How to Determine Your Pricing and What You Are Worth

How to Determine Your Pricing and What You Are Worth

Welcome to this episode of The Determined Mom Show. I am your host, Amanda Tento, and I have the lovely Andrea Liebross with me, and she is a business and life coach for women.

Today we’re gonna talk about how to determine your pricing and what you’re worth. I’m very excited that you’re here because this is such an important topic. You know, we as women have a lot of struggles with this as we start our businesses and venture out into that area of, okay, somebody else is charging this.

Should I be charging that? What should I be charging? All of these things. But before we get into it, let’s talk about you. Like how did you get started as a business and life coach?

I realized after about 10 years of working for another organization that what I loved about working for them, so I was working for someone, was the coaching aspect. I was recruiting and hiring and training new business owners who happened to all be female. 

I just had enough of that corporate world. But when I sat down to think about what I love about my job? Because I stayed there for a while. It was what they were calling training, but what I would call coaching.

Because what I was doing was when the going got tough when the excitement of starting a new business wore off and it started to get hard and not feel so amazing. I would step in and help those new business owners continue to stay afloat and to continue to create a business that worked for them that was aligned with them.

I think that was part of what was happening. They were realizing that they didn’t like how this was feeling. But yet they still wanted, they wanted to pursue it, but they couldn’t quite figure out how to get what they wanted and feel good about it at the same time. And that’s really what when the coaching came into play.

I also think that as. Working through those 10 years, I realized that one of the missing factors in anyone’s success, or,  one of the most important factors that often was missing in finding success was confidence. And what it boiled down to was if you had the confidence to continue to work towards something and be okay with not feeling so great in the process.

Then, you were gonna be, eventually, you were gonna find that success you were looking for. One of the things I love to say is that I, what I, I found the most rewarding was that when this mom business owner, they pretty much were all mopped when a mom business owner said to me, You know what?

I just decided that I’m gonna go to this conference, it’s next week, but my family is gonna live. And I came down to the kitchen and told them, I’m going and you guys are gonna survive without me. And everybody said, okay, mom, go for it. That was a huge win.

They had the confidence to say, I’m going. They had the confidence to believe and believe. The belief was that everybody was gonna still live while they were gone and they were going for it. That was a big win for me, and that’s what I love helping my clients do now. 

That’s awesome. It sounds like that stage of a hobby too. Business owner. Do you know what I mean? Like when you’re in that stage of your business where you’re like. I’m gonna make money. I’m gonna, this is what I wanna do, this is what I wanna do.

Then you have to shift past that. And part of that is in that conversation with your family. I’m serious about this, this is what I’m doing now. This is my actual job and this is what I’m doing.

I like to say you’re moving from having a jobby, which is like a job slash hobby. Hobby into having a business profitable. You’re moving from a jobby into a profitable business, and that’s a huge shift and it requires you to make confident decisions.

I think one thing that I still occasionally struggle with, but my kids are starting to get older, they’re starting to realize. That this is my job and like they’re so used to me being home.  Because I’ve been at home for five years now working and running my own business. They were used to me being gone all the time.

Like I was always out of the house, never home before eight o’clock. Like it was just crazy. And then all of a sudden I’m home all the time. Now they’re used to me being home all the time. And I’m like, okay, but I still am working like that. The boundary of this is still my business, this is my job, this is how we eat, this is how we live, so you must leave me alone.

I think one of the things that I share with my clients is I call it my. Signature process or the secret sauce. And the secret sauce is having the right mindset. This is now a business and systems are in place to run things in a way that works for you. So the secret sauce has just two ingredients, mindset, and systems. 

I’ve become, I would say, an expert in helping moms, helping women put that into play.  Once you start to have that secret thought, things start to si. But you gotta have both the mindset and the systems in place to move from that jobby into a profitable business. 

So how do we do that? How do we figure out that secret sauce? How do you do, right? You gotta tell us the secret.

I think there’s part of the secret, right? First of all, I think number one, we need to realize that this is a journey. It’s not gonna be a snap of the fingers, which we’d love. It would be great if it was, but it’s not. And I think as you turn more from a jobby into a profitable business, you have to start believing in your worthiness and in the worthiness of the product or service you’re offering.

