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Comment by Erica Taylor on March 1, 2013 at 6:19pm

Great advise, thank you Carrie.

Comment by Carrie Patrick on March 1, 2013 at 9:39am

I think you shouldn't look at this as something where you start out with low prices and then increase them later. This would just train clients to expect the lower price and then you've got a situation later when you want to increase prices on them. I would figure out the prices you want to charge, put all of those prices on your menu, but then promote "Introductory Specials" and make it obvious this is a short-term offer to celebrate the business opening, or something like that. This way, people are seeing what the "real" price is, they'll be attracted by the thought that they're getting it at a special rate, and there's a time limit on it.

Figuring out what you should charge should be based on your expenses or you will never make a profit. Add up all your likely monthly expenses, including things like rent and utilities bills as well as supplies (if you haven't actually started working yet, this will be a lot of guesswork but you should still try to make an estimate, and then you can revise it later when you have more accurate information about what you spend in a month on your business). Then figure out how many clients you're probably going to see in a month, and divide your expenses by the number of clients. This will tell you how much (on average) each client needs to spend with you just so you can break even. Then, use that, along with the prices other people in your area are charging for similar services, to figure out what would be a reasonable service price that clients will pay and will still allow you to make money.