HOW I WENT FROM $4,500 TO $10,500 IN 6 WEEKS
Aug 14, 2026 · 11 min · 6 segments
Sometimes your work grows faster than your identity does. In 2012, I had spent years charging $4,500 for wedding photography when a dream client called me just 27 days before their Sundance wedding…
Sometimes your work grows faster than your identity does. In 2012, I had spent years charging $4,500 for wedding photography when a dream client called me just 27 days before their Sundance wedding. When she asked what I would charge for the weekend, I heard myself say a number I'd never said before: $7,500. She said yes. Two weeks later, I booked my first $10,500 wedding. I didn't suddenly become twice as talented in six weeks. The work had been happening for years. My skill, eye, experience and judgment had already changed. My identity simply hadn't caught up. In this short episode of Play It Brave, we're looking at the version of you who names the price — and whether she's still pricing the work of a woman you've already outgrown. I'll also lead you through a simple rehearsal you can practice for the next 30 days so that when someone asks, "What do you charge?" you don't have to manufacture courage in real time. In this episode: why your identity can lag behind your actual level of mastery · the story behind my jump from $4,500 to $7,500 — and then $10,500 · how to recognize when you're pricing from an earlier version of yourself · what happens in your body when someone asks what you charge · why you don't need to justify your number before anyone has objected to it · a short exercise to rehearse saying your next price · why identity work isn't a substitute for mastery — but can help you finally own the mastery you've already earned. A question to take with you: has your price actually caught up to the person you've become? Your next number doesn't need to be a fantasy. It needs to be a number you have evidence underneath — and are ready to learn how to say. Ready to go deeper? If you know the strategy but something in you keeps pulling back when it's time to sell, be seen, raise your prices or step into the next version of your work — that's exactly the kind of pattern we can explore in a private Breakthrough. Book a free 30-minute clarity call.
Sometimes your work grows faster than your identity does. In 2012, I had spent years charging $4,500 for wedding photography when a dream client called me just 27 days before their Sundance wedding…
- Speakers
Darcy BenincosaHost
