I see it over and over again, "Charge what your worth!"
What does that even mean? Can anyone actually explain the mathematical formula for figuring out your worth?
In my experience working with women entrepreneurs, we have a hard time figuring out our worth because underneath we feel like we're not enough, we're not worthy, or what we offer isn't valuable enough.
We can't begin to figure out what to charge, until we own our worthiness.
This means, accepting who we are, knowing that what we offer is valuable and worthy of receiving compensation, and that we are worthy of everything we want simply because we're here. Because we exist, WE ARE worthy. The higher feminine power wants good things for us.
RESOURCES ARE ABUNDANT
I believe there are enough resources in this world for all of us to be abundant. One person does not have to lose for another to win. That thinking lives in the scarcity and fear mindset. Unfortunately, much of our world systems operate inside of that thinking, so there's a general belief that there's not enough to go around.
But we are growth mindset oriented women! We know this to be true: There is enough for everyone!
We are all capable and worthy of receiving what we want -- the caveat here is, we must do the deep work and open ourselves up to allow it in.
We must practice receiving!
It think that's one of the biggest struggles we as women face. We are raised to have less expectations. We are each expected to be an endless well that keeps giving everything we have to everyone who needs it. And our need to receive is often not even in our own awareness. Therefore, we don't ask. Thus, we don't get.
When we look at others we say "Well sure, they deserve that money because look how incredible they are" or "Look how accomplished they are."
It's time to turn those compliments toward yourself, because you are worthy of receiving everything you desire, my friend!
Repeat after me, "I AM WORTHY!! I AM WORTHY!! I AM WORTHY!!"
LET'S TALK ABOUT DINERO, DINHEIRO, GELD, PENGAR, PESA, OWO . . . MONEY HONEY!
Lots of people tell you to look at your competitors and see what they're charging to know what you should charge. I strongly disagree. This approach is not aligned with the lifestyle business model. And it feeds the comparison beast. (Don't feed the beast!)
That's not how we do it in the feminine way, the lifestyle business way, the protect our boundaries at all costs way. Nope!
We align our needs with our business. First, we must know what we need. The last thing we want to do is follow someone else's pricing structure and then not have enough income to support ourselves.
One of the best ways to figure out how to reach your financial goals is to figure out how much it really costs to live the way you want to live. Depending on how close you are now to that reality, you may have to do some research to get a realistic idea of how much money it takes to live your ideal lifestyle.
Do your research and get some numbers. How much does it actually cost to live on the road? To travel abroad? To build schools in Guatemala? To move to Mexico? To donate a small business loan for a woman through Kiva.org? To sponsor a young girl's education in India? To pay for a physician who specializes in the area where you need healing? To receive regular Reiki, acupuncture, massage, chiropractic care sessions?
What do you want to do / need and what does it cost?
It's time to get specific about your numbers. Include both personal and business expenses, but separate them into two lists.
STEP ONE
How Much Are Your Fixed Expenses?
Everyone has fixed expenses - such as rent, car insurance, cell phone, secured loans and other monthly payments. A fixed expense is an expense you have each month that is generally about the same amount, no matter what you do. This number will encompass the bare minimum you need to live without food.
How Much Are Your Variable Expenses?
These are expenses you have more control over and are flexible each month, such as groceries, utilities, entertainment, eating out, and the like. They may be required, like groceries, but this also includes optional expenses, like going to the movies.
How Much Are Your Periodic Expenses?
This type of expense generally comes up quarterly, yearly, or some other set period of time. This may include homeowner’s insurance, timeshare fees, taxes, garbage pickup, and maybe even medical bills that you didn’t expect.
What Expenses, If Any, Will Be Eliminated IN THE NEAR FUTURE?
A good example here is if your car loan will be finished in the next couple months, or you're paying off a credit card. Are you cancelling any services like cable?
AND NOW THE MATH . . .
Once you add up all those expenses, you can now determine how much money you need to make in your business as the bare minimum. You don’t need your business to generate the lifestyle-changing income that you’re dreaming about right now. You only need to focus on what your basic needs are to be sure you're covered. Anything above that goal, is fantastic!
Now that you know your grand monthly or yearly total ...
How much do you need to make annually? And how much above that amount do you want to make?
It's good to have two goals. One to get you to where you need to be, and the other to help you stretch into your desired income.
So, what's your annual income goal?
STEP TWO
How many weeks do you want to work in the year? Consider vacations, retreats, time off, travel, etc.
STEP THREE
How many days do you want to work each week?
STEP FOUR
How many hours a day do you want to work?
STEP FIVE
It's time to run the numbers. Here's an example:
Your yearly income goal: $100,000
Number of weeks you want to work each year: 46 (6 weeks vacation / time off - Yeah, baby!)
Number of days you want to work each week: 4
Number of hours you want to work each day: 6
Hourly rate: $90.58
Don't Work By the Hour
Coaches, healers, web designers, and other services providers don't offer hourly work through their online business. This is just a figure that we can build on to make sure we're charging enough.
You're not actually offering anything that's hourly, right?
Right! If you're still offering something hourly, STOP! Set a date for when you will STOP selling your hourly offer. We'll be going through creating offers in a couple days, so hang tight. You'll have something else you can sell that's not your hourly time.
Look at your current offers, or what you want to offer to see how you can create the perfect combination to fulfill your monthly financial needs.
With the example above, we need $8,695.68 / month.
So, if we need $9,000 a month (just to make the math easy) and all we want to offer is private coaching, then we need 10 clients to be in our 3 month coaching package at $2700. We could offer payments of $997 / month or if they pay in full they can save $291. (I would make the "savings incentive" bigger so you're more likely to get the full payment, but for this example it's good enough.)
Of course there are many combinations between number of clients and price points that will get us to our goal. This is just one example. (And by the way I'm calculating this as what we would need for 3 months since the coaching package is 3 months long, and I gave us some financial wiggle room because some people will take the full payment option, while most will take the 2 pay option. This then gives us more than our goal.)
In this scenario, if our client calls are 60-minutes long, we have 10 hours of coaching calls per week (provided they get 1 call per week) and 15 hours to do admin tasks and marketing. This equals our desire to work about 25 hours a week.
Now, don't forget in our example we only wanted to work 4 days a week, and only 6 hours a day so we've got to make sure that the math adds up to protect our boundaries. Otherwise, we would need to restructure our plan, or charge more and have less clients.
We could structure the coaching package so the client gets 2 calls per month -- rather than 4. Then 10 clients can be split, we would have 5 client calls during the 1st and 3rd weeks of the month and the other 5 client calls during the 2nd and 4th weeks of the month. Or we could offer 45-minute calls, rather than 60.
We can rework the numbers till we achieve our financial goals AND can do it inside our boundary statements.
You see how we can play with different scenarios to make sure it all works to support YOU?
Your turn. Do your calculations fit your:
Now you know what you're working with. It's not a guessing game and it's not following someone else's completely inaccurate way of figuring out what you should charge.
Hope this breakdown was helpful to get you thinking about how you need to structure your programs and offers to make sure they are financially supporting your needs and lifestyle.
Please share in the Facebook group what you've learned about yourself and your business. I will be in the Facebook group every day to answer your questions and support your growth.
Till tomorrow,
Be brilliant.
Be imperfect.
And always, be you.
Melissa