The price rise you keep putting off I had a call last month with someone running a design studio. She hadn't raised her rates in three years. Her costs had gone up 22% in that time. She knew she needed to charge more. She just couldn't pull the trigger. This is common. People running their own thing tend to delay price increases until they're desperate. By then, they're already losing money on projects, resenting clients, and wondering why they started the business in the first place. The problem isn't courage. The problem is uncertainty. You don't know if now is the right time. You don't know how clients will react. You don't know if you'll lose work. A Decision Matrix won't eliminate that uncertainty. But it will force you to think clearly about what actually matters. What a Decision Matrix does A Decision Matrix is a simple tool. You list your options down one side. You list your criteria across the top. You score each option against each criterion. Then you add up the scores. That's it. No magic. Just structured thinking. The value isn't in the final number. The value is in forcing yourself to name what matters and weigh it honestly. Most people have never done this. They have a vague sense that raising prices is risky, but they've never asked: risky compared to what? Compared to continuing to undercharge? Setting up the matrix for a price decision Here's how I'd structure this for a pricing decision. Your options might be: keep prices the same, raise by 10%, raise by 20%, raise by 10% for new clients only, or restructure your offering entirely. Your criteria might include: impact on cash flow, client retention risk, alignment with market rates, your own confidence in delivering at that price, and how it affects your positioning. Weight each criterion. If cash flow is your biggest concern right now, weight it higher. If you're worried about losing a specific anchor client, weight retention risk accordingly. Then score each option against each criterion. Be honest. A 10% rise probably has low retention risk. A 20% rise might have higher risk but better cash flow impact. Keeping prices the same has zero retention risk but negative cash flow impact when you factor in inflation. The criteria most people forget When I work with people on this, they usually include the obvious criteria: will I lose clients, will I make more money. They forget the less obvious ones. One is resentment. If you're already feeling underpaid, that affects the quality of your work. It affects how you show up. It affects whether you want to keep doing this. That's a real cost. Another is positioning. British Airways announced this week they're raising fares to offset fuel costs. They're not apologising for it. They're stating it plainly. Pricing sends a signal about where you sit in the market. Staying cheap might be costing you the clients you actually want. A third is timing relative to external factors. Costs are rising everywhere. Toyota just reported £3bn in losses from material price increases. Your clients are watching their own costs go up. They understand that prices change. This might be the most receptive moment in years. Running the numbers Let's say you score each option on a 1 to 5 scale against five criteria, each weighted equally. Keeping prices the same might score: cash flow 1, retention 5, market alignment 2, confidence 3, positioning 2. Total: 13. A 10% rise might score: cash flow 3, retention 4, market alignment 3, confidence 4, positioning 3. Total: 17. A 20% rise might score: cash flow 5, retention 2, market alignment 4, confidence 3, positioning 4. Total: 18. The numbers aren't gospel. But they make you confront the trade-offs. In this example, the 20% rise wins on total score, but that retention score of 2 might be a dealbreaker if you can't afford to lose any clients right now. That's the point. The matrix doesn't decide for you. It shows you what you're actually choosing between. When the matrix says wait Sometimes the matrix tells you to hold off. That's useful too. If your retention risk is genuinely high and you don't have new client acquisition sorted, raising prices might be reckless. If your positioning isn't clear enough to justify higher rates, you might need to fix that first. The matrix can reveal that the real problem isn't pricing. It's something upstream. Maybe you're targeting the wrong clients. Maybe your offer is too generic. Maybe you haven't built enough trust to command higher fees. I've seen this happen with people I've worked with through ALIRA. They come in thinking they need to raise prices. The Decision Matrix at alira.london shows them they need to narrow their focus first. Then the price increase becomes obvious. The 72-hour rule Once you've run the matrix, don't act immediately. Sit with it for 72 hours. See if the answer still feels right. If it does, move. Send the email. Update your website. Tell your next prospect the new rate. If it doesn't, look at which criterion is bothering you. Maybe you weighted something wrong. Maybe there's a factor you didn't include. Adjust and run it again. The goal isn't perfection. The goal is making a decision you can defend to yourself. What to do this week First, open a spreadsheet or use the Decision Matrix tool at alira.london. List your pricing options across the top and your criteria down the side. Weight the criteria. Score each option. See what the numbers say. Second, identify your retention risk specifically. Which clients would actually leave if you raised prices by 10%? By 20%? Name them. Then ask yourself whether losing them would be as catastrophic as you imagine. Third, pick a date. If the matrix says raise, put a date in your calendar. Not "soon". A specific date. That's when the new rate goes live. Having a deadline turns analysis into action.