The €250 Website That Taught Me Everything About Pricing

"I can't send this proposal. What if they say no? What if I'm asking too much? Maybe I should drop it by €1,000... just to be safe?"

Delete. Rewrite. Second-guess. Repeat.

Sound familiar?

I've been there. Hell, I lived there for the first two years of my freelance career. Not saying I'm swimming in money now, but that specific flavor of imposter syndrome – the one where you're convinced your work isn't worth what you're charging – I've learned to recognize it for what it is: fear masquerading as humility.

Let me take you back to where this all started.

The €250 Website That Should Have Been €2,500

My first paid website project: €250.

At the time? I was thrilled. I'd just built what I genuinely thought was a great-looking website. Custom design, responsive layout, contact forms that actually worked. I spent probably 40 hours on it, maybe more. I didn't track time back then because I was "passionate about the work" (read: had no idea what I was doing business-wise).

Here's the thing though – if I look back now with six years of experience, I wouldn't do half of what I did on that project. The code was messy. The structure was inefficient. I over-complicated things that should have been simple and under-delivered on things that actually mattered.

But that's how it works, isn't it? Doesn't matter if you're a web developer, a plumber, or a surgeon. At the start, you don't know much. You learn as you go. There's a Turkish saying I love: "Kervan yolda düzülür" – roughly translated, "The caravan gets organized on the road." The pain is in starting, but once you do, and you have the will to invest in yourself, you get better.

So I got better. Significantly better.

But when do you start charging what you're actually worth?

The Pitfall Nobody Warns You About

Here's where most freelancers trip up (I certainly did): I was doing the same work, now even with less effort because I'd gotten efficient. So what changed?

Everything.

You are not charging for the work you do at that time. You are charging for your knowledge.

Read that again.

When a client hires you, they're not paying for the 20 hours you spend building their website. They're paying for the six years (or however long) it took you to learn how to solve their problem in 20 hours instead of 100. They're paying for the mistakes you've already made on someone else's project. They're paying for the pattern recognition that lets you spot issues before they become disasters.

Why I Never Charge Hourly (And You Shouldn't Either)

Important note here: I do not recommend charging hourly rates.

Why? Because when you charge hourly, people put a price on the time you work, not the knowledge you bring to the table.

Let me give you a real example. I once had a client request where I needed to implement a complex e-commerce integration with custom tax calculations for different EU countries. Someone junior might have spent 40 hours researching, testing, and implementing it. I did it in 6 hours because I'd solved similar problems before.

If I charged hourly, I'd have made less money for being better at my job. How backwards is that?

Instead, I charged for the value: a working, compliant system that saved them from potential legal headaches and allowed them to sell across Europe. That's worth far more than 6 hours of anyone's time.

But How Do You Actually Set the Price?

This is going to be the painful part.

You need cashflow in order to confidently say "hey, this is my price" and not be bothered if a client walks away. But if you always rely on the next client, if you're constantly one rejected proposal away from panic, you need to change your strategy.

Let me tell you about my own mess.

For three years – THREE YEARS – I maintained websites for clients without charging anything. Built them a site for €250-€500, then answered their calls, made their updates, fixed their problems, all for free. Why? Because I was terrified of losing them as clients.

One day, a friend asked me the obvious question:

"Clients? They don't pay you anything..."

"Yeah, I know... what should I do?"

"Ask for a monthly maintenance package. Keep the amount reasonable. Make your argument strong about updates, security, always being there when they need you. See what happens."

So I did.

I went to five clients – the ones I'd been serving for free – with a clear proposal: €120/month for maintenance, updates, security, and priority support. I was nervous as hell. These were people who'd gotten used to free service.

What happened? All five said yes. All five found it reasonable.

Here's what I learned: People value what they pay for. When I was doing it for free, it felt like a favor, something they could take or leave. When I put a price on it, suddenly it became a valuable professional service.

No, I didn't go back and try to collect for the years I did it for free. Those are gone. Sunk cost. But I focused on the future, and suddenly I had a steady base of monthly recurring revenue.

Five clients at €120/month = €600/month. Not life-changing money, but enough to cover my baseline expenses. My mortgage, my bills, my coffee addiction.

This Is When You Have the Might

Because now everything keeps working even if your next proposal gets declined.

This is the position you need to be in before you can truly price your work with confidence. When a potential client says "that's too expensive," you can genuinely say "I understand, best of luck finding the right fit" and mean it. No panic. No desperation. No dropping your price by €1,000 just to make the sale.

Congratulations – you've suffered enough. Now you're ready to reap the fruits of your hard work.

My Current Pricing Process

Here's what I actually do when I get a new client request:

First, I push the project brief to Claude or ChatGPT and ask: "How much should a project like this realistically cost?" Not to set my price – to get a baseline understanding of market expectations.

Then I think about:

• What specific value can I add to this client?
• What will they be able to achieve with my work that they can't now?
• What problems am I solving beyond just "making them a website"?
• What knowledge am I bringing that they don't have?

I set my price based on that value, not on hours or market averages.

And if they decline? I work harder and refine my approach for the next client.

The Real Investment Nobody Talks About

One last thing: you gotta put in the work. This isn't a "charge more and hope for the best" strategy.

Web development is a very well saturated field, and with AI tools (which I've written about extensively on this blog) it's getting harder to justify premium pricing if you're not continuously leveling up.

You need to invest in yourself:

• Learn new technologies
• Understand AI tools (don't fear them, use them)
• Stay current with web trends
• Study business strategy, not just code
• Practice explaining technical concepts to non-technical people

The knowledge you're charging for? It needs to be worth charging for.

Final Word

Pricing your work is scary. It never stops being a little scary, honestly. But it gets easier when you:

1. Build that baseline cashflow so you're not desperate
2. Understand you're charging for knowledge, not hours
3. Can articulate the value you provide
4. Are willing to let the wrong clients walk away

Stand by your pricing. And if they decline, work harder, learn more, and try again with the next client.

You've got this.

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