Please Stop “Charging What You’re Worth”

Sep 22

Updated October 2023

The phrase “Charge what you’re worth” is something that gets my blood boiling, and this might very well be the most “fluffy” article I’ve ever written.

But I am 100% against what people all over the world wide web are telling business owners when they say, “Charge what you’re worth.”

First, if you’ve hired someone and this is their best advice to you on how to price your services, then you need to hire someone new. LOL.

But second, there is an actual art and science to charging properly for your services. It’s not easy, but it’s possible.

If you base your prices on a calculation of “what you’re worth” you’ll never have the confidence to send the $100,000 design fee proposal without sweating through your kneecaps or feeling like you’re “not good enough” if you don’t land that contract. Ain’t nobody got time for that, and you’re definitely not for sale.

So let’s start with science:

You have all the info on how to price your services.

In your time tracker (we love Toggl)
In your financial software (Studio or QBO are the only real ones)
In your post-project review (or post-project autopsy as LuAnn Nigara calls it).

Then there’s the art:

How are you protecting and maximizing your client’s time, sanity, money, and home?
What does having you involved with the project mean for your client now and in the future?
What is your unique value proposition?
Your connections to make magic happen.
Your expertise and insight to know what is possible.

“Charging what you’re worth” doesn’t fall under art or science. In my opinion, it falls under nonsense.

You are priceless. Your worth is not determined by what you can charge or what you do charge or what someone will pay you.

If someone negotiates your “this-is-the rate-I’m-worth” price, does that mean you’re worth less?

NOOOOO.

Charge so you are compensated for your time, your talent, your expertise, and the life-changing result you will provide your clients. And then tangibly, charge for the time you are saving clients, the costly mistakes you are helping them avoid, the joy they will experience every day when they live-laugh-love (haha) in their gorgeous new space, and the value you are adding to the price of their home when they later turn around and sell it.

Charge not for “your worth” but for what the project is worth to the client. (And if it’s not worth much to the client, that’s why you’ll get pushback, not because of your fee!).

PRICING IS HARD until you get it right.

In fact, I struggle with this in my own business. And it’s often a matter of testing science and art and then selling the thing. Getting feedback. Making adjustments. Looking at facts first, then art.

For example:

When a client charges % based fees and then doubles it WHILE working with me, that’s an instant $xxx,xxx they make on the next project they book.

When a client raises her rate by 33% because I told her she was undercharging, my fee was essentially free.

When I help a client prepare their first $150,000 contract and their client signs immediately and asks “When can we start?"....

(As I'm typing this, I am seeing the solution for myself).

Here's the thing: it’s not all about the money for you. It’s not all about the money for me. But the more spot-on we can be with pricing, the more people we CAN help and the more impact we CAN have — for our clients, our community, our families.

AND THAT IS PRICELESS.

Don’t wait another day to charge appropriately and feel confident in your prices. Check out these additional resources to nail your pricing based on facts and real-live data:

Pricing + Proposals Workshop* in the Workroom

Canva or Honeybook Proposal Templates* in the Design Library

Tips for Pricing Your Services

What to Do When Someone Negotiates Your Fee

Six Ways to Price Your Services

Profitable Interior Design Firms Run Their Business on Data

How to Know When It’s Time to Raise Your Rates

How to Share Your Design Fees On Your Website

*For interior designers only. Not interior design business coaches/mentors/strategists/consultants/blahblahblah

Want actionable tips and insights for running a profitable and sustainable interior design business? Join the list below to get my Friday morning email.