Do You Charge What You’re Worth?

Charging what you’re worth can be a challenging thing.

But does that mean you shouldn’t charge what you’re worth?

This morning I had a conversation with a good friend who’s a life coach. I know him and his work very well and I’ve given him a lot of advice over the years. His business is successful – he’s nearly full with clients every month. Yet, he struggles to get his head above water financially.

Now knowing his work I know that he’s grossly under charging for his coaching. Yet he’s torn about raising his prices. On the one hand, he sees similar coaches charging three and four times his rates. On the other hand, he’s afraid that charging what he’s worth will make it difficult to get clients.

Sound familiar?

It’s a problem I see all the time. Many of my own clients undervalue their own services. It’s hard to charge what you’re worth if you don’t see the real value in what you offer. It’s even harder to charge what you’re worth if you believe upping your fees will cause you to loose business.

The truth is often it will. If you charge what you’re worth you may lose business. You may find that fewer people can afford your services. But that doesn’t mean no one can.

If you polled your clients you’ll likely find that many of them would be willing to pay more for your services. How much more? Could be 30% more. Maybe 50%. Maybe double. Who knows.

The important thing is to first value your own work. After that you want to find out how your clients value your work. Most often you’ll be surprised.

How do you charge what you’re worth?

It’s simple, really – just up your rates. You can do it all at once. You can also do it gradually.

For instance, long ago, there was a time when I didn’t feel comfortable charging what I knew I was worth. So what I did was start with charging what I knew people would pay. Then, with each new project I would up the price a little bit. I did this with every single project for a 16 months until I was charging what I wanted. And the interesting thing was that when I shared my higher fees, no one balked.

Could everyone afford my higher fees? Of course not. But not everyone can afford to drive a brand new car every year either.

 

How does charging more make you feel?

When you charge what you’re worth you’ll have a whole new vigor and appreciation for your business. You’ll give more to your clients because you feel more valued. You’ll feel better about your business because it’s truly serving your needs. You’ll be a better coach, healer, practitioner, etc.

When you charge what you’re worth it will also change you clients. You find more clients who are more committed. They’ll get more done with you – making you more effective and giving them more value. Your impact on their life will greater. More importantly, their life will change faster and deeper.

When you charge what you’re worth everyone wins.

Give it a try. Raise your rates a little bit. Or a lot bit.

If you don’t charge what you’re worth, start. Today.

And if you don’t feel it’s right to charge what you’re worth then create a 2 column pro/con list. List out all your objections to raising your prices. Then give a serious look at each one. See if you can find a positive answer to your objections. See if your objections are just lists of fears keeping you from having the business you want.

If it’s a list of fears it’s pretty likely you can overcome them, charge what you’re worth and move closer to having the business you want.

So what’s keeping you from charging what you’re worth?