Have you ever discounted your prices just to close a sale and told yourself it was the kind thing to do? It might feel generous in the moment, but six months down the road, when you’re doing too much work for too little money, that kindness starts to feel a lot more complicated.
Let’s talk about why discounting is one of the sneakiest ways creatives quietly undermine their own businesses.
Next time you feel the urge to discount just to close a sale, pause and ask yourself: is this client genuinely a good fit, or am I discounting out of fear? If they’re the right person, they’ll find a way to make it work at your full rate. Give yourself permission to hold your price, and let the right clients come to you at what you’re actually worth.
Read the Transcript
Welcome to the Creative Minds Smart Money podcast, where we turn financial confusion into creative confidence. I’m Samantha Eck, bookkeeper and fractional CFO for creative entrepreneurs. Each week, I’m sharing my financial expertise and actionable strategies to help you build a thriving creative business. Plus, you’ll hear from industry experts who bring fresh perspectives on growing your business beyond the numbers. Because building a successful creative business starts with strong financial foundations.
Your next chapter starts now.
Welcome back to another episode of the Creative Minds Smart Money podcast. Today we’re talking all about discounting — why people feel like it’s such a good option, without realizing that it’s actually hurting their business. So let’s get into it.
One of the first questions I want to ask you is: have you ever discounted in your business? And not just talking about a sale, but just because — and why did you do it? So when I think about discounting, I think about, for example, running my business as a bookkeeper and saying, okay, I’m going to offer this person $600 off of my top tier package just because I like them. At the time, it feels amazing. It feels kind. It feels genuine. Six months down the road, when you have to raise the rate for that person because you’re doing too much work for what you’re charging, they’re going to look at you and go, that’s a little crazy. You know what I mean?
So it’s definitely something difficult. Now, the story that most people tell themselves when they are discounting is: I’m being kind. I’m working with them. We’re doing great. Everything feels pretty good. You’re like, if I discount this a little bit, I’m going to get this client. Or if I discount this just a little bit, it’s going to close the deal. I know it is. It feels great. I know it does. Trust me. But there is a real issue in the long term, and we’re going to chat about that.
There’s math to this, obviously. So what does discounting actually do to our profit margins? When we look at the bigger picture — let’s say your service was $1,000 and you discounted 20%. 20% of $1,000 is $200. It looks fine on paper, but when you get to the end of the month, if you’re discounting $200 across 10 clients, that’s $2,000 that you’re missing out on. And on a personal note — I am a bookkeeper who’s terrible at math, but bookkeeping and accounting has very little to do with math and a lot to do with problem solving and critical thinking. I think I’ve mentioned that before, but a lot of people assume that accountants should naturally be good at math, and it’s such a farce.
But anyway, back to the point. Why is 20% more damaging than it sounds? You might be thinking that 20% isn’t that bad, but your revenue is dropping immediately while your expenses don’t. If you’re onboarding a new client, your expenses are staying exactly the same. Nothing changes. And you have to book significantly more work to make up the difference. If you had a $1,000 contract and you discounted it to close the client, now you have to find a way to make that $200 back.
Discounting also compounds. If someone sees that you discounted your service one time, maybe they post about it online — “Oh my gosh, this person was amazing, she even gave me a discount.” Now that’s the expectation. And if they share it, it becomes the expectation from other people who might want to work with you too. It can create a negative ripple effect that you really don’t want to deal with.
So why do we do it? As creatives, why are we driven to give discounts? Beyond just being nice. Obviously the number one reason is the fear of rejection or the fear of losing the sale. You’re like, if I discount this, I’m going to close it. It’s a fear. And there’s also the feeling that your full price isn’t justified yet. It’s wanting to be accessible. It’s the discomfort with the silence after you give someone a quoted price. There are so many emotional reasons behind this. You just want to be kind. And then you give a price and they have sticker shock and they go quiet. They were super communicative, and then you get to the pricing and they’re just silent.
But that is not on you, right? You have a price. You know your value. You know your worth. You need to be comfortable with that. If you’re looking at your pricing and saying, this is what I need to be at in order to run my business successfully, you shouldn’t shy away from that price. Because if you discount, what does that signal to your clients?
It’s going to affect the way they perceive you. And sometimes people see discounting as a sign of desperation — that you’re eager to get clients and willing to cut back on cost. To them, that’s a signal that maybe if they work on your emotions a little, you’ll discount again next month. And the relationship becomes difficult when you set discounts as a precedent, because clients who get discounts often become very demanding. They’re paying less but expecting more. That creates unrealistic expectations.
It also signals that your prices are negotiable. If you’re constantly discounting, you’re saying, my normal packages are $1,000, but I’ll give it to you for $800 today because I like you. When you have a set price, that’s your price. And the clients who push back on price are often not the right fit for you. I want to remind you of that, because a lot of times we feel that fear of rejection, of losing the sale. But realistically, we should feel glad that client didn’t move forward, because they weren’t the right client. They didn’t like your price. They didn’t feel comfortable with it.
So what do you do instead? If you genuinely want to work with someone but you’re not sure how to bridge the gap without discounting — here are the alternatives. A smaller scope at a full rate. Not the same scope, just something smaller. Something I don’t advertise often because it’s not a package I want people to stay on long term — essentially it’s an entry-level package where we do the reconciling and categorizing only. There are no financials, but it keeps their books tax-ready. So when we can give them financials, they already have everything available.
Payment plans that work for both parties. And when I say payment plan, I’m not talking about spreading payments over six months for a retainer — that doesn’t really work for recurring services. But for something like a website design, a payment plan can make a lot of sense. Maybe a waitlist or future availability when their budget aligns. If you genuinely like each other, you can say, here are some openings I have later on. If your budget aligns by then, let’s connect again.
And then there’s referring them to someone who fits their budget better. That is honestly one of the biggest compliments you can give a potential client. Not only does it show them you’re not going to put them in a difficult position, it might actually convince them to work with you anyway. Maybe they do have the money but they’re strict with their budget — and now they’re thinking, this person is so kind and thoughtful that they’d refer me out rather than just take my money. I want to work with them. I’ll figure it out.
Because if they genuinely want to work with you, they will find a way to make it work — without you discounting and giving them a bargain.
Discounting is great, honestly. There is a time and a place for it. But it is not when you’re trying to close a sale. If you’re feeling guilty about charging full price, that’s the moment to look at the bigger picture. Look at your expenses, everything you have going on, and ask yourself: is it worth discounting? Are your services worth it? What value do you bring? What software costs do you have? What does your team look like?
And if I were to give you anything — consider this a permission slip from your bookkeeper — if a client wants to work with you, they will find a way to make it work. Whether they take on more work, whether they come back later, whether they ask if they can start in a month. They will find a way. So give yourself the grace to charge what you’re worth, and allow that person to come back later paying you exactly what you deserve.
As always, if you love this episode, please like it, share it, subscribe, and share it on social media so we can keep growing. I’m so glad to see how far we’ve come over the past 99 episodes — and we’re almost at 100. Next episode is going to be a little more personal. We’re going to look back at some of the past episodes, and it’s going to be really exciting. As always, I wish you the best week ever. Farewell, fellow travelers.
For specific legal or tax questions, please consult with a licensed attorney or CPA in your jurisdiction.
