To Give or to Teach?
Would you rather give someone a fish, or teach someone to fish? Is it really a rhetorical question?
Would you rather give someone a fish, or teach someone to fish?
A rhetorical question, or is it?
Is it really a rhetorical question?
As the proverb we've all heard in one rendition or another goes: “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”
Now we all know on an intellectual level the "right" answer is to teach someone to fish, or how to do the equivalent skill or thing we specialize in. But are we really willing to do the work and carry out the process of actually teaching how to do what we do?
Or could it be that it's habitually easier to just give and give and give?
And could the latter be a matter of codependency, a savior complex, or an outright power trip? Or could it be that overly giving is simply the only option we are aware of?
Where in your career or business might this be something to contemplate? To put it another way, where could you improve the service you're rendering so that you are not just giving, but you’re further enhancing others' lives in a more permanent and durable way?
Reflecting on my earlier post about being a nurturer, while I likely exhibited some codependent traits, the lack of awareness of another way was perhaps the largest factor behind my continuous undercharging for lessons, singing gigs and other work over the years.
I was basically copying the business models of some of my professors—but without a full-time tenure-track salary to keep the cup full. And as many of my own teachers seemed to go about the payment part of the private lessons with a sort of implied or subconscious assumption I likely couldn't afford much, I basically went on to assume my own students and clients couldn't afford much either. I charged more or less what my professors charged almost to a default.
The idea of ever charging more felt frighteningly impossible to consider, even when I got to a point of realizing it would be necessary to ever have a sustainable business. And the reality is that my own business has nothing to do with my teachers’ either. But since I was never encouraged to want to invest more in myself, I never knew how to nor even thought about how to encourage my own students to likewise have an attitude of wanting to invest more in themselves and their growth.
Unlike for doctors, lawyers, and other "STEM" professions, it can still be a bit out of the mainstream to suggest professionals in the arts and in related lines of work actually charge enough to support themselves and their families—and it can be even more taboo to suggest they charge enough to actually afford the life they really want to live!
I still don't have all the answers as to why this undercharging phenomenon persists, but I tried to touch on many of them in this post from last spring. There will never be enough time to go down every one of the of rabbit holes and address all the systemic problems, collective traumas, etc. Rather than dwell on the problems, what if we could focus on solutions to start mitigating the problems and gets ourselves flowing downstream and with the tide instead of against it?
A New Frontier for Teaching?
To tie in the fish proverb goes with my undercharging for lessons, you could say that by not charging enough, it was like I was almost giving away money to the people I was serving—money they didn't even ask for. So instead of worry about charging too much, what if I could have done more to confidently teach the students how to get out there and earn more money themselves so they could afford any price I named?
What if affordability isn't usually as much of a problem as a lack of awareness about how to be resourceful? What if we all could take the work we do and not just teach the main thing, but also help those we serve likewise create more prosperous lives and careers for too? Could this kind of an attitude and approach catalyze a collective ability to feel confident and ethical in earning more?
Even though some progress was made in the arts in recent years, many professionals and aspiring professionals in the arts continue to face financial challenges in these uncertain times. This includes not just some of my clients, but also many of my clients' clients. Having endured too much hardship from trying to have a "perfect" and/or a socially acceptable "starving artist" career, one of my missions in this life is to help normalize success and prosperity for all. When more artists and educators have more wealth from their talents, the world can become an even more beautiful place, and even greater opportunities can be created for everyone. This is a way in which we all truly CAN become rising tides lifting all the boats around us!
Thanks for reading!
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