When I ask this question, people usually answer me with their hourly rate. And yes, that is one way to measure your value, but what I am asking is; what is your worth? I know the two are closely related and often are used interchangeably, but there is actually a subtle difference between the two. Value is a numerical quantity that can be measured or assigned or computed. And worth is the quality that renders something desirable or valuable or useful. So when someone says you are worth your weight in gold they are talking about the quality or talent that you have that makes you so valuable. So again the question is what is your worth?
Most people I know or even meet do not seem to know their true worth. What I see them do is constantly is de-value themselves, or not stay true to their worth. I am guilty of this myself, so I am right there with the majority of you. Since I am in the hot seat too, I will only talk about myself. I have a policy of not charging my clients by the hour. I have this policy for a specific reason; most of my clients who have worked with marketing companies previously have been burned terribly by hourly fees raked up by phone calls and “meetings I wasn’t even a part of!” So when I tell a new client that they can call me as much as they want or need to at no additional charge, they look at me a bit skeptically. When I tell them that all our fees are flat rate and that they will know exactly what something will cost upfront and that the fee won’t change unless the scope of the project changes, they just kind of stare at me.
So once they have signed with us, the phone calls begin, testing the waters, I happily talk to the clients at no extra charge. Usually after a few weeks the calls drop off and everyone settles in. But sometimes there are the clients who want weekly calls, weekly meetings. And here’s the rub. This is clearly not what I meant by my policy but I am now in a catch-22. These calls and meetings usually take more than an hour, particularly if I have to drive to meet the client, and this is time that I cannot be working on anything else, including securing new business. I either go back on my word or I devalue myself or in other words don’t value my true worth. So what am I to do? I have thought a lot about this and have finally come to the conclusion that I need to alter my policy to make allowance for situations that arise when someone wants regular meetings whether by phone or in person. That’s the solutions to my worth issue, what’s the answer to your’s?