Charge What You’re Worth
After 18 years of coaching business owners, one thing that’s guaranteed to get me ranting is lazy pricing advice.
Not because I think every piece of advice is wrong, but because so much of it sounds brilliant until you actually stop and think about it.
Take the classic phrase “charge what you’re worth.”
I’ve heard it a bazillion times over the years and, honestly, it’s just pants!
The problem is that it encourages you to link the price of your service with your worth as a person. Before long, you’re asking yourself questions like, “Am I really worth that much?” You’re defining yourself by a pound sign, and your worth has nothing whatsoever to do with money. You are priceless!
Here’s why that’s completely the wrong conversation.
Your worth as a person has absolutely nothing to do with the commercial price of your service. Your pricing should reflect the value you create, the results you deliver, the costs of running a healthy business and the future you want that business to have.
And exactly the same thing happens with phrases like “just double your prices” or “double your prices to double your business.” 🙄
They sound decisive, but they don’t actually help you work out what’s right for your business. Because every business is different, every client is different, and every pricing decision deserves more thought than a catchy slogan.
That’s why I’d encourage you to stop collecting pricing soundbites and start asking a much better question.
Does this feel like a fair exchange of value?
If your client receives outstanding value and your business is rewarded fairly for creating that value, you’re probably in the right place. That’s a much healthier way to think about pricing than questioning your own worth.
Good pricing isn’t about confidence, ego or charging as much as you can get away with. It’s about making commercially sensible decisions that create a fair exchange of value for everyone involved.
