If you’ve been around me for a while, you’ve heard me talk about how to charge what you’re worth and get it. You may have heard the phrase “charge what you’re worth” in lots of other places, too. It’s a particularly juicy topic for women. We often over-deliver and under-charge, and can have a hard time raising our fees when we need to.

I re-read an article by Tad Hargrave on this recently, and it helped me clarify my thinking on the subject. The title? “Why ‘Charging What You’re Worth’ Is Bullshit.

It is, of course, a great title. As I read the article, what he’s calling into question is not so much charging appropriately (he acknowledges many coaches and entrepreneurs need to charge more), as the sense of entitlement some people develop about charging high fees, and the equating of one’s worth as a person with the fees they charge.

Every person is intrinsically worthy. We have different gifts, and we take different paths in life.

I agree with Tad, that the fees we charge have no bearing on our worth as a person. Every person is intrinsically worthy.

We have different gifts, and we take different paths in life. We don’t become more worthy than someone else just because we have more money, more degrees, more clothes, a bigger house, etc. You don’t have to raise your fees in order to be a worthy human being.

I also agree with him that we are not justified in charging way more than we need in order to make higher and higher profits in a relentless pursuit of more and more money because “it’s never enough.” How much is enough? I love the idea of making enough money so that it is no longer an issue (so I don’t have to worry about it). It’s also important to me to have money to give to causes that I care about. That ‘enough’ amount will be different for different people.

However, with all respect to Tad, he’s a guy. There’s a piece of this for women that he doesn’t see. I do find that, for myself and my women friends and clients, the issue of our WORTH is a deep and important one, and directly related to how comfortable we feel in raising our fees, and being well compensated for our talents, skills and abilities.

We can create awesome results for our clients, students, customers, etc. – and STILL feel that we can’t charge much. We so often feel that we need to get another degree or certification first, and maybe THEN we can charge what we’d really like (but even then, we don’t raise our fees much).

We don’t recognize many of the talents and skills we bring to our work, so we don’t include them in valuing what we do.

We constantly UNDERestimate the value of the service we provide, because we are usually undervaluing ourSELVES. We sometimes don’t even take credit for the results people get from working with us. We deflect praise. We give others credit for how we got to where we are. We don’t recognize many of the talents and skills we bring to our work, so we don’t include them in valuing what we do.

Part of this is cultural. We live in a culture that devalues women and the traditionally “feminine” values of caring, collaboration, sensitivity, and consideration of others. The activities of caring (for our children, our elders, ourselves and our planet) are given ZERO monetary value in our society. Since our main economic policies and models only consider money (GDP, the stock market, commodities, trade, currencies, etc.), we constantly get the message that caring has no value.

The truth is, the world wouldn’t run without all that caring work. It’s the true underpinning of all economies. It is extremely valuable to every society – it’s just unacknowledged. The truth is, the “traditionally feminine” values are HUMAN values – they’ve just been assigned mostly to women. There are many conscious men who value these things, who participate fully as parents, who care for our planet and who are willing to be true partners with women – thank goodness. But our main cultural slant is still towards devaluing women and the traditionally feminine ideals, values, and occupations.

So, NO – I don’t think ‘Charging What You’re Worth’ is bullshit.

I think many women need help to understand the true value of what they provide – which INCLUDES all of your life experience, your natural gifts and talents, in addition to your education and work experience. It also includes your BEING as a woman – the gifts of authentic, feminine power.

Spiritual women can have even more difficulty. We can have judgments that “it isn’t spiritual” to think about money or to charge at all for what we do.

I’ve been there. I had a really hard time raising my fees as a massage therapist and a singing teacher, in spite of my increasing years of experience, and the great results people got working with me. During my marriage to my kids’ dad, I felt more and more devalued as a woman (and a person), and I actually lost my voice because of it. (I developed a stress-related voice injury that ended my professional singing career.) I’ve spent years recovering my voice – not only my singing voice, but my true voice in the world.

Now, I’m passionate about helping you, as a woman, understand and own your worth, reclaim your authentic voice, voice your value, and charge what you’re worth and get it.

What do I mean by Voice Your Value™? Simply put, when you Voice Your Value, you are able to speak with grounded, authentic confidence in your value and the value of what you do, AND we can HEAR that confidence in your voice. When you Voice Your Value, you raise your fees with full integrity, you state your fees with authentic, grounded confidence, and you charge what you’re worth and get it.

This post originally invited readers into a course that has already taken place. Below is the invitation to the course. If this interests you, let me know, and I’ll be sure to tell you about the next one.

I’m passionate about helping women understand their worth, and reclaim their authentic voices. Last summer’s “Voice Your Value: How To Charge What You’re Worth And Get It!®” tele-class was a huge success. I’m bringing it back this November as a special group VIP Intensive. We’ll take just ONE DAY to create a huge shift in your ability to stand in the truth of your value and the value of what you offer.

I’m only accepting SIX women for this VIP Intensive. Are you one of them?

Here’s what a participant had to say about the class:

“Ariana’s “Voice Your Value” class has had a very profound affect on my life. I loved it. I doubled my price and filled my class, and am ready to step into teaching larger groups and collaborating with others. The class helped me realize I wasn’t really valuing myself, and that I wasn’t conscious of how much I was not speaking from my authentic voice.  A whole other level of me now has permission to show up.

The class was a birthing ground of new awareness and access to my wisdom. As a spiritual person, I feel more equipped to stand up in front of the ‘mainstream’ and speak from grounded truth and resonance. I trust that I will be guided to say what I need to say and that it will be heard.

Ariana created a very supportive, safe container, that allowed me to continue to stretch into new places. She had such a heart-centered presence with me and the circle. I now have more vibrancy, depth & resonance in my voice, and much more confidence in my value.

If you want to embody more of your potential, step more into your authenticity and your authentic voice, and charge what you’re worth & get it, I recommend Ariana! With her guidance and support, I effectively, efficiently stepped into this new place with ease and grace.”  – Kayse Williams  www.sacred-alchemy.com

If you know this VIP Intensive is for you, click here to register:  Registration is Closed.
(I suggest you act quickly as the price will steadily increase until the intensive begins on November 15th)

If you’d like to talk with me about it before you decide, click here to schedule a “Voice Your Value Breakthrough Session”. https://www.timetrade.com/book/6B9J1

If this course is not for you, please continue to grow in your understanding of the truth of your intrinsic value as a human being, your particular value as a woman or man, and your understanding of how the unique value of all that you are contributes to the value of what you offer to the world.

Blessings!

Ariana