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The problem with those calculators is that they are based upon your desires, not on your customers.

If I needed $40K per year to maintain my lifestyle and I invented a cure for cancer, would I only charge $40k?

Similarly, if I needed $100 per hour to maintain my style of living, should I demand $100 to someone who wants to hire me as a doorman? He'd never pay that much.

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You're right that value based pricing [ie what it's worth to the customer] is a better approach. Both the Freshbooks book Breaking The Time Barrier [1] and Brennan Dunn's website [2] are good resources on those. But they might be too advanced for someone just starting out.

You do need to determine what your own base costs are though, at least to ensure you're not going backwards. The calculators I linked to above at least help with starting to think about those costs.

[1] https://www.freshbooks.com/blog/breakingthetimebarrier/

[2] https://doubleyourfreelancing.com

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