Why aren't they booking? Is my service too expensive? Am I worth it?
If those three questions go round your head every time you name your price, you're in very good company. Ask a room full of self-employed women what makes them feel icky about their business, and pricing comes up every single time.
It's hardly surprising. Your training made you brilliant with clients, but nobody ever sat you down and explained how to price your work, let alone how to sell it. That's the Passion Paradox in action: you love what you do, you're great at it, and yet the business side is left to freestyle.
So, let's take a proper look at why pricing feels so hard, and why getting it right is only half the job.
Your price isn't really a numbers problem
You can work out your costs, your availability and the income you need with a calculator and a cup of tea. That part is logic, and while it makes perfect sense to most of the clients I work with, it’s one of the last things on the list to do.
Yes, it’s important to know that your earnings cover your costs, your time and your lifestyle, but there is a deeper level where female owners often fear to tread.
For many of us, it’s that moment you say your price out loud. You hesitate, and anxiety grows… then the money guilt and self-doubt kick in to tell you your price is too much and "but I could do you a discount!" slips out before anyone has even asked. For others, there’s that price rise you've been meaning to make since last spring – but you just can’t bring yourself to send the email or have the conversation. Awkward!
Those feelings aren’t coming from your cost calculations: you know your logic. They come from somewhere much deeper, and they shape how you see your own value. This matters more than you think, because when you're not sure if your offer is worth it, how are you going to confidently sell it to anyone else?
Where those money feelings come from
We all carry habits and beliefs about money, picked up long before we ever set up in practice. Some come from how we grew up. Others come from our training, where money can feel like a slightly awkward subject next to the work of caring for people.
This is where my friend and collaborator Alex Vitillo of Breathing Heart Coaching comes in. Alex works with Sacred Money Archetypes®, a framework created by Kendall SummerHawk, that describes 8 patterns in how we think, feel and behave around money. Most of us are a mix of our top 3, and once you know yours, a lot of your pricing choices start to make sense.
That instant discount, the price rise that never happens, the over-delivering to justify what you charge: none of it is random, and none of it is a personal failing. They're patterns, and patterns can be understood and worked with. That's the starting point for an offer you genuinely believe in, and believing in it matters, because your clients can tell when you don't.
But belief alone won't fill your diary!
Here's the part that often gets missed. You can have the clearest, most confidently priced offer in the world, and it's still worth very little if nobody gets close enough to buy it.
Most people don't buy the first time they meet you. Okay, once in a blue moon someone books on the spot after a networking meeting, but usually it takes longer, because people need to know, like and trust you first. That means staying in touch, reminding your contacts what you do and turning up with something useful, so that when they're ready, you're the first person they think of.
And ironically, when your diary fills up with clients it’s the first thing to slip. I'll follow up with her next week turns into maybe next month, and by then the lead has gone cold. Not because your offer was wrong, but because you didn’t prioritise keeping the conversation going.
This is where structure earns its keep
This is my side of things, and it sits in Pillar 3 of the More Profitable Me® Framework: Streamline and Structure. It's where we build capacity with templates, processes, systems and a bit of clever automation, so the know, like and trust cycle keeps turning without you doing every step by hand.
As always at OpsWiz®, it starts with process before software. Before you go anywhere near a shiny new tool, decide what should happen after someone shows interest. What do they receive first? When do you get back in touch? And, what do you say?
Once you know the pattern, give your contacts one place to live, not a jumble of paper scraps, notebooks, DMs and your memory. Only then does automation come in from sending the first email and the gentle follow-ups, done for you. Get the order wrong and the software only does the wrong thing faster and more efficiently! 😂. Get it right, and you're no longer the person who must remember everything.
Why the two halves belong together
Money mindset and systems might sound like they live in completely different worlds, but in practice they feed each other.
When your income has stalled, paying for the right software or the right help can feel out of reach. That scarcity thinking keeps a lot of solo practitioners doing everything themselves, and doing everything themselves keeps the income stuck where it is. It's a loop, and it's a hard one to spot from the inside.
Work on both at the same time and the loop starts to break. Confidence in your price means each client is worth more to your practice. Structure in your follow-up means more of the right people find their way to you. And between the two, you start building the income to invest back into your business, and your life.
A few home truths
Before you dive in, let's be straight with each other.
This isn't a quick fix. Money habits take time to shift, and good systems take time to build, so be wary of anyone who promises otherwise.
Mindset work asks something of you. Taking an honest look at your own habits can feel uncomfortable, and that's completely normal.
Automation can't rescue an offer nobody wants. More emails about the wrong thing won't help, so get the offer right first.
Start while you still have headroom. It's never too late, but it's far harder to step back and build systems once your diary is bursting and you're running on empty.
The takeaway
Your price and your follow-up are two halves of the same problem. Believe in what you sell, build the structure that keeps people moving towards it, and let the system do the remembering. Fix one without the other, and you'll still be wondering why they aren't booking.
Come and work through this with us
On Thursday 5 November, from 12-2pm, Alex and I are running Breakthrough and Build, a two-hour live online workshop that brings both halves together. Alex goes first, introducing Sacred Money Archetypes® and the principles of a great offer. Then it's over to me, to show you why attracting and nurturing leads needs structure, and how to keep that know, like and trust cycle turning without doing it all by hand.
It's 2 hours of teaching rather than a build session, so you'll leave with a clear picture of what makes a good offer and how to nurture leads without doing every step manually. Fair warning: Alex's half is reflective and personal, and mine involves a whiteboard and an inordinate amount of straight talk. You'll get value from both, as long as you're willing to take an honest look at your habits around money and the way you work.
Book your place for £47 https://www.hub.opswiz.co.uk/breakthrough-build-workshop-order
Can't make the date? We’re recording the workshop, so you can watch it back when you have time.
FAQ
I'm self-employed and nervous about my prices, how do I know what to charge?
There isn't one right number, but there is a sensible place to start. Work out your costs, the hours you can realistically work and the income you need, then notice what happens when you say that price out loud. If you keep talking yourself down, it's worth exploring why before you change the number again.
I'm a therapist and I keep offering discounts, why do I do that?
It's often a money habit rather than a pricing problem. Many people in caring professions feel uneasy putting money and care in the same sentence, so a discount can feel like the kind thing to do. Understanding your money patterns, for example through Sacred Money Archetypes®, helps you notice the habit before you act on it.
I'm a wellbeing practitioner and keep hearing about money archetypes, what are they?
A money archetype is a pattern in how you think, feel and behave around money. The Sacred Money Archetypes® framework, created by Kendall SummerHawk, describes eight of them, and most people are a mix of their top three. Knowing yours helps explain choices like discounting too quickly or putting off a price rise.
I'm a nutritionist and I lose leads between sessions, how do I follow up without it taking over my week?
Start with the process rather than the software. Decide what happens after someone shows interest and what they receive next and keep all your contacts in one place. Once that works by hand, you can automate the steps that repeat, such as a welcome email and a short follow-up sequence.
I'm self-employed and not very techy, do I need software to nurture leads?
Not to start with. A clear process and a simple list of contacts will get you a long way, as long as you actually follow it. Software earns its place once the steps are repeatable, and when you do choose a tool, pick one that fits your process, not the other way round.
