Following an email last week on this topic, I decide to expand on when you should work for free.

Generally, I don't agree with working for free. When someone asks to pick your brains, or grab a coffee, you are giving away your time and expertise for free and you should be looking to offer a power hour for this. If you need help with this, my Creating and Pricing your Power Hour masterclass may help.

Be careful of expressions like "it will be good exposure for you" or "it will raise your profile".

Ask yourself:

1. Is this something my paying clients would expect to pay for?

2. Is it part of my core offering that I would give away for free?

3. Is this audience one I can't get in front of normally?

4. Does this actually raise my profile and have me down as an expert?

5. Is this going to be a lot of work and no reward?

I've done this quite a lot over the last 6 months and have done podcast interviews and have been in Janet Murray's membership a lot. It has gained me new c...

Do you price by the hour? Or do you price based on your hourly rate?

Pricing by the hour really undermines how efficient you are and how quickly you can get a result. If you can get the same result in less time, why should you be paid less for it?

You have to work out what the value is to the client of your work. For example, if you are in HR, can you deal with employee disputes quickly and efficiently with minimum stress on each side? That's worth a lot of money to a client.

Are you saving someone time, money, or providing peace of mind? An accountant might save all three, but the main pain is making sure you are paying the right tax and not missing anything.

Think about the problem you solve and what results you get for the client. Why should they hire you and not someone else?

Ask clients different questions when you talk to them. Not about what they want doing but about why they need it - why now? Why you? What are they looking to get?

This is tricky to start with but with ex...

So today I want to talk to you about five ways to avoid discounting when talking to a client. 

Picture the scenario, you send a proposal to a client and the client says they can't afford that. And the And you immediately offer to discount with no reason to do so.  Instead, take a deep breath and do one of the following 5 things:

1. Ask the client what the most critical thing that they need doing is.  If they are a new client, it might be that they haven't seen what you can do yet, they might be worried that they're spending money they won't get back. And so ask them what their most critical items are, and which ones you can start with. You could also start with what the budget is, and this would guide you as to what to start with and how they can get a result with a smaller budget.
2. Packaging your services.  I believe this gives people more options, plus makes it clearer.  It avoids awkward pricing conversations before they even start, so having conversations about discounting becomes...

When was the last time you reviewed your pricing? And how much do you give away for free?

So many people I come across give everything away for free. I'm not saying you shouldn't give stuff away for free and make it some of your best content, but too many people, especially women, don't sell after the free stuff comes out. And then we are back to it being a very expensive hobby.

It's important to check that your prices are competitive in your market place, especially if you are in a price driven market, but also make sure you are charging what you are worth, plus having enough to live.

When did you last sit down and work out how much you need to charge to cover your overheads? Do you know how much your overheads are, including paying yourself? What about how many hours you work? Do you take off holidays or have quiet or busy periods in your business? Do you work full time even? And how many of the hours you work do you actually do client facing work? What about the time spent doin...