Knowing Your Worth Is the Key to Charging Your Worth
It can be hard to set a price for work that comes easily to you (the famous, “I’d do this even if no one were paying me,” idea). But there is another, more insidious belief that can prevent you from charging your worth.
What if you believe your work isn't important?
I'm talking about the “My Work Doesn’t Matter” belief. Are you familiar with it?
Many creatives and lots of other service providers like healers, therapists and coaches carry this idea around. There’s not a billing code for what you do, an objective, outside source for you to use when pricing your work so you may not know how to charge your worth. So it’s easier to succumb to the voices in your head, one of which may be saying, “Your work doesn’t matter.”
A self-defeating cycle
This sets a cycle in motion. If your work doesn’t matter, you can’t charge much for it. If you don’t charge much, people won’t pay much. They don’t chase you down the street offering you more money than you’re asking.
Then the kicker. If you don’t value what you do, and you don’t charge much, certainly not what it's worth, and people don’t pay much, voila! You’re reinforcing your original belief that your work doesn’t matter.
How to stop this cycle and charge your worth
This cycle can be interrupted at any point. I’m interrupting it for myself by getting honest and clear about the effect my coaching and writing have on clients, then beginning to talk about those effects in my marketing.
Are you stuck someplace in this cycle? If you are, book a chat and we’ll brainstorm for 15 minutes about how to break out.
The last day to sign up for my beta programs is April 10th
My two beta, individual coaching programs: Design Your Day Job and Sell Your Art Peacefully will be ending on April 10th--you have til Friday to decide if you want to do one or both of them. If you’d like to read about what each one covers, click on the links above, or book a chat and we can see what would work best for you.
I’ve noticed spending more time alone encourages the parts of me that are unsure and afraid to speak louder than usual. If this is happening to you, it might be time to engage with those parts, make them conscious, and if they’re in the driver’s seat, moving them to the back of the car where they can advise, but not steer.
If you need help with this, let’s talk.