Quick answer: You’re told that you’re priceless, but you feel like you're worthless.
And if you’re of a marginalized identity, you’re surrounded by people who feel the same way.
It’s even worse if you have anti-capitalist or post-capitalist views. Not only do you struggle to price without exploitation; you also have to deal with right geniuses jumping into your DMs saying, “How can you ask for money if you’re anti-capitalist? You should just work for free. Money isn’t even real, right?” 🙄
Here’s the truth: There’s no such thing as “justification” for your price.
Because: There’s no equation for calculating what your price “should” be — there are only your values. So stop saying “I’M SORRY” and focus on your VALUES CLARITY!
Values clarity: What do you care about the most?
You care for your customers, especially those with the greatest need and the lowest ability to pay.
Do you care for yourself? Do you care for your family? What are your needs; what are their needs?
Through my company CJSC, LLC, I help people create businesses that maximize care rather than profit. My clients are committed to post-capitalist, post-colonial ways of working… and because of that commitment, nearly all of them struggle with pricing their services. Asking for money brings up huge feelings of shame, anxiety, and fear — the same feelings that we don't wish to trigger in other people. So how do we navigate this?
My current approach to pricing my services
Here are three pricing elements I put in a recent marketing proposal:
ELEMENT 1: A sliding-scale price
Great health, finances, housing, and transportation? Pay the higher price.
Poor health, tenuous finances, and unstable living situation? Pay the lower price.
This is heavily inspired by The Sliding Scale: A Tool of Economic Justice (aka The Green Bottle Method), written by Alexis J. Cunningfolk in 2015.
To set the lowest price, I asked myself: Would I be happy to do this work for this amount, considering my family’s financial needs? (Yes, that’s the guide question for the LOWEST price, NOT the highest price!)
In the proposal, I told my prospective customer something important: That I would NEVER ask about their financial situation or health. Instead, I was choosing to TRUST them to pick the right price.
Trust: what a concept!
I’m also inspired by the pick-your-payment-frequency aspect of my friend Shayna Grajo’s equitable pricing approach for her website design services: Can’t pay upfront? Maybe pay 50% now and 50% half-way through, or 25% for the first quarter of work, etc. This can be a great approach for service offerings that are well-defined in calendar time, work output, or both.
ELEMENT 2: A clear scope of work and payment schedule
To the best of my abilities, I spelled out what I would provide and when, in exchange for what money, paid when. I also spelled out what I could NOT provide. This type of clarity is good for clients too, not just for me.
ELEMENT 3: An answer to the client question: "What am I buying, exactly?"
When clients choose to work with me, they’re not just purchasing my time. They’re purchasing my experience.
I’ve managed and co-managed highly-technical contracts totaling over $30 million USD in value
I’ve written and priced scopes of work for consulting services to numerous demanding (read: government) clients
I learned about systems of oppression by working on the INSIDE as an environmental professional where I was paid to perpetuate the status quo
That’s not me proving my “worth” — that’s me describing my unique, irreplaceable, non-substitutable self… and I’m practicing describing myself openly and proudly.
You can do the same.
“But my friends offer more than I do, for less money…”
You may see your fellow practitioners offering bigger services than you for less money… or even for free. Here’s my comment on that:
Ignore them. I’M NOT KIDDING ABOUT THIS!
Because if you’re offering in-depth coaching or business advising, your customers are not shopping on price — they’re shopping on trust. So remember to focus on building relationships with the people you want to serve.
And know this: If your customers are also business owners, then your pricing approach also informs their pricing approach. So model your own values as much as you can. This is prefigurative politics: building the world we want in the future by living it in the present.
“What if people tell me ‘no’?”
I won’t pretend to have an easy answer to this question. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to drop a “Just try, try again” conversation closer, knowing that your life circumstances may be much more uncertain than mine. Instead, I’ll share my own belief: that this world is full of abundance, and therefore there is more than enough to meet the needs of everyone. (We’ve got a tiny little distribution problem, though!) From that perspective, every “no” I hear is also a “yes” to a different opportunity. For example: the “no” to a 6-month engagement is also a “yes” to more time with my family, a “yes” to more time outdoors, and a “yes” to practicing making more offers!
I’d love to help you with pricing
If you struggle with pricing in a post-capitalist, non-exploitative way, send me a LinkedIn message and tell me what’s tough. I’d love to help you build a pricing strategy that aligns with your values and meets your customers’ needs.
MY AI DISCLOSURE STATEMENT: I built this post from a voice note that I transcribed with the software program “Spokenly” in local-only mode using the Apple Speech Analyzer model. I used no other AI for this post.
IMAGE DESCRIPTION AND SOURCE: A pile of United States of America money, composed primarily of 1-dollar and 5-dollar bank notes. From: Ares, N. (2008, July 18). Money. Last accessed: 28 September 2026. On Flickr at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/aresauburnphotos/2678453389/
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My position
My name is Chris Musei-Sequeira, and I use he/him pronouns. My mother was born in Trinidad and Tobago as a descendant of enslaved Africans brought to the Caribbean during the time of European colonization. She came to the United States of America (USA) at the age of 10. My father is Goan and was born in India, in Mumbai, and raised Catholic and English-speaking. He came to the USA for his graduate studies, where he met my mother.
My sister and I were born in the USA and lived a middle-class life in the suburbs of multiple American cities. I studied aeronautical engineering and technology policy in university, then worked at the Federal Aviation Administration and as an aviation consultant. I've lived in cities up and down the USA East Coast since the age of 18, until very recently. Now I live in Eastern Europe with my wife and our cat.
I thank Heather Luna and Lavinia Muth for showing me the importance of publicly expressing our positions. Because of our positions, all of us are very familiar with some aspects of the world while having no idea of other aspects. Positionality expresses how our individual positions affect our relationships with other people and with the world as a whole.