Why Do You Charge So Much?

The one problem I see holding women back more than anything else isn't a crappy website, or a lack of resources, or even having a demanding schedule like busy home life and family that takes them away from their business:

It's shame. 

Shame to ask, shame to be paid well, shame to be visible, shame to have made mistakes, shame to shine.

And shame around money is the biggest snake pit of them all. 

I've been asked how I justify my rates and thought you might like to know a bit more about more story from being a well-meaning but broke healer to now owning a thriving business working with clients I truly love and being well paid for my gifts. Read on to see how I answered the following question: 

Dear Katharine,

I am a life coach. I met and saw you at Dan's conference in London. I was so inspired by your talk and what you are doing to contribute to people. I have a dream of helping young people by empowerment coaching in India (though don't have good business skills).

I read about your business building programme but couldn't believe the cost. I know you have a great gift and skill to help people to reach their potential and fulfil their dreams but I am wondering why your services are available only for already very wealthy or very poor people.

Would you please consider working with coaches who want to help people but are not earning enough? I remember you mentioned about the time when you didn't have any money and you attended Tony Robbins seminar. I don't think I can do something like this with 2 little daughters.

I don't really mean to criticise you in any way, as I really admire you and am a big fan, just really wondering?

Love.

Saloni

My Answer:

Hi Saloni,

Thank you for your question, I get it... I didn't always charge what I do now.

In fact I felt so ashamed and embarrassed about money that at first I barely charged- if I charged at all - for my natural gifts of intuition and healing and my learned skills of marketing, communicating effectively in today's marketplace and peak performance psychology.

I had such problems receiving and such a poor wealth consciousness that I wound up beyond broke.

I can remember one time when I lived near London, and I was setting up my first entrepreneurial venture which was corporate wellness. I had tons of good intentions and a big heart, but I had no support and no clue. I managed to get 2 days work but it wasn't enough to support me for the other 28 days of the month.

There were days when I would search the discarded travel tickets on the floor at the underground station, so that I could try and find a valid travel card get to where I needed to be. I couldn’t afford the basics- How was I going to fulfil my dreams of changing the World!?

I ended up having to ask my parents for a loan to help me out because I was so stuck.… I had been such an independent and proud spirit and didn't even like getting pocket money as a kid, so this was such a low point for me, and I felt humiliated and incapable.

I had already maxxed my cards, taken a business loan and attended heaps of events and read tons of books but I was going nowhere- Fast.

I knew I was talented, I witnessed miracles, I had faith but I had no direction, no grounding, no sense of my own value and no idea about how to charge, or how to communicate in a way that people wanted to do business with me.

 I wanted to be the best me, and I wanted to do it my way, and emancipate myself and others from all the BS I saw around me.

I was close to giving up many times. I started working on someone else's dream, and I learned even more about business, marketing and copywriting…but my own dream was on the shelf. 

My confidence got less and less, my self worth plummeted even further and I ended up being in my late twenties with nothing to show for myself, now living at my parents house in my childhood bedroom and recovering from a broken relationship that I had poured all my energy into for over 3 years.

I still gave money to charities and was always berating myself for not doing more for others. 

When most of my friends were out at parties, nightclubs, holidays or settling down I was tirelessly pursuing the study of peak performance, spirituality and business. 

I wanted a way of living that made sense to me and was meaningful deep down. 

My friends thought I was crazy. I suffered the loss of many dear friends because we no longer spoke the same language.

I became lonely and isolated. I was broke. I was exhausted.

It was embarassing and so hard for me to feel that I'd failed…

… School had been a breeze, I'd been head girl and got good grades, I'd travelled to Australia by myself for 6 months, I'd sailed through University, I was used to life being easy and fun... So why was it so hard to be a success now?

I didn't know then that sometimes you have to fail your way to success.

In a last ditch attempt to figure out why my life sucked so badly and why I struggled so much I sold my car and attended another event, this time in Las Vegas. 

That is where I first heard the concept that:

"If they pay you, they value you, 

and if they value you, they pay you."

I thought I had tried everything- read every book, studied every course. But one option I hadn't taken was investing in myself and my business by working closely with a mentor. This was big bucks, it terrified me after I had already gotten in so much debt studying and paving a new direction for myself.

But my gut told me to do it- and in Bob Dylan's words- 'when you've got nuthin', you've got nuthin' to lose'

Trembling I went into my bank and got a loan- I think I had just finished off paying the loan I had taken 5 years previously for Tony Robbins' Mastery University. 

I was scared stiff, but I had reached a point of no going back. I hired my mentor…And I got to work for real.

 I threw out all the 'self help' and business building I had under my bed and wiped the slate clean.

My mentor took no prisoners. She busted me on every area of my life where I was hiding out, playing a game with myself/others or not living up to my true potential.

She lovingly told me the hardest things I hard ever had to hear. I admired her for her honesty but had never been so uncomfortable. I knew that this was why she was worth the multiple tens of thousands she charged. I was blown away and was willing to change. 

The transformation was huge and if you've been following me for a while you will have seen it.

I have continued to lean into my edge, travel, seek out the best, dive deep, invest in myself so that I can not only be the best woman I can be, but the best mentor, teacher and leader I can be. 

If there is anything the World needs now it is empowered women in action and making a stand, not one more with 'a good idea'.

Soon after I made the first substantial investment in myself I held a teleconference that cost £300. I sold 2 seats on it and was ecstatic. "It's begun", I told myself. 

