Hey, it’s Matt.
In today’s issue:
- Why dropping your rate when things get slow is a trap
- What it actually teaches the people watching you
- And what to do instead
Slow month? Don’t touch your prices
Dropping your prices when bookings slow down is a trap.
Understandable. But still a trap.
When your calendar gets quiet, the instinct is to make yourself more accessible.
Lower the minimum. Run a flash sale. Drop the rate just for this month.
It feels logical.
Lower the barrier, more people come in. Calendar fills up.
Problem solved.
Except it’s not solved. It’s deferred.
Every time you discount reactively, you teach the people watching you something.
They learn your rate is negotiable.
They learn that if they wait long enough, a deal will come.
So next time they think about booking?
They wait.
Why pay full rate today when there’s probably a sale in a few weeks?
You trained them to do that. Not intentionally.
But you did.
And the clients who do jump at the lower rate?
They were already shopping around for the cheapest option.
Those aren’t the clients you were trying to attract.
They found you because you got cheaper, not because they wanted you specifically.
Your calendar fills up. But with the wrong people.
And you’re working harder, earning less, and wondering why nothing feels like it’s moving forward.
A quiet calendar usually isn’t a pricing problem.
It’s a visibility problem. Or a trust problem.
It means the way you’re showing up isn’t reaching people who’d book at full rate without needing a reason to.
Dropping your rate doesn’t fix that. It just puts you in front of different people.
Artists with full books at rates they’re proud of aren’t necessarily more talented.
They’ve built an audience that trusts them enough to book without needing a discount.
That trust comes from showing up consistently. From saying the right things to the right people.
When someone follows you for months, sees your work, reads your captions, and feels like they know you, they book because they want you. Not because you ran a sale.
So what do you do when things get slow?
Don’t touch your prices.
Ask yourself: who am I actually reaching right now, and is that the right person?
Look at what you’ve been posting, what you’ve been saying, who’s been engaging.
If the answer is “people who ask how much for a small simple tattoo,” that’s a content and positioning problem.
Fix the message. Not the rate.
Discounting occasionally is fine.
A flash sale on your terms, for the right reason, is totally valid.
But doing it every time your books slow down keeps you working harder, charging less, and never getting ahead.
You don’t need to be cheaper.
You need to be clearer about who you are and who you’re for.