What is your relationship to money?
Are you charging enough for your product or service?
There is no mission if there is no margin. ~Tony Robbins
A few weeks ago, I posted an Instagram Story in which I asked female entrepreneurs, “Are you charging enough for your product or service?”
80% of the women who responded said, “no.”
In the weeks since, I’ve had a series of conversations with wonderful female business owners, most of whom echoed this survey result — telling me that they are not charging what they know they should be, what they know they are worth.
And then earlier today, I was listening to the “Pivot” podcast hosted by Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. On it, Scott Galloway mentioned a recently released study that showed that male contract workers asked and are paid 40% more than women.
Clearly, all of this points to a problem.
Especially when the data shows that women own 40% of all businesses in the U.S. (31% worldwide), and in the U.S., “almost half of start-ups in 2021 were formed by women.” (source: world economic forum)
Female entrepreneurship drives economic growth, innovation, and social change.
But if we don’t price our services or products in a way that generates a profit, all of these benefits are lost.
Which has me wondering…
As women, what are the stories we tell ourselves about money and about our value?
Because I think there is something more going on than a lack of confidence, although that is a factor. And I say this from personal experience.
📍I think that too often we are operating from a place of fear that is rooted in scarcity and lack.
📍I think we forget that not every opportunity we pursue will be right for us (and us for them). Your right customer will pay you based on the value you are delivering.
📍I think we take “no” personally and, further, we think that a “no” means there won’t be any “yeses” coming down the pike.
📍I think that men believe they can negotiate more aggressively (and effectively) than women, thus assuming they can get a better price from us than they can from a man with the same offering.
📍And sometimes, women do the same to other women, especially those who’ve spent time in corporations run by men (think of it as an unconscious transference).
No doubt, I am missing at least one valid point here. But I hope this is enough to get you thinking.
Because before you get to the price structure for your offering, you need to get clear on your value.
And you need to get clear on the assumptions you’re making that keep you from pricing your service or product in alignment with that value.
The stakes are high.
You need to be generating a profit in order to:
pay yourself (according to my last IG Live guest, bookkeeping coach Erika Millard, 50% of your revenue should be going to you)
start outsourcing or hiring the right talent / team
pay your team well so you can trust them to deliver and you are getting the quality you deserve for your business
run paid ads
attend conferences
get training
work with a coach
give back
In other words, to do all the things necessary to create and grow a thriving, sustainable business. ✨
👉 Let me help you get clear on your value and how to apply that to your offering and pricing. Book a Fast-Start Consulting Session here.