At the inception of my new career, someone asked me what I charged? I had no idea what to answer. I thought of what I was paid doing similar work for employers I had worked for, always feeling I should be paid more. So why did I quote the hourly wage I had been making when I was never satisfied?
My brother told me I should ask for more? We went back and forth, coming to a rate I was comfortable with. Why was I so nervous thinking people wouldn't pay this higher rate? As women, especially ones entering business on their own, are made to feel that they shouldn't come on strong and demand what is fair. Jennifer Lawrence is taking a stand in Hollywood for women to get equal pay as men. She didn’t want to come on too strong, asking for more money per movie, otherwise she felt she would have be seen as hard to deal with.
Charging a rate reflects on what people perceive the quality of work will be. It is a fine line we business people walk. Charge too much, and people think you are too expensive. Charge too little, they may think the quality isn’t there. I asked a client of mine who recently started a business with his children how does he know how much to charge his clients. He said he started at one rate, and is slowly increasing it until he hits the limit that people say it’s too high. Is that they way to go? Swimming in these business waters, chances need to be taken to see what wave we can catch with which price tag.
