“It’s better to give than to receive.”

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

“Rich people are greedy / bad / selfish.”

I bet you heard at least one of these common sayings growing up, and maybe you even believe it.

But that’s a BIG problem if you’re an entrepreneur or you simply want to attract more money and abundance into your life. Associating money with greed, selfishness or general “badness” puts you at odds with the inherent urge you have to be a “good” person. And where there’s inner conflict, there are muddled outcomes.

It’s my belief that it serves the world when you charge enough money for you to not only stay in business but also thrive.

Otherwise, your business won’t be around to help the people who want and need want you offer.

The truth is that you are not selfish or greedy for charging more in your business. In this article I cover why you deserve to be paid high rates, why it’s important to be charging more than less, and how to position yourself in the market so you can attract your dream clients, even at higher fees.

Let’s dive right in!

You deserve to make a great living doing the work that you’re meant to do in the world

If you’re struggling to earn enough to keep up with your bills or live the kind of life you desire, the first thing you need to look at is how you feel about charging for the services that you provide to other people.

Do you feel bad asking for more money than your clients make per hour?

Do you feel guilty or greedy charging higher fees?

Do you sometimes feel like you really don’t deserve to earn more?

These beliefs and emotions really get to the heart of why a lot of people (and women, especially) think they can’t charge higher fees. The truth is that you can charge more… you’re simply making the choice not to because of this inner conflict.

You’re actually being of service to your clients by charging enough money for you to not only survive in business but to thrive.

When you’re stressed out and struggling in business, it negatively impacts every area of your life, including how you show up to serve your clients, your personal relationships and health. But when you charge enough to do more than just make ends meet, you’ll be able to show up as your best self and give your clients 100% of your attention and focus to help them get the results that they want from working with you.

People will be more committed to doing the work that they need to do to get results when you charge higher fees

Sometimes this really comes down to a life or death situation. Let’s say you’re a health coach and you’re working with people who are really overweight and they’re struggling with the associated health consequences like diabetes, high blood pressure and arteriosclerosis.

It can be really hard to change old habits, even in a life or death situation, because the prospect of doing so can feel overwhelming. Only a really strong motivator will move that person out of their “comfortable discomfort zone” and get them to do the things they need to do to get healthy again.

Money is a big motivator for most people. The more skin you have in the game, the more motivated you feel to see a return on your investment.

Looking at how much you charge clients to work with you from this perspective, you can easily see that when you charge lower fees, you actually reduce motivation and increase the odds of people failing to get results. When you charge less to your clients then they don’t have much skin in the game to get the change they need. You’re not helping people when you make it easy to let themselves off the hook.

Of course, I’m assuming that if you’re charging higher fees, you’re also delivering massive value. You must find the balance between pricing your services so that people feel committed and they show up and do the work and the level of service and value you bring to each client. Most of all, what you’re able to successfully charge and get paid has to do with your capacity to hold the energy for successfully receiving higher fees (as in, your inner confidence, belief systems and mindset).

The caveat to this is that in any audience of people, there are always people who are willing to pay more for more access, more attention, more help, and there are people who aren’t willing to pay quite as much. When you come across someone who’s not willing to pay what you’re asking, that’s your opportunity to stand firm in your value and/or offer your services in a different way and at a different price commensurate with the level of personal attention they’ll receive.

The prices you charge either support or take away from your brand

One of the best parts of being your own boss is that you get to choose how you position yourself in the market. In any given industry, throughout the entire world, there are people, products and companies that price themselves at the high end of a market and there are those that price themselves at the low end of the market. You have the freedom to choose how you want to show up and serve people and how you want to position yourself in the market: low price and high volume, high price and lower volume or somewhere inbetween.

I’ll give you an example. Let’s take a look at Walmart and Neiman Marcus. If you go to the beauty supplies counter at Walmart, you’ll find a ton of $7 make-up. But hop on over to Neiman Marcus and the prices rise dramatically. In truth, the make-up is probably similar stuff, but Neiman Marcus has positioned themselves as high-end and high-quality, so no matter what someone buys from them, they’re going to assume it’s better than what they can get at Walmart.

This is where the common saying, “You get what you pay for” comes in - people are conditioned to think that the more they pay for something, the better it must be. Of course, that’s not always the case, but it doesn’t really matter if it’s true that it’s better or not. Perception is reality for customers. By positioning yourself at the higher end by charging higher fees, you leverage people’s natural belief to your advantage, as well as providing more motivation to actually do the work they need to do to get the change they desire.

More reasons why you’re not selfish or greedy for charging more

You can give more to charity or your favorite causes when you have more money.
You can afford to hire team members to help you, which provides employment for others.
You’ll be able to do more self-care and invest in your own health and well-being so you can be around for your loved ones for a long time.
You are modeling for your clients (and everyone around you) that money and meaning are not exclusive, as in you can do meaningful, heart-centered work and be an amazing human being and make a lot of money, too.

Charging higher fees doesn’t make you greedy or selfish, but it does allow you to be of higher service to your clients and it serves the world for you to be out there doing the work that you’re meant to do. That’s how I see it. :-)

Share your thoughts!

1. What has been your experience with charging higher fees?

2. What are the things that hold you back from charging more?

Share in the comments below!