Are you charging what you are worthpar Irena O'Brien, PhD
Too often, my clients tell me that they have difficulty charging what they believe they are worth. At the thought of billing, they experience anxiety, guilt, etc., and for some, these emotions come up when a potential client first calls them! In their minds, they have already jumped to the anxiety and guilt surrounding billing. Undercharging can be manifested by an hourly rate that is too low or by billing for less time than was actually spent. And some even do a combination of the two. The mechanism may be different, but the results are the same.
What are the costs of undercharging for our time?
On a practical level, when we undercharge, we earn less than we should or work longer hours than we would like. In addition, if our fees are too low, we create the impression that we are not that good, which can lead to attracting less than ideal clients and less interesting work.
On an internal level, undercharging creates an emotional toll that can lead to guilt, discouragement, unhappiness, anxiety, and dissatisfaction with our profession. If sufficiently discouraged, it can even lead us to abandon our profession. If we are undercharging, we create negative thoughts and emotions that occupy valuable mind space and sap our energy.
Imagine what life would be like if we easily charged what we were worth?
We would work fewer hours for more money. People would be more likely to believe that we are good at what we do which would lead to more desirable clients with more interesting questions/issues/contracts. We would have more peace of mind, more happiness, and more satisfaction with our work. We would have more mind space and more energy to do more.
Undercharging is often related to limiting beliefs about our self worth. Every time that we charge less than we are worth, we experience negative emotions (guilt, anxiety, etc.). These negative emotions create a vicious cycle that feeds those limiting beliefs. So, accepting the negative emotions surrounding undercharging is the first step: when we accept an emotion, we reduce its emotional charge and stop feeding our limiting belief: we break the vicious cycle.
To identify the hidden belief that keeps us from recognizing our value, we can monitor and question our thoughts until the crucial belief surfaces. Quality control the belief (beliefs don’t have to be true to be believed): “Is this belief really true?” “Really?”
Then choose a new belief: “What would I like to believe about myself?” And see how it feels as you imagine charging what you are worth. And then charge what you are worth. And see how that feels!
