A reasonable rule of thumb to get your thinking started is a seven-to-one return on risk-adjusted value. In other words, if the value of your work to help Sereus Dough Inc. improve its croissant throughput is estimated at $1.2 million over three years, then a reasonable stick in the sand is around $170,000 or so. The seven-to-one rule of thumb is a starting point, not an exact, scientific formula. I might consider $180,000 (as I did in the example of Fee Structure #3) or even $200,000, both of which still give an outstanding return.
Pricing rule of thumb
