I still remember the email.
“Hi Tatty, loved your portfolio. We’d like to work with you on a rebrand. What would something like this cost?”
I should have said £2,000. That’s what the project was worth. That’s what I’d have charged if I had any sense.
Instead, I typed: “I could do it for £500.”
The client didn’t negotiate. Didn’t ask for a discount. Didn’t even blink.
They just said yes.
That’s when I knew I’d messed up.
The Project That Taught Me Everything
The rebrand took me three weeks. Logo, brand guidelines, website mockups, social media templates – the lot.
The client was thrilled. Left a glowing testimonial. Referred me to two other businesses.
I should have been celebrating.
Instead, I was doing the maths in my head. Three weeks of work for £500 meant I’d earned about £167 a week. Less than minimum wage.
And here’s the thing that really stung: the client would have paid £2,000. They expected to pay it.
I’d undercharged myself out of £1,500. Not because they demanded it. Because I was too scared to ask for what the work was actually worth.
Why I Did It (And Why You’re Probably Doing It Too)
I told myself all sorts of stories:
“They’re a small business, they probably can’t afford more.”
“If I quote too high, they’ll just go somewhere else.”
“I’m still building my portfolio, I need the experience.”
All lies. Comfortable lies that kept me broke.
The truth? I was terrified. Terrified they’d say no. Terrified they’d think I was taking the mick. Terrified I wasn’t actually worth what I wanted to charge.
So I made the decision for them. Decided they couldn’t afford me before they’d even had the chance to say yes or no.
What Actually Happened When I Fixed It
About two years after that £500 rebrand disaster, I had another inquiry. Similar project. Similar size business.
This time, I quoted £1,800.
I held my breath. Waited for them to laugh or make an excuse or ask if I could “sharpen my pencil” on the price.
They said: “Perfect, when can we start?”
That’s when it clicked.
The problem was never the clients. It was never “the market” or “the economy” or “UK businesses don’t value design.”
The problem was me.
I was pre-rejecting myself. Dropping my price before anyone even asked me to.
The Pattern I Started Noticing
Once I saw it in myself, I started seeing it everywhere.
The freelance copywriter charging £50 for work worth £300.
The business coach doing 10 hours of work for £200.
The consultant offering “mates rates” to strangers.
All of them fully booked. All of them broke. All of them blaming their clients for “not seeing the value.”
But their clients hadn’t set the price. They had.
The Research That Proved I Wasn’t Crazy
Turns out, I wasn’t imagining it.
Research shows that 73% of service providers undercharge by £50-200 an hour. That’s not a small margin of error. That’s £30,000+ lost every year per person.
And it’s not because clients are cheap. It’s because we’re scared to ask.
There’s this thing in psychology called “loss aversion.” We’re more afraid of losing what we have than excited about gaining something new.
So when a potential client shows interest, we panic. We think “I can’t lose this opportunity” and immediately drop our price to make sure they say yes.
But here’s what we don’t realize: by pricing too low, we’re actually making them trust us less.
Studies show that low prices can decrease perceived quality by up to 40%. When you charge £500 for work worth £2,000, clients don’t think “what a bargain!” They think “why so cheap? What’s wrong with it?”
What Changed When I Started Charging Properly
After that £1,800 project, I made a rule: never undercharge myself again.
I raised my rates by about 60% overnight. Told all my existing clients. Waited for the apocalypse.
Two clients left. My two worst ones – the ones who paid late and asked for endless revisions.
Eight clients stayed. Didn’t even question it.
Within six weeks, I had five new clients at the new rate.
Same work. Same hours. Nearly double the income.
But the money wasn’t even the best part.
The best part? I stopped resenting my clients.
When I was undercharging, I’d find myself annoyed at tiny requests. “They’re only paying £500 and they want THREE rounds of revisions?”
When I started charging properly, I didn’t care about revisions. They were paying me fairly. I could afford to make it perfect.
The Uncomfortable Question You Need to Ask Yourself
How much money have you left on the table because you were too scared to ask for it?
Not because clients said no. Because you never gave them the chance to say yes.
I worked it out once. Over eight years of undercharging, I reckon I lost over £100,000. Maybe more.
That’s a house deposit. That’s a year off work. That’s financial security I gave away because I couldn’t have an uncomfortable conversation.
What You Can Do About It
I’m not going to give you a formula or a pricing calculator. You can Google that.
What I will tell you is this: the next time you’re about to quote a client, stop.
Before you type the number, ask yourself: “Am I about to undercharge because I’m scared they’ll say no?”
If the answer is yes, add 50% to whatever you were about to quote.
See what happens.
I bet you’ll be surprised.
And if you’re not ready to do it alone, that’s fine. I run a workshop about this exact problem. It’s called Mirror Check, and it’s designed to show you why you keep undercharging without you having to figure it out through trial and error like I did.
Or grab my book. It’s called “Don’t Blame Them, It’s You” because, well, it isn’t them. It’s you. It’s me. It’s all of us who keep pricing ourselves out of a decent income because we’re too uncomfortable to charge what we’re worth.
But only you can decide if you’re ready to stop.
