How much is your time worth to you? If you have a business that you feel provides a worthwhile product and the amount you charge for that product does not provide the lifestyle you desire, either improve the product, accept a lower standard of living, or quit/change the business.

If you feel you could charge more but it would be “unfair”, don’t worry, no one will buy it unless you are doing something unethical, like a dishonest mechanic or a doctor who lies to trick people into procedures they don’t need or you have a monopoly on an essential need.

If that doesn’t describe you, then charge a fair price for your cost and time. It seems like you don’t value your product or your time and you are looking for a way to trick yourself into be ok with that?

I have no business experience, but...

my problem is feeling like an exploitative schmuck because I’m charging people money for stuff

Congrats, you have a soul!

I'm in the same boat as well. Started my own business about 10 years ago. It does fine, little to no debt, never have to sweat paying bills or payroll. But it never gets that far ahead. Because like you said, once there's "enough", I start feeling like I'm overcharging, or taking advantage. Even tho nothing has actually changed. And likewise, I'm pretty sure it's all psychological. So I'll be watching your thread and hopefully I can mooch some good advice.

And the bad thing is, I've received what I think is good advice. I asked other business owners in this field what they do about being too busy and most told me "increase your prices until you get to the amount of business you want". Which seems like it would solve both the profit problem and my perpetually overpacked schedule; but for whatever reason I cannot bring myself to do that.

There is no such thing as overcharging unless you're charging people for something you don't deliver. The market decides what something is worth. Nobody is forced to pay you more than they're willing to pay you. Also, charge less and people will often perceive your work as being of lower value.

When I started doing private consulting I would pitch my rate at roughly 35× what my salary would have converted to on an hourly basis, and depending on the engagement would be open to negotiating down to 15× while seeking added values like referrals and access to benefits clients could offer at zero extra cost to them but which were high value to me. Nobody was ever forced to pay me more than they were willing, I worked hard to deliver, and clients felt good about what they got and would refer me to others.

Just remember, if you're honest and upfront about what you're charging and what you'll deliver, there is no such thing as overcharging. There's only pricing yourself out of the market or leaving money on the table, and it's much better to start high while being willing to move down.

Maybe read on anarchist principles of organisation, it seems to solve the main problem of feeling like you are exploiting your employees (or fellow comrades in this case).

Full disclosure I haven't read the linked sources fully but they seem to be on topic:

https://www.ft.com/content/c507cc10-883d-11e9-b861-54ee436f9768

https://ephemerajournal.org/issue/management-business-anarchism

As for communities: any anarchist community here maybe able to help with guidance on anarchist principles if you decide to go with that approach.

My wife just started her own LLC as a psychotherapist as well. She gets paid mostly what insurance reimpurses so that part is kind of static. However, she does a few other things that aren't paid through insurance and has some been working on getting her pricing right. What I would say to you is that you start charging more and set up a sliding scale based on need. Increase your prices but include language about if there is a financial need this can be altered. She has done it for a few group events and had only a few people ask about it. She then alters their cost based on their need and she even let a few people attend for free. It allows you to raise prices for those who can afford it and still increasing access to those who might need it.

The thing to remember here is that you do your job better when you are less stressed. Overworking and being underpaid means that you are helping fewer people or not as effective helping the people you are seeing. Ethically you need to take care of yourself to help your clients. Its the same logic as self-care. If you aren't there to support you can't support.

Have you confronted this problem for yourself? How did you approach it?

Pretty much, although I'm self-employed (translator) instead of a business owner.

I looked for the average/recommended prices for my trade; it was, like, half. Then I compared the quality of my service with a few of my competitors; my translations were by no means half as good as the folks out there, if anything I'd argue they were slightly better. Then I slowly raised my prices, until they reached the market average.

You have gotten a lot of good advice already...

I'm not a business owner or entrepreneur , but in my opinion, you should be able to offer your service for at least enough to pay yourself minimum wage for your own time, plus enough to cover the cost of your business licence, commercial rent, utilities, supplies, shipping, or what ever other expenses you may have.

Think of it as if you are 2 people: the business owner and the employee of the business. In any business the employee needs to be paid at least minimum wage, and the business owner needs to be able to cover all other business costs, otherwise the business is not sustainable.

Maybe it would help to put your earnings into 2 bank accounts, one for business expenses and one for your own "wages".

That's my two cents, hopefully it made sense.

I don't own and never owned a business and partially its because of what you are talking about. I can say that if you are just barely in the black then your business is eventually going to fail. Businesses have good times and bad times. A bussiness will lose money at times. The bussiness either has to be funded from the outside or make enough profit early on to setup a buffer fund for bad times. Once you have such a fund its then better to lower your prices to keep profit as low as possible and expand the business. If your business provides something important think about what the effect will be if your business is gone. Think about additional charge as like insurance they pay to keep your business going. Ethical wise you have to avoid spending the money and keep it for its purpose. Assume your bussiness will be in the red at times. You can invest what you have for bad times but it has to be liquid enough to get the cash when you need it.

Are you doing the job to survive or are you doing it to thrive? If you're working 12 hour days to keep the business running, you are probably better off becoming a regular employee with a better work life balance and benefits. You should be charging more to afford to hire people to reduce your workload and afford vacation time.

Charging more also doesn't just have to be about you making more money. You could establish full time as a 30 hour week or take an entire paid month off for everyone. You could focus on early retirement. You could create a charitable foundation or simply donate to a cause you believe in.

Finance bros cannot be created, they should only be destroyed