After a call about your audit, the dental clinic owner asks: "Fine, how much?" A beginner, afraid of scaring him off, says 40,000 ₸ for everything. Over the next month he sets up the events, rewrites the site copy because the client asked, answers sixty messages and launches a campaign nobody mentioned at the start. He gets the same 40,000 ₸. The client is happy, and the beginner wonders whether to quit the profession.
A price is something you calculate: a work list, hours, a rate, and a written line around what the price does not include. The clinic and the figures in this lesson are an example.
In short
- For a first project, charge a fixed fee for a clear scope; for managing an ad account, a retainer; leave a percentage of budget for later.
- Price = hours from the work list × rate + 20% for messages and revisions.
- A one-page proposal: what I will do, what is not included, how many rounds of revisions, the price step by step and 50% prepayment.
- The accounts and the ad spend stay with the client.
Three pricing models
| Model | When it fits | Upside | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed project fee | A one-off task you can describe as a list: set up tracking, launch a campaign, make creatives | Clear for the client, predictable for you | Without a written boundary the scope creeps |
| Monthly retainer | Running ads, regular analytics and reporting | Steady income, long relationships | The client pays for a month of work and, without a clear report, can't see what for |
| Percentage of ad budget | Large budgets, an experienced client | Income grows with the budget | On a 300,000 ₸ monthly budget, 10% is 30,000 ₸ for a month of management |
For a first project, charge a fixed fee. The audit has already shown what to fix, and the scope fits in a work list. You move to a retainer from the second month, if the client wants you to run the account; what you show them for it is the same as in the first-month report. Leave a percentage of budget for later: on a small budget it doesn't even pay for your hours.
Pricing from hours
- List the work. Not "ad setup", but a lead event in GTM, a check in DebugView, a
Leadevent for the Meta pixel, its check and a guide for the client. - Put hours against every line. Your own hours, not someone else's: a beginner works more slowly, and that's fine.
- Multiply by your rate. You get it from income: take the amount you want to earn per month and divide by 100. Plan on about a hundred billable hours out of roughly 170 working ones, because the rest goes on finding clients, audits, messages with prospective clients and learning, and nobody pays for that.
- Add 20% for messages, calls and revisions. They are not on the work list, but they eat time.
- Round up to a clean number and split it into prepayment and balance.
Say you want to earn 400,000 ₸ a month; your rate is then 4,000 ₸ an hour. That figure is an example, not a market rate. Check your own against the market: open ten profiles offering your service on freelance marketplaces and five agency price lists, and write down the range. With one or two case studies, put yourself at the lower end of the range and raise your price with every new case.
The estimate for the clinic from the audit: the lead event from finding 2 and a developer brief for findings 1 and 3.
| Work | Hours |
|---|---|
| Access and a look at what is already on the site | 1 |
| Lead event spec: which form, and when it counts as submitted | 2 |
GTM and GA4: the generate_lead event, checked in DebugView | 4 |
Meta pixel: the Lead event, checked in Test events | 3 |
| Developer brief for findings 1 and 3 | 2 |
| Handover: a guide and a short call | 1 |
| Total | 13 |
The price, step by step:
- 13 hours × 4,000 ₸ = 52,000 ₸.
- Plus 20% for messages and two rounds of revisions: 62,400 ₸.
- Round up: 65,000 ₸.
- Payment: 32,500 ₸ before work starts and 32,500 ₸ once the client has accepted the work.
Prepayment, access and paying for ads
50% prepayment on a first project, with the balance due once the client has accepted the work and signed the acceptance certificate. A retainer is paid in full at the start of the month. Prepayment shows that the client is ready to pay, and it covers your first hours if the project stalls halfway.
The accounts belong to the client. The ad account, the Meta business portfolio, GA4 and GTM are set up in the client's name, and the client gives you access. If you part ways, the client keeps the campaign history and the pixel that learned from their leads. What access to ask for in each tool is covered in the same lesson on the first month.
Ad spend is always paid by the client from the client's own accounts: someone else's budget on your card is a risk, not a service. A payment method on an ad account is added by whoever has full control of the account, and that should be the client; partial access is enough for you. If the client is late paying you back, their ads have already been paid for with your money. And the client's money passes through your account, so how to treat it for tax is something you will have to sort out with an accountant.
A one-page proposal
A proposal that gets read to the end has eight points:
- The task in one sentence, in the client's words.
