Pricing is one of those things people either overthink or don’t think about at all. I’m in the second camp.

My only rule: sit in the buyer’s chair, not the competitor’s.

Anchor to a number, not a formula

Don’t work up from cost (materials + time + a margin = price). Work down from value (what problem does this solve, and what’s that worth?).

The resume template at $19.9 isn’t a number I picked out of the air. It’s what I, as a job-seeker, would have paid for a quality template. I bought templates at $12, $29, and $49 at different points. The $29 one was the easiest decision — so I priced mine at $19.9. Not cheap, not expensive, but cheap enough that people don’t think twice.

Publish the price

Don’t hide it behind “contact for a quote.” A buyer who has to contact → wait → reply → negotiate a price is mostly a buyer who leaves.

The upside of publishing: it filters out mismatches (people who think it’s expensive weren’t your buyers anyway), and amplifies matches (people who can buy directly have already decided).

Time-based increases

Template $12 → $19.9 → $29. Each increase roughly 6-12 months apart. Every time I raise the price I email existing customers saying “your early-bird price is locked in” — new customers pay the new price.

I’m not running a “pricing strategy” on purpose. I just feel “this is worth that now” and I raise it. The best trigger for a price increase is when you see existing customers doing well with the product — that means the value has been validated, and you can add a little more.

Products vs services

Digital products (templates, courses) — low friction, many buyers, zero marginal time per sale. Services (1v1) — high friction, one person at a time, expensive per hour.

I do both, but lead with products, services are the upsell.

A new visitor sees the $19.9 template first, buys it, uses it, thinks “this person’s stuff is solid,” and only then is $49 for a 1v1 session in the running. Selling services up-front is hard — nobody wants to pay a stranger $49 for 30 minutes.

Closing

Pricing isn’t math, it’s judgment. You pick a number, some buyers accept, some think it’s expensive, and you have to ask yourself whether you’d feel “short-changed” if they paid. All three answers are “yes” — that’s the right number.

The customers who think it’s expensive aren’t yours to serve anyway. The moment you feel “short-changed,” that’s the time to raise the price.

Update (2026-09-03)

Live product mix today: 11 free web tools on the tools page (replacing the “$19.9 resume template” example — “tools are the entry point”), a paid intro course at CN¥199 (product tier), and 1v1 consulting at SGD 29 / 60 min via Cal.com embedded right on the service page (extension tier). The article’s “product is the entry, service is the upsell” thesis holds in production data — most consulting leads come in through the free tools first.

— Lao Wei