For anyone who's ever asked: “Am I charging too much?” Or     quietly worried: “Am I selling myself short?” Or just wondering?

🌿 Introduction – The Goldilocks Dilemma

Pricing is rarely just a numbers game.
It’s psychology. It’s emotion. It’s self-worth.
And for small, creative, or heart-led businesses, it’s often one of the hardest decisions to make.
And for digital online businesses the temptation to chase bigger profits can be hard to swerve.


 

For the small, creative, or heart-led businesses you want to:
- Be fair
- Be accessible
- Reflect your value
- Honour the time, skill, and love you pour into your work
- And maybe — just maybe — earn a living too, and a great living would be brilliant

For the digital online businesses you want to:
- Create products that can be made once and repurposed in a variety of ways
- Reflect your time, skill, expertise and unique insights and systems
- Be paid reflecting all of this, plus ensuring the results are not over promised and under delivered
- Earn commensurate with the profit potential

But what’s too little?
What’s too much?
What’s just right?

Let’s explore.


 

🧵 Section 1: The Problem with “Too Little”

When you undercharge:
- People may assume your work isn’t valuable
- You end up resenting the work you once loved
- You can’t grow, because there’s no margin to reinvest
- You attract the wrong clients — the ones who want a deal, not a connection
- You may enter into a reducing-price loop that you can’t get out of. (If people don't buy at such and such a price, maybe they'll buy if it's less, repeat, repeat until you have no business.)
- You may think you are not worth a higher price tag.

Too-little pricing doesn’t just undervalue your product — it undervalues you.
But this has to be tempered with realism, practicality and objectivity.


 

💰 Section 2: The Problem with “Too Much”

For the small, creative, or heart-led businesses, on the other hand:
- Pricing too high for your audience can scare people off and limit accessibility
- You risk creating a big gap between promise and perceived value
- You may feel constant pressure to “overdeliver” to justify the price
- If your audience is handmade-loving, budget-aware crafters, you could unintentionally alienate them

And for the digital online businesses:
- Pricing too high for your audience can scare people off and limit accessibility
- You risk creating a big gap between promise and perceived value
- You can tier your offers so that there is a price point for everyone
- Just make sure the “high end” prices deliver everything you promise … and more if you can

But here’s the nuance:

Too much is only “too much” if it’s out of alignment with your story, your audience, your offer or if it leaves you constantly chasing new customers instead of nurturing the ones you already have.

⚖️ Section 3: The Goldilocks Principle

What’s just right?
For everyone

It’s the number that:
- Reflects the value of your time, your skill, your expertise and your energy
- Feels aligned with how you show up
- Makes room for profit and purpose
- Is affordable to the right person — not every person
- Lets you say: “Yes, I feel good about this”


 

🧭 Section 4: Pricing with Quiet Confidence

Here’s what I’ve learned:

- Do your market research — but don’t let it define you
- Look at what others charge — but don’t copy blindly
- Ask: What do I need this to do for me? For my clients?
- Check: Do I truly feel comfortable charging this price? (Too little – feeling undervalued yourself. Too much – feel like you're ripping your clients off. Just right – sleep easy at night.)
- Remember: your price is not your worth — but it is your boundary

This is especially true for crafting businesses, where:
- You carry both visible and invisible costs
- You pay for materials before a product even exists
- Your time, skill, and care are often taken for granted
- And “handmade” is sometimes unfairly equated with “should be cheaper”. But “handmade” doesn’t mean “undervalued.”

Your work deserves a price that respects its quality — and your time.


 

✅ Section 5: A Gentle Pricing Checklist

Use this to sense-check whether your pricing is in your “just right” zone.


 

For the small, creative, or heart-led businesses, ask yourself:

Do I…
- Know what my materials cost me?
- Know how much time I have invested – on a project by project basis – implementation and delivery?
- Understand what others in my space charge — without copying them?
- Feel totally, unequivocally comfortable with my prices?
- Feel a slight stretch when I say any of my prices — but not a panic?
- Believe the right people will see the value in what I offer?
- Have enough profit margin to sustain or grow?
- Feel that my price reflects the care and skill I bring?


 

For the digital online businesses, ask yourself:

Do I…
- Know what my cost of customer acquisition is?
- Know that I deliver what I promise?
- Understand what others in my space charge — without copying them?
- Feel totally, unequivocally comfortable with my prices?
- Feel a slight stretch when I say any of my prices — but not a panic?
- Believe the right people will see the value in what I offer?
- Have enough profit margin to sustain or grow?
- Feel that my price reflects the expertise and unique insights that I bring?


 

If you answered mostly yes, you’re probably close to your Goldilocks zone.
If not — pause, reflect, refine.


 

💬 Final Thoughts

There’s no magic number — only a meaningful one.

You get to decide what just right looks like for you — and you’re allowed to change it as you grow.

Slow, considered pricing isn’t about greed or guesswork. It’s about balance and integrity. And about building something that honours you as much as it helps others.