Ditching Hourly An Insider's Perspective with Pranav Kale: Jonathan Stark's Journey to Ditching Hourly
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Nov 4, 2025 Pranav Kale, a Big Idea strategist, shares insights from his journey as a soloist brand consultant and former LinkedIn ghostwriter. He discusses the pitfalls of hourly billing, highlighting how it can damage client trust and misalign incentives. Jonathan Stark recounts his transition to value-based pricing, the impact of his move to Rhode Island, and lessons learned while teaching others through talks and blogging. They explore differentiation in consulting and the future of productivity for soloists, emphasizing the importance of specializing and finding a core message.
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Hourly Billing Misaligns Incentives
- Billing by the hour rewards slowness and punishes speed, misaligning incentives between clients and providers.
- Switching to fixed or value-based pricing makes skilled, fast workers the firm's greatest asset.
The Trust Fracture Of Timesheets
- Hourly timesheets create a 'trust fracture' because clients suspect hours can be exaggerated even when providers are honest.
- The mismatch of incentives (client wants speed; provider benefits from slowness) fuels distrust.
Finding Value Pricing In A Bookstore
- Jonathan struggled for weeks with the profitability paradox while managing a dev shop before finding a solution in Rhode Island.
- He discovered Helen Weiss's Value-Based Fees in a bookstore and treated it as a Bible for years.
