Raising Rates as a Solopreneur vs. Running a Team Practice

The rate increase decision is not the same operation for a solopreneur and for someone who runs a practice with other practitioners. Both involve the same fundamental work — understanding what the rate should reflect, communicating clearly, holding the new number — but the scope, the stakes, and the complexity differ in ways worth understanding.

The Solopreneur Rate Increase

For the solopreneur, the rate increase is a personal decision with direct effects. The practitioner sets the rate, communicates it, and lives with the outcome. There is no team to consider, no brand consistency to maintain across multiple practitioners, and no structural complexity.

What nobody explains about practice structure and rates is that this directness is both the solopreneur’s advantage and their exposure. The advantage: no coordination required, no consensus needed, and the rate change happens when the practitioner decides it does. The exposure: there’s no one else to consult, no external check on whether the new rate is reasonable or well-timed, and the practitioner carries the full decision alone.

For the solopreneur, the rate increase is most grounded when it comes from a clear internal assessment of what the work produces and what rate is commensurate with that — rather than from external pressure (needing more income) or comparison (others charge this much). Building the case in different practice structures for the solopreneur is primarily an internal exercise: what does my work produce, what outcomes have I documented, and what rate reflects that honestly?

The Team Practice Rate Increase

A practice owner raising their own rate — while also managing the rates of the practitioners who work within the practice — is navigating a more complex landscape. Several distinct questions arise simultaneously:

The owner’s own rate. The practice owner’s personal rate as a practitioner (if they still see clients) can be set on the same principles as the solopreneur’s. But it exists within the context of the practice’s overall rate structure, and changes to it send signals about the practice’s positioning.

The rates of employed or contracted practitioners. If the practice pays practitioners a percentage of the session rate, a rate increase for the practice directly affects practitioner compensation. This creates both a communication obligation and a retention consideration.

The practice’s overall rate positioning. Capacity signals in team practices are aggregated across multiple practitioners. A team practice that is consistently full across all practitioners is experiencing a practice-wide capacity signal — which may warrant a practice-wide rate review rather than individual adjustments.

Why the rate increase matters for the whole practice is amplified in team practices: a rate increase affects the practice’s market position, the clients it can attract, the practitioners it can retain, and the economic sustainability of the model as a whole.

What Each Context Requires

The solopreneur needs: clarity about their own work’s value, internal settledness with the new number, and direct communication with existing clients. The process is personal and direct.

The practice owner needs all of the above, plus: coordination across the practice’s rate structure, communication with practitioners about how the change affects them, and consideration of what the rate change signals about the practice’s direction to existing and prospective clients.

The full rate increase process looks different in each case — but the underlying work of aligning the rate with the work’s actual value is the same.

The Abundance GPS Skool community supports practitioners across practice structures in making rate decisions that reflect the work’s genuine value. Join us here.