Hey, Hey everyone! Welcome to Episode 05 of the Bold Leadership Revolution podcast and I am your host, Tara Newman.
It’s my mission to develop leaders in this world to be bold and brave beyond their belief so they can do BIG, purposeful and PROFITable things without burning out.
As an entrepreneur I believe that money is a renewable resource and there is more than enough to go around regardless if you work for yourself or someone else. I also believe that money is a powerful energetic exchange and a way of demonstrating commitment to the things we want most in our lives.
If you want to know what someone really values, look at how they spend their money (and their time but that’s for another episode).
What to know how someone values themselves? Look at what they earn.
I’ve spent most of my adult life undervaluing myself and for most of my adult life I earned significantly less than market rate for my skill set.
Most of this had to do with an either/or mentality that I embraced. A headhunter would call me and try to recruit me for a higher paying job and I would think “nah, I won’t be able to have the flexibility that I have with my current job. That’s why I’m paid lower. Because this employer allows me to work from home one day a week.”
That’s a bullshit belief. If I believed I could work from home one day a week AND make x amount of money, I probably would have found something that allowed that or created it myself. Like I eventually did by starting my own business.
Since we’re talking about undercharging, let’s talk about when I started out.
At the end of 2014 – beginning of 2015, I had almost 20 years experience developing leaders, strategically growing businesses, and developing high performing teams. I had also been in and out of entrepreneurship for 10 years. And had been working in businesses since I was 15. I know what works and I know what doesn’t work. I know most people better than they know themselves — it’s my gift and my training in Organizational Psychology. I had coached hundreds of leaders.
And I was charging $10 or $20 per hour. That actually hurts my heart to say that out loud.
Needless to say I got a crash course in undercharging, burnout business models, and a whole new level of mindset work.
Every week I help my clients move past the mental and energetic hurdles that go into raising their rates, asking for raises, and communicating their value in a way that is clear and ultimately sellable.
This is NOT easy work and usually requires flipping the switch on DECADES worth of “programming” by society, ourselves, and our families usually on a generational level.
My purpose here today is to present information that might get you to shift your perspective or catalyze you into action. I also want you to realize that it’s normal.
Hitting an income ceiling is frustrating.
So, here are 3 signs that you might be undercharging:
- Energetically, you can’t show up for the rate you’re charging. When you’re not being fairly compensated, it’s hard to be present. You’re more prone to goof off, be distracted, and not be fully engaged with the task or people in front of you.
- When you look at how much money you need or want to make in your business so you can keep the lights on AND make a healthy profit, you can’t get there from where you are. The numbers literally don’t add up. Raising your rates isn’t the only way to get the numbers to add up. You will most likely have to do other things as well but looking at how you’re valuing your service or product is a good place to start.
- You’re working WAY to hard for your money. You’re hustling hard but at the end of the day you have nothing to show for your hardwork. You tell yourself you’re paying your dues and this is what it takes. You think “ they don’t call this a grind for nothing.” But all your doing is making excuses. Eventually you get burned out and want to quit. You have a belief that this is working for everyone else but it won’t work for you. Which is ultimately a bull shit story you tell yourself to keep you playing it safe and small.
BONUS: If people are telling you that you’re cheap and should charge more, I would HIGHLY consider listening to them!
We’re keeping it short and sweet this week.
As always I want to continue this conversation with you so hop on over to Instagram, that’s my favorite place to hang out these days and comment on my Instastory or send me a DM.
If you’re a FB only person, you can give me a shout over there too.
I would really love to hear your thoughts on this episode. Are you undercharging and how do you know?
I’ll catch you back here next week for Episode 06.
