Your Fees May Be Building a Practice You Don't Want with Susan E. Guthrie on the Practice Playbook Podcast #474

Your fees are not just how you get paid. They may be quietly building the practice you are trying to escape. Every fee structure creates consequences. Hourly billing, flat fees, subscriptions, packages, phased fees, and hybrid models do more than determine revenue. They shape client expectations, boundaries, scope, workload, value perception, risk, and sustainability. That means the real pricing question is not simply, “What should I charge?” The better question is: What kind of practice does this pricing model create? In this episode of *The Practice Playbook Podcast*, Susan Guthrie looks at pricing as one of the most powerful design choices in a professional practice. She explores what underpricing may be building, why hourly billing can reward inefficiency and punish expertise, how AI is weakening the link between time and value, and why alternative fee models only work when the service design underneath them is clear. This episode draws from Susan’s work in The Flat Fee Playbook, The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition, and her upcoming ABA book, *FUTURE PROOF: Designing a Legal or ADR Practice for the AI Era*. Together, they point to one essential truth: pricing is never just pricing. It is part of the practice you are building. In This Episode Susan discusses: - Why fees are practice design choices, not just financial decisions - What underpricing may reveal about scope, value, confidence, and sustainability - How hourly billing can reward time instead of expertise - Why AI is changing the relationship between time, work, and value - What flat fees, subscriptions, packages, and hybrid models require in order to work well - Why clearer pricing requires clearer service design - How to ask whether your current pricing still belongs in the practice you want to build Practical Question from This Episode What kind of practice does this pricing model create? Choose one fee, one service, one offering, or one engagement type and look at it with curiosity. Is it building clarity or confusion? Good boundaries or scope creep? Sustainability or resentment? A better client experience or a more reactive practice? Free Listener Resource What Is This Fee Building? Mini-Audit This free worksheet helps you look at one fee or pricing model and identify what it may be creating inside your practice. Use it to explore what the fee promises, what it requires, what it makes easier, what it makes harder, and where one small design change may create more clarity. Download the free resource from the episode page on the website at susaneguthrie.com/podcasts Practice Accelerator Resource Pricing Model Redesign Map Inside the Practice Accelerator, members receive the deeper companion resource for this episode: the Pricing Model Redesign Map. This implementation tool helps you move beyond noticing what a fee is building and begin redesigning one pricing model around value, scope, boundaries, client expectations, delivery, AI impact, and sustainability. The free resource helps you see the issue. The Accelerator resource helps you work through the redesign. The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition *The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition* launches September 29. This new edition introduces the Living Practice Plan™ and helps lawyers, mediators, dispute resolution professionals, consultants, coaches, and other service-based professionals examine the practice they have inherited, reacted into, or intentionally designed. Pricing is one part of that larger design. Your fees connect to your services, client experience, delivery model, visibility, systems, technology, revenue goals, and capacity. The Second Edition helps you look at those pieces together so you can build a practice by design, not by default. Learn more at intentionalpracticedesign.com. Join the Practice Accelerator The Practice Accelerator is the place to work through the ideas from *The Practice Playbook Podcast* and *The Practice Playbook Series* in a supportive online community. For $99/month, members receive: →Three live working sessions every month   →Coaching from me in the community board and in every group session   →The Business Plan Playbook, Second Edition, as a printable PDF   →An Accelerator-only implementation guide with every new Practice Playbook Podcast episode   It is designed for lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, dispute resolution professionals, consultants, and other service-based professionals who want practical tools, accountability, and support as they build by design, not by default. Learn more at susaneguthrie.com/accelerator. Take the Practice Design Assessment Not sure where to begin? Take the Practice Design Assessment to see where your practice may be inherited, reactive, or intentionally designed, and where one intentional redesign could create the greatest relief, clarity, or momentum. Start the assessment at intentionalpracticedesign.com/assessment. Meet Our Creator and Host: Susan Guthrie Susan E. Guthrie is one of the most respected voices in law, mediation and conflict resolution today. A nationally recognized family law attorney and mediator for 35 years, she is now a top professional coach and consultant helping dispute resolution and legal professionals build thriving, modern practices. Susan recently appeared on The Oprah Podcast, expanding her reach to an even broader audience and highlighting her role as a trusted expert in divorce, communication, and modern conflict resolution. She is also the creator and host of The Divorce & Beyond Podcast, ranked in the top 1% worldwide, with millions of listeners and a global following. As Past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, Susan continues to shape the future of the profession while training and mentoring practitioners around the world. Connect with Susan E. Guthrie Website: https://susaneguthrie.com Books: https://susaneguthrie.com/books Practice Playbook Series: https://intentionalpracticedesign.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/susaneguthrie Instagram: @susaneguthrie and @practiceplaybookpodcast  If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to subscribe to The Practice Playbook Podcast on your favorite platform, leave a 5-star review, and share the episode with a colleague or professional friend who would benefit from this conversation. Your support helps us continue bringing practical insights, forward-thinking strategies, and meaningful conversations to lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, and entrepreneurial professionals looking to build stronger, smarter, and more sustainable practices. *And as always, please remember that this podcast is presented for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended as legal advice, business advice, or professional advice of any kind, and listening to this podcast does not create any attorney-client or professional relationship.*