Guides · 9 min read
How to Price One to One Work Without Undercutting Yourself
A practical, honest guide for solo coaches and private instructors who set their own rates and dread the "what do you charge?" conversation.
Try it free for 30 days. No card required.
In this guide
01
Why most one to one rates are quietly too low
The honest reason most private coaches undercharge has very little to do with the market and almost everything to do with the conversation.
Coaches who set their own rates usually pick a number that feels defensible in the moment of being asked. The client asks. The coach hears their own voice say the number. The number that comes out is the one that felt easiest to say out loud, not the one that pays for the year. Most rates are set this way, then quietly never revisited.
The hourly rate is also doing more work than it looks. It is paying for the lesson itself, but also for the preparation, the note afterwards, the message during the week, the cancellation, the year of unpaid practice the coach did before they started teaching. None of that is visible to the client and almost none of it is built into the rate when the coach picks the number under pressure.
02
What an hour of coaching actually has to cover
Before naming a rate, name what the rate is paying for. Most coaches who do this quietly raise their number by a third.
A coach who has done this exercise honestly tends to find that their current rate is paying for the lesson and a portion of the work around it, and is quietly skipping everything else. The undercut is rarely deliberate. It is the cost of having set the rate during a stressful phone call.
The hour itself
The teaching time. Usually the only part the coach feels they are charging for.
The work around the hour
Preparation, the note straight after, the message during the week, the rebooking. Honestly, between fifteen and forty minutes per session, depending on the client.
The unpaid weeks
Holidays, illness, cancellations, the quiet week in January. Across a year, most solo coaches teach somewhere between thirty and forty paid weeks, not fifty two. The rate has to cover the gaps.
The cost of being self employed
Tax, insurance, equipment, court hire or studio hire, travel, software, accountant. Often twenty to thirty percent of gross income before the coach has paid themselves anything.
The years of practice that earned the hour
The qualification, the apprenticeship, the unpaid teaching, the playing or performing career. The client is paying for that experience too, even if neither side names it.
03
A simple way to set a sustainable rate
There is no perfect formula. There is a calm one that gets most coaches honest.
Start from the annual income you actually need, before tax, to live the life you want and to put a little aside. Be specific, not aspirational. Add an honest figure for the costs of running the practice across the year. Add a reserve for the weeks you will not teach.
Divide that total by the number of paying hours you can sustainably teach in a year. For most solo coaches, the honest answer is between six hundred and a thousand hours, not fifteen hundred. Anything beyond that and the coaching itself starts to suffer, and the rate is no longer doing the long arc job.
The number that comes out of this calculation is your true rate. The number you currently charge is your political rate. The gap between the two is the amount you are quietly subsidising your own business each year. Most coaches doing this for the first time find the gap is between ten and thirty percent.
04
How to talk about the rate without flinching
The rate is fine. The conversation about the rate is what most coaches need to practise.
Name the rate in a full, plain sentence
"My rate is sixty pounds an hour, in blocks of six lessons." Not "it’s sort of around sixty, but we can talk about that." The way the rate is said is half of whether it is accepted.
Say it without immediately justifying
A small silence after the number is uncomfortable for both sides and usually ends in a yes. The coach who fills the silence with discounts and disclaimers trains the client to expect them.
Have one honest alternative ready
Not a discount. A different shape. A shorter session, a smaller block, a less intensive cadence. The client who cannot afford the full rate can usually afford a smaller version of the work.
Have a calm sentence for the client who pushes
"That is the rate that lets me keep doing this work well for the people I already coach." It is true, it is not defensive, and it ends the conversation kindly.
05
Raising the rate without losing the roster
Most coaches who raise their rate sensibly keep almost every client. The fear of losing the whole roster is usually larger than the actual loss.
A clear, calm rate rise of ten to twenty percent, announced four to eight weeks in advance, with the next block already priced at the new rate, tends to be accepted by the large majority of clients. The few who leave are usually the ones who were already drifting.
The mistake most coaches make is raising the rate quietly, partially, or only for new clients. This leaves the existing roster locked into an old rate forever and quietly resents the new clients for paying more. Within a year or two, the whole rate sheet is a mess and the coach is back where they started, undercharging by a different amount.
Announce the new rate in one message
Short, warm, clear. The new rate, the date it starts, the next block already priced. No long apology.
Give a runway, not an exception
A few weeks of notice is generous. A permanent grandfathered rate for the old roster is a tax on yourself that compounds for years.
06
The quiet thing a fair rate buys you
A rate set honestly is not just better for the coach. It is better for the coaching.
A coach who is being paid fairly takes the note after the lesson. Replies to the message on Wednesday. Plans the next block. Carries on for ten years instead of three. The work between sessions is the work that compounds, and the only coach who reliably does it is the one whose rate has room for it.
A coach who is quietly undercharging eventually stops doing the small unpaid things, almost without noticing. The lessons stay good. The thread between them goes quiet. The client cannot quite say why they drifted away, but they did. The rate is not just a number on an invoice. It is the shape of the relationship, set in advance.
Frequently asked questions.
How do I know if my rate is too low?
The clearest sign is that you cannot consistently pay yourself a fair income from the hours you can sustainably teach. The second sign is that you have not raised the rate in two or more years. The third is that you flinch when you name the rate out loud.
How often should I raise my rates?
A small increase every twelve to twenty four months, in line with the cost of living and the experience you have gained, is healthier than a long freeze followed by a big jump. Most coaches who raise sensibly keep almost all of their roster.
Should I discount for blocks or longer commitments?
A modest discount for a block paid in advance is reasonable and improves the rhythm of payment. A large discount tends to teach the client that the standard rate is negotiable, which is rarely what the coach wants.
What do I say if a client pushes back on the rate?
"That is the rate that lets me keep doing this work well for the people I already coach." Short, honest, kind. Offer a smaller shape of the work if cost is the real obstacle, but do not discount the same shape.
How do I keep track of who has paid what?
A single view of who owes what this month is one of the most useful things a solo coach can have. Tools like Another Session show outstanding amounts per client at a glance, take card payments or mark off cash, and keep the chase short and calm.
Related pages
Run your coaching, calmly
One calm place for clients, sessions, notes and payments. 30 days free, no card needed.
Try it free for 30 days. No card required.