How do we do that? It’s a three-step kind of process. And this is really Why I think people either succeed or fail. Number one, you’ve got to believe in yourself as a person, and this takes some shifting in your thinking. You’re more than a mom. You’re human with all the human qualities.

I help my client get that new thinking they need to feel that worthiness. Because our thoughts create our feelings. Because no matter what anyone tells you, no matter what’s written down on paper, no matter what grade you got in school, none of that is going to give you that feeling of human worthiness. 

That’s the first piece of the puzzle that I help people walk through. The second piece is you’ve gotta believe in your service or product. Like you have something that is of value that you want to share. A lot of times as women, we devalue what we are offering, whether it’s a service or a product, and get to that place where we can recognize the value in it.

Is important. Otherwise, you’re not gonna, you’re not going to charge enough and you’re probably not even gonna last too long and it’s gonna remain, your business is not gonna be a business, it’s gonna remain a jobby. I helped women figure out the value of their service and it’s also their opinion.

It’s an opinion a lot of times. So how do you change your thinking around that? Again, it comes down to thinking, changing your thinking so that you feel valuable or the service feels valuable, and then you take the action of charging whatever you think it’s worth. Not hiding under a rug or devaluing the service.

Now, a question about that. Do you help people to focus on that transformation that they’re offering? Or are they focusing on like the bridge between where the client is now and where the client wants to be? Or are you focusing on that result of where they want to be in learning that that value is there?

Okay, great question. I always say you’re going to access your future. If we look to the past for the answer to how much this is worth, we’re not gonna find it. We’ve got to go to our future selves. We’re going to go to that person that made it right, that’s making whatever they wanna make in that, even in the like dream category. So you’ve going to access the future person and ask that future person, Hey, what do you think this is?

I help people find their future selves. Because sometimes it’s hard. It’s really hard. You’re because you’ve been where you’ve been for so long. To access that feature. And then create some thinking that bridges use the word bridge from where they are now to where they wanna be.

Because again, that’s not like a one, one-day event, that’s a process. But I always say, to figure out how much you are worth, I’m putting this in air quotes, or what the value you’re offering. You have to access your future self. And this is what you’re helping your client do. 

Wet our customers, whether they’re purchasing a product that’s gonna make them feel amazing, or you’re offering them a service, you are giving them a transformation or helping them evolve like you’re doing the same thing for yourself. The second piece, The process that I help people with in determining what they’re worth is helping them determine what the value is of their service or product. 

And that, I think, is the biggest sticking point that I’ve encountered, not only with myself as a business owner but with every other business owner that I’ve encountered since I started. It’s just there. 

It’s hard.  And it does involve that secret thought-like mindset. You gotta shift your thinking and some systematic systems too. Systematic thinking or, and creating things that make your service easier to offer System in that too. So that’s how the secret thoughts kind of get sprinkled over the process.

But the third one, I might, you think this third piece is the hardest? I don’t know. Third, I think the third part of this process is believing in the emotional and financial maturity of your client or customer. So the emotional or financial maturity of that other person.

And that’s sometimes hard to believe that they understand or will get the transformation or evolution that you are offered. Because then you can, they’ll never pay that. We’ve heard that. That’s too much. I think it’s gonna be a bunch of nos. I don’t wanna get a bunch of nos. So you’ve got to believe that person on the other end, your ideal client is gonna get it.

What you’re doing and what you’re offering, and because you believe in the emotional and financial maturity of that other person. Sometimes that can be hard. So that comes into a lot of, I work with my clients a lot on people pleasing or being okay with a no, like feeling crummy when you get a no.

Being okay with feeling uncomfortable, like confidence is the willingness to feel all the feelings. Confidence is the willingness to feel all the feelings. So how do we do that? 

And just because we’re willing to feel one thing one week and you feel like, oh, after that, right next week, you got some other feeling that pops up.

So again, this is a journey. It’s not a, it’s not a one-hour event. So that’s the third belief, believing in the emotional and financial maturity of the. 

Because how much? Because you’re, I’m gonna guess, most business owners, you ask them like, Hey, are you offering something amazing? They’re like, yes, I’m offering something amazing. This is great. We kind of inherently think that, or else we change what we’re offering as we change it. Okay, so we, most of the time, can get a check mark over there eventually.

