Poor Stories

February 13, 2012
Sedona, Arizona

Remember back to a recent client project in your business. Now imagine going back and doubling your fees.

I don’t mean doing double the amount of work and getting paid more for it. I mean doing the same amount of work as your last project and just getting paid double for it.

What thoughts come to mind when you think of doing that?

Maybe your first thought is, “Right on! It’s about time.”

My hunch is that your first response might be something closer to:

“I think that’s a little high.”

“I’m not sure the project is worth that much.

“I don’t want to take advantage of my client.”

“That just wouldn’t be fair.”

Let’s take that last answer, because that’s a good one.

Doubling your fees for the very same work you’re doing now just wouldn’t be fair to your client. And you wouldn’t want to take advantage of your client right?

So here’s a question to think about:

What is fair?

Actually, I’ll take a stab at this one:

There is no fair.

Fair is a story. Either your story or someone else’s story.

And, provided you are not deceitful, you can’t take advantage of someone else in a situation like this without their permission.

Your client is free to accept your proposition, not accept it, or offer one of their own.

So put the idea of “what’s fair” out of your mind and stop allowing it to keep you small.

Better yet, ask yourself where you got that story. Trace it back to its source so you can better understand it and get rid of it. I bet you’ll find that story was never yours in the first place, but rather one that you appropriated from someone else who thought it was a good story.

Don’t let stories like this keep you poor.



See you next time,

Jason Leister
Editor, The Client Letter
Creating Success for Independent Professionals
ClientsSuck.net

P.S. If you find ideas like this helpful and want more of them, you’ll find some here.