I always want to get the client talking first if I can with a ”what kind of budget do you have for this?” kind of question. Of course, they will often have no idea and respond with, ”we don’t know, what do you typically charge?” to which I answer ”there is no typical …” and continue with ” … I have clients anywhere between $high-ammount (choose a number/no structure … I want to create a bit of a shock factor/sharp in take of breath … which speaks to my quality/capability/credibility) and $low-ammount (choose a number/with structure … I want to create relief/they start breathing again) and then I say something like ”and from what I know so far, my guess is that you will probably be … in the middle … in the lower 1/3rd … etc … and then I ask, ”how does that grab you?” or something like that. … and I never lie about the upper range number, so if these are your first you will need to soften the language a little … ”it is not uncommon for consultants to charge … ” or something like that. Hope that helps. It is always an uncomfortable moment of truth when it comes down to the crunch of talking numbers for the first time … accept that, own it and be cool, calm and confident on the outside even if you aren’t feeling that on the inside … be courageous … it will always be this way … for 20 years by and large I have grown my revenues not through volume but by putting my prices up, so I am always finding that next edge. I hope that helps!

Hi Shalaka, exciting news we have this article on how much you should charge which gives some good advice that you might find useful: http://staging.the-portfolio-collective.com/insights/how-much-should-you-charge-for-portfolio-work/

Hi Shalaka Laxman. I’ve answered this question many times. Please feel free to have a chat here and I will share with you my experiences. The answers are very varied. https://calendly.com/zarir-zed-vakil/30min

Hey Shalaka Laxman, we can chat over our lunch next week on this!