Have you ever struggled with putting a value on your work? Rachel Rodgers made a name for herself teaching historically excluded groups how to build generational wealth through her company Hello Seven. She found success only after realizing she needed to claim her value. It was feedback from a friend who told her she wasn’t charging enough for her services as an attorney that led to the revelation. She didn’t appreciate the uninvited comment at first. “Being called out is never fun,” Rodgers said. When she tested doubling her fees with a new client who easily agreed to pay, it became clear to her that she’d been undervaluing herself. The wisdom Rodgers took from that experience is an integral part of the multi-million dollar business she created to help others learn how to claim their value. Her top advice: “I encourage you to collect rejections. See how many people you can get to say no to your price. And along the way you are going to find people saying ‘yes.’” “Once you start recognizing your value, make sure you share it with others because that information is important.” “We have to upgrade ourselves. We have to give ourselves a raise. And when we see ourselves in that way, other people will see us in that way, as well.” Do you have a story about successfully raising the price for your work? Share it with us in the comments. And subscribe to Catalyst newsletter here - https://lnkd.in/e-RYcKD5
Sheri Haney
2w
Personally I have always just wanted to be of assistance and to help others and companies with tasks or care that were void of a person to do the task or the care. As an independent contractor it is challenging at times to know a fair price to charge. Notice I said FAIR price! As I always wanted to be of help, not gouge for money, although after several years of working extra hard in hopes to have “someone” see the value in me I realized my giving heart was not necessarily getting me to the financial position “others” would want for me. I became the one wanted because I was “cheap” labor. I never was about getting rich I was always about being needed. For me it brought gratification but at the same time exhaustion. Moving forward I can only pray my “giving” will have an increased value to continue to allow me to be true to myself while helping others and companies at the same time.
Understanding the value of your work and expertise isn't the hard part—it's the "price/cost" you want to associate with it. Researching how others are pricing their offerings and talking with your personal board of advisors and mentors are great ways to adjust and create checkpoints. You will never win the "price war" because there will always be someone who will price lower than you. However, if you focus on the value you bring to your clients, you will not only get the right clients but also clients who will value you.
I have a “rejection resume” that includes five of my biggest failures and what I learned and changed about myself from each. I have a sixth oopsie I need to add as well. They’re only truly failures if you don’t learn from them. I keep a paper copy in my desk drawer. I have to frequently deliver bad news at work and I keep a copy of my rejection resume in my desk drawer. When someone takes my feedback particularly hard, I pull that piece of paper out and share it with them. It’s a great tool for those situations.
Ken Tasch
2w
Two fundamental and complimentary ways to get to the worth of services and products. First, create a value proposition. I recommend using the “jobs to be done” concept developed by Clayton Christensen. Customers buy products and services to get jobs done, not based on their intrinsic value. It’s how you expect to get the job done with what you have to offer, the proposition. This leads to the second way to determine what a customer will pay, return on investment. You must understand what a customer’s desired result is and what they are willing to pay for that result. The payback should be commensurate with the value received and simply put, be a multiple of the price of the product or service. This should all be part of a marketing plan. Try to take as much of the guesswork out of the process as possible.
Mindy Maggio
2w
This is something that comes up in my coaching with women a lot. We work on self-worth and presencing their value, especially when it comes to negotiating pay. I've been lucky and had great mentors and sponsors that have helped me earn my worth in the past (doubling then tripling my income when I became a consultant), but even then, I had to work on feeling it from within. Sponsoring others is crucial. That's something that's so much easier...negotiating on someone else's behalf. Learning to do it for ourselves is the inner work.
i consider the pricing of my work as a response to demand by collectors . The more collectors there are the higher the value . this works for me as I have a limited number of paintings that i can produce yearly. If collectors are purchasing my work more than i create new art . , the price is to low. If you accumulate more art than selling it’s too high. Never lower prices ,once a collector or collectors have purchased your work as it was offered. Most collectors like to see the value of their purchase increase. Most importantly if they want more . You may always raise your prices. Never lower them. This art from “Sybols of the Soul Series.
I needed to hear this today, thank you for sharing! Setting your worth is incredibly challenging, especially when you're just starting out. It's easy to mistake silence for disinterest, leading to doubts about pricing. However, potential clients might still be learning about what you offer and how it can benefit them. I've experienced this uncertainty myself and found myself backsliding on my prices as a result. But no more. This post has inspired me to stick to my initial pricing and even plan for an increase during the holiday season when my services are in higher demand, but my time is limited. Raising prices isn't just about valuing our work; it's about valuing our time and expertise at every stage of our business journey.
Joanne Toll
2w
Rachel Rodgers’ story is incredibly empowering and resonates deeply with my journey as a product designer, product manager, and entrepreneur in the AI space. There were times when I turned down lucrative job offers from top tech companies because they didn’t align with the value, I knew I brought to the table. Instead, I chose to invest in my own ventures, selling one startup to Microsoft and now founding an AI automation agency. Rachel’s advice about collecting rejections to find your true worth is spot on. Recognize your value. Too often I put other professionals on a pedestal, thinking they must have more knowledge and expertise than I do, only to realize in working with them that this is not the case. By valuing ourselves correctly, we set a precedent for others to do the same. #KnowYourWorth #Entrepreneurship #AIInnovation
This is such an important discussion. Our company focuses on higher education and the vendors selling to higher education. Many years ago, I offered complimentary services to some institutions. Instead of accepting with gratitude, most were leary. People associate cost with value. It's still difficult for me to set rates for work I provide. Often, someone else determines the value. We also want to deliver a return on the investment our clients make and our goal is over 400%.
Founder & CEO at The Intrigue Agency, 3 TEDx talks, bestselling author, leadership and communication strategist and consultant
2wI'll always remember, early in my career, a convention chair telling me he couldn't afford my keynote fee. I pointed out his organization was spending more on their cocktail reception than they were on my fee. Plus, their participants may forget what they had to drink that night, but they'd still be reaping bottom-line benefits from my program MONTHS later. The convention chair paused, then said, "Now that you put it that way....." If a potential client is "kicking the tires" of your fee, remind them what they pay for other aspects of their business (website design, social media strategist, advertising campaigns?) and that your work together will drive commensurate - if not more - revenue and real world results.