Updated Edition in Development
The Flat Fee Playbook is being updated as part of the Intentional Practice Design™ platform. The new edition will connect pricing, scope, value, capacity, client experience, and implementation through expanded exercises, AI Workshops, and Practice Toolkit resources.
The current edition remains available below.
The Flat Fee Playbook
A Step-by-Step Guide for Professionals to Break Free from Billable Hour Burnout
Move from inherited billing to a fee model you intentionally design, one that aligns price with value, protects your time, and clarifies the client experience.
What this Playbook is.
Most professionals never decide how they bill. They inherit the hourly model and quietly resent it for years.
The Flat Fee Playbook is a structured workshop for replacing the billable hour with a pricing model you actually believe in, built around the value you create, not the minutes you sell.
The question this Playbook helps you answer.
Question
How will you price the work you do?
Default
Keep what was inherited. Hope it still fits.
React
Adjust under pressure. Repeat each year.
Design
Decide on purpose. Build what fits the life.
Core concepts.
Price what you deliver
A repeatable framework for scoping, packaging, and pricing flat-fee engagements.
Design the engagement
Define what is included, what is not, and how change is handled, before the conversation happens.
Communicate with confidence
Language, letters, and conversations that explain flat fees without apology.
Table of contents.
- 01Why the billable hour fails the modern professional
- 02The flat-fee mindset shift
- 03Scoping engagements that hold
- 04Pricing for value, not effort
- 05Engagement letters that protect both sides
- 06Handling scope changes gracefully
- 07Implementing flat fees in an existing practice
What you get with the book.
- Flat-fee engagement letter templates
- Scoping worksheet and pricing calculator
- AI Workshop: drafting your first flat-fee package
Where to Buy
The Flat Fee Playbook is available now.
Available through the American Bar Association bookstore and major online booksellers. For direct or bulk orders, or if you have trouble locating a copy, contact admin@susaneguthrie.com.
Continue exploring the Practice Playbook Series.
Book 02
The Thought Leadership Playbook
How to Get Known, Build Trust, and Grow a Profitable Practice
OpenBook 03
The Business Plan Playbook
How to Build a Business Plan that Works for Lawyers, Mediators, and Dispute Resolution Entrepreneurs
OpenBook 04
The Client Experience Playbook
Designing the Journey from First Contact to Lifelong Advocate
OpenTake this Playbook from reading to practice.
The Practice Accelerator is where readers turn the frameworks inside the Playbooks into monthly implementation with live guidance, practical resources, accountability, and community. Enrollment is always open.
$99/month. Cancel anytime. Join at any time and begin immediately.