The "Nice Tax" Is Killing Design Businesses, Warns Author Johnathan H. Miller

Johnathan H. Miller speaking into a microphone on stage beside Jessica Duce, with the Why Underpricing Kills Design book cover on the screen behind them at High Point Market

Author Johnathan H. Miller discusses Why Underpricing Kills Design: How to Command What You Are Worth with Jessica Duce of JDuce Design before a full house at The Learning Center at Universal Furniture during High Point Market, October 2026.

Hardcover of Why Underpricing Kills Design: How to Command What You Are Worth by Johnathan H. Miller, showing a dark living room with a chalk body outline on the floor

Why Underpricing Kills Design: How to Command What You Are Worth by Johnathan H. Miller, a business strategy book for interior designers and creative professionals, available now.

Johnathan H. Miller signing a copy of Why Underpricing Kills Design for a reader holding the book, with stacks of the book on the table

Author Johnathan H. Miller signs copies of Why Underpricing Kills Design: How to Command What You Are Worth after his panel at High Point Market, October 2026.

After a full-house High Point signing and NBC 12 appearance, the author of Why Underpricing Kills Design says discounting is draining creative businesses.

Designers are done begging for permission to be profitable. Your talent was never the liability. Your pricing was treason against your own empire.”

— Johnathan H. Miller, Author of Why Underpricing Kills Design

RICHMOND, VA, UNITED STATES, October 27, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Every discount offered to win a client. Every "just one more thing" thrown in free. Every invoice sent with a knot in the stomach. Johnathan H. Miller calls it the Nice Tax, and he says most designers pay it every single day.

Miller, author of Why Underpricing Kills Design: How to Command What You Are Worth, drew a full house at his High Point Market panel and book signing this month, held at The Learning Center at Universal Furniture alongside Jessica Duce of JDuce Design. On October 21, 2026, he took the message to NBC12.

"Looking out at a packed room at High Point proved what I've known for years: designers are done begging for permission to be profitable," said Miller. "When I closed a year with over 300 completed projects and still had to audit where the wealth vanished, I realized the ultimate truth: your talent was never the liability. Your pricing was treason against your own empire."

Why Underpricing Kills Design is a straight-talking playbook for interior designers and any creative business owner. It shows readers how to calculate what their business actually needs, why hourly billing punishes them for getting better, how to say their price without flinching, and how to raise rates without losing the clients who matter.

Miller's challenge to designers is simple: the next time someone asks your price, say the number. Then stop talking.

The book has been profiled by Design News Now. Watch the NBC12 segment to see Miller discuss the book.

About Johnathan H. Miller
Johnathan H. Miller is an author, NBC12 lifestyle contributor and Richmond, Virginia-based interior designer and business strategist known for his direct perspective on design, positioning and value. He is the founder and CEO of Jsquared Interior Staging & Design and has been named among the Real Estate Staging Association's Most Influential in Real Estate Staging every year from 2016 through 2025. Learn more at johnathanhmiller.com.

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