• greedy
• aggressive
• not worthy
• a fraud

That bugs me.  A lot. Because you can’t run a profitable business unless you know your value and ask for it.  If you find yourself wondering, will asking for that much make me look greedy, let me add some food for thought about emotions, your perceptions and the human mind.

Business is personal- that’s why it’s scary!

The longstanding myth is that business isn’t personal.   The heck it isn’t.  Business is filled to the brim with highly charged EMOTION.  And, I say that from 18 years of experience helping entrepreneurs and business owners deal with the  business consequences that result when you don’t take feelings into account.

You know that because you’re experienced a range of emotions- from the peaks of joy down to the deep valley of despair- while working in your business.  I’m guessing at some time or another you’ve felt:

• sad
• frustrated
• satisfied
• proud
• disappointed
• hopeful
• excited

But are you sure clients would see you as greedy if you raised your prices?

It’s not what you think

I’m a geek who loves brain science and social psychology.  I should’ve been an anthropologist not a lawyer.  Both careers deal with studying and modifying behavior, I guess.  Anyhoo- Michael Beckwith has a this terrific quote in the Secret that I love: what you think about you bring about.  I believe that so I try to be aware of my emotions and how they are influencing my thoughts.

It applies here because emotions drive your thoughts.  If you feel anxious about being rejected by a client who says you’re too expensive, that’s gonna change your thoughts.  Which changes your behavior so you avoid being thought of as greedy.  Which means you ask for and earn less.  How many times have you mentally reduced your price before telling your  client because you want her to say yes (and like you)?

You don’t know you so well

Here’s where things get interesting.  You are the best source of information about what you believe, but you may not be the best judge of what others think of you.  According to an article in Psychology Today, we think others see our flaws and weakness clearly because of the ‘illusion of transparency’.  (She sees right through me.)

We’re certain others see our anxiety over pricing because we know our own feelings and experience them intensely. (Sweaty palms, dry mouth when talking about how much)  That’s called the spotlight effect, where it feels like all eyes are on you, just like a 6th grade talent show.  Truth is, most people are busy paying attention to their own inner critic, not worrying about what yours is saying.  No one is looking that hard, so relax a bit.

How to get better at saying your price without guilt

To answer the question.  No, a higher price doesn’t make you look greedy.  It makes you profitable!  This part of your climb to success is more like a marathon than a sprint, I’m sorry to say.

Each time you want to reach a new revenue level, this fear of being judged as greedy and rejected will return.  So you’ll want to build up some resources for dealing with it.  Grab a copy of my freemium mini-course, Charge What You Deserve, if you haven’t already.  It’ll walk you through your money fears & get you motivated to earn what you’re worth.

Recognize your feelings.  But no judging.  You feel what you feel til it passes and you feel something else.  You can help that process along.   To calm yourself and shift your thoughts, try saying out loud:  I am [insert feeling] right now.  I like this because it’s simple and works.

Naming is a way to reclaim your power over that emotion (i.e. your ability to make it go away. Understanding that  you feel it ‘right now’ acknowledges & reinforces that your feelings will change.  Just for fun why not count how many feelings you experience in two hours.  There are more than the Sesame Street’s happy, mad, and sad people.  There’s confusion, disbelief, jealousy, envy, concern, panic to name a few.   Have a look at this list; it’ll make the test easier.

Do the research.  I just got a love letter from a wedding officiant who  is taking my mini-course.  She honestly thought her prices were the most expensive.  Research proved her wrong. Her colleagues were charging more money and had more upgrades than she did.

Now, I personally don’t believe in competitors.  Since no one can do that voodoo that you do so well, your goal is to beat your own best.  Still it’s nice to know what others are doing.  Knowing your market, and your place within it,  will give you more confidence about your price.

