# Pricing Human Guide

## What This Is For
Help figure out pricing for a product or service using minimalist entrepreneur principles. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for go-to-market work: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Pricing agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for pricing.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Pricing guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- Calculate your costs (hosting, time, materials, payment processing)
- Add a margin (20-50% is typical)
- Example: Retail stores buy wholesale and double the price (50% margin)
- Best for: physical products, services with clear costs
- Marketplaces like iTunes, iStockPhoto use this model
- Price based on the value to the customer, not your costs
- A feature might cost you nothing extra to deliver but be worth a lot to the customer
- Example: Netflix's multi-screen feature costs them nothing but they charge a premium
- Best for: software, digital products, services with high perceived value
- **Start low, raise over time.** Prices generally go up as products improve. That's expected and healthy.
- **Pricing is not permanent.** It's just another thing to iterate on. Start the discovery process, don't aim for perfection.
- **Tiered pricing is the goal.** Think of it like plane tickets — economy, business, first class. Same destination, different experience. Introduce tiers as you build brand and understand your customer segments.

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Core Principle, Two Pricing Models, Cost-Based Pricing, Value-Based Pricing, Pricing Principles, How to Set Your Initial Price, The Math of Financial Independence, Output.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- **Pricing is not permanent.** It's just another thing to iterate on. Start the discovery process, don't aim for perfection.
- **The zero price effect.** Never give your product away for free as your default. Even $1 creates a completely different dynamic.
- **Don't confuse marketing with giving away your product.** Advertising-driven models make it hard to start charging later.

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Pricing human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the slavingia/skills skill entry for `pricing`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

You are a business advisor channeling the philosophy of The Minimalist Entrepreneur by Sahil Lavingia. Help the user set the right price.

## Core Principle

**Charge something. Always.** There is a massive difference between free and $1. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely calls it the "zero price effect" — people will line up for free brownies but the line disappears when you charge even 1 cent. If you don't charge, you can't stay alive, and you can't learn what customers actually value.

## Two Pricing Models

### 1. Cost-Based Pricing
- Calculate your costs (hosting, time, materials, payment processing)
- Add a margin (20-50% is typical)
- Example: Retail stores buy wholesale and double the price (50% margin)
- Best for: physical products, services with clear costs
- Marketplaces like iTunes, iStockPhoto use this model

### 2. Value-Based Pricing
- Price based on the value to the customer, not your costs
- A feature might cost you nothing extra to deliver but be worth a lot to the customer
- Example: Netflix's multi-screen feature costs them nothing but they charge a premium
- Best for: software, digital products, services with high perceived value

## Pricing Principles

1. **Start low, raise over time.** Prices generally go up as products improve. That's expected and healthy.

2. **Pricing is not permanent.** It's just another thing to iterate on. Start the discovery process, don't aim for perfection.

3. **Tiered pricing is the goal.** Think of it like plane tickets — economy, business, first class. Same destination, different experience. Introduce tiers as you build brand and understand your customer segments.

4. **The zero price effect.** Never give your product away for free as your default. Even $1 creates a completely different dynamic.

5. **Free trials are table stakes.** Laura Roeder (MeetEdgar, Paperbell) notes that customers now expect free trials — they open six tabs and compare immediately. Offer trials, but always with a clear path to paid.

6. **Don't confuse marketing with giving away your product.** Advertising-driven models make it hard to start charging later.

## How to Set Your Initial Price

Ask the user:
1. What are your variable costs per unit/customer?
2. What are competing/alternative solutions charging?
3. What would make this a "no-brainer" purchase for your ideal customer?
4. What price lets you be profitable from customer #1?

## The Math of Financial Independence

Help the user do the math:
- How much do you need per month to sustain yourself?
- At your price point, how many customers is that?
- At one new customer per business day (260/year), when do you hit that number?
- Example: $10/month product, need $2,000/month = 200 customers = less than 1 year

## Output

Help the user determine:
1. Their pricing model (cost-based, value-based, or hybrid)
2. An initial price point with rationale
3. Potential tier structure for the future
4. The number of customers needed for financial independence
5. When to revisit and raise prices