June 23, 2026
Ditching Hourly Billing: Value-Based Pricing, Better Incentives, and Scaling as a Soloist
Kenny Harper had me on Growth Amplifiers to talk about hourly billing, value-based pricing, and how soloists can grow without hiring.
We got into why billing by the hour creates bad incentives for both you and the client, why fixed pricing feels risky, and how to start moving away from hourly without blowing up your whole business.
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(Whoa! My ’do was kinda crazy that day LOL!)
From Kenny’s show notes:
- The 2005 realization that led me to reject hourly billing
- Why fixed or value-based pricing better aligns incentives with clients
- How hourly billing encourages micromanagement and punishes efficiency
- Why optimizing employee utilization can be the wrong goal
- How firms can experiment with value pricing through a side offering or skunkworks team
- Why soloists can grow without hiring by charging more and building authority
- Where to start if you want to move away from billing by the hour
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Yours,
—J