Gemini priced my consulting rate and then argued me out of the number

Your number is anchored to your salary, and that's the wrong anchor. Let me show you why, then give you a real one.

Why £450 is too low

Start from what you need, not what you earned:

• 260 weekdays a year
• minus 25 holiday, 8 bank holidays, ~5 sick = 222
• minus admin, marketing, invoicing, the work of finding work — realistically 25–30% of your time
• ≈ 155 billable days, and that's an optimistic first year

At £450 that's £69,750 revenue. Then subtract employer pension (~£4k), no sick pay, no paid holiday, your own equipment, insurance, accountant, and the ~£8k of employer NI your old company paid that nobody ever showed you.

You'd be taking a real-terms pay cut to absorb all the risk. That's not a business, it's a worse job.

The floor

To match £68k total compensation you need roughly £600/day at 155 days. That's break-even, not success.

What to actually charge

£700/day. And the reason is not "because you need it" — clients don't care what you need.

Nine years in-house means you've seen how decisions actually get made inside an institution. That's the thing external consultancies genuinely can't fake and charge £1,200/day for. You're not selling analysis; analysis is cheap now. You're selling knowing which analysis will survive contact with a committee.

One more thing. Don't sell days at all where you can avoid it. Price the deliverable — "£4,500 for the response and one round of revisions." Day rates cap your income at your available hours and invite clients to audit your time. Fixed price rewards you for being fast, which after nine years you are.

The voice thing happens when you believe the number needs defending. So the fix isn't delivery technique, it's genuinely changing what you think the number is.

Three concrete moves:

1. State it as a fact, then stop talking. "My rate is £700 a day." Full stop. No "I usually charge around," no "but I'm flexible," no explaining before you're asked. The silence after a price feels much longer to you than to them. Let it sit. The first person to fill it negotiates against themselves, and it should not be you.

2. Have the justification ready but don't lead with it. If they push, you're not defending the price, you're describing the value: "That reflects nine years inside the department. You're not paying for the analysis — you're paying for knowing which recommendations will actually clear the committee." Said once, calmly, and then stop again.

3. Decide your walk-away number tonight, in writing. Mine would be £600. Below that you're working for less than employment paid you, and you should say — pleasantly — "that's below my rate, but do come back if the budget changes." The ability to say that is what stops your voice doing the thing. You're not performing confidence; you genuinely have somewhere else to be.

And the reframe that helps most: at £700/day you'll lose some clients you'd have won at £450. That's the system working. The ones you lose on price alone are the ones who'd have haggled every invoice, expanded every scope, and paid in 90 days. You're not trying to win every negotiation. You're trying to fill 155 days with clients who value the work.

Charge £700. If you're fully booked in three months, you were still too cheap.