How Much Should You Charge?
"More than you think!" is usually the answer!
It’s The Question I Get the Most!
Someone once told me my website and what I talk about in my posts and podcasts is “too cryptic” for their comfort zone. Check it out and decide for yourself. 😆
Now I’ve learned over the years that some people just don’t want to receive actual coaching to guide them to their own conclusions of what they want. They just want to be told the correct answer. Read, remember, repeat, and just keep doing what the teacher or the boss says—that’s our conditioning!
So this person was a bit upset I couldn’t give a straight-forward response about how much they should charge for their lessons. Not only could I not give an appropriate answer on the spot without having more context, any specific answer I'd give would likely not help in the long-term. My own reasons for buying might not be the same as a prospective client’s reasons or their clients' reasons. And who knows how the market will shift into the future.
My job as a coach and mentor isn't to tell people exactly what to charge. It’s to guide them into determining for themselves their true and unique value proposition and what fees are optimal for the value they're creating. So while our instant-gratification kind of world has everyone demanding instantaneous success, we have to remember entrepreneurship is a long-term personal development journey, not a one-night stand. We're always growing—and coaches and mentors can help us grow faster!
So while I can’t give you a perfect answer to the headline question, I’d like use this post to to delve into three foundational questions to seriously consider as you determine what you really want to charge. No matter where we are in our journeys, and no matter the level we're at, these are questions to regularly revisit as you contemplate what to charge for your services or by how much you should increase your fees.
1. What are the actual costs of conducting your business and living your life?
What does it cost to actually operate your business, live your life, and keep both going like well-oiled machines?
How much do you need to bring in to pay all the bills, pay your employees, etc. before you're turning any kind of profit?
Is the amount of profit enough to pay yourself what you need to actually live all the while still having something left over you can keep reinvesting and continue to grow your business?
If our own foundational needs aren't regularly being met, but we're trying to go above and beyond to meet the needs of others, it can be just a matter of time before we risk heading toward rock bottom. I've been there—check out my previous post about how being a nurturer sent me down a perilous financial path.
2. What is the lifetime value of your offer?
Or in other words, since "a diamond is forever" as the saying goes, how is your offer like a diamond?
Too often we stop after the previous question to justify what we should charge based solely on what we may need just to survive, if even. We need to remember it's not about us, it's about them. Consider the following questions:
What is the value of your offer in the life of the client or customer?
What is the return on investment they will get or they can expect?
What new opportunities or experiences will present themselves if they decide to buy?
What might be the cost of them NOT taking action?
If your offer is going to help the customer or client earn or save a substantial amount of money or an equivalence in their life, a price that may be way higher than you might expect or be comfortable with wouldn't be out of the question. Sometimes, it could be as simple as calculating a percentage of anticipated future earnings like a commission. Other times, there might be some deeper thinking involved since the return on investment may not directly involve money or a clear equivalence.
Check out my post from last year for further thoughts and insights on this perspective.
3. How much do you really WANT to charge?
Imagine if money and the approval or cooperation of others didn't have to matter. What life would you really desire to live? What would you really desire to do? Allow yourself to take moment and visualize the life you dream of or what you would want if you were confident you could reach your next level.
Now how much would your business actually need to generate in order to pay for it?
There is no wrong answer. Getting to even the loftiest of a desired income goal is really just a math problem; the math simply determines how much we need to sell! And one of the biggest problems people have is they are simply not doing enough marketing or making enough sales calls; instead they’re just settling for collecting however much they can from whoever signs up first.
On the one hand, this is a continuation of the first question. On the other, this goes beyond simply funding an average lifestyle and into the realm of envisioning yourself becoming a highly influential leader who can afford to be philanthropic and make a lasting impact on the world.
So the real question might be something like this: what if you actually could charge any amount you want to charge, and all you have to do is allow yourself to grow into becoming someone worthy of such a fee?
This may go against the "hard work" belief systems and the kind of race-to-the-bottom thinking many of us were raised and trained with. And I’m not suggesting charging insanely unaffordable amounts in excess of the value proposition of the previous question. But if the value proposition is there, if the product or service is truly viable, then the more ideal the client, the more they would ideally want to pay you whatever you ask for because they are worthy too; self-worth is a two-way street!
When we grow into becoming the kind of person who can charge more from the right people for the right reasons, we are planting seeds of expectation that the right people we're serving can also grow into becoming people who are also worthy of earning as much or receiving at least some sort of an equivalence in their own lives. Moreover, as another mentor once told me, "Your price is your statement to the world about your level of competence and skill." Don't be afraid to own it; you just might be helping those you serve do likewise.
