Start from what the job is worth to the customer, not from what feels polite to ask, because most kids underprice by pricing their own discomfort. Find what an adult business nearby charges, count the real time including travel and cleanup, then set a number your kid can say out loud without flinching. If they flinch, the problem usually is not the price.
Almost every kid's first price is too low, and the reason is not bad math. They are pricing their own discomfort. Saying a bigger number out loud to an adult feels rude, so they shave it until it stops feeling rude, and then they have a business that pays them almost nothing.
A workable starting method has three steps. Find out what an adult business nearby charges for the same thing. Work out how long the job actually takes, including getting there and cleaning up. Then set a number the kid can say out loud without flinching, and check that it beats what they would make doing anything else with that hour.
The flinch is the useful signal. If your kid cannot say the price without their voice going up at the end, it is not that the price is too high. It is that they have not decided the work is worth it yet. That conversation is more useful than lowering the number.
Raising prices later is normal and should be planned rather than dreaded. The usual moment is when a kid is turning down work because they have no time left. That is not a scheduling problem, it is a pricing signal.
One thing worth teaching early: discounting to win a customer trains that customer to expect the discount. Sophie learns the underlying version of this in the book, that you make your money when you buy, not when you sell.
Five questions about age, budget, time, and what they actually like doing. Four matched ideas at the end, free, with no email needed to see them.
Take the quizA kid who cuts, edges, and cleans up usually starts between $25 and $40. Professionals charge about $30 to $85 a visit, and a young founder starting below that is being paid less for being unproven, not for being young.
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What should a kid charge to mow a lawn?Ten people who already know them, one prepared sentence, and an easy way for each of them to say no.
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How does a kid find their first customer?Less than almost anyone expects, and for a lot of these ideas the honest answer is nothing until somebody has already said yes to a price.
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How much money does a kid need to start a business?Earlier than most people think, as long as the business matches what the kid can actually handle. The limit is rarely age itself.
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What age can a kid start a business?A program from Founder's Best Friend. Built for kids 8 to 18 who want something of their own.