Four Pricing Mindset Hurdles and How to Overcome Them

Do you remember the old L’Oreal commercials with the tagline, “Because I’m worth it”? It was a pretty brilliant marketing strategy. It hitched a ride on the women’s rights movement of the 70s and gave women “permission” to pay premium prices for hair color.

But when it comes to pricing your own products or services, do you struggle with the idea of “I’m worth it?”

If you do, you’re not alone. Pricing can be so tricky!

Pricing your services and products can get you all in a tizzy, stuck in your head, unable to make a confident decision.

On the surface, it seems like setting your prices should follow some algorithm based on demand, cost, and competition. Just plug your numbers into some computer program and BING! Pricing is done!

But unfortunately, there is no magical formula. But there are some magical mindsets that can surely help you set your prices.

Lots of complicated and emotional things are tied up in setting our prices: self-worth, valuing our skills and abilities, owning the investment you’ve made in yourself, and your entire relationship with money to name a few.

I’m going to show you the mindset issues that might keep you stuck, how to shift your thinking, and how to set your prices comfortably. Because you’re worth it.

Why does setting your prices feel so icky?

If you came to entrepreneurship from a corporate job where you worked with someone else, your supervisor or manager always determined your wage and decided when you were or weren’t ready for a pay increase. That means that setting your own prices is new territory and tackling something new is always hard at first.

If you own your own business, you are the one that has to make your own decisions about pricing, actually putting a value on your services or products. It can feel like you’re putting a value on yourself. That can be really hard, complicated, and icky feeling.

And it will definitely bring up lots of your money blocks and resistance to money stuff.

But there are ways you can simplify the process of deciding on your prices. It won’t be as simple as plugging numbers into a mythical computer program, but you’ll be able to work through the hurdles that can get in the way, making pricing less complex and overwhelming.

Pricing mindset hurdles can confound you and keep you stuck.

Here are some of the red flags I see most often in entrepreneurs who are struggling with pricing:

1. You’re hiding in your business.

If you're not making offers, doing launches, or talking to people about what you do, you’re hiding in plain sight. This can be analysis paralysis, where you feel you don’t know enough, aren’t experienced enough, or don’t have the education to set a price you can feel good about.

But this is a little mind game your brain is playing.

It’s fine to take stock of your experience when setting your prices, but be sure you’re counting ALL your experience. If you have passion for your niche and love what you do, chances are you got there from experience. Whether your experience comes from a more formal background or is born from living and loving your niche, IT COUNTS. Don’t let a lack of “official experience” hold you back.

If you can improve someone else’s life with what you know, that’s all the experience you need. Go ahead. Set a price for the service that’s going to provide that amazing outcome for your lucky clients.

2. You think that there is one perfect price and you’re trying to figure out what it is.

Sometimes we go outside ourselves and ask for guidance on what to charge and how to price our stuff. NOBODY can answer that for you. We are in all different stages and places in our journeys.

Looking at your peers and competitors to pick your price doesn’t do you any favors. You have to go with what feels right to you. Then, and only then, will you be able to really OWN your own value and the transformation you bring your clients.

It can feel really scary to choose a price, especially if it’s on what you consider to be the higher end. It brings up all kinds of fear.

Will I look like I think I’m too amazing?
Will people think I’m selfish?
Will people leave my list because they think I’m too pricey?

I’ve got two things to tell you:

1. None of that is any of your business.
2. Other people’s responses to your pricing have nothing to do with you.

I can promise you that naysayers about your pricing are simply bumping into their own money blocks, causing them to make judgments. It’s okay.

By setting a price that feels good to you, you will attract the people who are on your wavelength, who want the transformation you provide, and are ready to invest in themselves through you. Those are the people who make the most amazing clients!

3. You believe the prices you set today are the ones you’ll be stuck with forever.

Your prices aren’t chiseled in stone! You learn as you go and you can change as you go. If after you deliver your service, program, or training you decide you want to charge more next time, you can!

