No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." --Eleanor Roosevelt
Fair warning, this might get a little ranty.
We’ve been talking about pricing the last few weeks. Pricing high, pricing low, and the sweet spot that works for us in our business to generate income and impact.
I want to address something I’ve noticed online that’s an addition to all of this: pricing and income shame. I gotta say, my momma bear claws are out. I care deeply about my people, and I’m not on board with the marketing shaming.
Pricing and income shaming is similar to list shaming and comes from well-intended (I assume) messaging and marketing out there that’s essentially telling you that you aren’t good enough if you aren't hitting a certain number.
Price and income shaming hits you where it hurts and sends the message that you’re ‘barely cracking it' in business with your prices and income.
It’s the message that implies you SHOULD be charging more and SHOULD be making SOOO much more money.
Price and income shame is the LAST thing I want any of you to feel. It’s also not helpful at all. Nobody gets to put baby in a corner when it comes to pricing or income...or ever.
Let’s set the record straight: there’s no shame in your game at whatever price you charge and whatever income you make. It’s all relative and this misses the entire point that it’s not about the price, it’s about what’s underneath the price that counts.
It’s about the empowerment and confidence that comes from buying into what you sell and putting a price tag on it that feels right.
It’s NOT about making you feel shitty about your prices and what you make each month. It's NOT about sending a message that you aren’t worthy or aligned to your soul's work if you aren’t charging more and ‘closing’ a certain amount of sales each month.
This kind of messaging paints pricing as the silver bullet and cure all.
Since when did what we charge and what we make become the barometer for how we measure our self-worth? And come on, measuring our success only by our income? I’m shaking my head as I write this. Most of us got into this game for the kind of success that's about more than money.
Money is a beautiful thing, and I want you to make lots of it. I love money and what it can do for us, our businesses, and everyone around us. The world will be a better place when more heart-centered people are making decisions with their dollars.
But we play a very dangerous game when we start to tie external metrics to our internal worth. This is a slippery slope to never feeling good enough and never feeling like we have enough. It’s also a fast pass to sabotage.
Aiming for numbers only is a recipe for desperation, expectation, neediness, and generally feeling like we're lacking. And you want to know the quickest way to NOT make more money? Feeling any of these things.
Income and pricing are relative, personal, a process, and a journey.
Like everything in business, your pricing isn’t one-size-fits-all, otherwise all of us in the same industry, selling similar services and products would charge the same exact amount AND get matching results. Have you noticed it doesn’t work that way?
Don’t let marketing convince you that you aren’t good enough because you aren’t hitting an arbitrarily income. Please, please, please don’t be shamed for showing up and making an income and an impact at any number.
EVERYONE with a sustainable, profitable business starts somewhere. Everyone grows. Most people do NOT start out making six figures a year right away and charging premium prices successfully out the gate.
Wherever you’re at on your journey is beautiful.
whether you’ve had your first $10 month, first $10k month, or first $100k month, all of it's celebration-worthy and means you’re in the arena, you’re showing up, and you’re selling and making income from your passion-driven work.
The sky’s the limit and anyone who's showing up and bravely selling their work is already winning. Anyone who’s earning an income as an entrepreneur is a rockstar. It takes courage to do what you love, share it with the world, and put any price tag on it.
If you’re monetizing what you love to do, that’s success in my book. You’re doing it. And if you’re not where you want to be yet, showing up is so much of the battle. Besides, as soon as you get ‘there’, that marker will start to move.
Yes, there's so much possibility and earning potential. Yes, it’s great to have income goals and work towards those, but not if they make you feel badly. That misses the entire point and makes it really tough to make any money at all.
Making more money isn't a race. There isn’t a prize for whoever gets ‘there’ first. You don’t get to avoid your stuff by racing there because someone said you should.
And don’t you dare crowdsource or let anyone else, me included, dictate what price (or income) is right for you and your business.
Wishing you your version of success!
P.S. Want some help getting clear on your pricing, strategy, and connecting with your dream clients, so you can turn them into paying clients in a way that feels good?! I'd love to support you on your journey to do just that so you can build a business you're wildly in love with that also gets you paid.
Click here to learn more about working together and book a free consultation.
