Why I Charge $40,000 for a Logo You Could Draw

Every week someone emails me to ask why the Reach Around brand identity package starts at $40,000 for a logo that is, in their words, "a circle." Well, a junior emails me. I don't read emails. I have them summarised into a single emoji. This week's emoji was a clown, so I've decided to address it publicly.

It's not a circle

Okay, it's a circle. But it's a circle with a story. The story is that I charged $40,000 for it. Every great brand has a story, and that one's mine, and now it's yours, and you're welcome to tell it at barbecues to people who'll leave early.

You're not paying for the logo

You're paying for the 22 years of experience it took me to draw it in nine minutes. Six of those years were in hospitality, where I learned so much about service. Mainly that I don't enjoy it. Another four were "between ventures," which is when I developed my eye. My eye is very developed. It can spot an under-priced invoice from across a car park.

Our proven five-step process

• Discovery workshop. Four hours, catered. You're paying for the catering. I'm eating the catering.
• Mood board. Screenshots of other circles.
• Three concepts. A circle, a bigger circle, and a circle in pink.
• Revisions. You pick the first one. We bill for the other two, because they were emotionally available to you.
• Brand guidelines. 48 pages. 46 of them are about the circle's feelings.

"But my nephew does logos for $50"

Your nephew is a visionary and I'm a bit scared of him. But your nephew doesn't have a TEDx award. Your nephew doesn't have the Reach Around Funnel™. Your nephew doesn't have a pink hatchback with LAMBO stuck on the boot in vinyl letters he cut himself. Your nephew, frankly, has his whole life ahead of him, and I'd hate to see him waste it undercharging people like you.

Value-based pricing, explained

Value-based pricing means I charge based on the value I bring. How do I measure the value? I look at what you're wearing on the discovery call. Nice watch? $40,000. No watch? Also $40,000, because time is clearly a problem for you, and that's a separate workshop.

Now, I'm a firm believer that great design should be accessible to everyone. That's why we offer a payment plan: $40,000 up front, or $3,500 a month for 14 months. I've run the numbers, and the payment plan is 312% more affordable, emotionally. Mathematically it's $9,000 more. Don't worry about the maths. Maths is for people who can't afford logos.

"Rich, I can't afford $40,000"

I hear you. I do. I'm listening right now, with my face. But can you afford not to have a circle? Think about it. You can't, can you? You can't think about it. That's why you need me. I do the thinking, you do the paying, and together we do the synergy, which is mostly the paying.

And remember: people who think marketing is free usually end up with a free logo. You can tell a free logo. It looks like it was drawn with a finger on a steamy window, because it was, by you, in the shower, last Tuesday.

The Rich Quick Logo Guarantee

If you don't love your logo, we'll make it pinker at no extra cost. If you still don't love it, that's a mindset issue, and I have a course for that. If you love it but your customers don't, that's a customer issue, and I'd suggest getting new customers. We can help. That's a separate retainer.

Anyway, I have to go. Someone just drew a circle on a napkin at the café next door, and my lawyers are very excited.