I coach a lot of women who are starting a new career. Some are entering the workforce for the first time, changing jobs or reentering the workforce after years of staying home to raise children. Many are starting their own businesses and I love helping the with their mindset as they follow their dreams! I also love helping them with the tangible stuff like time management and setting priorities and marketing and reaching goals!
One thing that comes up a lot is money. Many women have thoughts about money that are holding them back. They have a hard time asking for payment or talking about pricing. I believe it’s based on a combination of what we learn in church, society, school, and our families. A lot of women I work with have been involved in ministry work and have given of their time, talent and treasure with no compensation. They are used to working for free. This makes sense in ministry but not in business. We are confused.
Can we be humble and hungry at the same time?
My answer is YES. You deserve to get paid for the work you do! You are worthy, your ideas are worthy, your time is valuable, your skills and talents will make a difference and people need what you have to offer. Do you believe it?
You don’t have to diminish your contribution to seem “nice”. You don’t have to play small to “get along”. You don’t have to shrink and stand back and allow people to use you for free. Now you may choose to give, serve, and minister at no cost at certain times. And I highly recommend this, we are called to do so and God blesses others through us and He blesses us through our giving. However, when you are WORKING and it’s BUSINESS, you deserve to get PAID.
Also, if you don’t “need” the money and you feel like you should say, “It’s okay, I don’t need the money”, think about what you are putting out there. It’s up to you of course but that means you are running a ministry or a charity or you are just helping a friend. In business, getting paid isn’t dependent on if you “need” to get paid. It’s dependent on if you work and provide value. If you want to give your salary to charity, so be it. If you want to donate every dime to a cause you are passionate about, be my guest. But don’t equate “need” with earning money. Earning money comes from creating, doing, working. We help each other when we value work and effort. There is no free lunch for you and there is no free lunch for your clients.
And for those of you expecting your friends to give you their service or goods for free, How does that make sense? That diminishes all of our contributions. Maybe your friend is a birthday cake baker, if you ask her to bake your child’s birthday cake…pay her! If your friend owns a cleaning service and you hire her, should your house get cleaned for free? If your friend is a CPA, do you expect her to do your taxes for free? No, of course not. Same goes for decorators, realtors, photographers, hairstylists, make up artists, doctors, lawyers, tutors. It takes your friend the same amount of time to do the work for you as it does to do the work for a stranger. And while she is working for you, she can’t serve other clients. Be reasonable. And be supportive of your friends! While those of us offering services or goods may feel guilty about asking friends to pay us, I have to ask…shouldn’t people feel guilty for expecting things for free?
If you give your service or goods away for free, you may start to resent it. And the client may take it all for granted, not fully investing in the work, not showing up, not giving it 100%. Both parties suffer. It’s a bad idea. Everybody shows up at their best when there is “skin in the game”.
So tell me, Is this a struggle for you? Are you conflicted about asking for money for the goods or services you provide? Is it harder to ask for payment from friends and family? Do you believe you are worthy of earning money? Do you believe your contribution has value? What is holding you back from getting paid?
More on this topic on the Great Big YES! podcast #57.
On the podcast, I mention book group. There is still time to join us for our book group! We are reading “Winning with People” by John Maxwell. The first Live group call is on Wednesday, the 18th at 1 pm central. (This book group is FREE!! 🙂 ) Comment here or Email me at to join!