One big mistake home business owners make is to not ask for enough money. I’ve heard it said that this is particularly true for women, as they tend to feel more guilty asking for what they’re worth, but haven’t seen stats one way or the other, so I can’t say how true or untrue that one is.

Once you have the experience, you should not let yourself undercharge for your services, products or however you may earn your money.

Experimenting with your prices is a very good idea. In some businesses this is pretty easy to do; just find a script that tests a variety of prices automatically for you and see which gives you the best profits. But other times it’s more challenging, especially if you provide services and are trying to build up a customer base.

As you build your business, make sure your prices are being fair to you and remember that raising prices is hard work. It can lose you customers. However, if your customers are just looking for cheap work you may not want them anyhow.

One tactic is to raise prices a little less each time for established customers. Explain to them that you need to increase your prices, but because they’re a current customer they don’t have to pay the full increased rate right away.

If you’re selling physical items, make sure you account for the time you are spending when setting your prices. How many dollars an hour are you willing to work for? Think about that as you set your prices and figure out how many sales you can make a day.

I know I made the mistake of undercharging when I did website design. I got some customers, sure, but they just wanted cheap solutions. If I were to reopen that business I’d charge a lot more. It’s the only way it would really be worth my time.

Make sure your business is worth your time. An unprofitable business can’t last.

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