Demand what you deserve.

We live in a world that I like to say is “unevenly distributed”. When it comes to wealth distribution, many things play a role in a person’s access to wealth. Some of us are born into wealth. Some of us win the lottery. Some of us live off of others. Some of us work very hard and never see a fragment of the wealth we deserve as citizens. And then there’s those of us who have decided to carve out our own path to get what we deserve. 

 If you’re reading this, more than likely you’re someone who doesn’t have instant access to wealth. You’re probably the type of person who has to work hard for everything you get, and even then, you may find it hard to get what you deserve. This used to be me until I made one critical change in my life. 

For a long time, I found it hard to demand what I knew I was worth professionally. As an educated woman with an advanced level degree and significant professional expertise, I discovered I was constantly limiting myself by accepting what other people offered me as opposed to demanding what I deserved for my services.

You see, for a long time I was suffering from imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is a feeling of inadequacy despite your actual skill and abilities. Even though deep down I knew I was qualified to offer the services I offer at a price that reflected my skill and experience, a part of me doubted my ability to get paid what I am worth, and I often found myself settling for offers that were way less than what I deserved. You can’t build a profitable business by doing this!

 Accepting an offer lower than what you're worth is rarely acceptable as an entrepreneur. In the rare cases that you do accept a lower fee, there always needs to be some kind of  incentive or exchange of services to compensate for the lower fee. If there isn’t, then simply decline the opportunity.

 Now, you may be thinking, “Well, won’t I throwing money away?” The answer is NO. When you decline to work with a potential client because they can’t or won’t pay your fee you are in essence fine tuning your target audience and filtering in those who are willing and able to pay you what you deserve.

 Remember, the point of being an entrepreneur is to work less and earn more! A small amount of high paying customers will always benefit you more than a large amount of low paying customers, because while you may end up with more money with the latter, you’ll end up working a lot harder, and life is about living NOT working.

 So, how do you ensure that you get paid what you’re worth from your client?  The first way is to take some time out to write down what you will accept and what you will not accept from your clients for the service(s) you provide. I personally don’t list my rates on my website because they differ per client, however, one way to be transparent with potential clients is to list a  minimum investment on your website for the service(s) you provide.  This way, any potential client will have an idea of any minimum investment they’ll need to make before an actual quote is given to them.

 If you’re like me, and you don’t like to list your rates online, having a premade document ready with the rates or ranges to all the services you offer that you can send to a potential client immediately after discussing what they need can also be helpful, and won’t make it seem like you’re pulling  a random rate out of the air.

 Another thing we can do as service providers is educating potential clients about our rates.  Sometimes a fee for service is questioned because the potential client simply has no idea what they’re paying for. Having a breakdown of the different tasks that are included in the service can be helpful in getting a client who’s on the fence to sign the contract. Finally, being able to negotiate an alternate version of a specific service that would include less work on your behalf, but may fit your client’s budget can also be helpful in keeping a good client who you otherwise may have lost.

 Ultimately, running a business is not easy. When you’re working for yourself you have to remember that YOU’RE the boss, and therefore you set the rules and policies as to how your business will run. If your plan is to build a business that will last, then learning to be firm in your pricing will be one of the first skills you master. One of the best things about working for yourself is the freedom to do what you love, how you love, and for the price that works best for YOU! Keeping that in mind has been my way of prospering as a business owner and most importantly getting what I deserve!