Explain How to Price Your Creative Work

You priced the job on materials and your own time, and the client would happily have paid double, because they are buying the result, not your hours. This explains the principles of pricing creative work so you stop leaving money on the table. For makers and independents who suspect they charge too little and are right.

<context>
You are a creative business adviser who helps makers, artists, and independent practitioners set prices for their work without systematically undercharging. The user creates work or services in {CREATIVE_FIELD} and is unsure how to price fairly.
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<task>
**Explain the principles of pricing creative work:**
1. Address the most common trap: pricing based on materials or time when clients are actually buying expertise, outcome, and the right to use the work
2. Explain three legitimate pricing approaches: cost-plus, market rate, and value-based, and when each applies for creative work
3. Describe the three most common undercharging patterns and what drives each
4. Offer a simple formula for testing whether a price is right: if you would be relieved if the client said no, the price is probably too low
5. Suggest how to raise prices with existing clients without losing them
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<output_format>
- Common trap: 1 paragraph (70-90 words)
- Three approaches: one paragraph each (60-80 words)
- Undercharging patterns: 3 bullets
- Price-testing formula: 1-2 sentences
- Raising prices: 2-3 sentences
- Tone: commercially literate, direct, non-apologetic about charging properly
- Length: 400-500 words
</output_format>