Hi Reader,

In my day job, as a "professional designer", the highest I ever got paid was $18.75/hour (with no benefits, insurance, or paid time off), and I often worked 45+ hours per week, because overtime pay was 'time & half', or $18.75 + $9.38 = $28.12/hour per hour over 40, each week.

So you can imagine my delight when I first quoted clients $25/hour, then $50/hour & up, for my freelance work.

It was empowering to realize that despite my past experience "at work", there WERE people out there who would pay me 'what I was worth' or at least, paid the rates I'd asked for.

Still, none of that prepared me for sending my first proposal for $1,200. 😬 🫣

I always felt nervous sending those proposals out, because I'd never 'asked' for larger sums of money before, ––but I did know those projects were absolutely worth more than I was even asking at the time.

One of my early clients needed a brand refresh, which meant adjusting her color palette, selecting new fonts, adjusting her logo and exporting new files, then updating her website to use the updated styles & logos. It sounded simple for me, but when I realized how long it'd take to implement it all, I knew it'd take me about a week to get it done, alongside my day-job's hours.

So I charged her $800 for that project, and felt confident about that number, even if I was nervous to send it. She paid it in a blink, I did the work, and she was really happy with the changes, even becoming a repeat client for more work!

But I'll never forget when I told someone close to me how much she paid for that initial project, ...and how SHOCKED they were that she'd paid that much for the work I'd done, ...and how they couldn't believe people had that kind of money to just drop on something like that... 🫠

That made me second-guess myself...

• Did I charge too much?
• Was I being greedy?
• Was what I did, really worth that amount?
• Am I delusional, and is my time not worth what I think it is?

I really had to think through those answers.

Here's where I landed:

• No, I didn't charge too much. I was already working overtime at my 9-5, so to add these extra hours in my week, –yes it WAS worth that amount because I wouldn't have wanted to take it for less than that. It took me about a week from start to finish, and hours of my personal 'free time' at home working on these design details & making sure everything was done right, that she had all the exported logo files she needed for her events, had updated event thumbnails, etc.
• No, I wasn't being greedy. I was charging appropriately for a small business owner, because around this time I was realizing that the money we earn isn't 100% a paycheck. It's maybe 40-60% a paycheck, and 10-20% taxes, and 3% processing fees, and 10-20% expenses, and hopefully some leftover to set aside for savings & investments.
• Yes, my time & expertise was absolutely worth that amount! By this point, I'd been in the design industry professionally for more than 10 years! I was also trained well by good professors in my college education, AND I knew I was not only good at this work, but that even at $800 for the project, that meant I was paid ~$50/hour for the time I put in.
• No, it wasn't a crazy or delusional number. It was just what that project was worth, to me, at my then-hourly rate.

That was just phase 1 of the many lessons I've learned about pricing my services since then!

This week, Kadie Smith, founder of Drop Cap Design® ––is back to dig more into this topic with us! 👇🏼

'Why does branding cost so much?'​ A live group coaching experience on positioning the value of Brand Design Guest Host: Kadie Smith, Drop Cap Design April 14, 2026 11am - 12:30pm Eastern Free for everyone to join Bring your questions! 👉🏼 Save your seat here (free!)

Not familiar with Kadie? She's built and launched 200+ brands since 2014, working with founders, creatives, and business owners across five continents. She became a brand designer while working for minimum wage at a coffee shop, and simultaneously building her side-hustle as a freelancer, illustrator, and wedding calligrapher.

But more than that, she’s also spent years working with designers like us: mentoring, teaching, and helping us figure out how to stop undercharging for work that genuinely changes businesses.

She ran an amazing masterclass for us last fall (catch the replay here if you missed it). Here's a couple comments we got afterward, about the event. 👇🏼 😍

But before all of that, she actually started by offering branding for just $100. 🤯
So it’s fair to say "she gets it" too. 🥴

And in a couple days, she’s coming back for a live Q&A coaching session to help you understand why the pricing gap exists in the first place and how to close it.

In this live session, Kadie will walk you through:

• Why “educating” our clients on brand value often backfires & what to do instead
• The real reason clients hesitate on branding investments (it’s not always their budget)
• How to shift from "convincing" to connecting, so the right clients say yes with confidence!
• What to say when a client asks: “Can’t we just skip the branding and go straight to the website?” 😬

This is a totally free, live group conversation, where most of the time is going to be dedicated to group coaching!

So please bring your real questions & situations! If you’ve got a specific client problem you’re navigating, we want to help talk you through how to manage it.

👉🏼 Save your spot here 👈🏼

See you there!!