Business Strategy

Pricing your work when you were taught to be grateful

A practical sequence for raising a price, a rate, or an ask without waiting to be invited.

Ricardo Cruz · August 8, 2026 · 4 min read

Cover graphic reading "How to Ask for a Raise When You Were Taught to Be Grateful," beside a May calendar with the 15th circled and the handwritten note "set the date, write the sentence."

Nobody is going to prompt you to raise your price. The prompt has to be structural: a date, a number, and a sentence you have already written.

Set the date first

Pick the date before you pick the number. A number without a date is a wish; a date forces the number to exist.

Write the sentence

"My rate for this work is X." No preamble, no justification paragraph, no apology clause. The justification is the work you already delivered.

Expect the pause

The silence after the number is not rejection. It is arithmetic. Let it happen without filling it.

For private support turning this into your next move, explore LGBTQ+ career coaching.

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