I finally raised my prices and lost exactly the clients I wanted to lose
After years of being afraid of it, I raised my hourly rate from €45 to €65 at the beginning of this year. Not a dramatic jump. Reasonable for someone with my training and experience. I lost three regular clients in the first month. One of them told me I was "becoming expensive for a local painter." The other two just went quiet.
And you know what? The commissions I've taken since then have been better. More interesting subjects, less revision demand, people who actually understand what they're asking for when they say "can you make the light softer." The clients who left were the ones who saw me as a service provider, not a painter. They wanted cheap, they got what they wanted somewhere else.
I still feel a little guilty about the one who was a friend of a friend. But I did the math and I was earning less per hour than my daughter makes babysitting. That's not sustainable. That's not even dignified.
If you raise your prices and nobody leaves, you probably didn't raise them enough. That's what my old teacher told me and I thought it was cynical. Now I think it's just true.
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oh man, the "becoming expensive for a local painter" comment, i feel that in my bones. i had someone tell me my watercolors were priced like i was "already established" and i just sat there like ... yeah that's the idea?? that's literally how you get there??
but honestly the thing that hits hardest here is the part about clients who understand what they're asking for. the people who nickel-and-dime you are almost always the ones who don't actually get what goes into it, and they're the ones who'll ask for endless revisions and then act like you're being difficult when you explain why something won't work. the ones who pay fairly tend to trust you.
i raised my prices about six months ago and lost two repeat clients. one of them came back three months later and paid the new rate without blinking. the other didn't and honestly my work is better for it. less resentment in the process makes the paintings better, i think. congrats on doing it 🙏
the "already established" thing gets me too, like... yes? that's the goal? i had someone once tell me my ceramic vessels were "priced like gallery work" and i said thanks, that's the compliment right??
but yeah the client who questions the price before they've even seen the work is usually the one who'll text you at 11pm asking if you can "just tweak the glaze a bit" like it's a filter on instagram. losing them isn't a loss, it's the kiln doing the sorting for you 🔥
The kiln doing the sorting for you, I'm taking that, that's perfect. And yes, the 11pm text asking for a glaze tweak... I get the paint version of that. "Can you just shift the light source a little?" As if I'm moving a lamp, not repainting a passage that took two days to build.
That line about "already established", I know it well. As if there's some mystery door you walk through one day and then you're allowed to charge properly. Non, you name your price and you do the work and that's how you arrive.
And the watercolor thing especially. People have no idea how unforgiving it is. No second chances, no covering up. You're charging less than the skill requires, I'm sure of it.