- What I will do: the work from the estimate, each item with its result. "I'll set up the lead event and show you on a test lead that it reaches Meta and GA4."
- Not included. Anything the client might assume is "yours too".
- Revisions: how many rounds the price includes and what the next one costs.
- What I need from the client: access, answers to questions within a working day, sign-off within two days.
- Timeline: counted from the day the client grants access, not from payment.
- Price and payment: the price step by step, 50% up front, the balance on acceptance.
- How long the offer stands: two weeks.
Without "Not included", any fixed fee turns into an endless project: every new request looks like part of work already paid for, and turning it down feels awkward. For the clinic, this point and the revisions point look like this:
Not included. Changes to the site: the price block from finding 1 and the page speed fix from finding 3 are done by your developer from my brief. Ad copy and creatives. Running the ads after setup. Connecting a CRM. Any of these can be done under a separate proposal.
Revisions. Two rounds of revisions are included in the price; further rounds are billed by the hour, at 4,000 ₸ an hour.
Contract, legal status and taxes
The proposal describes the agreement; the contract fixes it with signatures. Whatever your status, it should cover:
- Subject: the work list from the proposal, not "marketing services".
- Deliverable: completed and verified work, not sales growth or a number of leads.
- Deadlines and the event they are counted from.
- Payment by stages and what confirms acceptance, such as an acceptance certificate.
- Who owns the accounts and access.
- Confidentiality of the client's data and your right to show the case without personal data.
Have a lawyer look at your contract template once; after that, only the work list, deadlines and price change.
Settle your status and taxes before the first contract, together with an accountant. There are several options: a contract with you as a private individual, registering as a sole proprietor (IP), or the self-employed regime. Since 1 January 2026, the self-employed regime is allowed only for activities on a list approved by the government. Advertising and marketing have no line of their own on it, so ask an accountant in advance whether your work qualifies. A sole proprietorship is registered on egov.kz in the business section, and the current tax regimes are published by the State Revenue Committee. The rules here change, so check them on these sites when you register, not in articles and chats. Which documents you issue to the client also depends on your status and regime.
Mistakes with a first price
- A number off the top of your head. A figure named before the work list has nothing behind it, and that is how you end up with a month of work for 40,000 ₸. Estimate first, price second, even if the client is waiting on the call: "I'll work it out and send a proposal tonight" is a perfectly good answer.
- A discount taken from your rate. A rate you cut once becomes this client's price for every project that follows. If it's too expensive for the client, remove a line from the estimate. Without the developer brief, the clinic is left with 11 hours: 44,000 ₸, 52,800 ₸ with the buffer, 55,000 ₸ rounded. Same rate, less work.
- Starting without prepayment. "He's a good client, he'll pay at the end", and then the project stalls halfway and nobody ever pays for your hours. Prepayment is written into the proposal, and work starts once it arrives.
Checklist before you name a price
Questions
What do I say when the client asks for a guaranteed result? Guarantee the work and how it is verified: the event reaches Meta and GA4, the campaign launches as planned, the report arrives on time. The number of leads also depends on the offer, the price and how fast the administrator calls people back, and it's better to say so plainly.
Should I accept a percentage of sales as payment? Not on a first project: you are not the one selling, and you can't see their sales records. You can come back to it once the client has a CRM where every lead shows its source and payment.
Should I name a price in the first message? No. Audit first, then a conversation about the task, then a proposal. While the scope is unknown, any number is a guess.
Exercise: a proposal for your first project
Take the findings from your audit and pick the ones you are ready to fix. List the work and put hours against every line. Work out the price step by step: hours times rate, plus 20%, rounding, prepayment and balance. Write the proposal using the eight points and go through the checklist. The task is done when the proposal has a work list with hours, a price by steps and a "Not included" section, and fits on one page.
The hardest part of a first estimate is guessing the hours. A line of 8 hours is a sign that you can't yet picture the work step by step. Break it up the way the clinic estimate does: GTM and GA4 on one line, the Meta pixel on another, each with its own check. Then reread "Not included". If it has a single line, recall what the client asked about on the call beyond the audit: each such request belongs either on the work list with hours or under "Not included".
Summary
- Send the proposal within a day of the call, while the client still remembers the conversation.
- Once they say yes, send the contract and an invoice for the prepayment. Work starts after payment and access.
- If the project includes launching ads, plan the month week by week: the plan and the report format are in the lesson on the first month of a project.
- Log your actual hours against each line of the estimate. By the next proposal you will know your speed instead of guessing it.