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retainer-pricing-calculator

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Prices monthly freelance retainers from capacity math (billable hours at 50-60 percent of working hours), an effective-rate floor, and a value-anchor adjustment, with utilization red lines and a runnable Node calculator. Use when a freelancer says "what should I charge for a retainer", "how many clients can I actually take", "price my monthly package", "am I undercharging", "my calendar is full but I'm broke", or "what's my minimum viable rate". Do NOT use for pricing a software product or subscription tiers - use saas-pricing instead; for one-time salary or offer negotiation, use salary-negotiation.

skills/retainer-pricing-calculator/SKILL.md

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# Retainer Pricing Calculator

Freelancers price retainers by gut, and the gut consistently forgets two things: that only half of a working month is billable, and that a retainer sells guaranteed availability, which is worth more than the hours inside it. The result is the classic trap - fully booked and still underpaid. This calculator prices from capacity up and value down, and tells the freelancer the floor below which a retainer quietly loses money.

This is the third skill in the Freelancer / Consultant OS setup sequence: freelance-positioning chose the niche, productized-service-designer built the tiers, and this skill validates the prices. Worked example: Maya, a freelance brand designer at $6,000/month on hourly work at $75/hr, pricing her Brand System Retainer.

## Operating procedure

### Step 1: Collect the inputs

Label any guess as a guess.

1. Working hours per month (Maya: 40 hrs/week x 4 = 160).
2. Target monthly gross income (Maya: $9,000 - a deliberate raise from her current $6,000).
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