I'm about 3 months out from leaving my corporate job to start a digital marketing agency and I keep going back and forth on pricing. My current salary is $85k so I know what I need to clear to make this work, but I have zero case studies and no portfolio yet, and I'm terrified of pricing too high and losing people before I even get started. Do you set rates based on what you need to survive, or what the market charges, or something else entirely? Honestly not sure if I'm even asking the right question here.

I'm a therapist about to launch an online practice in LA and I honestly have no idea how to think about money at this stage. I've been quoted anywhere from $800 to $3,000 just for a basic website, and then I keep reading that I need to spend on Google Ads on top of that, but I don't know if that's month one money or month three money. I'm trying to figure out what the bare minimum startup budget actually looks like for a solo online therapy practice before a single patient books an appointment, and whether there's some order I should be spending in. I keep going back and forth on whether to spend on ads before I even have a real website, or just hold off and do everything at once.

I'm a therapist in LA trying to launch a solo online practice and I genuinely have no idea how to budget for the startup stuff. Like I know I need a website, probably Google ads at some point, maybe a HIPAA-compliant video platform, but I don't know if I'm looking at $500 total or $5,000 before I see a single patient. I keep trying to find a realistic number somewhere but everything I read is either too vague or assumes I already know what I'm doing. Has anyone built something like this from scratch and can tell me what they actually spent in the first 3-6 months?

I'm about 4 months out from leaving my corporate job to start a digital marketing agency and the pricing thing is breaking my brain. I've been looking at what others charge - seen everything from $1,500/month retainers to $8,000+ for similar scopes - and I genuinely can't tell if I should undercut to get my first two or three clients fast, or if starting low just trains people to expect low forever. My current salary is around $95k so I have some runway saved up, but I keep going back and forth on whether to position as a budget option to get case studies quickly or just charge something closer to market rate and accept that it'll take longer to close anyone. Has anyone actually tracked what happened to their client quality or retention when they started at a lower price point versus coming in closer to what they wanted to charge long-term?

I'm a therapist getting ready to launch a solo online practice in LA and honestly the pricing piece is breaking my brain. I've seen rates anywhere from $100 to $250 a session for telehealth and I have no idea how to pick a number that doesn't scare people off but also actually covers my overhead, liability insurance, the website I just paid someone to build, and whatever I end up spending on ads. Do I start low to get my first clients and raise prices later, or does that just train people to expect cheap and make it harder to raise rates down the road? I don't have a business background at all so I'm kind of guessing here and would really appreciate hearing what other solo service founders did when they were starting from zero.