Setting your hourly rate

Your hourly rate is visible to every mentee. Setting it right is a balance of your experience, your target market, and what the platform bears. This article walks through the mental model.

Where to set it

Dashboard → Mentor profile → Hourly rate. Enter a USD amount (or your account currency). This becomes the price for a 60-minute session by default; you can offer shorter/longer sessions with adjusted pricing under the Schedule tab.

What mentees actually see

• The hourly rate on your profile card in search results.
• The per-session price when they pick a slot (adjusted by duration).
• Your rate history is not visible — they only see the current rate.

The common rate bands

How to pick the right starting rate

Anchor on three data points:

1. What's your outside-VisNavigans hourly rate? (freelance rate, salary ÷ 2000, or consulting rate). This is your floor — don't go below it or the platform economics don't make sense.
2. What do mentors in your exact niche charge? Browse 10 mentor profiles in your expertise. Average their rates. That's the market.
3. How much demand do you want? Lower rate = more bookings. Higher rate = fewer bookings, more revenue per session, different mentee pool.

Start 10–20% below your target rate for your first month. Once you have 5+ reviews at 4.5+ stars, raise it. You can adjust rates as often as you like — existing bookings keep their original price.

Discount strategies

• Intro sessions — offer a short "meet the mentor" call (15–30 min) at a reduced rate. Converts curious mentees into long-term clients.
• Session bundles — sell 4 or 8 sessions as a package with ~15% discount. Higher commitment = better outcomes.
• Course + session combos — bundle a self-paced course with 1–2 sessions. Lower per-session revenue but much better learning outcomes.
• Coupons for specific promotions — create a 20% coupon for newsletter readers, Twitter followers, conference attendees.

Raising your rate

Common fear: "I'll lose all my bookings." Usually false. Signals of a rate that's too low: you're fully booked weeks out, reviews call you "a steal". Signals of a rate that's right: you're booked 40–60% of your available hours.

When raising, announce it — send an email to past mentees: "I'm raising my rate on June 1. Book before then to lock in the current rate." Gets you a surge of bookings and seeds goodwill.

When to lower your rate

Mostly don't. If you're not getting bookings, the issue is almost always:

• Weak profile (bad photo, generic bio)
• No reviews yet
• Too niche an expertise (expand) or too broad (narrow)

Fix the fundamentals before cutting price. Low price attracts cheap customers. You want committed ones.

The platform cut

The platform takes a percentage of every session sale (see Getting paid for the number). Your rate is what the mentee pays; we deduct our cut and pay you the rest. You pay no additional fees; we don't charge transaction fees on top.

Currency

Your rate is stored in your account currency. Mentees from other regions see a converted display price via Stripe at checkout, but your payout is always in your account currency.

Related

• "Becoming a mentor" — set up basics first
• "Managing your schedule" — availability controls demand
• "Getting paid" — how the platform cut works