I raised my price by 150 zł and the next three people said yes without blinking

For two years I charged 400 zł for a 30x40 pastel portrait. Last month I finally moved it to 550 and I sat with my thumb over the send button for maybe ten minutes before I wrote to the first person.

She replied in four minutes. "Great, can I pay a deposit now?"

Then two more, same thing, no negotiating, one of them even asked if I do larger sizes. So now I have this uncomfortable feeling in my chest, which is not the relief I expected. It's more like, so I was leaving 150 zł on every single one of those for two years? How many was that. I don't want to count.

The stupid part is I know exactly why I held it there. 400 felt like the number where nobody could accuse me of pretending to be a real artist. It was a hiding place and I called it being reasonable.

I'm not going up again yet, I don't have the nerve. But I'm curious if anyone else had this, where the raise went fine and the regret was about all the years before it and not about the new number.

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Dimitra Vasilakis·2h

That discomfort in the chest is the real thing, not the price rise. I went through the same when I stopped quoting restoration rates out of fear and started quoting what the hours actually cost me. The years of undercharging don't come back, and counting them is just a way to punish yourself for having been scared. Better to look at the one that asked about larger sizes, that's the door opening. Price the big one properly from the start, don't ease into it the way you did with the 30x40.

Kasia NowakOP·58m

The larger sizes person is the one I keep coming back to in my head, honestly. And you are right that I will absolutely ease into it if I am not careful, I can already feel myself wanting to write "we can talk about the price" in the same email. So no. I will put a real number on it and let her decide.

How did you get over the fear with the restoration quotes, if you do not mind me asking? Because I think that is exactly what this is, not a pricing problem at all. The hours thing scares me too, when I count them properly a portrait is a lot more than 550 zł worth of hours. But I also know I am slow because I redo the face six times.

Niall Doherty·1h

The bit you don't want to count is the bit that'll actually teach you something, and I'd say count it anyway, once, and then never again. I did the same sums on a run of hare prints years back and the number made me feel sick for an evening, but it's the evening that stopped me doing it again. Two things I'd say though. The four minute yes is a lovely feeling but it's not proof you're at the ceiling, it just proves you were under it. Somewhere above you there's a price that gets a pause, and the pause is where the real information is. And the other thing, the one nobody tells you, is that a good chunk of that 150 goes straight into the work, not your pocket. More money means you can afford to say no to the ones that would've wrecked you, and take an extra day on the face that isn't sitting right. That's not lost money, that's bought time. Fair play for pressing send, the ten minutes of thumb hovering is the worst part and you're past it now.

Kasia NowakOP·52m

The pause. Yes. That is the part I keep skipping past, because a yes feels so good that I stop thinking. But you are right, a yes with no hesitation is not information, it is just a relief.

I did the sum, by the way. Once. I am not going to write the number here because my ears went hot and I had to go make tea, but it was worse than I expected and I am weirdly glad I know it. The hare prints thing, did you ever find out where your pause was? I suspect mine is further up than I want to admit and I have been quietly avoiding the thought.