I wrote my intentions, meditated, focussed on what I wanted and got intimate with my money, my debts and my desires. I decided to be the best- to care more, give all I could, do it differently, be honest and vulnerable and real. No hype, no fluff, just what worked…I decided to manage my fears that someone would not like me or would judge me. 

I decided there was nothing I could do about that and all I could control was what I gave. 

I gave everything I had. Heart, soul, mind, all my knowhow, everything- I put it out there…I gave it all…And I started to see results….

I began doing readings for £97. Not long afterwards I sold a one day intensive for £997 and had a speaking gig where over 50% of the room bought my £297 package. 

Within 2 weeks I had signed the lease on a house that I loved, although it was a leap of faith that I would be able to pay for it after the first month! 

But I was determined, and decided. I kept on charging ahead, I kept on tuning in, praying and sharing everything with God. Sometimes on your knees is the best place to be, right?

The 2 people on my teleconference loved it. The clients who had the VIP day went on to increase their business by 3000% and joined my mastermind group in 2010. Within 2 months I found myself speaking at a 300 person event with other speakers including Paul McKenna.

 I was now putting to use all the hard work I had put into studying presenting and sales with heart. 

I made over £30,000 in 90 minutes and a month later £70,000.00 in one day. Months earlier I had only dreamed of that!! I’m sharing it not to brag but to show what’s possible and the miracles available with clarity, focus and faith.

The more my confidence grew and my clients got great results, the more I began to value my work, my power to facilitate massive transformation and the more I understood the cost to people of not engaging the services of a clued up tapped in mentor and staying stuck, struggling and defeated by fear.

I have continued to grow, raise my game, invest in myself and raise my rates in the process. 

I put my prices up incrementally, stage by stage, releasing shame, fear and doubt and stabilizing in myself at one level before going to the next (My 1-1 private mentoring now costs £10,000.00 for a day with sessions, and I am not done raising the roof and breaking through the glass ceiling.)

I find that it is in our nature to avoid the important, and to stay small when we can. 

We like being comfortable, but that when you are invested in yourself at a high amount you take action on your desire, you are more focussed, totally committed and you actually LISTEN to and APPLY the coaching! Imagine! ;)

Although I know that ultimately it is me who is 100% responsible for my results I know that I am very coachable, and always willing to see my blind spot (I say the blind spot is what is keeping you from your money spot!)

Since that day I have invested well over £180,000.00 in mentoring, including a $100,000 investment into a single program. I have yielded the rewards of my investments many times over- in both tangible and intangible ways.

I am far from perfect, but I feel so grateful I took the leaps of faith in myself when I did.

Private and group mentoring has helped me go from being a scattered, confused, overwhelmed, and uncertain hopeful, to something of a 'rainmaker' for myself and for others- I am a committed, empowered, successful female entrepreneur, willing to live my life on purpose, play my 'A' game, trust my higher guidance, live life my own way and be true to my calling- And inspire others to do the same. 

I've worked with celebrities, high end clients, many different kinds of creative entrepreneurs and professionals such as doctors, lawyers, barristers and professors. I’ve seen my clients expand and grow and allow in more and more abundance, love, and success in massive shifts.

High end coaching is not for everyone. It is definitely not for the faint of heart, or those who can't or won't take action, or won’t trust the process.

First of all, one of the reasons you're paying more is because it's intimate, down and dirty, roll your sleeves up work. It's not a walk in the park. 

I love the intimacy and power of working 1-1 versus a big stadium or workshop- that setting has its place, but I find that for sensitive entrepreneurs who are creative and big hearted we need a different level of support and 'high touch low tech' that can get us through the tough times, and the places that are not so pretty.

When people ask me about reducing my rates so they can afford it I have to ask- is that really what you want?

I realised I was not serving my clients by being less than I can be... So I realised the real question is : Do you want me to shrink so you can afford me? Or do you want to grow so you can afford me?

Life is a game, and we all have the right and free will to choose exactly how we want to play it.

For those who are not yet ready or do not desire to play this level of game right now I understand that, and to serve you I have created some home study courses that are packed with valuable content and will give you the crucial steps to getting your first clients, managing yourself to be more productive and have more fun in your business- like the Intuitive Business Transformation, Get Your Gift Out and the Digital Masterclasses. These are the steps and skills I took and mastered to make my first £100,000.00- you will especially need to know how to make sales without being pushy so check out Intuitive Sales for that.

I really want to be honest about who high end mentoring is right for and who it is not.

It's not for you if you crumple at the first hurdle, if you are not willing to get out of your comfort zone, if you want to blame others for the stuff in your life that you are not willing to deal with, be a victim, stay in lack consciousness, let your mind master you rather than it be a servant for your Higher Will, hide out or play small. It's not for you if you are uncomfortable with letting someone in to have a front row seat in your life- seeing the good, the bad and the ugly.

It is for you if you want more personal care and attention and really get to grips with your potential. Potential you have known about since you were a little kid, but didn't know what to call it or how to express it ;)

It is for you if you have a burning desire to be all you can be in your life, to take 100% responsibility for everything in your hologram and if you are really ready and willing to take an honest look at whatever has held you back and grow bigger than it. If you want to really rock this life, unlimited, abundant and no excuses, and if you are tired with complaining, low level thinking and fear driven activity then it could just be the smartest move you ever made- like it was for me.

If you think you'd like to work at this level and get deep into your desires, go "heart to head" with your resistance and experience the support of a mentor like me then book a call now to discuss it.