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Pricing for Profit: How Sole Traders Stop Undercharging Without Losing Customers

Most sole traders don’t undercharge because they’re careless. They undercharge because they’re trying to be fair, stay competitive, and keep work coming in.

And in the early days, that often works — until it doesn’t.

You end up busy, stressed, and doing “good turnover”… while your bank balance never seems to reflect the effort you’re putting in.

This article is a practical guide to pricing for profit: how to raise your prices (or price properly from the start) without scaring off good customers — and how Zenith Book Keeping can help you build the clarity to do it confidently.

The undercharging trap (and why it’s so common)

Undercharging usually comes from one of these patterns:

The danger is subtle: you can be fully booked and still not be building a sustainable business.

Profit isn’t what’s left in the bank

A quick link back to the core idea from the first article in this series: cash in the bank is not the same as profit.

Pricing for profit means you can clearly answer:

If those answers are fuzzy, pricing becomes guesswork — and guesswork usually leads to undercharging.

Real-world example: the “£300 job” that isn’t really £300

Let’s say you charge £300 for a service.

On paper, that sounds fine. But look at the real inputs:

Now you’re at 6.5 hours plus £50 in direct costs.

£300 minus £50 = £250.£250 / 6.5 hours = £38.46/hour before overheads and tax.

Add overheads (insurance, phone, software, marketing, accountant/bookkeeper) and set aside tax, and that “£300 job” can quickly become a much lower effective rate.

This is why many sole traders feel like they’re working hard but not getting ahead.

The mindset shift: you’re not selling time — you’re selling outcomes

Customers don’t buy “two hours of your time.” They buy:

Pricing for profit is not about becoming expensive. It’s about charging in a way that allows you to deliver consistently, professionally, and sustainably.

7 practical ways to stop undercharging (without losing customers)

1) Know your baseline: the minimum you must charge

Before you make any changes, calculate your baseline.

You need three numbers:

Minimum rate = what you need to earn each month, divided by how much work you can actually charge for.

Or, step-by-step:

  1. Add up your monthly overheads (software, insurance, phone, fuel, etc.)
  2. Add the monthly pay you want to take home
  3. Work out how many billable hours (or paid jobs) you realistically do in a month
  4. Divide step 1+2 by step 3

Example (hours)

Total needed = £800 + £2,200 = £3,000
Minimum hourly rate = £3,000 ÷ 80 = £37.50 per hour

Example (jobs)

Minimum price per job = £3,000 ÷ 20 = £150 per job

2) Separate “cost” from “price”

Cost is what it takes you to deliver. Price is what the market pays for the outcome.

You need both.

The sweet spot is: price based on value, protected by cost clarity.

3) Create 3 packages (even if you think you don’t need them)

Packaging reduces price pressure.

Example structure:

Most customers choose the middle option. The premium option makes the standard feel more reasonable.

4) Put boundaries around discounts

Discounts aren’t evil — random discounts are.

If you discount, do it with rules:

That way, you protect profit and train customers to respect your pricing.

5) Raise prices in small, planned steps

You don’t need a dramatic jump.

Try:

This is professional, normal, and far less scary than most people imagine.

6) Improve your quoting process (this alone can lift profit)

Undercharging often happens at the quote stage.

Simple improvements:

The clearer the quote, the fewer profit-killing surprises.

7) Track which work is actually profitable

This is the biggest lever.

If you don’t track profitability by service/customer type, you can’t make smart decisions like:

A simple monthly review can reveal patterns quickly.

What to say when you raise prices (without sounding awkward)

Here are a few clean, professional scripts you can adapt:

The key is confidence. If you sound apologetic, customers question the value.

Where Zenith Book Keeping helps (and why it makes pricing easier)

Pricing becomes simple when your numbers are clear.

Zenith Book Keeping supports sole traders and micro businesses by helping you:

When you know what it costs to deliver your work — and what you need to earn — you stop negotiating with yourself.

Key takeaways

Ready to price with confidence in early 2026?

If you’re serious about building a business that pays you properly, pricing for profit is one of the quickest wins you can make — but it’s hard to do without clean, reliable numbers.

Zenith Book Keeping can help you get that clarity, so you can set prices confidently, protect your margins, and grow without burning out.

Zenith is also running a special early-2026 offer with a discount for new clients who sign up in the early part of 2026.

If you’ve been thinking, “I need to get on top of this,” take that as your sign.

Take a look at Zenith’s current special offer and see how quickly you can move from undercharging to pricing with confidence.

https://zenithbook-keeping.uk/special-offer-26

Next in the series idea: “A Simple Monthly Money Routine: 30 minutes a month to know exactly where you stand.”

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