The Real Reason You Are Not Charging Your Worth

Okay my friend.  It’s time to have a real conversation about charging your worth.  

Listen, every Creative I’ve ever met (including myself) has struggled with this at some point in their career. So if this is something you battle with, please know you are not alone.

The real question is why.  Why do so many of us have such a hard time charging what are we are worth?

Here’s what I believe.

Struggling about charging what you are worth has WAAAAY more to do with not feeling worthy than it does with how you feel about the quality of your work.

I’ve always been good at photography.  Even at the very beginning of my career I could sit back, look at my photos and objectively say, “that’s a good picture”. But even so, it was SO hard for me to charge for what I did.  

I felt guilty about it.  

The truth is, I have no formal training in photography.  I was just a girl with a camera.  So who was I to be charging for this work?  

I felt like a fraud.

Sound familiar?  

Classic imposter syndrome. And it sucks.

And the worst part about imposter syndrome is that when you feel this way, you will attract clients who treat you this way.

You can’t sell what you don’t believe in

You just can’t.  So if you question your value, your clients will too.  

Charging what you are worth starts with believing you are worth it.  

I always say, being in business is like being in therapy because it makes you face your weaknesses and work past them.

Just promise me this

 Do the work.

If you need to learn some new skills, DO it! 

You have a gift.  

You are called to do it for a reason.  

So don’t let a technical skill, or negative self talk stand in the way of sharing your gift with the world.

And when Impostor Syndrome rears its ugly head and starts telling you that you are a fraud and you are not worth what you charge, just tell it to sit down and shut up!  The more you put it in its place, the less it will come around.

Next week we will dive deep into figuring out how to set your prices.  Until then, be nice to yourself.  You’re awesome