Lesson 6 — Pricing the speed (why 45 min ethically charges $1k)

Customer is paying for the years that made today possible — not the 45 minutes. Don't punish them for hiring an expert.

The walkthrough

1. Lesson 6 — Pricing the Speed — Why 45 minutes ethically charges $1,000.
2. Same outcome. 1/5 the price. 100x the speed.
3. The trap
4. You are not paid for your time. — You are paid for the outcome.
5. The doctor analogy — 15-min visit · $400 bill · why nobody complains
6. What you're really being paid for — 5+ years building sites · 1000s of hours of debugging · the L01-L05 system itself
7. Discounting for speed punishes the customer — It says: 'You'd have been better off hiring someone slower.'
8. Model #1 — $500 flat — First sites · low-stakes · referral pricing · scope: as planned, no revisions
9. When $500 fits — Local nonprofit · friend's spouse · first 5 portfolio builds
10. Model #2 — $1,000 with one round of revisions — Standard offer · 80% of customers · the sweet spot
11. What $1,000 includes — Build · 1 revision round · 30-day support · domain setup · handoff doc
12. Model #3 — $1,000 + $200/mo retainer — Premium · monthly tweaks · hosting handled · most profitable
13. Retainer math — $200 × 12 = $2,400/yr per customer · 10 customers = $2k/mo recurring
14. What to charge for vs. what to discount
15. The on-call quote — script
16. $1,000 quoted, 4-second pause, accepted
17. Rule #1 — Don't apologize for the price
18. Rule #2 — Don't justify with an hourly rate
19. Pushback: 'Can you do it for $500?'
20. Pushback: 'Let me think about it.'
21. Pushback: ghost
22. Pushback: 'My nephew can do it for free.'
23. How I invoice — same day — Stripe link · 50% on plan-approval · 50% on launch
24. Why the 50/50 — Plan stage costs you nothing if they ghost · launch stage covers your time
25. Stripe link in 30 seconds — Dashboard → payment links → flat amount → email or SMS
26. The one-page contract — Scope · price · revisions · timeline · who owns what
27. How to pitch the retainer
28. Retainer scope — Up to 1 hour of edits/month · monthly check-in · hosting handled · priority queue
29. Cancellable any time — Reduces friction · increases close rate · churn is rare
30. Discount script
31. Tier-up script
32. Average revenue per customer (mine) — $1,000 build + $200/mo × 10 mo avg = $3,000
33. 5 customers a month = $180k/yr — Math: 5 × 3,000 × 12 / discount-for-overlap = ~$180,000
34. Mistake #1 — quoting hourly
35. Mistake #2 — discounting because it was fast
36. Mistake #3 — net-30 for new customers
37. Mistake #4 — skipping the retainer pitch
38. What I tell every customer at the end
39. Run your next quote with these scripts
40. Cost: $0 · Revenue ceiling: removed
41. The whole Workflow — L01 Intake · L02 Obsidian · L03 Plan · L04 Live Server · L05 Edits · L06 Price
42. localmodeldojo.com/workflow
43. Founder pricing — LAUNCH30
44. info@localmodeldojo.com
45. Workflow Module — $50-100 standalone · free with LMD Founder
46. End card — workflow logo + URL
47. Don't punish the customer for hiring an expert.
48. localmodeldojo.com
49. —

— Jake Morris · Oklahoma veteran · localmodeldojo.com