Do you want to double your income with fewer clients?
Can you increase your prices and not feel guilty?
Founder of Fearless Business and bestselling author of Take Your Shot and other titles, Robin Waite told us in the recent workshop he hosted for us that it is absolutely possible to double your income, stop underselling yourself without needing to increase your client base.
How?
By changing your mindset and identifying the steps the future you must take to get you to where you need to be.
In Robin’s workshop ‘Pricing – Stop Underselling Yourself ‘, his coaching, advice, and in some parts, brutal honesty show what we need to stop doing when it comes to pricing and what we need to start doing if we want to achieve more.
So, what did we learn, and how can you stop underselling yourself?
Stop giving in to fear.
Fear is a big factor in the decisions we don’t make.
In fact, the main reason we don’t increase our prices is because of fear.
Fear of losing clients. Fear of turning them off. Fear of turning them against us all together.
However, as Robin pointed out, 99% of the time, price is never the real objection. And it is, in fact, our imaginations and own assumptions that make us believe that our customers will leave, not actual reality.
Practice increasing your prices
The more you practice increasing your pricing, the more comfortable and confident you will become.
A big reality check from Robin was the realisation that you can put your prices up whenever you want. There is no set time/date when you must increase your prices. Pricing happens at that moment, and you don’t have to stick with the rules in your head.
This doesn’t mean you should double your prices immediately, but maybe you could increase them by a percentage? Or, to lessen our fear, you could also provide advance warning that your rate card is changing.
Show your true value and do it with confidence
You need to deliver 3 to 4 times the value upfront to gain someone’s trust, articulating the value you offer, not just your service. Underselling yourself is not just about finance, but your lack of appreciation for your own value.
To do this, focus on the results you will deliver, providing measurable outcomes, over a period of time, for a fixed price. Where the value you provide far outweighs price.
Most importantly, price should come last in the conversation; your client needs to see the value first.
Stop doing the same s*^t and hoping something will change
It can be hard to break the cycle of; sell-deliver-sell-deliver-sell-deliver without any meaningful time off, without looking at how your business is growing; or even looking to see if you are achieving your aims and objectives as a freelancer!
It’s like success, going around in circles.
We need to slow the cycle down and slow down the sales process; by increasing your prices, you can do just this.
Recognise that not every client is a good client
How many clients have we worked with that haven’t been the right fit for our business?
If the price is all a client wants, they’re probably not the client for you.
Stop charging what everyone else is charging
Because how do you know that they know what they’re doing? And are you, in fact, copying a flawed business model?
Set prices unique for your business – prices that will be profitable to you.
Oh, and stop discounting!
Yes, it can be a good way to attract new business, and this is ok, and only ok, if it is as a one-off because any more than this means ultimately you have to sell more to make more.
Half your clients double your income
Choosing the clients you work with, and how much you earn from them is a choice, and it’s yours to make.
By changing your mindset to a pricing and money mindset you can achieve your financial goals much faster and stop underselling yourself.
For more information, tips, and business advice check out our event calendar for the most up to date listings. Members who missed Robin’s workshop can watch it back now at Pricing – Stop Underselling Yourself with Robin Waite.
Robin Waite is the Founder of Fearless Business, regular speaker at various business events and bestselling author of several books, including Online Business Startup, Marketing Machine and the recent popular release Take Your Shot.
