For a lot of female entrepreneurs, deciding how to set your fees is daunting and uncomfortable.
It forces us to reflect deeply on ourselves, our business, and our worth.
While we know our service or product will bring value to the lives of our clients and customers, many women still struggle to believe that they are good enough to compete and charge with confidence and self-worth.
In the patriarchal world, we live in, women undervalue themselves within a belief system that perpetually tells them that they are not good enough, and as a result, many don’t earn what they truly deserve.
Every day, I meet with women who seek to gain back their integrity and confidence by helping them see their worth and applying it to their businesses.
Here are some ways on how to set your fees and charge what you’re worth, to not only strengthen and help your business thrive but to lift your confidence and self-value as well:
Understand what it means for people to pay what you’re worth
In most businesses and for most services, fees have been standardised due to years of expectations and charging patterns.
So when you charge less for a service that normally costs X amount, potential clients feel a certain way about it.
If you’re fairly new to business, you might assume your potential client will believe you are better value.
Research shows this isn’t always the case. Customers can become sceptical and believe the product is lacking in comparison to your competitions.
Remember: Your targeted clientele is already willing to pay for what is standard. If a service is cheaper than standard, the trust your potential customers have in you is less, and the potential of gaining them as clients is diminished or ambiguous.
Charge what you’re worth
While your fees are very much a rating of your services and their quality, they are not a reflection or determinant of your true worthiness.
The amount you charge, however, does show how much YOU value yourself personally, and it’s time to stop selling yourself short.
You don’t deserve to scrape by and have little-or-nothing to show for your hard work.
Satisfying our emotional needs is just as important as working to meet our personal and business-related basic needs.
It is no mystery that we women have generationally evolved to undervalue ourselves because we were, and are still, inferior in a patriarchal world.
Women can’t build themselves up if they struggle to get by and meet their basic needs. After all, our base hourly rate needs to be set so that we can pay our bills, pay the rent for our storefronts, pay our insurance, and replace our old income for one that still feeds the mouths we are responsible for.
Here’s something society won’t tell you: You not only deserve to charge enough to keep your business afloat but enough to get something real out of it.
The success of your business will largely be dependent on your state-of-mind, and behind every successful female-owned and operated entrepreneurship was a confident, happy woman who valued herself as much as her competition did, if not more.
Learn from your competition and understand your clientele
Research the fees your competition charges. When clients shop around for the best businesses, they judge whether or not you are as good as the other guy.
As previously mentioned, your targeted clientele will already pay for what is standard, and they will be more hesitant to use a business who values themselves as less.
If you still believe you are not worthy enough to charge the standard, then hear this: There is a kind of psychology behind charging slightly higher than what is considered “cheap”. When you charge in between “cheap” and “standard”, people will see that you have a grasp of your competition, but choose to do something different. The “cheap” aspect is the perk, but ultimately, charging a little less (but not so cheap to the point where you look bad), distinguishes you and makes you out to be more personable – and people love that!
Further, differentiate yourself by going above and beyond
When it’s time to set your fees and give quotes, focus more on what you can offer.
It’s time to shift away from charging fees based on the time we spend carrying out a service, and more towards focusing on what we have to offer. Create and offer packages that go along with your services!
Offer coupons, reward points, complimentary gifts, or anything that will keep bringing your clientele back again and again. People love options, and packages provide more variety to the offered selection of services, and they guarantee your client will have a good reason to become a loyal, return customer.
We are part of a belief system that still regards women as inferior. This system generates poor self-esteem that only translates into women undervaluing themselves and charging less than their worth.
At Financially Empowered we help women on their entrepreneurial path with a selection of financial advisement services.
Financially Empowered stands against the system of “selling yourself short” by standing with women and helping them see that they deserve to charge what they’re truly worth.
Financially Empowered is passionate about women having the knowledge to set their fees, make their businesses stronger, and build up their confidence as both women and entrepreneurs who deserves the best.
