All pricing guides

Every guide in this library started as a real pricing problem we could not solve with a Google search. A wedding photographer who did not know how to package her coverage. An Etsy seller who could not figure out why her "profitable" soap was losing money. A freelance translator who quoted per word without knowing what her hourly rate actually worked out to. We built meyy.info because the pricing advice available online is overwhelmingly generic, frequently wrong, and almost never shows the math.

Our 33 guides sit alongside our 36 free pricing calculators. Each guide is paired with the calculator that applies its methodology, so you can move directly from understanding the concept to running your own numbers. Every article follows the same structure: a real-world framing of the problem, the underlying cost model (with the formula written out in plain English), worked numerical examples using realistic inputs, industry benchmarks drawn from public sources, and the common mistakes that quietly drain profit from working businesses.

What you will find in each guide

Every article in the library hits a minimum word count of 1,500 words and is structured around the same backbone. We open with the pricing question the article answers — not a vague promise of "10 tips," but the specific dollar decision a freelancer, maker, or small business owner is trying to make. We then walk through the cost model that underlies the answer, with the formula written out in plain notation and explained line by line. Where a calculator exists for the topic, we link to it directly so you can plug in your own numbers.

After the model, every guide includes at least one worked example with realistic inputs drawn from the industry in question. A wedding photography guide uses real US wedding photography cost benchmarks; a candle pricing guide uses actual wax and fragrance costs per ounce; a tutoring guide uses local cost-of-living data. We cite our benchmark sources — the U.S. Small Business Administration, SCORE, the Freelancers Union, the Internal Revenue Service, the Professional Photographers of America, the National Restaurant Association, the American Translators Association, and others — so you can verify the numbers and adjust them for your own market.

Who writes the guides

Our editorial team includes working photographers, makers, food-business operators, tutors, translators, and freelance service providers. We do not commission content farms. We do not rewrite other people's blog posts. Each guide is written by someone who has personally faced the pricing problem the article addresses, then reviewed by a second editor for arithmetic accuracy, source citation, and clarity. Our full editorial policy documents this process in detail.

How the guides are categorised

The library is organised into ten categories that mirror our calculator catalog. Freelance Strategy covers the cross-disciplinary questions every independent professional faces — true hourly rate, value-based versus hourly pricing, negotiation, and tax reserves. Photography covers wedding, event, portrait, and print photography pricing. Handmade & Craft covers Etsy fees, soap, candles, and jewelry. Food & Bakery covers food-cost percentage, cottage food law, cake pricing, and food truck margins. Tutoring & Teaching covers home, online, music, and language tutoring rates. Freelance Services covers translation, interpreting, writing, design, development, and video editing rates. Pricing Fundamentals covers margin versus markup, subscription models, and other cross-industry concepts. Beauty & Wellness covers makeup, personal training, yoga, and hair. Home Services covers cleaning, lawn care, handyman, pet sitting, and dog walking. Events & Creative covers event planning, calligraphy, floral, and interior design.

Who reads the guides

The library is read by three overlapping audiences. The first is independent professionals setting or re-evaluating their rates — freelancers negotiating their first contract, photographers repricing their packages, food trucks updating their menu after ingredient costs shift. The second is small-business owners making structural pricing decisions: whether to switch from hourly to project pricing, whether to introduce session packages, whether to raise prices after a fee increase. The third is people considering starting a business — a corporate employee thinking about going freelance as a translator, a hobbyist soap maker considering selling at craft fairs, a retiree exploring tutoring as a side income — who need to know whether the math will work before they invest time or money.

Each guide is written to serve all three audiences. The opening framing speaks to the practitioner with an immediate decision to make; the methodology section equips the business owner thinking structurally; and the worked examples and benchmark tables give the prospective business owner a realistic picture of the unit economics. We deliberately avoid jargon that assumes prior pricing knowledge — every term is defined inline or linked from our pricing glossary.

The relationship between guides and calculators

The guides and the calculators on meyy.info are designed to be used together. The calculator produces a number; the guide explains why that number is what it is, what assumptions sit underneath it, and what the realistic range looks like in your market. We strongly recommend reading the paired guide before quoting a calculator's recommended price to a client. A calculator output with no understanding of the underlying model is fragile — you cannot defend it in negotiation, you cannot adjust it when the inputs change, and you cannot tell when the model itself does not fit your situation.

Each guide that has a paired calculator links to it directly, and each calculator links back to its paired guide. Where a guide covers a topic that does not yet have a calculator (the subscription pricing guide, for example), the guide documents the formula in enough detail that you can build a spreadsheet yourself — and we welcome requests for new calculators on topics the library does not yet cover.

What makes our guides different from typical pricing articles

Most pricing content on the internet falls into one of three categories, none of which actually help working practitioners. The first is the vague motivational piece — "charge what you're worth," "know your value" — which is emotionally appealing but operationally useless. The second is the multiplier rule — "price your candles at 3× material cost," "charge $75/hour for freelance writing" — which ignores overhead, ignores margin, and produces prices that look profitable but quietly lose money. The third is the platform-affiliate listicle — "top 10 invoicing apps" — which exists to generate referral revenue, not to solve pricing problems.

Our guides are different in four ways. They start from your real costs, not from a multiplier. They show the math, not just the answer. They cite the sources behind every benchmark so you can verify and adjust. And they are written by working practitioners who have personally faced the pricing problem the article addresses, not by content marketers who have never quoted a client. Our editorial policy documents these standards in detail.

Industry deep dives worth reading first

If you are new to the library and want a starting point, we recommend three guides. How to Calculate Your True Freelance Hourly Rate is the foundational article for any independent professional — the burdened hourly rate equation it documents underlies every freelance rate calculator on the site. Profit Margin vs Markup is the foundational article for any product business — understanding the difference between margin and markup is the single biggest pricing mistake we see. And Food Cost Percentage Explained is the foundational article for any food business — the food cost percentage equation is the most important number in food truck, bakery, and catering pricing.

From there, navigate to the category that matches your industry using the filter pills above, or use the search box to find a guide on a specific topic — a specific fee, a specific formula, a specific benchmark. The search filters both the article title and the summary, so you can search for "Etsy offsite ads fee" or "wedding photography package structure" or "candle wax weight" and find the relevant guide immediately.

How often the guides are updated

Pricing is not static. Etsy changes its fee structure. The IRS adjusts self-employment tax thresholds. Trade associations publish new benchmark surveys. We review every guide on a quarterly cadence and update the dollar figures, fee percentages, and benchmark ranges to reflect the most recent publicly available data. When a material correction is needed — a changed fee, a broken formula, an outdated benchmark — we publish the update with a dated correction notice at the bottom of the affected page. Our corrections policy explains this process.

How to use the library

The most effective workflow is to start with the guide that addresses your specific pricing question, read the methodology so you understand why the calculator recommends what it recommends, then run the calculator with your real numbers. The output of any calculator is only as defensible as your understanding of the inputs, and the guides exist to give you that understanding. If you cannot find a guide that matches your situation, email us — we prioritise guide requests from working practitioners and publish new articles monthly.

What the guides are not

Our guides are educational pricing tools, not financial, tax, or legal advice. We do not tell you what to charge; we give you a defensible model for arriving at a price based on your real costs and target margin. For high-stakes decisions — large contracts, hiring, business structuring, tax planning — consult a qualified accountant, attorney, or business advisor licensed in your jurisdiction. Our methodology page documents the formulas and the limitations of every calculator on the site.