It’s Time to Raise your Financial Self-Worth

I was recently on a call with a client who shared with me how she received all theses leads at an event she attended. I expected her to be excited with such a strong response. It was obvious by the number of leads she received that people needed her services. Yet, she was feeling frustrated and depressed. And, when I asked her why, she said, “Even if I get the business, I’m still not covering all my expenses.”

I felt so sad to hear this because she’s great at what she does and should be paid generously for her expertise. We went a little deeper and uncovered she was afraid to charge more because she had a low-worth mentality. She had worked many years as an employee. Although she was now a business owner, she was still thinking like an employee.

What she experienced is not uncommon for many people who leave the corporate arena to start their own businesses. It’s easy to sell a large ticket item when you work for someone else. But when it comes to stating your fee, you find yourself tongue tied and stumbling over what to say. Although you have a passion and desire to help your clients, and hope to be financially rewarded for doing that, your limiting belief about your self-worth determines how much to charge.

Here are some statements that show it’s time to raise your financial self-worth:

• You know in your heart you’re not charging enough.
• You’re afraid if you increase your fees you’ll lose the clients you have.
• People are telling you that you should be charging more.
• You don’t believe you deserve to charge more.
• You’re afraid to go after bigger clients.
• You’re not excited when you bring in a new client.
• You resent the time you give to some of your clients.
• You’re giving extra time to clients and feeling depleted.

If any of the above statements sound familiar and you want to turn them around, here are some ways to help you gain the confidence to raise your fees:

• Make a list of the results clients get from working with you. As you write this list, you’ll gain more confidence seeing the value you bring to your clients.
• Ask several current clients why they chose to work with you. You’ll be surprised and delighted by the reasons your clients hired you.
• Visualize clients happily paying you what you’re worth. The more clearly you can see clients paying you what you’re worth, the more real it becomes.
• Write down all the reasons you deserve to increase your fees. After you’ve written this list, read it over and over so you begin to see that you deserve to be paid what you’re worth.
• Ask your satisfied clients for testimonials and then read them periodically. This will increase your confidence when you read how much you’ve helped them.
• For each negative thought you have about raising your fees, change that thought to a powerful and positive thought. Instead of saying “If I raise my fees, my clients will leave, say, “I’m worthy of these fees and provide a valuable service to my clients.”
• Next practice saying your new fees over and over until the words come out as easily as saying your name.

Remember many of the people you’re dealing with are business owners just like you. They see their own costs going up and expect your fees to increase too.

Remember the client I mentioned earlier. After working with her to shift her beliefs and thoughts about increasing her fees, I received a call from her. She was so excited she could hardly speak. She said, “I just met with a new client, presented my new fees and she hired me! And, it was so EASY!” Everything shifted for her once she raised her self-worth.

If you would like to use this article on your website, or for your own ezine, not a problem; however, there’s one thing you MUST include: Rochelle Togo-Figa, The Sales Breakthrough Expert, is the creator of the Sales Breakthrough System™, a proven step-by-step sales process that will help you close more sales, sign on more clients and make more money with ease and velocity. To sign up for her free sales articles and teleclasses on closing more sales, visit http://www.salesbreakthroughs.com/.