“Oh it’s nothing.” That’s what we often say about our own skill set, the one that comes so easily to us it just seems obvious and commonsensical. That mindset is at the root of why we constantly undervalue our true worth.
We forget that what is easy for us is extraordinarily difficult for others. We discount the ability to turn on the creativity and come up with an answer or navigate the maze of choices to find the shortest path to success. Our brains just work that way.
It’s what makes charging what you are worth is so difficult for many entrepreneurs. How do you put a price tag on creativity? How do you sum up years of experience in a line item on an invoice? How do you justify charging for an idea that took you 2 seconds to come up with (in the shower)?
How to Overcome the Fear of Charging What You are Worth
The fear of charging what you are worth, or what you perceive as ‘overcharging’, is that people will say, “NO!” and refuse to work with you. It’s easier to undercharge and be so overwhelmed with customers that you can barely keep up than it is to inch that price up even a bit.
The funny thing about the fear charging more is that without a doubt, some will refuse that price. The reasons will range from they don’t see the value in what you offer to they simply can’t afford it. That’s okay because if you do the math, you need a lot fewer “Yes’s” to make the same amount when you charge more.
With that now smaller and more exclusive base of customers, you get to focus on delivering even more value. Before that kind of extraordinary service was out of the question because you were barely keeping up. Now you can lavish attention on your higher paying customers further justifying your lofty price tag.
How to Shift Your Thinking about Your True Value
The key to getting over the fear of charging what you are worth is to shift your thinking about your value. Even if you bill your time on an hourly basis, you are selling value, not time.
Speed and Efficiency – The trouble with the hourly trap is it doesn’t account for the benefit of getting it done quickly and efficiently, and instead it rewards slowness. If you are able to deliver speed, consider charging for end results, not the time it takes you to get there.
Sum of your Experience – Your value is not just the time you put in on a project; it’s the subtle understanding of your industry, all the little tricks that help your customers shortcut key steps.
Avoiding Mistakes – What would a mistake cost your customers? Money? Time? Reputation? Don’t forget they are benefiting from your knowledge of what not to do as much as they are benefiting from your direction on what to do.
Get Immediate Results – What would you pay to skip ahead in the game and shortcut all your early learning by trial and error? Remember, your customers are getting immediate results because of your knowledge!
The Bottom Line Impact – Remember that 2-second idea? What if that little gem made your customer an extra million dollars? Feel better about charging serious money for that idea even though it only took you 2 seconds? You should.
14 Comments
“Speed and Efficiency – The trouble with the hourly trap is it doesn’t account for the benefit of getting it done quickly and efficiently, and instead it rewards slowness. If you are able to deliver speed, consider charging for end results, not the time it takes you to get there.”
That is a key thing for me. I stopped charging by the hour for two reasons: One was that it makes me feel pressured to give a completely honest account, so that I feel I have to watch the clock and deduct time for any interruption. The other is that I realized that I was delivering a lot more work in the space of an hour than most do. In fact, on one project the manager declared he was switching off from hourly compensation because everyone else was slacking off and taking far too long to complete the job.
LOVE this! I will be forwarding this post to many fellow mompreneurs!
just what I needed to read right now! Thankyou. I am a bestseling babycare author/internationally certified lactation consultant supporting desperate new moms – my clients are high achieving women thrown into chaos by a new baby.I have years of experience as a health pro but also as a mother of 5 and I know every ‘shortcut’ in the book, then som,e about balance/ self care and soothing fractious babies but its so hard to up those prices to actually cover my own energy and investment in a busness that isn’t about ‘making clients money’ . Feedback is brilliant, I know I am transforming lives but its still a tough call to make. So, thankyou!
I learned this the hard way! I used to design and create one-of-a-kind handbags. I hated to charge too much for fear I would look like I thought too highly of myself. But after a few months of barely being able to pay my expenses, I realized my time and talent was worth a higher price tag. Great advice.
This post reminds me of a story that I read about Picasso. The story goes that a woman saw Picasso at a café and immediately recognized him. She asked Picasso to paint a portrait of her. Picasso did so in a few short strokes. The woman loved the portrait and asked Picasso how much he was going to charge her for it. He answered, $5000. The woman was shocked at the price and exclaimed, “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!” To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”
It’s so true that we tend to underestimate how much our skills are worth. If you can save people days of frustration, it’s irrelevant if it only takes you five minutes.
Thanks so much for this–I needed to hear/read it.
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I love that story! It’s so true…the fact that it only takes you minutes is clear evidence of the depth of your knowledge and expertise! It’s especially challenging for people who are gifted with a talent or a knack for the subject!
OMG…yes! Think of it this way: if you don’t charge enough, you can’t continue sharing your gift with the world!
Thank you for sharing your story!
You are welcome!
Your story so closely resembles one of the other comments above. It seems we are so generous and willing to help that we forget to help ourselves or even make it feasible to continue helping others.
Think of it this way: your clients could read book after book to try and find the answer or they could turn to you for an immediate answer: THAT is extremely valuable. Their time is worth money to them whether it’s to be able to focus on their high achieving careers or spend more quality time with their families!
YOU ARE WORTH IT!
Thank you!
I know exactly what you mean! I realized that it takes other writers at least 4x as long to complete projects that I whip off in a heartbeat (hence why I both raised my rates and switched to project pricing)!
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