Why Most Small Businesses Struggle With Pricing (And It’s Not Math)

Why Most Small Businesses Struggle With Pricing (And It’s Not Math)

The frustration

Pricing feels harder than it should.

Not because the math is complicated — but because every pricing decision feels loaded.

Charge too much and you lie awake wondering if you just scared off the perfect client. Charge too little and you’re halfway through the project, doing work you’d never agree to at that rate again, wondering how you got here.

Here’s the thing: most small business owners aren’t struggling with calculations. They’re struggling with the weight of the decision itself.

You can run the numbers ten different ways and still feel like you’re guessing. And that kind of uncertainty is exhausting.

Why common advice doesn’t help

Most pricing advice treats the whole thing like a spreadsheet problem.

Calculate your costs.

Add your margin.

Look at what competitors charge.

Done.

And look — that advice isn’t wrong. It’s just incomplete.

Because pricing decisions don’t happen in a vacuum. The price you choose affects how confidently you talk about your work, how you show up when you’re selling, and which projects feel exciting versus draining.

A number on a page doesn’t capture any of that.

So you follow the formula, land on a price, and still feel unsure — because the formula didn’t help you with the actual decision.

The real reason pricing is hard

Here’s what I think is actually going on: pricing is hard because it’s a decision problem, not a math problem.

You’re not just picking a number. You’re deciding:

what your time is actually worth to you

what kind of clients you want to work with (and which ones you’re okay walking away from)

how much uncertainty you’re willing to live with while you figure things out

Without a clear way to think through those decisions, pricing stops being a business question and starts feeling deeply personal.

That’s when it gets exhausting.

What actually helped

What finally helped me wasn’t finding a better formula.

It was stepping back and asking myself a few simple questions before I set a price:

Why am I pricing this way?

(Not what my costs are — but what I’m actually trying to accomplish with this price.)

What problem does this price solve for me or my business?

Can I explain this price to someone without apologizing or justifying it?

Once I could answer those questions clearly, pricing stopped feeling like I was making it up. I had reasons. And once I had reasons, I could stand behind the number.

In closing

I eventually built a set of interactive tools to help me think through pricing decisions without second-guessing everything.

They’re not about maximizing revenue or finding the “perfect” price. They’re about making pricing decisions you can explain, defend, and feel good about — to yourself and to clients.

If pricing has been a constant source of doubt for you, clarity — not math — is usually the missing piece.

If you want tools that help you think through these decisions with less stress, you can explore the Business Builder Bundle.