Don’t Charge What You’re Worth

You know the usual clichés:

“Charge what you’re worth and don’t apologize for it.”

“Know your worth and then charge double.”

“Your time is your energy, so charge what you’re worth.”

These are all great motivational quotes: they tackle the fear many new entrepreneurs feel when it comes to putting a price tag on their time. 

But here’s where they fall short: these words don’t help very much when it comes to actually figuring out a number to charge for your Virtual Assistant services.

That’s because there is absolutely no way you could ever charge your worth, because you’re worth more than money.

Your worth and the value of your work are completely separate things.

Your worth as a human being is not measurable by any amount of money. Whatever you believe about how you got into this body on this planet in this solar system, your very existence is a universal jackpot for the planet. You don’t need money to validate your right to be here.

What can be measured by money, however, is the value of your work. Your time, expertise, and knowledge are worth money. It’s worth a lot. It’s worth your entire standard of living, actually.

If you charge hourly, you might find this blog post on how to determine your pricing helpful.

But what about that niggling emotion behind the hesitation of naming a price? What about that little voice in the back of your head that says, “Maybe we should knock off a couple hundred dollars from the proposal?” How do you reason with that?

Think of that fear like a little kid who needs some attention and reassurance. What is the fear actually about? What’s it trying to tell you? When you know that, you can find the right information to make an informed decision that’s in the best interest of your business.

Lack Mentality

I worked with one VA who kept taking on more and more clients, and lowering her prices in order to lure more in. At the end of the day she was working some crazy hours for low pay, even though she didn’t really have to.

She did it because when she looked at her clients, all she could think of was: “what if they go away? What will I do then?”

Ultimately we came to an understanding that if she provides incredible and indispensable service, and focuses on creating strong relationships with her clients, she can not only charge more but rest assured that they won’t go anywhere. (At least, not without a few months notice!)

Fear of Rejection

One of the first lessons you’ll learn as an entrepreneur is that the word “no” is part of the game. Unfortunately, some people take a single refusal as a sign that they’re doomed to failure.

Getting a “No” on a proposal doesn’t mean that you’ve failed; it’s usually because this specific client isn’t going to be a good working fit. There isn’t any discount in the world that is going to turn a bad fit into a good one. 

“No’s” are expected and part of the journey, so make sure not to miss the opportunity they give you to refine your lead generation. This helps you get more qualified clients on your discovery calls.

Fear of Failure

This goes hand-in-hand with the dreaded “impostor syndrome”: some people fear that they’re going to win the contract, show up, and not meet the level of expectation that the proposal set.

They put that number down, imagine what that number entails, and ask themselves: how do I have to show up to be worth that much? Am I capable of that?

In a way, this is about designing your proposal backwards. Start with what you know you can do really well, write it out in detail, and make that the expectation. The price is set only after you already know that you’re going to be able to knock this out of the park.

Ready to go further? Get my best tips for finding and signing your first clients in my mini-course, The Epic VA’s Guide to Finding & Signing Dream Clients, complimentary to any aspiring Epic VA.