Let’s talk. Pull up a chair. This is one of those conversations I used to dread and now I have with my chest.
Because here’s the thing nobody warns you about when you fall in love with your craft: loving what you do and knowing what it’s worth are two different muscles. You can be soft in the heart and still firm in the price. I’m living proof.
So let me say the part out loud that we all dance around.
The price went up. And it’s staying up.
Love don’t mean free
I will pour everything into you. The time, the care, the little extra touches you didn’t even ask for. That’s the loverboy in me — I can’t help it. But somewhere along the way, some of us started confusing generosity with being taken for granted, and those are not the same thing.
Think of it like a relationship. The love is unconditional. The standards are not. I’ll always show up for you — but showing up the right way costs something, and pretending it doesn’t is how good people end up burned out, broke, and resentful of the very thing they used to adore.
So no. Love don’t mean free. Love means I respect this enough to charge what it actually takes to do it right.
Full service means you pay for the full service
Here’s where the hard conversation usually lives, so let’s sit in it.
When you ask for more — the add-on, the extra, the “oh while you’re at it, can you also…” — that’s not a favor. That’s a second plate. And you don’t get to order the surf and the turf and expect to be charged for the side salad.
More service means more materials. More supplies. More of my hands, my hours, my expertise going into the thing. That add-on you want? It has a cost before it ever touches you — I’m paying for it on the back end whether you see the receipt or not. So when the extra service has an extra price, that’s not me reaching. That’s just math wearing nice clothes.
You want full service? Beautiful. I’m your guy. But full service comes at full-service rates. The two travel together. Always have.
This isn’t just me — it’s everywhere
And before anybody feels singled out, look around. This is happening across every industry, in every aisle, at every counter.
You felt it at the gas pump. You felt it at the grocery store — same cart, bigger total. You felt it on your rent, your coffee, your everything. Nobody pulled you aside and apologized for it. The world just quietly updated the number and kept moving.
The cost of doing business went up for all of us. The cost of doing good business went up even more. I’m not the exception to that. I’m just the one being honest with you about it to your face instead of sneaking it in and hoping you don’t notice.
That’s the respect. That’s the loverboy way. I’d rather have the awkward conversation than play you.
Say it with me
So here’s the line I want you to carry out of here, the one I had to learn the hard way and now I say like a prayer:
Yesterday’s price is not today’s price.
It’s not personal. It’s not greed. It’s not me forgetting where I came from. It’s me honoring where I’m going — and bringing the clients who value me right along with me.
The ones who get it never flinched. They understood that paying me well was the loyalty. And the ones who don’t? That’s okay too. Love means knowing when to hold on and knowing when to let the right people find their way to you.
I’m still soft. I’m still devoted. I’m still gonna give you everything.
I’m just not going to give it away.
Still your loverboy. New price. Same heart.