, as you can tell.

Ooh, another one. Frequent discounts. Regularly offering discounts can condition clients to expect lower prices, and may devalue your offerings. Instead, consider providing additional value or bonuses rather than reducing your prices. 

In the end, what your client ends up paying for your services is exactly what they're going to remember. They're not going to remember the discount that you offer them, and when they tell their friends how much they paid for your services, they're going to tell them that discounted amount.

So, over the years, our motto is free or full price. But I've certainly been known to be extra generous and offer something to sweeten the pot when we feel that it is deserved and appropriate and we really, really, really want to work with this particular client. And again, that's why you own your own business, because you do get to make these [00:11:00] decisions for yourself.

Another one that we've touched on briefly is lack of confidence in pricing. If you're unsure about your prices, it can come through in your sales conversations. Practice articulating your value and pricing confidently. If clients question your prices, view it as an opportunity to explain the value they will receive. 

Another pricing issue that I've noticed with a lot of the professionals that we work with is not adjusting their prices over time. As you grow and your services evolve, so should your pricing. Regularly review your pricing strategy to ensure it reflects your current offerings, market conditions, and your costs. And don't worry that you're going to lose clients as you raise prices for some of your older clients, you may have outgrown them and it may be time to shed them anyway. For others, if you truly want to keep them and not have them go into sticker shock, then you are the business owner after all, and you can do whatever you want.

If you want to grandfather them in for a bit, then you do what you like. But please stop thinking that your business is going to shut [00:12:00] down if you raise your prices. Your new clients have no idea what you used to charge when you first started out. And if they are a referral from someone who told them what they pay to work with you, Then you explain that you now have higher prices because you do bigger and better things.

You've grown. Just like in any job or profession, the more talented you get, the more experience you have, , the more money you make. Don't keep yourself back. Charge what you're worth. 

Just a quick break from the episode. If you prefer to watch rather than just listen, then check out this episode on YouTube. You can find us at the Bright Growth channel. Don't forget to subscribe and get notified every time there's something new.

So how do you create a sustainable pricing strategy? Build a pricing framework. You know what your expenses are. You know what your profit number is. Even if it is hypothetical at this point, it's a start. Next, we need to truly understand where we spend our time.

I recommend doing a time audit do a time audit as it relates to your product and services. I want you to write down [00:13:00] everything. I suspect you're going to be shocked when you see how many hours you actually spend on what you create or do. We need to be brutally honest with ourselves here.

Years ago, at the encouragement from our business coach, Keith and I did a linear spreadsheet of where we spend our time. From answering the first email or DM, to sending out pricing, getting on an info call or email chain, a sales meeting, creating the quote, Creating the contract, back and forth emails, discussing the timeline with the planner, doing a walkthrough before the big day, more back and forth time discussions, more emails, DMs, phone calls, meetings, test runs, for hair and makeup is the test, for photographers it might be an engagement session, for a baker it's a tasting.

Think of all the touch points you have with the client before the wedding day. Then add in your design time, ordering supplies, the back and forth for approval. For us as photographers, it's reviewing shot lists, talking with planners about the way the day is laid out, and on and on. Then the actual [00:14:00] wedding day. For some like a stationer, most of your work may be done prior to the wedding, but most of us will have the big wedding day hours, the drop offs, the trips made, people working for you, set up, tear down. For some, when the wedding day is over, the bulk of the work is over.

 and photographers, the bulk of the work is just beginning. But whatever your niche, whatever your role is in the wedding, write down every single thing you do for the client.

Let's say it comes out to 40 hours of time. That is one whole work week for each wedding. If you are a one or two person show. But I just really want you to take a hard look at where you spend your time as it relates to each wedding.

Now I hope you can clearly start to see why value based pricing, a price that includes all your expertise, plus all the other things not even mentioned here, like marketing and the like and more intangibles that go into what you do.

And now that we know roughly how many hours go into a wedding, how do we turn this into a pricing strategy?

Rather than [00:15:00] simply competing on cost or offering standard packages, grab your journal and really brain dump what you offer. What you offer your clients, including your unique artistic style, an exceptional client experience, specialized expertise, i. e. like Keith, a Leica a film photographer that shoots only in black and white.

A luxury vineyard wedding planner, or sustainably sourced florals within 10 miles of the venue. And exclusive offerings. What is your value and what makes you stand out? Now, brainstorm what you offer and how to package it. Because this is where the value comes from.

This is what makes you the expert, what sets you apart, what makes you their only choice you Because you're uniquely you, and they can't even imagine working with anyone else but you. and offer more of a package, dollar amount that includes what you offer. Not all the small crap, and roll it into a big value offer that serves your client because [00:16:00] you are giving them what they want and that serves you because you've been busting your ass for years to be the best at what you do.

So please mark it up enough to pay yourself a real consistent salary plus profit in your business.

One more thing. When communicating what you do, whether on your website, emails, in person sales, or socials, focus on the outcomes they will achieve, rather than the features of your service. Use testimonials or case studies to illustrate the value. and results of your work. By understanding the intricacies of pricing and implementing a thoughtful strategy, .

You can create a sustainable business model that reflects your worth and delivers value to your clients. And remember, pricing is not just a number. It's a reflection of the value you provide and a crucial element in the overall success of your business. Pricing is very personal, but I'm a huge believer in recognizing your worth and using value based pricing to create a business you love for the [00:17:00] longterm.

 Next week in installment three of our pricing series.

We're going to create a big audacious price list. I hope you'll join us. and I can't wait to see you then. See you soon

It would mean the world to us if you'd give us a follow, share this episode with someone, or be so kind as to leave us a review. Thank you.