Fake it!   The Mary Kay organization, which brings entrepreneurship to many women- including me when I started.  Their motto: Fake it til you make it.  It works.  Experiments suggests that simply holding a smile can help you feel happier.  Pretend to be confident about your price. (I’m not saying to fake your numbers or lie, just to be clear)

Reach back and grab a memory of how you felt and acted on a especially great, ‘I’m kicking butt and taking names’ day.  Proud, happy, satisfied. Now, recreate those feelings and connect them with saying your price.  I do this by visualizing myself in the pricing conversation, hearing exactly what I want and smiling broadly and nodding agreement.  Because I already experienced myself getting a good outcome I’m much less distracted by my negative feelings.  Try it.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unjustified, unreasoning terror which paralyzes needed effort…”  (Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1^st Inaugural Address, 1933

Ready to finally charge what you deserve?  Great!  Join us to learn how

The post Does this price make me look greedy? appeared first on Speak Up Powerfully.

Belt and Suspenders

I am the queen of backup plans.  Truly.  There is always a plan a,b, c and possibly e, if I’m concerned enough.  Something always goes sideways (which is not necessarily wrong) so you have to build in redundancies. My pocketbook is like a vault filled with tissues, pens, safety pin, hand wipes, etc…just in case!  You feel me, right?

Boy, that lesson got reinforced when my best girl, the Hubs, and I attended a terrific event, grandly named  The Great Googa Mooga festival. The beautiful Bryant Park in Brooklyn hosted an amazing food and music festival that’s rumored to have taken 4 years to plan.  Guess they needed one more day because they built the entire event on the back of 1 system (having wireless) and when that failed, lawdy, it was a hot, ugly mess- except for the lovely folks at Brooklyn Beer.  (You don’t know fear until you’ve faced down millenials who’d waited too long in the beer line.  Seriously, people were very chill, but hella whiny!)

Anyhoo- suffice it to say.  I’m a planner. I like to know I’m gonna reach my goal.  So I plan a couple of alternate routes up the mountain of success.  I bet you do, too.

But lately I’ve been wondering if all those back up plans are secretly my way of giving up my dream.  Of not giving my full attention or energy.  Of hedging my bets in case my big, hairy audacious goals don’t quite come through.  A defense I learned as a child, I’m almost sure this thinking is keeping me from shining my brightest. Is this being committed to giving up?

American Ninja Warrior

I adore this show!  I’m not gonna describe it well.  It’s kinda like a hugely intense field day for adults. Check it out yourself.    I’m addicted to the show because of the contestants.  These young men are hard-core.   Many of them devote a huge portion of their lives: social, professional, financial- to becoming the next American Ninja Warrior.  It’s amazing.  And, inspiring, especially when you hear about the stories behind the athletes.

Got me thinking- these guys don’t have backup plans.  When they jump from onto the Salmon ladder and literally haul all their body weight upwards with their feet off the ground- there is no back up plan.  Do it or don’t. These guys are pigs!    That definitely seems like what being committed to going ahead looks like.  But honestly I don’t know.

Where to now?

My struggle is which one works for me now.  We all grow and evolve.  We’re more like movies than Polaroids. I’ve been the queen of B&S  (not BS, y’all, lol).  However lately I’ve been stepping out on faith  alot…a  whole lot.  Case in point- the whole moving cross country at 50 thing.    Trusting that the Universe will do her part if I do mine by taking inspired action. (Success favors speed and inspired action. )  So far, so good.  But as I look to climb to the next ledge by growing the women professionals side of my practice,  I hear a wee voice saying, uh, where are your suspenders?

What do you think?

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase- Dr. Martin Luther King

PS If you want, I’m puzzling out the rest of this in my ezine. Sign up and read on….

The post Are you committed to giving up? appeared first on Speak Up Powerfully.

Anyhoo- there are plenty of fab business events and conferences for you.  I’m bummed to be missing the San Francisco Small Business Week.   Personally, the workshops on negotiating tools and using market research look very interesting.  Also, there’s a workshop on web hacking that seems useful.  Rats, wish I were gonna be here.

If you go to the conference  shoot me a ‘traveling reporter’ post and I’ll share it here.

More Small Business Love!

Looks like Constant Contact wants to celebrate, too.  They’re hosting Get Down to Business, a free series of business building events (it’s probably not as dull as that sounds) across the country.  Check for what’s available near you.

