How to Fix Underpricing

January 29, 2025

Are you charging enough? The three-part pricing formula you need

Psst! Want to hear a money secret? Almost every female and non-binary business owner I’ve met is underpricing. Yep. If you’re feeling a little called out, you’re not alone.

In this mini Money Secret episode, we’re diving into the three essential elements of pricing that go beyond just the numbers:

Pricing as mathematics: How much do you want to earn? What are your expenses? What’s your revenue goal? The math matters.
Pricing as money psychology: Your personal history with money is shaping the way you price your work—often without you realizing it.
Pricing as demand creation: People need to want what you’re offering at the price you’re charging. That means positioning, branding, and marketing play a huge role.

Pricing isn’t just about picking a number that feels right—it’s about making sure your business is sustainable, profitable, and positioned for long-term success.

It’s time to stop playing small and start charging what your work is worth. Hit play now 🎧

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We’ve come so far as a society in many ways, but money is one of the areas where progress hasn’t been enough. If we want to tip the scales in favour of marginalised people, it starts with understanding the secret: money in small business.

In this podcast, Money Secrets, host Fiona (Fi) Johnston—Chartered Accountant, small business advocate, and impact enthusiast—dives into the conversations we need to have about money. The secrets that once stayed behind closed doors (or on the golf course) are finally out in the open.

Fi’s mission? To get more money into the hands of good people, like you. She believes small businesses have the power to change the world, and the key to making a bigger impact is to make—and manage—more money.

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Thank you to everyone involved for bringing this podcast together. We are excited to hear from you with any questions, feedback or suggestions for future episodes that you might have. Send a Direct Message to @peach.business

If you are excited for what’s to come, please like this episode, follow the podcast and share it with your friends. We are thrilled you're here.

Want to find out more about Good Money Club? It's for female and non-binary business owners ready to make more money and impact. Join us?

Or check out the Peach Business website here to find out more about Fi.

Check out my FREE Pricing Training you need to set your prices for profitability.

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This podcast episode was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation and I'd like to acknowledge them as the Traditional Owners and custodians of this land and water that I live, work and play on. I'd like to pay respect to elders both past and present, and note that sovereignty has never been ceded. This always was and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.

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Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] Fiona Johnston
We've made a lot of progress as a society in many of the areas that we needed to in the last few hundred years. But one thing that has not changed enough is money. If we want to be able to tip the scales towards the favour of marginalised people, we need to understand the secret. money in small business.
The more we talk about money and the secrets that usually stay at the golf club, the more likely we are to be able to make money. My mission is to get more money into the hands of good people, specifically good business people like you. This is Money Secrets, the place to learn about the money secrets of successful small business owners.
Because I believe small business can change the world. And in order to do that, we need to be making a lots of money. Let's go.

[00:00:51]
This podcast episode was recorded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. And I'd like to acknowledge them as the traditional owners and custodians of this land and water that I live, work and play on. I'd like to pay respects to elders, both past and present and note that sovereignty has never been ceded.
This always was. and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.

[00:01:18]
Psst! Do you want to hear a money secret? That's what you're here for right? This is going to be a little mini money secret that I'm recording from my car. What I want to talk to you about today is the fact that almost every female business owner that I've ever met is undercharging.
Now there are some mathematics that we need to do in order to understand what our pricing needs to be. And the best way to go about that is to consider how much do I want to pay myself? What will my expenses be? And therefore, what does my revenue need to be for the year? Then you can start to think about how you want to earn your revenue.
And you can come up with a price or a package or some kind of system that you're going to use to bring money into your business.

[00:02:06]
But there's a lot more to pricing than just the mathematics. Pricing is that area of business that brings up the most feelings. We have a lot of thoughts and a lot of feelings about money. And they have come through being socialized our whole lives in certain ways. Different families will have had different ways of thinking and talking about money than other families. Every work experience, every job, every employer, every manager that you've had will have impacted your money psychology.
And so there's a lot of work we need to do to unpack all of these different things that we've been told our whole lives about money if we want to be able to make money through our businesses. So there's the mathematical part of pricing, which is how many things will I be selling and what will I be selling them for?

[00:03:01]
But then there's also this psychological part of making sure that you are in a healthy mindset when it comes to money. That you see money as a tool that you can use in whatever way you choose. Then there's also building demand and making sure that you have product market fit. So product market fit is a fancy way of saying that people want to buy what you've got, and they want to pay the amount that you want to charge.

[00:03:28]
So it's all well and good for me to talk about how much we need to be increasing our prices. And I say that with a lot of experience working with small business owners who are undercharging. But if we want to be able to charge the premium prices that I think we want to, there needs to be a demand for our services and products.
And we build demand through our own branding and marketing. Sometimes we enter an industry or we offer a product or service that already has a lot of in built demand. But one of the best things that we can do if we are wanting to charge a premium price is to really understand what is the value that I'm creating here? How am I making somebody's life or business better through delivering this product or service?

[00:04:17]
And then we need to get really good at communicating that because it's one thing to be amazing at what you do and it's a whole nother thing for people to actually know about you. So the little tiny money secret that I'm sharing with you today is that you probably are underpricing, especially if you are a female or non binary small business owner.

[00:04:39]
So if you're probably underpricing and you need to be looking at How am I actually going to work out what my price needs to be and then be able to charge it? First you need to do a little bit of maths around how much money you want to bring in each year and how you're going to make that happen. You need to have a look at the money thoughts that are swirling around your mind. And see if there are anything that you need to try to alter or shift. And then the third thing is to think about how you can actually build demand for the product or service that you are offering. That's the key to not only being able to price your products appropriately, but it's also the key to being able to stay in business.
Businesses that have great products and services that people want and that people are happy to pay for, they are businesses that have a lot of longevity. So yeah, that's my tiny little money secret today is have a look at your pricing and think about it through the lens of maths, money psychology and building demand. I'll see you in the next episode. I'm thrilled you're here.

[00:05:49]
Thank you so much for listening right up to the end. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Money Secrets, where we talk about the money secrets of successful small business owners. If you enjoyed the episode, I'd love it if you subscribe to the podcast, but leave us a review or share this episode with one of your friends.
I hope you learned something. I hope you got a new perspective and I really hope you enjoyed the listening experience.

How to Fix Underpricing

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