You make the thing and e fine. You sabi say e fine, because you make three version and throw two away, and the one wey dey the table in front of you na the one wey survive. Wetin remain na number, and you don type and delete that number five times tonight.
Na here the part wey nobody dey talk out loud. Pricing no be test of how much you believe for yourself. Na arithmetic, wey you do once, for like twenty minutes, with paper and the real figures from your own bank account. When the arithmetic finish, you go get price wey you fit talk out loud without your voice changing, because you go fit explain every part of am. Price wey you fit defend na price wey you go stop to argue about, and person wey don stop to argue about him price don gain that whole hour back to make the next thing.
How I go take work out wetin I go charge when na me make am?
Add three things and round up: material, your hours for rate wey you go accept from stranger, and this item own share of your fixed cost. Do am for paper with real figure, no be for your head, because the version wey dey your head dey always leave something out.
Make we do am once, for one object. One ceramic planter: eleven dollars of clay, glaze and firing. Two hours of work at thirty dollars per hour. Then about six dollars of the month studio rent, kiln electricity, packaging and listing fees, divided across the twenty pieces wey you go really sell. Eleven plus sixty plus six na seventy seven. Round am up to eighty five.
Make we do am again, for one hour of work. Take the yearly income wey you want and divide am by the hours wey you fit really bill, wey never be forty a week and usually dey closer to half of that once you count quoting, admin and the work wey nobody dey pay for. Add your fixed cost, so software, insurance, hardware, the accountant. Then add tax, wey na the input wey people dey completely forget.
Two numbers, twenty minutes, and the price box no dey empty again.
Which hourly rate I suppose pay myself?
Use the rate wey you go accept from stranger wey wan hire you tomorrow, no be the rate wey you go quote your padi. Then check am against wetin working for yourself really dey cost, because your own hour no be the same product as employed hour.
The mistake wey common pass na to quietly benchmark against salary. Salary hour dey come with paid leave, another person software, employer wey dey cover half of the payroll tax, and paycheck wey dey land whether the work land or not. Your own no get any of that. For United States, self-employment tax rate na 15.3 percent, wey be 12.4 percent for Social Security and 2.9 percent for Medicare, and e dey sit on top of income tax. Whatever number you bin wan write down, that one alone na reason say e too low.
The stranger test dey work because e dey move the question comot from your feelings enter evidence. You already sabi roughly wetin you for pay person wey get your skill to do this thing for you. Pay yourself that. If e dey uncomfortable to talk am out loud, that one no be pricing signal, na speaking problem, and to fix am, talk the number few times before anybody ask you.
Which costs people dey forget put inside the price?
Na the small ones wey dey come again and again, every time: platform and payment fees, shipping supplies, the software subscription, the order wey spoil, and the one hour of admin wey every sale dey quietly chop. None of dem dey show for the item wey dey in front of you, na exactly why dem dey end up coming out of your own pay.
Write dem down for one real month instead of guessing.
- Platform fees and payment processing on every single sale.
- Boxes, tape, tissue, labels, and the trip to send dem.
- Software, hosting, and the tools wey you forget say dem dey charge you.
- The one item out of ten wey go land broken and you go replace.
- The one hour per order wey you dey spend for messaging, packing and updating.
Then divide that monthly total by the number of items wey you dey sell for one month, and add the answer to every price. Na this be the difference between business wey dey busy and business wey dey pay you.
Wetin be the number wey dey under the number?
Write floor under your price, before anything, and no go below am. The floor na material plus fixed cost plus the lowest hourly rate wey you go still dey glad to work for, and him job na to turn every discount conversation into two second decision instead of two day one.
The flinch no be signal say the price wrong. Na signal say na you go talk am out loud. Number wey you don check twice wey still dey make you pause dey usually for the correct neighbourhood, because na only you sabi how easy the work feel, and ease no dey visible to anybody else and e no matter to wetin the thing worth.
Set the price. Then leave am alone for one week and make real people react to am instead of you reacting to your own fear. To change price because of evidence na strategy. To change am 11pm because nobody don buy anything for two days na the tax wey pressure wey you no control dey charge on good work, and na the most expensive habit for this whole article.
Wetin I go talk when person ask for discount?
One sentence, and e go name wetin you fit change instead of the price. "I no fit go below that, but I fit do am without the hand stitching for one forty, or I fit hold this one for you till the fifteenth."
You no owe anybody explanation of your cost, justification of your hours or apology for the number. Discount wey you give quick dey teach the next customer to ask and dey teach you to resent the order. To offer smaller version, longer timeline or payment split dey keep the price whole and still dey give the person real road to yes.
If dem waka, make dem waka. Person wey only want am for half price no be customer wey you lose, na customer wey you never get, and the hours wey you no spend working below your floor na hours wey dey available for person wey go pay in full.
Tell the next person your real number
Na one move be this wey no dey cost you anything and e dey change the market wey you dey stand for. When person wey new ask you how you take price something, give dem the real figure. No be the method, no be "e depend", no be range wey wide reach say e no talk anything. The clay na eleven dollars, the hours na two, the rate na thirty, the price na eighty five.
Underpricing dey survive almost entirely on silence. Nobody dey talk out loud wetin dem really dey charge, so everybody dey assume say na dem be the expensive one and dem go quietly come down, and one whole category go talk demsef into working for free. One person wey answer honest dey break that thing for everybody wey e tell, and those people go tell others. Information na the one thing here wey you fit hand over without losing even one customer, and the person wey you give am go remember who tell dem.
So do the arithmetic tonight. Write the price, write the floor under am, and talk the two out loud till dem dey boring. Then go charge am, and put the hour wey you for spend dey doubt into the next thing wey you go make.
Sources
- Internal Revenue Service, Self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare taxes)
- U.S. Small Business Administration, Plan your business
- Federal Reserve Banks, 2025 Report on Nonemployer Firms