US Chamber of Commerce is hosting a small business summit.  in Washington DC if you’re near there.  Gary V (Mr. Wine to you) will be discussing social media.

And New York, my home state, had its  Small Business XPO earlier this month.  Though the event is over, there’s a blog that has good articles for you to read.

What’s happening for Small Business Week where you are?

The post Happy Small Business Week! appeared first on Speak Up Powerfully.

An Internet Gutenberg

When Gutenberg invented the printing press he set the written word free.   One of my favorite authors, Stephen King, became one of the first self-published authors on the internet.  King did something similar.  He set  authors free.

How?  King published each chapter of his book for just $1?  Definitely not the traditional publishing model that takes years before you see fame or fortune.  He removed his publisher as the middleman and went straight to his adoring fans who were eager to consume more of his content.  (Note: King’s books are  like literary crack.  Once you turn the first page you don’t stop til it’s done. 800 pages-boom.  Then, you’re jonesing for more. What genius!) .

First day yielded over 41K downloads.  Do the math, people. That’s $41,000 in one day.  I’ll have some of that. You can be a published author and make money from your talents, too.

Build Your Own Money Machine

A little dramatic?  Heck ya, but true.  You can turn a part of your expertise into a mini-product and sell it at a micro price like Stephen did.

True, he’s Stephen King, a famous, popular author blah, blah.   But the same principles can be put to good use in your small biz, too.  I’m especially liking this ‘tiny is powerful’ pricing now for two reasons.

1. Micro-price your product/service and grab more attention and sales.   Entrepreneurs are always counting pennies, especially now in these recessionary times.  That sounds like bad news unless you realize that some problems just don’t go away.   They MUST be fixed or the business dies.  If your solution is essential, easy and well priced, small business owners will buy.  Not Stephen King sales. But steady I-can-pay-for-a-VA sales.  Yes, this thinking goes against conventional wisdom that encourages you to price for positioning in the market, i.e. be the BMW, not the Hyundai.  I’m zigging- this is what works now.

Case in point:  Guy Kawasaki self-published his latest book, What the Plus? on iTunes for $2.99.  I bought it (easy download) to learn what Google+ (new biz essential?) is about and I bet I’m not the only one.  Find, create, revise a product that you can micro-price today.  What’s a good price?  Play around.  Typically, I’d buy anything that seemed relatively useful if it were under $100.  Now, it’s more like under $40.  If it’s under $10 it’s an immediate sale. You can start where you’re comfy and test higher price points with each new version.

2. Entrepreneurs are incredibly loyal to solutions that work.  I love when something works like it said it would, don’t you?  Easy and reliable are two words every entrepreneur or small biz owner wants to hear.  It’s a simple formula.  Customers purchase & love your bite-sized, mini-priced solution + You provide more & better solutions they purchase= A very satisfied pair. Viola, a profitable business built on micro-pricing.

Worried this won’t work?  Think this is basically a volume play?  I understand but don’t agree.  Here’s a study and article that helped convince me.  Basically, consumers won’t stiff you if they like what you’ve offered.  They’ll pay because they are satisfied, they have the cash and they feel compelled to respond to ‘getting a deal’.  It’s only fair.

Here’s a goofy example.  I just purchased some airplants for my guest bath.  Wonderful, sculptural things they live on a little water and air.  However, I’m not sure how best to care for them.  Oh, they came with instructions- just not good ones.  I’d pay up to $10 for a audio or written guide on how to care for and propagate these beauties.

Where can you use this concept in your business?

Putting my two cents where my mouth is

I really like this idea so I’m running a test.  I’m creating a solution for a very specific business need- how to price higher.  Just the beginning step, though, how to write an effective survey that gathers data and promotes you.  I plan to micro-price and see what the reader reaction is (that’s you).

If you want in, sign up for my ezine on the sidebar. You’ll get insider news and my mini-course, Let Yourself Price What you Deserve, to keep you busy in the meanwhile.  I’ll report my findings here on the blog.

This is pretty controversial stuff. I’m up for a little debate.  Would micro-pricing work for your business? Why or why not?

The post Micro-Pricing: Tiny is the new Big appeared first on Speak Up Powerfully.