If you’ve heard about charging your worth or wondered how to start, you are on the right page.

You might have been questions about how to gauge what your worth is and how to get people to pay that.

You might have tried, failed and wondered what the matter is with you or your method, that you can’t get away with charging your worth.

So, this post breaks down exactly why you might be having problems with charging your worth and why you actually need to stop charging your worth.

A while ago, I attended a webinar and I heard for the first time to “Stop charging your worth”. I felt funny because we often hear the very opposite.

But I stayed on the webinar cos the admonition to “Stop charging your worth” resonated with me, but I wasn’t sure why.

Till I finally heard a problem that had been lodged in my subconscious, articulated.

See, prior to that, I’d created some digital offerings in my business and the way I’d worked out my pricing, I broke down the price to put an amount on each of the components that made up the offering.

Because I’d seen other people do it.

But since YOU CANNOT B*LLSH*T YOUR OWN LOGIC, each time I’d write a figure in the breakdown, I’d hear, “How did you come up with that figure? Who told you that’s the value?”

When you’re operating in a ‘free market economy’, so there’s no standard price to be enforced across board, how do you come up with certain figures for your own offerings?

Do you pluck them out of thin air?

Compare your prices with those of your competition, then remind yourself to breathe when you see their Ivy League degree vs your polytechnic one?

Or do you “charge your worth”?

The last option is what many people say they’re doing. It’s what you’re probably doing and why you’re getting into trouble.

See, it was only after I heard someone ask certain questions, that I realised WHY I’d always felt so uncomfortable with “charging my worth”.

What worth exactly was I charging for?
My looks?
My brain power?
My vibe/luck/aura?
My presence? My silence?
The way I speak?
My UK university degrees? My education before those, which was just as useful?
My 20+ years combined experience in Media, Law, Student Union Politics & Entertainment?

And how exactly am I coming up with a figure for each the aforementioned things I listed and more? I use most when creating an outcome and I didn’t buy/pay for some.

You’re invaluable; nobody can pay your worth.

That’s when I realised I needed to start CHARGING WHAT I’M HAPPY WITH.

After that, I prepared a free training in which I talked about paid options to work with me and for the 1st time, I felt free.

Charging what I’m happy with, means I’ve stopped arguing about or trying to justify my prices to anyone.

And that’s a good reason to stop charging your worth; it might take some time, but you will stop arguing with certain people about price and you’ll stop trying to justify your prices, including to yourself.

Cos let’s face it, that’s what you’re really doing when you do those breakdowns and you put certain figures beside each component to try and make people see the value of your offering. You’re also trying to justify why XYZ costs this much.

“If it’s got 10 components instead of 3 and if each of the 10 components has a figure beside it, people will really believe you’re worth it.” But you call it charging your worth.

My prices are what they are. Personally, realising that certain attempts at arguments or justifications are just not necessary, have freed me. Truth is
a) my prices are premium
b) my clients value THEMSELVES enough to invest in my offerings
c) I can’t tell anyone what the value is to them. And neither can you.

That’s another thing. Imagine two chics who are trying to look their best. One is turning 40, her billionaire husband is throwing her a party in Abuja with attendees are in a certain tax bracket and she wants all the lifestyle bloggers in Nigeria to feel pressured. The other, in her 20s couldn’t take photos at her own uni graduation some years ago cos she was too embarrassed by pimples and sunburn.

How does any beauty product seller, who is not currently standing in the shoes of either woman, presume to be able to put a price on what ‘flawless looks’ truly means to each?

Cos it’s not just about having clear skin here and now; it’s never about that. At the very least, one woman is carrying mental scars and the other is trying to avoid them; how do YOU put a price on the value of each to both?

You can decide the price of your product, but the real value to them is value THEY put on the result they crave. You don’t get to decide that cos
a) it’s not your place to do so
b) you have no way of knowing how.

I mean, how can you possibly know what it is to be set up to be trolled by lifestyle bloggers for having bad skin despite her husband’s billions, if you’re not the one in the position?

How can you possibly know what a young woman who can’t take uni graduation pictures is really feeling, if you don’t know what the pics truly represent to her?

And if your product saves one client $500, but increases another client’s profits by $1,000 – the value isn’t the same to both of them. So, how can you put an accurate figure on any of the components in your breakdown for the price of that product, when trying to market to potential clients?

On paper, $1,000 is worth more than $500 but each client’s own circumstances and headspace will be different. The $500 can represent something more than just that figure to that client. Something that you have no way of quantifying. And that’s the other reason to stop charging your worth.

When you fall into the trap of charging your worth, a person’s refusal or inability to pay that figure, will trigger you.

But if you separate your worth from the price, even if they don’t pay, you realise it’s not your problem. You understand that it doesn’t mean you’re worth less than that.

Yeah, someone might not see why they to should pay you a certain amount cos you have a branding problem. But if you’re not caught up in charging your worth, you’ll know it’s not about your worth personally.

I help young women in Law & Media. And if you’re ready to stop charging your worth – but you’d still like to be taken seriously – apply for my help here.