THIS has been a rough year and all of it was because of poor decisions made on my part. If you follow my social media accounts, you know that I will be traveling a bunch over the next year. I have consulting work lined up in Cape Town, Bangkok, Paris, London, Berlin, Hong Kong, and Madrid. I go where the work takes me, but this year of travel is mainly for me to work on becoming the best version of myself and learn how to stop making the same kind of mistakes I made this year.
Some of those poor decisions were financial and cost me financially. I was in a deep funk for several months—which is one of the main reasons why it took me so long to get a new website online. During that time, I lost opportunities but my income didn’t take a hit. I was still making about $12K-$15K a month, but the money was leaving my account as soon as it was deposited.
I got DESPERATE!
I started offering crazy deals just to get some more cash flow. I offered my coaching packages at a STEEP discount. I dropped the price of my classes and started bundling things together. I took on clients that I would normally turn down for coaching and in my classes. As a result, three of them even stiffed me on making payments. The strategy seemed to work, but I am still paying the price for that desperation today.
I devalued myself in my eyes and in the eyes of potential future customers and opportunities. I devalued the incredible content I give in my coaching program and in my classes. My paid content is very step-by-step and actionable—clients and students have repeatedly told me that but I didn’t charge what it’s worth, which made it seem less valuable. The ripple effect is I am still doing work today at WAY less than I should be.
I have come to terms in my mind with everything. I made the decisions. I made the choices. I am a man of my word and will honor the commitments I made. I have made peace with my situation and beaten the demons that were plaguing me. I am back and focused on the work that I’ve been put on this earth to do. BUT, I learned a HUGE lesson about knowing your value/worth, charging a price equal to the value you provide, and how desperation actually repeals business and opportunity.
You are worth MORE.
I always want you to have clear takeaways from my content. One of the most important lessons I can teach you is to know your worth. If your goal is to help people and solve problems in lives, then you are worth MORE than your mind lets you believe. I’m not telling you that everything you do should be at $1,000 an hour, but your prices should make you a little uncomfortable.
When your prices are too low, you attract a certain kind of person. You also chase away the kind of people who would gladly pay more. Your products and services don’t appear as valuable when they are too low. Again, what’s too low? That has to be something you figure out through research. What are others who do something similar charge? What is the feedback you are getting from people who have taken your training? Research and charge accordingly.
Look, you are working to create a profitable lifestyle business that supports you. To get here, it takes you creating and selling digital information products and services. It takes building your audience and adding value to them first—then selling. You and I probably want to work with people who may not be millions or have a bunch of extra money to spend on training–I get it. But, it has to be fair for you. Yes, there are even those who have been taken advantage of by others online–that’s sad. But, you still have to charge according to the value you provide.
My lifestyle business has fully recovered. Every month has been getting better and my prices are finally where they should be. The level of client I am attracting now is amazing. I am working with two New York Times best-selling authors, a person who is on MAJOR TV shows, and a coach who is on track to make seven-figures. I don’t say this to brag, but to show you what’s possible when you focus and know your worth. Don’t let desperation keep you from reaching YOUR next level.
Do you know your worth?
Photo: Flickr/ try-and-error