The hardest part is the other people, cause we can’t change other people. And I also hope my clients, get out of this convincing mode. So many times we think it’s, oh, just being able to convince someone else, it’s not really what it is, is you being able to explain and create a vision of what your, of the transformation you’re offering.

I like to take pictures. Big, huge doors. Like we could picture the doors to, I don’t know, the palace big, huge doors. When you are charging what you are worth and feeling your worthiness, those doors are open wide. They are wide open, and your client or customer. You are offering them the biggest transformation possible because you have opened up those doors.

If you are just keeping them a little, what you’re doing is you’re denying them the possible transformation or evolution they could experience if you had opened them up more. I’ll tell you, this happens all the time. I get a new client and they pay me, and before we even. Whether that is the next day or 30 days from then before we even start, they start to create change in their world.

Just by saying yes, they are already starting to create change. I’ve opened up those doors for them and said, come on in, and they’ve come in and they’re starting to change. So if your door, I’m using a little squeaky voice, but it was seeming leany. You’re not, you’re doing them a disservice. You’re doing them a disservice.

I see that. That’s so interesting. And sometimes when I look back at it, I like to call them near misses or wait, not a near miss, but that feeling that you get when you’re when someone’s interested in your services. But they’re asking way too many questions or way too, like it’s like the red flag client, right?

Do you know what I mean?  Like where you’re not supposed to work with them, but the money would be really good. That feeling just isn’t there and you get a weird feeling like, huh, should I be doing that? And I’ve taken two of those before. No three, I will say three. 

And one was like a huge chunk of change every month. And it was amazing. But I hated every minute of working with them and I should have just never said yes. But they were like, let’s start today. 

Okay, fine though, deep down inside, right? I knew, I was like, this is, no, this, there’s something wrong here. Like just a lot of the things that were leading up to even finding this thing and like how it happened and all of the things just didn’t feel good, so didn’t feel good. 

I know what you mean. I think if someone is wanting to create a business and not a Joby, understanding what you’re worth. Key. And as you work through that process, you also learn so many other things along the way. Like you’re learning them where the red flags are, right? Yes. This work that we, that I do, I call it like the work that we do is work worth doing, right?

So this is work worth doing because what you gain from it doesn’t just help you in the present. It helps you in the future. As a business owner because you’re going through your belief stages and if setting up this foundation, like kind of foundational work worth doing allows you, gives you a bigger possibility for transformation later on.

I think understanding too if we had it way back is the, like whoever’s listening, is this your, is this an issue for you? Okay, do you have a problem? Or would you like to be better at representing what you’re worth? Understanding what you’re worth, feeling worthiness. So here’s a thought that kind of goes with this.

There’s a feeling that kind of goes with this, and then there’s the action. A lot of times we just wanna skip to the action. What do I charge exactly? Of generating the right thought and feeling to go along to support the action. You gotta have those first.

I think what my clients realize in the end is that it’s not about the action. They realize that it’s really about thinking and feeling, and that’s the work they need to do. We’d love to jump ahead. We love that, but that’s not gonna get us as far as we want in the end. 

I have another scenario for you that I encounter sometimes talking to people. What do you do if you’ve established your worth? You feel like you have a great price and then you start getting more and more clients and you have that base, but then you realize, Ooh, maybe I’m not charging what I’m worth now.

Because oftentimes as business owners, we go through that transformation of growth and understand how valuable our services and products are, that kind of thing. So how do you deal with that evolution of, okay, two years ago my pricing was this, Now it’s this? How do I talk to those clients that I already have and let them know that I’m raising my prices or  I don’t know? 

That’s a great question. It’s a great question. So I think there are two ways to go about this. Number one is if you’ve been working with them for two years with, if you’ve been working with them for two years and they’re still with you, hopefully, they’re seeing the value in and of itself and hope that they have experienced some transformation over those past two years.

By continuing to charge them whatever you were charging, let’s say, I’m gonna pretend like a hundred dollars. And now you realize it shouldn’t be 500 by continuing to charge them a hundred, you’re not, you are not, how do I say this? It’s like an insult in a way. Like they should understand at this point you are worth $500. So it’s like insulting their intelligence in a way. All right. So having those conversations like, Hey, This is my new price.

