written by Carla Williams Johnson

The 1 Thing Every Woman In Business Is Guilty of Doing (and How You Can Avoid It)

It’s pretty simple if you ask me; recently, I was chatting with a business bestie who had a client who was driving her crazy. Her client was making unreasonable demands, calling her at ridiculous hours and asking for things outside their contractual agreement. My friend was already going above and beyond, but her client was just simply making things much harder than they needed to be.

“The little money she pays me comes in handy,” my friend said, “but I just feel like it’s too much!!”

I told her: “Raise your prices Hun!!”

I explained that she cannot charge two persons the same price if one demands more of your time, does not listen, and causes you to do double work. “You’ve got to charge your client more, and one of three things will happen: She will pay you, so it will now be worth it, she will stop her foolishness, OR you will amicably part ways…. any outcome would be in your favor.”

She was stunned into silence because I made it sound so easy.

As women entrepreneurs, we notoriously undercharge for many reasons:

• We don’t think we are worthy enough to charge high prices;
• We want to help people, and by people, we typically mean everybody;
• We want to prove to others (and a bit to ourselves) that we can do it;
• We want to get a foot in the door, so we charge a little now and maybe a lot later on (which never comes).

I can go on, but not charging what we are worth leaves us tired, frustrated, and stressed out because ‘undercharging’ usually goes hand in hand with ‘over-delivering’. We want to show that we know what we are doing but soon suffer from regret and burnout, while our clients demand more and more. At that point, we realize that our reputation is worth more than our exhaustion, so we rally through and hate every second of it.

Worse yet, those clients rarely become repeat business because we just can’t go through that headache again.

Back to the example of my friend, she said ‘the little money’, that in itself speaks to how much she knew that she was undercharging but seemed ok with it, even though the client was terrorizing her, but at no time did she consider raising her prices. It was as if that thought never crossed her mind.

Why do we women do this to ourselves?

Two words: Imposter Syndrome.

And it is keeping us in a prison of our own making, not to mention keeping us broke as well. That lack of belief in yourself and second-guessing your worth is causing you to leave loads of cash on the table!!

10,000 FREAK’IN DOLLARS!!!!

I felt soooo stupid. Here I am with my $250 self, feeling like I’m overcharging, and these people were willing to pay much MUCH more!! This wonderful woman went on to tell me, it’s not the amount of time I spoke, it’s the value I brought within the half-hour session and the fact that I’ve been in Forbes alone I should never even think about charging under $3500. I took her words to heart. She was looking out for me…one Sis, to another, and I appreciated that. But after all was said and done, the worst part was that I STILL DIDN’T GET THE SPEAKING GIG.

It was a moment I would NEVER forget!! I cried real tears; I had let my self-doubt get the best of me. I vowed to never let that happen again, and, to be honest, I would not want any other woman business owner to feel as dumb as I did at that moment. It was an expensive and embarrassing learning experience, to say the least. I allowed my imposter syndrome to cost me a $10k payday.

We, women, do this all the time.

We grossly undercharge, even when we know we shouldn’t, but can we just stop for a moment?

We, women, need to stop being a bleeding heart to everyone. The people who need us and appreciate us will buy from us. I know it is easier said than done, trust me, but if you feel like you are doing too much and not seeing the returns, your first plan of action is to consider doubling or even tripling your prices.

Now, just so that you are prepared, I want to warn you of a few things that may happen once you make that decision.

1) You may need to go a while without sales until you find the people who are willing to pay your worth. Don’t worry too much because you will be so happy when you find the ones that do. To shorten that time frame be sure to consistently put yourself out there through the use of social media, publicity, and other forms of promotion

2) People might think you’re ‘too much, ‘too bold’ or ‘too whatever’ because, in their opinion, you have no right to raise your prices. That’s their pride from their inability to afford you talking. The ones who need you but cannot afford you right now will appreciate and work harder to find the funds to invest.

3) Random people will think you’re being unfair, greedy, or money-hungry. That’s ok, their ‘broke asses’ were never going to pay you because they were never going to invest in themselves. They can continue in Freebie University while you are well on your way to Kim K. Rich.

Here’s the thing Sis, we women, must stop thinking that making money and being rich is a bad thing. We are grateful for the opportunities that come our way, but we are not in business for ‘thanks’, we are here to create the life that we want, and it takes money to do that. We need that money to help ourselves and our families, to give back to our community and our churches, or donate to causes we’re passionate about or people in need. We need that money, and working ourselves to the bone is not the way to do it.

As a woman in business, we’ve got to spread our wings and show ourselves as the experts we are and be unapologetic about it. We will no longer feel like we are working in vain; from this point on, we will charge what we are worth and be worth what we charge.

Are you a woman in business? Are you one of the guilty ones? Let us know in the comments

#letsgo woman in business.

Carla Williams Johnson is an award-winning Media Marketing Specialist based in Trinidad &Tobago. She helps both business owners and entrepreneurs gain the clarity and the confidence to unapologetically make their mark in the world. She’s been named one of the top marketers to follow and has been featured in global publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, Huffington Post, Thrive Global, and BuzzFeed to name a few. Her inspiring story and her desire to help others have taken her around the world to places such as China, Australia, India, The USA, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and across the Caribbean. Follow her on IG @carlicommunications

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