The universe taught me a great lesson a few days ago.
I had a potential client sign up for a consultation, but we never made it to the face to face. Over the course of a few emails, she decided that she wanted to hire me but just couldn’t because of my prices. I decided to send her some free items and advice, and I left it at that. I could have been really disappointed because that was a potential client that I could have gained, but I wasn’t disappointed. I decided something after those emails; I WILL NOT DISCOUNT MYSELF.
Heres why:
I have done a discount for my first client in each of my specialty areas. I work just as hard for those clients but I have felt in the past that since they were my first client, the processes might not be completely smooth and I wanted them to have a good experience. But, after doing that a few times now, I have found that things were anything but smooth. In each case, I ended up working so much, that I made less than half my normal hourly rate. Each client was really happy, but at the end, I needed a vacation because I just felt like I had done so much work and gotten very little reward.
This is what happens when you discount yourself. You know what you are worth but you think, I will just do this one discount and it will be alright. Then, you keep doing discounts, and now you are not worth the same thing anymore. Happens with clients, with friends, even with family. Everybody else is getting some great value, and now you feel worthless.
So, I made a decision. I am not going to discount myself anymore. I am going to charge what I am worth. I am going to try the hard things. And I am sure that sometimes I won’t get the client, and I will fail at some hard things, but I will know that I did the best I could and I know my value.
In the case of my potential client, she was looking for someone who might be cheaper than all the others. And I could do that to get more clients. But they always want the same type of service all the others are offering. And in reality, I have more knowledge than many of the others. I might be newer, but I have had more training. So, I feel like I could even charge more. I won’t charge more, I like to be competitive with all the others, but I also like knowing I could.
In the end, this big lesson was really to teach me to stop undervaluing myself. Lesson learned. I am a valuable person, and I have valuable things to do in this world.
Do you believe this about yourself? If you don’t, I highly recommend trying it. Because each person in this world has value. You just need to find it within you.
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Please be kind to yourself.
M 🙂