Pricing Sanity Check

Most freelancers know their headline rate and have no idea what they actually earn per hour of life given. The headline rate ignores the proposal that didn't close, the discovery call that didn't get billed, the invoicing on a Friday evening, the Stripe fee, the tool subscription that crept up, and the tax provision that never quite gets put aside. Stack those together and the £75/hour rate routinely turns into £30-£45 of actual earnings per real working hour. This skill does the calculation.

The intake asks for everything, not just billable hours. Tools and subscriptions monthly. Subcontractors, workspace, insurance, accounting. Then the part most pricing tools skip: how many hours go to admin, sales, marketing, learning, and unpaid discovery. That's where the truth lives. Effective hourly rate is annual profit divided by all hours worked — not just the ones you invoiced. The gap between stated and effective is usually 30-50% and almost always larger than the user expected.

The skill diagnoses against eight specific pricing pathologies. The Admin Tax (admin over 25% of total hours means billable hours are subsidising operations). The Sales Tax (low close rates mean failed proposals are unpaid labour scaled by how many you write). The Scope Creep Discount (projects routinely overrunning means your real project rate is below your quoted rate). The Tool Bloat. The Availability Trap. The Experience Discount. The Free Work Trap. The Platform Tax (Upwork's 10-20%, Fiverr's 20%, Stripe fees coming off the top). Each leak gets a specific number — not "reduce admin" but "5 hours/week of admin is costing you £375/week at your stated rate."

The output is opinionated about prescriptions. Every leak gets a quantified fix. The reverse calculation works backward from the take-home target the user actually wants — "to hit £75K take-home, your required rate is £71/hour minimum and £85+ for any margin." If they're charging £55 against that, the conversation isn't "should you raise?" — it's "by how much, on which engagements, and when."

This is a pricing diagnosis and a structural read, not financial or tax advice. Tax provisions vary by jurisdiction, business structure, and personal circumstances — an accountant should confirm those figures before you lock the new rates in. The skill produces the numbers and the options; the final decisions belong with someone who has your full picture.