I believe it’s time to stop saying ‘Charge What You’re Worth’ and instead say ‘Charge what is necessary for a sustainable and profitable business.’
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Have you noticed all these cute memes around that say “Charge what you’re worth and add tax”? Disclaimer: when I first started working online more, I may have said this also…
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Until I realised, after working with many business owners face-to-face, talking intimately about how they feel about money and their businesses, that this was actually causing more harm than good.
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When you run a service-based business, it can be difficult to feel confident in finding your own way of pricing services and digital products. You are so much a part of your business that you begin to feel like you’re pricing yourself.
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👉 Except you’re not.

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What you are pricing is the cost of providing the service, not your worth. Your pricing should reflect what it actually costs to run a sustainable, profitable business. However you see fit.
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What does this include?
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– The expenses related to running a business.
– Proper support that’s required, professional, administrative or mentoring.
– All the tech, equipment or requirements to do what you do best.
– Remuneration for your time.
– Paying tax.
– Preempting large bills, replacement of tech, anything you need to keep your business going.
– Any planned surplus profit.
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You see, this is not what you’re worth. (You’re worth so much more than this list of expenses and financial items.)
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So let’s stop saying ‘Charge what you’re worth’ and instead focus on designing sustainable and profitable businesses.
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What do you think?