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Are you a solopreneur or a start-up and often suffer from Pricing Guilt while rendering your service?

Do you feel shy about charging your dues for provided service, especially if your customer is a friend or family?

There is a strange relationship we as humans share with money, either we flaunt it, or we hide it.

Money is a subject generally not discussed in families. Parents might struggle to make ends meet but avoid letting the kids know. Even when they are thriving, they may not discuss money matters at home.

There could be a few reasons that money discussions make us uncomfortable. One reason could be how we believe our worth is associated with our money, and letting others know could cause people to judge us based on that.

This is not an issue by itself, but also a problem when we start feeling guilty about asking for money for our efforts, the money we deserve. This happens because we hate being perceived as money-minded.

Pricing Guilt For Rendered Service

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

Last year Medium an online blogging platform introduced a new tier where paying a higher subscription helps you support the community.

This was great news, as it allowed writers on the platform to increase the earning pool available for all.

I heard many say they wanted to join because they wanted to give back to all the writers and support them. Some might be consistently earning above $15 every month, and having an FOM badge would help get more exposure since people would be more willing to engage with an FOM writer. Everybody was enticed by the idea of earning more which was a major reason to switch, but not everyone accepted it openly.

This relates to the same guilt, as people do not want to be perceived as money-minded.

Another story is about a friend of mine who runs a migration agency. He got a call from a client for a free 15-minute consultancy, and like a good agent he gave him all the information he needed, expecting to acquire a new client.

The usual 15-minute free consultancy got extended to 30 minutes, and at the end of it the caller said thanks, on being asked by my friend if he should start the paperwork, the caller said No he got the required information and would do it themselves.

When my friend said that he spent 30 minutes working with him and expected to be compensated for the time, the caller replied, all you agents want is free money.

The worst part is, that my friend was the one who came out feeling guilty after the call.

Don’t Work For Free

Photo by Thomas Franke on Unsplash

When we start any venture as a hobby or a genuine business, we should be clear about whether it is a business requiring compensation or a hobby.

If your venture is with an intent to earn, it is a business. It is irrelevant if you charge $10 or $1000 for said service.

In a business, it is necessary to be compensated for your time. Earnings would only be worth it if they cover all your expenses, and earn you surplus.

In my case, I recently ventured into multiple avenues of money generation may it be YouTube, Etsy, Medium, Substack, etc. For each I have been spending money to speed up my process.

Below are my expenses so far

Canva 20 AUD pm x 3 months + 156 p.a.

Creative Fabrica 47 USD pa

PlaceIt about 12 USD pm x 1

Medium 136 USD pa

Doodly 95 USD lifetime

In total, I have spent about 656 AUD so far. Of this only Medium earns me money. To date, I have earned about AUD 800 on Medium, and about 100 AUD on Amazon Affiliate program. It’s only recently I broke even.

So if someone asks ‘For you, is it all about money?’ I say ‘Yes, Absolutely’.

My venturing into the brand-building business is relatively recent and I am still learning, and setting it up. Currently, I need some credibility so when I help fellow solopreneurs to set up their website, and social media, or spend time strategising their next move, it is a learning experience for me.

I am not charging money yet, since my learning in the said discussions is a gold mine on its own.

I have given myself about 1 year after which I will fully monetize this venture.

Value Your Creation & Service

Photo by Malte Helmhold on Unsplash

To all content creators or solopreneurs reading this, value your creation and time.

I know many are shy about asking for money, even for the professional service they provide. I am no different but trying to change.

We often spend hours creating content and once it is complete and we are satisfied, we publish it and forget all the effort that went into it. Most people undervalue their products, they discount the effort they put in.

This is the same for the skilled service we provide, for example, the reason I can set up a website in a short time is because of the hours I have spent learning the skill. The charges are not only for hours put into creating but also for learning.

I have a baker friend who is amazing at baking. We worked together last year to set up a home-based baking business.

Cakes she makes can take her anywhere between a couple of hours to a few days. Once each masterpiece is ready, we sit and decide on the price she should charge. We undervalue her products and sell them at about 30% less than we should.

We price it by only considering the material cost of baking a cake, but not the cost of effort we put in. We are trying to move away from this habit, and hopefully, soon we will be able to charge the correct price, but this is not uncommon with us content creators either. We often forget the cost associated with creating the content and how much we deserve to be paid for it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, my suggestion is simple, if you are running a business then act like it.

If you are freelancing charge for the value you provide. If writing for free on your blog or platform like Medium, make extra effort and ask your readers to do a little extra for you if they are willing, like share your content and promote it.

Ask your readers for donations, but if and only if your content is useful, you will be surprised how many people value your time spent in giving them something they need.

Being money-minded is not something to feel guilty about.

Money may not buy happiness, but when I get a payment to my bank account for a service I provide or content I create, it does bring a smile to my face.

I have no guilt in saying I am in it for the money, and I would do everything ethical to extract every last cent my service/content deserves.

You Should Too.


I have built a 5-day branding course that talks about building your brand online which can further help you increase the return on effort put in your content or service. Do subscribe to start your journey of brand building.


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2 Comments

  1. Absolutely – charging one’s worth for a valuable product/service is critical

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