Session 4: Pricing & Packaging

An open-ended quote — 'how much for a website?' — puts the client in the position of imagining what they are buying, and people imagine the maximum for the minimum price. A package removes that: a defined set of deliverables at a defined price, which the client can compare, understand and say yes to without negotiating what is inside.

Three packages is the structure that works. A small entry product at a price that requires little deliberation, which is how most relationships start. A core offer — the service most clients actually need. And a full option that includes everything, which most people will not buy but which makes the core look reasonable. Prices are read comparatively, never in isolation, so the expensive option is doing work even when it is not chosen.

Packaging also protects you, because a defined package has edges. 'The starter pack is a logo, two colour options and a business card design' cannot quietly grow into a full brand identity, whereas 'design work' can grow into anything. The definition is the defence.

Hourly is simple and honest for unpredictable work, and terrible for everything else, because it punishes you for being fast and caps your income at your hours. Use it for small, open-ended tasks; do not build a business on it.

Per project is the workhorse: a fixed price for a defined deliverable. It rewards speed and skill, it is easy for a client to approve, and it makes your income legible. Its risk is scope — which is why the deliverables must be specific, and why the expectations note from session three matters so much.

Retainer is a fixed monthly fee for ongoing work, and it is what turns freelancing into a stable income. Four businesses at ₦40,000 a month is ₦160,000 of predictable income, which is worth more than twice that arriving irregularly. Retainers also produce the referrals and the case studies that everything else runs on.

Value-based prices against what the outcome is worth to the client rather than what it costs you. A sales page that will generate ₦2,000,000 a year for a business can justifiably cost ₦250,000, however quickly you built it. It requires confidence and evidence, so it is a destination rather than a starting point — but it is the model that separates freelancers who earn well from freelancers who are merely busy.

Never start substantial work without a deposit. Fifty per cent up front is standard for project work, and for a new client with no relationship, seventy per cent is not unreasonable. The deposit is not about the money; it is a commitment test. A client unwilling to pay half in advance is telling you something about how the rest of the job will go, and it is far better to learn that now than after three weeks of work.

Then the terms. State when payment is due — on delivery, or seven days after invoice, whichever you choose — and what happens if it is late: work pauses, or a stated percentage applies. Write it in the expectations note, because terms nobody has read cannot be enforced. And invoice properly: a numbered document with your details, the client's, the work described, the amount, the date and your bank details. It costs nothing and it makes payment a routine rather than a favour.

The practical rule for a new client: deposit before work, balance before final files. Holding the final deliverable until the balance clears is not aggressive; it is how every professional service works, and clients who have been through it before expect it. The moment you send final files on trust, you have given away your only leverage.

Scope is controlled by three things, all of them written before the work starts. Named deliverables — 'four social media graphics a month', not 'social media support'. A defined number of revision rounds, each a consolidated list. Explicit exclusions — what the price does not cover.

Then the habits during the job. Reply to a scope request in writing, even informally, so there is a record. Answer every 'can you just…?' with a yes and a price — 'Yes, I can add that. It is ₦8,000 and it moves delivery to Friday.' Never a flat no, which creates friction, and never a free yes, which creates a precedent. The phrase 'I can add that' is the most useful sentence in freelancing.

The reason this matters is arithmetic, not principle. A ₦60,000 job that absorbs four unquoted extras is a ₦30,000 job, and it also taught the client that your prices are negotiable by persistence. Scope control is not about being difficult; it is what allows you to do the work well and to keep the client, because a freelancer quietly resenting unpaid work delivers worse and leaves sooner.

Raise prices on new clients first. Existing clients keep their rate until the next renewal or a defined review date, at which point a short, plain note explains the change: 'From next month my retainer is ₦50,000. I have kept your rate at ₦40,000 until December so you have time to decide.' Most clients accept; a few leave; the arithmetic works out in your favour almost every time, because the increase on those who stay outweighs the loss of those who go.

Raise them on a schedule rather than on mood: after every three or four completed projects, or every six months, whichever comes first. Freelancers who wait until they feel confident never raise prices, because confidence follows the raise rather than preceding it. And never apologise for the increase — a price is not an imposition, it is what the work costs.

Then the discipline of saying no. Decline a client who wants everything for nothing, who argues about every deliverable, who pays the first small invoice late, or whose business you cannot respect. A bad client costs more than their fee: the time, the stress, the reputation risk and the work you could not take on because you were busy with them. Turning down bad work is not lost income; it is protected capacity, and capacity is the only thing a freelancer cannot buy back.