How do you feel about raising your prices? In today’s episode, I’m discussing the double-edged sword that is setting your own prices as a creative service provider. Plus, I’m sharing my advice for evaluating your current business and building a confident money mindset so you can raise your rates and your value.
Listen to this episode now:
Search for episode 129 of Called to Both on your favorite podcast player!

Setting Your Prices as a Service Provider
One of the coolest parts about working for yourself? You get to create your own packages and rates! For better for for worse, right? It’s a tricky thing to navigate.
When I started my business over ten years ago I was pretty much making it up as I went along. Pricing included. I built my photography collections based off vibes and a little bit of market research. Eventually, I began to see the need to raise my prices if I was going to be around for any length of time or be able to pay my bills.
When I work with photographers and creatives 1:1 as a business coach, this is a common question that comes up. “Are my prices too low?” “I want to raise them, but Im not sure I’m ready.”
If you feel uncertain about your prices or you know you want to raise them but want to make sure you’re doing it in a way that is strategic, that’s what I’m walking you through today.
I’m going to walk you through evaluating your current business and brand before raising prices, give tips for increasing your rates, and we’re going to tackle everything you’ll need to begin charging more!

How to Know it’s TIME to Raise Your Prices
If you’re on the fence about whether or not you should raise your rates, lets review a few of the reasons you absolutely should be raising them:
- Your capacity is capped and you have limited time and resources.
- Your experience has improved, so your clients are getting more value working with you!
- Your costs have increased due to inflation, a raise in contractor rates, or increased expenses.
- Your life demands higher pay and you want to be more profitable.
- You want to serve a new market and new clientele (price dictates where you are in the market).
- You just want to. Sometimes its hard to even articulate why you want to raise your price to a certain amount and I want to be the permission for you and tell you: You don’t have to justify it to me.
How To Know Your Business is Ready to Raise Your Prices
You might be in a position where you have been meaning to raise your rates for a while, but when it come time to update your prices, fear hits you. That fear and hesitation when it comes to raising our prices is SUPER common. There’s a voice in the back of your mind questioning if you’ll continue to book at higher rates, or how your clients might react.
So how do you know you and your business are ready to raise your prices?
There are two reasons we have fear and hesitation, both hold equal importance in being able to move forward:
- The mindset you hold.
- The tangible state of your business not being ready.
Your mindset in business—while we often want to focus on the strategy and numbers, plays such a big role in building confidence.
Here’s an audit you can run through for your current business that will help reveal areas you can improve as you begin to adjust your rates.
I have an acronym I love to use in order to evaluate your business and experience to ensure you can raise your rates with confidence: BOSS.
- Brand – Look at your brand as a whole and clarify your brand message. It is essential to articulate your value as a service provider. You also want to build an experience that generates demand for your value. Overall, your brand should build authority, create trust, and generate visibility.
- Offers – Revisit your collections and evaluate the level of value and the outcomes you produce.
- Sales – Your sales process needs to be reviewed as you increase price. If you have been operating without sales consultations, or in a way that feels more causal, that might not fly anymore when you move into a new pricing level.
- System – If you don’t have a system for how you are consistently attracting leads into your business, you may see a downturn in your inquiries. This is a great time to amplify your marketing efforts.

Building a Confident Money Mindset as a Photographer or Creative Business Owner
A big part of your ability to raise your rates, confidently continue to market, and walk into a sales conversation is going to come down to your money mindset. If you have a layer of guilt about your pricing even though you’re really good at what you do and you have happy clients, it’s a money mindset thing.
If you’re struggling with your money mindset, I recommend the books Free Money by Austin L. Church and Overcoming Underearning by Barbara Stanny. Additionally, I have a few tips for helping you build confidence around your money mindset:
- Don’t apologize for your prices or the increase. Instead, focus on articulating the value you provide.
- Remember that not every client is your ideal client—higher rates may attract clients who value your expertise more.
- Remember your reason for raising your rates: this could be capacity, personal financial goals, or a combination of a few. This will help bolster your confidence when any feelings of doubt or uncertainty come up.
- Surround yourself with people and coaches who charge more than you do and who have money conversations regularly. Seeing what’s possible for them will help you see the possibility for you.
Communicating the pricing changes to your clients
How do you go about communicating the new your prices with your clients? Sometimes you don’t need to say anything, you can just do it, but this totally depends on your offers and type of work you create.
For loyal or long-term clients, there are a few considerations. You could do a phased approach to increasing rates, or allowing them a certain amount of time to book at your rates before they increase. You could also do smaller increases over time so that clients will be able to grow with you when you do increase rates slowly.
Lastly, you can simply proceed with the increased prices and consider adding a note for past clients like “My collections and process have changed to reflect our unique experience. See the brochure for updated details.”
My advice to you in increasing your pricing is once you decide to raise your rates – proceed with the mindset and belief that the best is yet to come.
Wondering if your client experience is top notch and ready for you to raise your rates? Join me for this free class on client experience now! You’ll learn the 3 secrets to a client experience that will keep you booked solid.
If you’re enjoying the content we’re creating on the podcast and want to connect with others who are called to both, make sure you come join us in the PhotoBoss Facebook Group!
Find it quickly:
2:03 – Why you might want to raise your rates
5:12 – The two reasons you might fear raising your prices
5:53 – Evaluating your current business
12:07 – Building a confident money mindset
18:22 – Communicating your pricing changes
Mentioned in this Episode:
Episode 11: 3 Tips For Creating Video
Episode 21: Get More Visibility On Your Content
Episode 124: 5 Books About Business & Money
Episode 128: Your 2025 Marketing Plan: The 3 Strategies you Need to Attract + Convert More Clients
Free Money by Austin L. Church
Overcoming Underearning by Barbara Stanny
Connect with Joy:
Instagram: instagram.com/joyymichelle
Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UC-Ou6jRKxcjMrVMxWxLO_fQ
Facebook: facebook.com/joymichellephotography
Coach with Joy: joymichelle.co/coaching
If you decide to use any of the links above and buy through them, I’ll receive a small commission back. All of those affiliate income commissions really add up over time and help generate revenue to help support this podcast.

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