Mental Gymnastics–The Art of Raising Your Prices
The instigation: Your husband/friend tells you that you are doing too much for too many people for too little money and that your business model is not sustainable.
So you consider having a pep talk with yourself about raising your prices.
Ack! I hate the thought, but if I must. So you proceed to have that talk in your head.
If you are anything like me, the conversation you have in your head goes like this (brace yourself, this will be painful to watch).
The Conversation
Me: Maybe I should raise my prices. The demand is too much to keep up with and I am a bit wasted. I actually think it is possible that I could drown.
Evil, Totally Mental, Self-Conscious Chatty Kathy Part of My brain: Nah! You just started this. You aren’t an expert yet, Missy. And remember, you don’t have a coaching certification. And if you raise your prices you are going to lose your current clients. They won’t be able to afford it and they already don’t think you are worth the money when they aren’t even making money themselves.
Me: Yeah, but people like my services and I can’t keep up with the work level and only make peanuts. I will burn out. I will burn out, right?!? (I drift into my past looking back on other undertakings I have done in my past in a very gung-ho manner that I ended up burnt out on–church, coaching, mentoring artists, starting an Etsy team). Yeah, let’s not do that again.
Evil, Totally Mental, Self-Conscious Chatty Kathy Part of My brain: Who are you to think your advice is worth that much, anyways? You are a life coach for goodness sake. You aren’t giving these people food or shelter. And this work is easy for you and you enjoy it. There are so many women that don’t have the luxury of working in their pajamas, while drinking Boba tea and playing footsies with their husband under the kitchen table. You should just be thankful people pay you at all.
Me: Yeah, but I just think I need to raise my prices, and anyways, it’s not like “it” can go any further when you still have to work at that kitchen table. And anyways, I really am worth it! I need to take care of myself. It’s like the flight attendants say on the airplane, “put your oxygen mask on first and then put your child’s on.” It’s settled. I want to have money to actually get my nails done and my hair cut by someone other than the local Spanish speaking salon. I don’t even speak Spanish. When’s the last time I bought clothes for myself that weren’t second-hand. Ok, that’s it! Prices are going up…tomorrow.
Whoop! Whoop! I won! You do a little victory dance around your messy living room. Think to yourself, “I think I might actually have the courage to raise my prices.” That is… until that Evil, Totally “Mental”, Self-Conscious Chatty Kathy Part of My Brain returns for another round of mental gymnastics tomorrow.
Evaluation
How crazy do I sound? That inner monologue was seriously effed up. The scary part–we all have that inner monologue and it’s about time to squash it. It’s insane in the membrane. The lie meter says that most of those thoughts are FALSE. But there is just a sliver of truth in each one to keep us locked into the mental gymnastics arena of “nobody gets out alive.” So, run!
This.is.why.we.need.people. People to tell us we are giving away the farm. Before it’s too late.
Take Aways
1. Find someone in your life, be it a coach, spouse or good friend, that can give you an honest assessment of your abilities. One who can tell you how much you are worth. Someone your trust with such matters as self-worth.
2. RUN! When the mental gymnastics starts, just know, that there is no winning. Just run! Distract yourself. Take a walk! Do something else. And then, when you are far enough away, sit down with an objective person and talk about what is real and what is true. Then, and only then, should you think about the viability of raising your prices.
Happy Hiking–your prices!
-Ashley
