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You’re Not Charging Enough, and It’s Hurting Our Entire Profession
What is it worth to find someone who can save your life? What is it worth to find someone who can provide quality to a life that has little or no quality because of health problems? What is it worth to find someone who can save you tens of thousands of dollars, or to prevent you from going bankrupt? What is it worth to find someone who can alleviate your fear, and provide peace of mind? …………….. I can tell you what it’s worth based on what I read in the press, in the APHA Forum, in my email and based on feedback from many of you: On the high end, it’s worth about $350 an hour. But on the low end, every day, many of you behave as if it’s worth is $0. Nothing. Zero. Nada. Zip. And in most cases, you don’t realize that is what you are doing. Why do I say that? Because many of you offer your services for free, and are then surprised that someone won’t pay you for more work. Because advocates volunteer to help people every day when those people say that they think an advocate is “too expensive” even when they have the means. Because too many of you are willing to accept too little money for your work, which actually devalues our entire profession. Ouch. Let’s look at each of these points more carefully. We’ll begin with a reminder that what you charge someone to do the work the work they need is as more about the VALUE of what you bring as it is to the price you charge. That’s why I led this post with the value questions. What IS it worth to work with someone who can save your life, or your life savings? When potential clients understand that your value proposition is that important, they are ready and willing to pay you. We know this because it happens every day for those advocates who are willing to hold true to their pricing. And yet – so many of you are offering free assessments. Or provide free…