You've decided to start charging for your expertise. Maybe someone finally pushed you over the edge. Maybe you did the math on all those free coffee chats. Maybe you're just tired of giving it away.
Now comes the hard part: what do you actually charge?
This is where most people get stuck. The psychology of pricing yourself is surprisingly brutal. Charge too little and you feel like you're devaluing your experience. Charge too much and you worry no one will pay - or worse, that you'll be seen as greedy.
I've talked to a lot of people going through this for the first time. What seems to work:
Why Pricing Is So Hard
Before we get to numbers, understand why this feels so difficult.
When you're employed, someone else sets your price. Your salary is a number that was negotiated once, probably awkwardly, and then you don't think about it much. You show up, do work, get paid.
When you price your own expertise, you're making a claim about your value. Every time. And that claim can be rejected.
It feels personal because it is personal. You're not selling a widget. You're selling your knowledge, your experience, your judgment. If someone says "that's too expensive," it's hard not to hear "you're not worth it."
This is why most people underprice. It's not ignorance - it's self-protection. A low price feels safer. Less risk of rejection. Less exposure.
But underpricing has its own costs, which we'll get to.
What Happens When You Charge Too Little
What happens when you charge too little:
You attract the wrong people. Low prices signal low value. Counterintuitively, the people most willing to pay rock-bottom rates are often the most difficult to work with - they're bargain-hunting, not value-seeking.
You resent the work. When you're underpaid for advice that should be worth much more, every minute feels like a bad trade. That resentment shows up in your energy, your engagement, your willingness to be helpful.
You can't sustain it. If the economics don't work, you'll eventually stop doing it. Better to price sustainably from the start.
You devalue the whole market. This one's less about you and more about everyone else. When experts systematically underprice, it creates expectations that expertise should be cheap. This hurts everyone, including you.
Pick a Starting Number
A framework that works for most people pricing expertise for the first time:
Anchor to your effective hourly rate - then go higher.
Take your most recent salary. Divide by 2,000 (rough working hours per year). That's your baseline hourly rate as an employee.
The thing is, that rate included benefits, stability, paid vacation, someone else handling sales and administration. None of that exists when you're selling expertise directly.
Consultants typically charge 2-3x their equivalent employee rate to account for this.
But we're not talking about consulting. We're talking about answering specific questions - async, focused, no overhead.
For this kind of engagement, a range of 50-150 per question works well.
Three Tiers
Within that range, think about positioning this way:
Tier 1 - Tactical questions, junior experts, narrow topics
Good for: Resume reviews, specific technical questions, "is this the right approach" validation.
Tier 2 - Standard expertise, solid experience, clear value
Good for: Strategic questions, career advice from someone senior, functional expertise (CS, engineering, ops, marketing).
Who charges this: Most senior professionals with 10-15+ years of experience in their domain.
Tier 3 - Deep expertise, executive-level, high-stakes decisions
Good for: Fundraising strategy, M&A considerations, executive hiring, complex organizational challenges.
Start in the middle. The mid-range is the sweet spot for most people. It's high enough to signal seriousness, low enough that people won't agonize over the decision.
Should You Negotiate?
Short answer: no.
Longer answer: fixed pricing removes friction for everyone. The client knows exactly what they're getting into. You don't have to justify your rate or feel weird about negotiation.
When you discount, you're training people to ask for discounts. You're also second-guessing your own value. Neither is helpful.
Price as a Filter
Something that gets overlooked: price isn't just about revenue. It's about selection.
At zero, you get everyone - including people who don't value your time, don't have serious questions, and won't implement anything you say.
At a fair price, you filter for people who are serious enough to pay. That's a meaningful signal. They've thought about their question. They're invested in the answer. They're much more likely to actually do something with what you tell them.
When to Raise Your Price
You should raise your price when:
You're booked solid. If you have more demand than you can handle, price is too low. Raise it until demand matches supply.
The questions feel too easy. If you're getting questions you could answer in your sleep, your price isn't attracting the right level of challenge.
You resent the work. This is a signal that the exchange doesn't feel fair. Trust that feeling.
It's been a while. If you haven't adjusted pricing in a year, you're probably underpriced. Your expertise has grown. Your price should too.
After the First Time, It Gets Easier
Everything about pricing gets easier after you've done it once.
Set a price that feels slightly uncomfortable - not reckless, but not safe either. Send it. See what happens.
Most of the time, they just pay. No pushback. No negotiation. They pay because the price seemed reasonable and they want your help.
And once you've seen that happen - once you've experienced someone valuing your expertise enough to pay for it - something shifts. You start to believe it yourself.
The price you set is a statement about how you value your own expertise. Not the only statement, but a significant one.
Most people starting out underprice because they're scared. That's understandable. But the cost of underpricing is real - in resentment, in burnout, in attracting the wrong people, in simply not being sustainable.
Start at a fair price. See what happens. Adjust from there.
Your knowledge took years to build. It's okay to charge accordingly.
Pick a number. Send the link. See what happens. Get started.