Charging for something you love

When you create a business from something that you love doing, it can be difficult to put a price on it. Still, you know that you have to do it and so you price it up. You take everything into account and a number bigger than anything you would ever consider charging is the result. “I can’t charge that”, you think to yourself, as you start trying to make this number come down, cutting costs wherever you can. Then, when you finally realise you can’t cut anything else, you just stare at the number. You’re still not happy, still not comfortable with charging that much for something that you love doing. Sound familiar? You are not alone. When you first start a business it can be difficult to charge what your service or product is worth, and not because people won’t pay – they will! Instead, the problem lies with your notions of how much what you do is worth, firstly to you and secondly to other people. Here’s an example. Say you’ve been a gymnast all your life. You’ve grown up doing cartwheels and swinging through hoops, going to classes every week and really making sure that you’re the best at gymnastics that you can be. You didn’t start gymnastics thinking you would be a world famous gymnast, you started because you loved doing it. Now say you got a chance to do what you love AND get paid for it. You’ve spent a huge part of your life training, probably giving up lots of other things that were less important to you in order to get to where you are. Think about it. How much have you given up or not done because you were so in love with what you were doing that it didn’t even feel like you were missing out? Truth is, you might think that what you do is super easy and not that important in the grand scheme of things, but the truth is that there are very few people with your talent and skills out there, which is why you are needed, and which is why people will pay. Whatever your gymnastics is, regardless of if it’s coding or music or yoga, remember how much experience and expertise you have in your area. How accomplished you are. And then be confident that you can offer other people that great service that you already know is inside of you – If you’ve gotten this far and think you have an amazing idea for a business then you already know you have talent. Charge what you are really worth and not a penny less!