The Desert of Arizona
Clear 78 Degrees
Do you have trouble asking for money?
For a long time, I was the poster child for that issue.
When I first got started in business, the idea of me asking someone for $500 was a big deal. The kind of big deal where your throat would dry up and you’d get that terrible feeling in the pit of your stomach.
Soon… asking for $1,000 was the new big deal. Eventually, it was $4,000. Then it moved to $10,000… and so on.
The number isn’t really the issue. The feeling is the issue. In my evolution, the number was changing, but the feeling wasn’t changing.
Back in the old days, I had this crazy idea that I somehow to had to “feel the pain” and invest a lot of effort to charge a lot of money. After all, if you’re not working hard, why should you be paid high fees?
Listen up…
Crazy ideas like this are very expensive.
If you’re using the talents you’ve been given to make money, it’s not supposed to feel like work. In fact, that’s a clue you’re doing what you’re on this earth to do.
So basing your fees on how much work it feels like you’re putting in is actually a little bit nuts. Because what you’re actually doing is penalizing yourself for what comes naturally.
So what should you try instead?
Stop thinking about you and start thinking about your client. They’re probably not hiring you to save their life. They’re not hiring you to “work hard.” They’re hiring you because they believe that you can help them take one step forward towards their goal.
Your fees have nothing to do with you personally. They have everything to do with your client and what they want to achieve and the fact that they want YOUR help to do it. Think about that… because my hunch is that you deserve a pay raise.
But no one else can give it to you. Only you can give it to you.