Guide
How to price your services
Most service pricing is inherited — what the shop down the street charges, what you charged last year, what feels safe to say out loud. Better: price from your hours, because hours are what you actually sell.
Start from your hour, not your service
Count your real bookable hours per week (subtract breaks, admin, gaps — most solo operators land at 25–30, not 40). Decide what the business must earn per week to pay you and its costs. Divide. That’s your floor rate per hour, and every service price is that rate × its honest duration, rounded to a clean number.
A $50/hour floor makes the 30-minute cut $25 minimum and the 90-minute color $75 minimum. Services priced below their duration-cost are hobbies wearing a price tag.
Charge for duration honestly
The corollary: know your real durations. Time yourself for a week. The “45-minute” service that truly takes 60 with cleanup is underpriced by a third — and overbooks your calendar too. Fixing the duration fixes both. (This is why Reservy asks every service for a duration: the schedule and the pricing share one truth.)
Raise prices with a date, not an apology
When you’re booked out for two weeks straight, that’s the market saying your price is low. Announce once, ahead: “From March 1, cuts are $30.” No essay, no apology. Regulars stay for the relationship; the few who leave free the exact hours you were selling too cheap.
Present a menu that sells the middle
Three tiers beat ten options: a basic, a standard, a premium. Most clients pick the middle, so build your target margin there. Put prices on the booking page openly — hidden prices don’t create negotiation, they create hesitation, and hesitant people don’t book.
Frequently asked questions
Should I undercut competitors to get started?
Discount your launch, not your price: “opening month — $25” anchors your real price at $35 with a temporary reason. Launching cheap with no end date just recruits clients who chose you for cheapness — the first to leave when you correct it.
How often should prices change?
Review yearly, or whenever you’ve been fully booked for a sustained stretch. Small regular adjustments beat rare dramatic ones — a $2 bump barely registers; a 30% correction after three frozen years becomes an event.