How to Know What to Charge Before You Have a Full Client Roster

When you’re new, pricing feels like a guessing game. You don’t have a portfolio of past events to reference, you’re not sure what the market will bear, and you definitely don’t want to price yourself out of your first few clients. It can feel overwhelming when you’re trying to build confidence and credibility at the same time. Here’s the good news: you don’t have to guess. There’s a formula, and it’s based entirely on your own goals and situation.

Stop Looking at What Other Planners Charge

I know it’s tempting. You search ‘event planner pricing’ online, join a few Facebook groups, and try to find the average. But here’s the problem: other planners’ prices reflect their market, their experience, their brand, and their financial situation, none of which may match yours.

Your pricing should be built from the inside out, starting with your income goals, not someone else’s rate sheet.

The Foundation: Your Income Goal

Before you set a single price, decide what you need to earn. Not just what you’d like to take home, but the total revenue your business needs to generate to cover your salary, your expenses, your taxes, and some profit.

This number is your Annual Gross Income Goal, and every pricing decision you make should trace back to it. Once you have this number, calculating your minimum hourly rate and evaluating any pricing model becomes clear and logical.

Factor In Your Available Hours Honestly

If you’re starting part-time while working another job, your billable hours are limited. That’s okay, but it affects your pricing. Fewer available hours means each hour needs to generate more revenue to hit your income goal.

Be realistic about this. A plan that requires 60 billable hours per week isn’t sustainable. Build a pricing model that works with your actual life.

Start With a Minimum and Build From There

Once you know your minimum hourly rate, you can build every other pricing model around it. For flat fees: estimate the hours involved and multiply by your rate, then add a buffer for the unexpected. For percentage pricing: check that the percentage generates enough income to meet your minimum for the event’s complexity.

As you build your portfolio and your confidence, your rates can, and should, go up. But you’ll never regret starting from a foundation that actually makes financial sense.

Your First Client Doesn’t Have to Be Cheap

One of the most damaging myths in this industry is that you need to work for almost nothing to build your portfolio. You don’t. You need to be honest about what you offer, confident in your process, and clear about the value you bring. Charging a fair rate from the start sets a healthy precedent for your entire business.

— Ready to take the next step? —

My Wedding & Event Business Blueprint includes a full pricing module plus money tools that take all the guesswork out of what to charge. Build your pricing on a foundation that actually works. Join the waitlist at https://coaching.naifproductions.com/waitlist

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About Naif Productions:

Naif Productions is a strategic event planning, design and production firm specializing in corporate, live coaching sales events, social, non-profit, and weddings. Based in New York City, we produce events worldwide from Fortune 500 clients and coaches to families and charities. Naif Productions specializes in helping clients attain their goals, realize return on investment, and achieve the most unique, creative experiences.

About Annette Naif:

Since 1986 Annette Naif has been designing and producing custom events, helping clients create their unique style that translates into a memorable and profitable experience. Annette spent 17 years producing events in the motion picture industry where she helped coordinate numerous productions for film and episodic television programs. Since then Annette’s been running her own event production company, coaching other event planners, teaching an event operations and production course at NYU, and now is the CEO & Creative Director of Naif Productions.