I and you don’t have to apologize too. You don’t have to apologize. So just tell them what that new price is. Now you also, this is kind of the second part. What’s the lifetime value of that client to you? Okay. So a lot of times when my pricing changes, I’ll say, Hey, listen, I’m gonna meet my, I went from 100 to 500, but I’m willing to meet you in the middle at 300.

So give them some type of nice that you value. And that throughout they worked with you for five years at $300, that’s gonna be way more than one month at 500. So figure out the lifetime value of your client and make an offer that’s irresistible to them. Of course, they would say, yes, you want your client to give you.

Of course, I’m gonna say yes to this. You wanna make it a home run for them. But oftentimes I’ll ask. Clients as we’re working through this, what do you think would make it a home run for your client? What’s a home run look like? What’s a home run feel like? Then that helps guide that process of increasing pricing or even just establishing a base price.

So your style there and listening, struggling, thinking like, all right, I’ve been charging the same thing now for two years. With time have this kind of conversation with yourself or get help in thinking it through. Where we evolved. Like think about this, whatever you’re offering, it’s saving that person time, most likely.

Like you’re fast-tracking something for them, you’re saving them money. Because if they were trying to figure this out on their own, they’d probably be spending a lot more money in the sense of. Trying this, trying that, trying like we can buy courses and try to figure stuff out yourself, which I’m about, I love courses.

I have a couple of courses. There’s something about having a guide or a Sherpa to work you through the process. With my clients, I mean, my home run clients understand. Yeah, I want someone holding my hand through this. Yes, I want to fast-track this. So you’re saving them time, you’re saving them money.

And you know what you’re also saving them is brain space. I like to say you’ve got your three most valuable resources time, money, and brain power. And we could argue that time and money are the most valuable, but I would argue that brain power is because that is what’s. 

You can use brain power to create more time and more money. So if you want someone helping you to access your max brain power, right? There’s huge value in that. Because it’s helping you create more time and money. 

I also think the other piece to that is accountability. We all need someone to just say, okay, did you do that? You’re supposed to do it. Did you do it Like, hello? 

We do. We need someone to help us stay accountable. I also recommend having someone help you. Another way to say like, accountable is committed, can, is there someone out there that can help you stay committed? Because deep down you probably do wanna be committed, but staying in that, on that track for a human, it’s challenging.

There are lots of shiny objects, right? That’s what I recommend, like thinking about.  Who can help me stay accountable, right? Who can help me stay committed, who can help me think through some of these things that are worth thinking about? 

Is this work worth doing? Because in the end, in the future, go to your future self. What would your future self tell you to do? How do you get there? 

I love that you have given us so many amazing nuggets of knowledge today that I love it. Do you have anything that you would like to share with the audience? Is anything you have coming up, or going on? Anything like that? 

I think the first thing I would love to offer your audience is my gift, which is a quiz. It’s called Reveal the Root Quiz, and that helps you figure out what’s the root of the, and I’m putting the problem in quotes cause I  wanna, to what’s the root of your most current challenge. What’s going on? 

That quiz helps sort through that and gives you in the end, the root, and then it also the diagnoses, and then it also you, I start to help you work through that and figure out how to change it. So that’s, I would say go take the reveal, the root quiz. It’s on my website, a big button at the top, Andrea liebross.com. 

Take the quiz second. I offer a variety of coaching opportunities. Some are more life coaching focused, some are more business coaching focused, but they all, everything’s always fair game, so we talk. Both things are in all different programs. But Mike committed to a growth program. 

There’s a coaching program called Committed to Growth, which helps you do just that. Stay committed to yourself to help you continue to grow and change. So you can check that out too on the Work With Me page on my website. Andrea Libras, l i e b r o s s dot. 

We’ll have that in the show notes. And where is the best place online that you like to hang out? Or maybe you hate social media, but if you don’t hate social media, where do you have to hang out? 

I like to hang out on Instagram so you can find me at Andrea dot Liebross dot coaching. And you also can find me in your favorite podcast player, right next to this podcast. I have a podcast called Time to Level Up. And that also is, I like to say that’s a hundred free gifts cuz there’s probably, there’s about, there are more than a hundred episodes out there, so there are a hundred free gifts for you,

I love it. I love it. Thank you so much, Andrea, for being here and sharing your knowledge with us and your expertise. And you gave so many amazing answers to these questions that I know. Things that people are struggling with right now, so we appreciate them. Loved being here. Thanks for having me.