Side Quests · Small missions. Real progress.
Time: 15–20 minutes | Cost: Free | You’ll need: A notes app or email draft, and a list of current clients or customers.
If you’ve been charging the same price for a while, chances are your costs, skills, and demand have all gone up — but your rate hasn’t moved. Raising prices feels awkward, so a lot of side hustlers just avoid the conversation entirely and quietly undercharge for months or years. The fix isn’t a hard negotiation. It’s a short, professional message you write once and reuse whenever it’s time to adjust.
This isn’t about picking a new number today. It’s about having the words ready so that when you do decide to raise your rate, you’re not scrambling to figure out how to say it without sounding apologetic or defensive.
Your mission: Write one reusable price-increase message you can send to current clients or repeat customers, so raising your rate becomes a normal business update instead of an awkward confrontation.
Steps
- Pick the client type you’ll message. Think of the person or group you’d actually send this to — a long-term client, a repeat customer, or a small group on the same legacy rate. Keep them in mind as you write so the tone fits a real relationship, not a stranger.
- Open with appreciation, not apology. Start the message by thanking them for being a client or customer — mention how long you’ve worked together if that’s true. This sets a warm tone before the news, and it reminds them why the relationship is worth keeping even at a higher price.
- State the change plainly, in one or two sentences. Say what’s changing and when it takes effect. Avoid over-explaining or justifying with a long list of reasons — a simple, confident statement reads as more professional than a defensive one. Something like: “Starting [date], my rate for [service] will be [new rate].”
- Add one line of flexibility or goodwill. This might be a grace period before the new rate kicks in, an option to lock in current pricing if they book before the change, or simply an open door to talk if they have questions. This step keeps the message from feeling like a take-it-or-leave-it notice.
- Close with a clear next step and save the template. End with something like “Let me know if you have any questions” or “Happy to hop on a quick call if useful.” Then save the whole message in your notes app or drafts folder, labeled clearly — like “Price Increase Template” — so it’s ready to copy, tweak the date and number, and send whenever you need it.
Quest complete when: You have one saved, ready-to-send price-increase message that you could copy, adjust, and send to a real client today without rewriting it from scratch.
