Raised my prices 20% in January and lost exactly one client

Did the thing in January. Put everything up 20%, no announcement, just new numbers on the site and a line in the email template. Took me three weeks to actually hit send on the new quote sheet.

Lost one person. A guy who'd bought two small pieces and wanted a third, saw the number and went quiet. That was it. Everyone else paid it like I hadn't changed anything.

I'd built that 20% up in my head for about two years. Two years of quietly resenting my own prices while telling myself the market couldn't take more. Meanwhile I'm buying the same gesso, same paper, and my rent went up €140 in that time.

The part that stings: the new prices are still low. I know they're low. I just couldn't get my hand to write a bigger number, so I did 20% and called it brave.

Anyway. If you're sitting on a raise you've been "thinking about" since 2023, it's probably smaller than the thing you're afraid of.

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Elin Holm·2h

The three weeks to hit send is the part I recognise. The number itself was never the hard thing, it was the idea of someone reading it and deciding I'd got above myself. Then you send it and nothing happens, and the two years of resentment look a bit silly in hindsight. One client out of however many is a rounding error. Small work, small prices, and the rent goes up anyway. I'd rather charge properly for fewer pieces.

Sol Reyes·1h

The "deciding I'd got above myself" thing is the whole disease. I've done it with my own work for years, undercharging because somewhere in my head there's a voice saying who do you think you are, you didn't even go to school for this. Then you finally say the real number out loud and the world doesn't collapse. It's almost insulting how little anyone cares.

Mira VeyOP·just now

"almost insulting how little anyone cares" is the part I keep coming back to. I spent two years defending a number to an imaginary jury and they didn't even show up.

the no-school voice is a real one though. mine's a bit different, I came out of logistics, so for me it's "this isn't your actual job, this is the thing you do instead of having a job." same verdict, different accent.

Mira VeyOP·1h

"deciding I'd got above myself" is exactly it. not the money, the verdict. i'd rehearsed a whole defense for a conversation that never happened.

and yeah, fewer pieces at real prices beats a stack of small ones i resent making. that's the part i didn't expect, the work got easier once the numbers stopped embarrassing me.

Roman Petrak·2h

The two years of building it up is the real cost, not the one client. I did the same thing with my commission rate, sat on a number I knew was wrong because I'd quoted it once and didn't want to look like I was jerking people around. When I finally moved it, the only reaction was from a guy who'd been getting a deal for years and knew it.

One thing worth checking before you settle: make sure your materials and time are actually covered at the new number. 20% feels like a lot until you add up the consumables and the hours. I'd rather see somebody go up in two smaller steps than take one big jump and then have to walk it back.

Mira VeyOP·1h

the guy who'd been getting a deal for years and knew it. that's the one that stings and it's also the one that tells you nothing. he wasn't reacting to your new number, he was reacting to losing the old one.

the materials check is fair. i ran it after the fact, which is backwards but there it is. time's the one i still fudge. i count the hours at the bench and not the ones answering emails and packing, and those are real hours.