You’ve probably seen social media posts with business educators telling you to raise your prices immediately. “Charge your worth!” they say. If a slapdash price increase raises complicated feelings, you’re not alone. We explore how to set pricing in a way that helps you generate wealth while centering your humanity.

“Money Mindset” in Entrepreneur Spaces

We (Tia and Stephanie) grew up hearing common messages about money. “Money isn’t everything.” But also “Money is a struggle, and it’s why people fight.” Like so many people, we had money trauma in our childhoods. It inevitably affected the way we initially approached entrepreneurship.

When Tia started their photography business, they came face to face with the “Money can’t buy happiness” mantra of their childhood. Business coaches almost uniformly talked about “mindset blocks around money.” Others encouraged journaling, writing letters to money, and reframing thought patterns to manifest it. Tia was told that if they did these things, the money would appear. If the money didn’t appear, it was because Tia hadn’t done X, Y, or Z correctly or enough.

The entrepreneur world is full of language that blames people for their lack of financial success. Ok, we do some manifestation work, but we’re mindful of how prescribing it to others can be problematic. The idea that money difficulties are mindset issues ignores the fact that many people have a lifetime of money trauma. 

How to Set Pricing with Purpose

A better approach to how to set pricing centers the goals that really matter to you. Often entrepreneurs pick what sounds like a good hourly rate. They might base their prices on competitors or aim for six figures because it has become an almost universal goal in business education. Instead, ask yourself: What work can get me to the lifestyle I want? 

The shift away from hourly work to setting prices with a lifestyle in mind changed the game for Tia. They could rethink how to set pricing in their photography business. It helped them conceptualize what to include in their packages and how to pick prices that made sense. Then they took it a step further and created a calculator that helps other entrepreneurs figure out how to reach their financial goals with purposeful packages.

“Affordability” and “Value” in Pricing

Maybe you’re worried about becoming inaccessible to your dream clients. You can balance raising prices and accessibility concerns without living in the shame spiral that is “mindset blocks.” Accessibility is important to Tia on a personal level. They grew up with plenty of privileges but not with a lot of money. Their family shopped at thrift stores and ate dinners of spaghetti and canned Hunts pasta sauce. As an adult, Tia lived on an annual salary of $12,600 and felt like a millionaire when they got their first teaching job making $44,000/year.

How Tia grew up deeply shaped how they view money. It also instilled the belief that what a client pays you doesn’t necessarily equate to how much they “value you.” Every human, regardless of what they can afford, has the capacity to really value the work we do as entrepreneurs.

Some helpful things to remember about pricing are:

• You will always be out of budget for someone.
• You will always be “too cheap” for someone.
• “Affordable” is relative. The idea of “affordability” is vague and confusing.
• If your goal is to generate income, you have to set your prices to be profitable.

Will this make your services inaccessible to some? Maybe, but there is nuance here. Tia works into the cost of doing business that they’ll photograph two or three weddings a year at a lower price point. This way they’re still able to work with marginalized people who may not have had access to the same financial resources historically. You can keep this in mind when you’re deciding how to set pricing.

More Good People with Money

At Brandcendent, we’re pro wealth generation because we believe the world needs more good people with lots of money. Instead of worrying about your “mindset blocks” and “worth,” start thinking about how to set pricing that will get you to the life you want. Money, pricing, and accessibility are huge pieces of Disruptor, Tia’s group coaching program. Get all the details about Disruptor and Tia’s one-on-one business coaching!