April 3, 2026

Doesn’t a paid 60-minute call reveal my hourly rate?

Yesterday, one of the Ditchers down in Ditcherville asked about how to price a 60-minute expert call without it looking like an hourly rate.

Great question!

This is tricky because scheduling software requires a specific duration for an appointment.

(Product idea: scheduling software that shows appointments with a likely duration instead of a fixed end time... 🤔)

Here’s how I think about it:

Err on the short side for the meeting duration and include a checkbox that says “I’ll block out extra time in case we go long”
Why not err on the long side, like, 90 minutes? Because if someone buys 90 minutes, they’re probably going to fill 90 minutes :-)
Always keep this in mind: the client isn’t buying your time. They’re buying clarity. If they get clarity in 45 minutes, great. If they don’t, stay on until they do (or give up and refund their money)

That’s all there is to it. Questions? Just hit reply and ask :-)

Yours,

—J