I’m going to shake things up a bit with this post about GIFTS. I was inspired because I see so many gifted folks feeling weird about getting paid for their natural talent.
Last week I was coaching a client and she seemed to be hesitant to charge for the thing she had been doing for years (for free). She felt that she wasn’t “qualified” to charge for her gift. For some reason, we feel that just because we didn’t study for a specific skill set that it’s somehow less valuable to people. Just because something comes naturally to you, doesn’t decrease it’s value to others.
Another challenge is that we don’t think people should pay us because we aren’t experienced in offering our “gift” as a service. Remember your first job? You had zero experience, right? But you still got paid on the first day. With many jobs, there is a training rate and a full pay rate. So why should you treat YOU any differently? When you first start charging for a service/product, keep your pricing low. Once you have improved your process charge more. Get it? Charge for your learning curve, and when you improve, charge more. Yeah, it’s called on-the-job training!
Here’s my last point. Our gift usually gets results. THAT is the whole reason it’s considered a gift in the first place. So if you have people in your life that have applied the fruits of your gifts in their life and they have gotten results guess what? They are now clients and most importantly they can give testimonials. Why testimonials? They boost your credibility and your confidence. And at the end of the day. Choosing to charge or not to charge money for talents is simply a matter of confidence (boom, bet you weren’t expecting that finish).
Happy Gifting, Girl!
- Should You Brand Yourself or Your Company? - June 9, 2020
- Dear White People - May 31, 2020
- Brand Your Zoom Background - March 29, 2020
Mel Hopkins says:
Wow, so simple and you made it easy too! Now that’s a gift!