15 SEP 2026

Hi Reader,

A prospect asks what it costs, and you feel the number start to shrink on its way to your mouth. Perhaps you round it down, add a discount nobody asked for, or bury the figure in a longer sentence so it lands softer. The work was solid right up until the moment you had to put a price on it.

This week is about pricing what you make, and setting a number you can say out loud and stand behind. A price is part of the build, because it's the clearest signal you send about what the work is worth and who it's for. As you build something, it builds you back, and learning to price it well changes what you make next, and who you make it for.

Mind

Price feels like a verdict on you, and it's really a piece of information for them. People read a number the way they read everything else about the work: as a signal of what it is and who it's for. Set it low and you earn less, and you quietly tell the room the work is minor. When someone does say it's too expensive, hold that lightly, because the stated reason is rarely the real one. Under "too much" there's usually "I'm not sure this solves my problem", which is a clarity question wearing a price tag. Price against the size of the problem you solve, not the hours it took you.

• Ask yourself: if my price is a signal, what does my current number tell someone about the work, and is that the message I want to send?
• What problem does this actually solve, and what is solving it worth to the person paying?

Skills

Your first price is a question, and the market's answer is the research. You can't reason your way to the right number from your desk, so put it in front of real people and read what comes back. Name one clear price to the next three prospects, out loud or in writing, and watch what happens: who says yes without blinking, who negotiates, who goes quiet. A price nobody flinches at is usually sitting too low.

• Set one clear number for a defined outcome, and quote it to three real prospects this week. Watch the reaction rather than explaining the price away.
• If nobody flinches, lift it on the next quote and run the test again, until you find the edge.

Soul

Naming your price and holding still while someone reacts is a nerve you build once and keep. Undercharging can feel generous, and a lot of the time it's the shrinking door: you keep the number small to stay liked and safe, and the work stays small with it. The one you're becoming is the person who can say the figure plainly and let it sit there. If a quote comes back a no, read both mirrors: what you make of it, and whether the price or the fit was the real issue. Then set the next number before the sting fades.

• Ask: where am I pricing to stay comfortable, and what would I charge if I trusted the work to be worth it?

Build this

Each week I take something that's quietly broken and hand you one idea you could build in answer to it. This week, manufactured scarcity.

A lot of retail pricing is built to confuse rather than inform. The was-now sticker where the "was" never really held, the countdown that resets on refresh, the sale that somehow never ends. It trains everyone to distrust a number, and it's part of why naming an honest price feels so hard. We've all been taught to read a price as a trick.

One startable version is an honest-pricing business. Pick a field where quotes arrive full of asterisks, trades, dentistry, software, event hire, and build the version that publishes real, fixed prices for clear outcomes. No "from", no "enquire for pricing", no invented discount. Put the numbers on the page and let the clarity be the product. Run it for a community service where people dread a hidden bill (purpose), or price it properly in a market where confusion is the norm and trust is the gap (profit).

• Start it this week: pick one murky-priced field, write three clear fixed-price offers for it, and publish them somewhere a real customer could see.

My turn, priced plainly

The Young Founders Course is live. 12 phases, a short video for every activity, the Playbook, the printed Workbook, and 12 months' access. It's $297.

Because you read this, it's $247 with the code MAKE50. That's the whole offer. There's no countdown, no invented "was" price, and the code stops working on 28 September.

​Take a look at the course​

Hit reply and tell me the number you're going to name this week.

As always, Good things come to those who make.

Grow forth,
Charbel

​Kits · Learning Community · Team Training​