The secret is to choose a price that you feel comfortable charging right now and go with it. Work with a client or two at that price and see how you feel. Then do an inner check in and ask yourself…

• How do I feel having done this great thing with this beautiful client?
• Did I deliver what I intended?
• Did the client have the outcome that was promised?
• How did my client’s life, business, health, skillset, or relationship change because of our work together?
• Do I feel rewarded for doing amazing work with this person?
• Do I feel drained because I gave more than is in balance with what I received?

These are helpful questions. Be honest with yourself in answering them.

4. You hesitate because you love your work so much – or it comes so easily to you – that you’d do it for free.

How wonderful it is to feel this way about your work! You are the living example of the old adage “If you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life.”

Beware: that warm-fuzzy can become a money block that keeps you struggling to make money in your business.

Just because you are doing the work you love doesn’t mean that undervaluing it makes you do it better because you charge less than you should. It makes it harder for you to take care of yourself and your family, and in truth, harder to take care of your clients.

Remember that it may be easy to do for you, it may be something you love, but if clients are hiring you to do it, they’re saying it’s not easy for them and they don’t love it enough to do it themselves.

The time it takes you or the effort you put in should not be a factor in your pricing. You’re providing freedom, results, and relief, and that’s worth being paid well for.

Now what?

Now that you’ve identified the pricing mindset shifts that you need to make, let’s talk about what it looks like to confront them.

First, know this: all entrepreneurs have money blocks. The goal isn’t to be block free. It’s to keep becoming aware of those sometimes hidden money blocks, your own resistance around money, and how your relationship with money may be holding you back.

Just because we work through money blocks at one point or while we are at one level in our business it doesn’t mean that we won’t meet that old money block again in our business or recognize a new money block as we grow.

The goal is to recognize the money blocks and grow through them into a more realized version of ourselves who can help more people in more ways! Embrace this as a normal, natural part of your entrepreneurial journey.

Next, look at the freedom to set your own prices as a perk of being in business for yourself.

Every niche and industry has a vast array of prices from rock bottom to super pricey. This is excellent news for you! This range of pricing is an example of the flexibility you have in pricing your offers, services, and products. It demonstrates how fluid it can be to pick a price to start with and change it as you go. Where you start does not have to be where you end up!

Finally, don’t look at setting pricing through the lens of “I have to set the right price.”

Change that lens to “I get to decide.” It’s a gift to be able to decide what kind of business you want to have and how you want to work with clients, whether individually or in groups.

You even have the freedom to make money in ways that don’t involve setting a price that makes you uncomfortable. You can decide to offer your service to more than one person at a time and increase your income by serving many. There are different benefits to working 1:1 with clients or working with clients in a group.

You are a transformation maker!

Use the pricing phase as an opportunity to focus on the value and incredible transformations you bring to your clients. Take a moment to remember your “why.”

And if your pricing mindset issues are muddying the waters, there are a few things you can do to get back to the core of why you do what you do and why people will be happy to pay you what you’re worth.

First, reach out to some of your clients for a testimonial.

Guide then with questions like:

• What has been the most delicious outcome of working with me?
• What has your transformation journey been like? Where were you when you reached out to me and where are you now?
• If you hadn’t reached out to me, how do you think life would be like for you now?

These questions will give you concrete outcome-based testimonials. These are much more powerful than compliments like, “You’re so nice” or “I love working with you.” People want the transformation you can provide, so ask questions that provide details about just how amazing their outcomes have been.

And maybe best of all, you’ll truly understand the value you bring to people and realize that your prices truly should reflect that value.

Next, reach out to a money mindset and business coach.

It’s so helpful to have someone who is knowledgeable about the mindset minefields that business owners walk through. You’re often too close to be able to see them. Coaching empowers you to look at your blocks and address them with loving guidance and support. Reach out to me for a free clarity call to see if coaching together is a fit!

L’Oreal’s message may have been a marketing ploy, but the sentiment rings true. Why? Because you ARE worth it!