How To Get Paid When You Hate Asking For Money

What if we just did one of those exercises, where we just stared into each other’s eyes for a very uncomfortable amount of time, like this? Who would blink first? I did. Hey there. It’s Marie Forleo, and you are watching Marie TV, the place to be to create a business and a life that you love. And this is Q and A Tuesday. That was an odd move, but let’s go with it.

Today’s question comes from Deann, and she writes, “Hi Marie. A friend turned me on to your show, and I’m really enjoying your episodes and guests. I’m a 45 year old mother of two boys, and I’m going back to school to study health education and pursue my passion of leading women outdoors to help them nurture their body, mind, and spirit. I’ve been leading outdoor activities for years with friends and acquaintances. I’m in the beginning stages of defining my services and creating my website. My problem is charging for what I do my friends have told me I should charge for my outings. And now that I’m creating a business, I know that I have to charge. But the thought of it makes me uncomfortable, maybe because I don’t truly value myself. I’m confident leading women outdoors, but I’m not confident asking for the cash. Thanks for all that you do, and your wonderful team too. Admirably, Deann.”

Deann, this is a super common question. So many people I know, especially women, have trouble when it comes to asking for money for something that they love to do, and they’re really good at it. But here are three tips that’ll help you get more confident asking for the cash. Step number one, you need to get nice with price. So first, we need to shift your mindset. Nine times out of 10, people get more value out of something they pay for. They really are invested in the experience, and usually more invested in getting results.

So example from my own life, I love when a spa asks me to put down my credit card to hold an appointment. First of all, it makes sure that I don’t flake out on that appointment, and second of all, I always notices that when I pay for my spa appointment in advance, when I’m there, I pay more attention to the advice they’re giving me on my skin. And I do a better job keeping up my skin after the appointment. So while there are exceptions, you have to realize, when people pay for your services, you’re actually helping them get more value.

Step number two, and I love this one, you have to have a pay me party. You sound like you have some awesome friends that really want to support you in charging for your services. So here’s what I want you to do. Invite them all over, have some green juice, or white wine, or whatever, and then you’re going to have all your friends put you on the spot about charging for your services. Now you’re going to do this in two rounds, and I want you to use this script.

Your friend will say, “Hey, Deann, I’d love to book an adventure. How much do you charge?” And then you’re going to say, “Fantastic. The price is X. Let’s get you booked right now.” So I want you to do this again and again and again, until talking about your price becomes second nature. Then you’re going to do round two. This time, your friends are going to ask you about booking an adventure, but you are the one that’s going to have to bring up the price. The reason I want you to do this is because this situation is actually going to come up as you grow you business. So here’s your script for round two.

Hey, Deann. Hey, girlfriend. I want to book one of your adventures.

And now Deann, you’re going to say, “Awesome. We should book you a spot right now. It’s a million dollars for a three hour nature walk.” Of course, you can insert your real price, or just get comfortable saying it’s a million bucks, because who knows, maybe it should be. Maybe your participants get to drink from a chocolate river, or ride satin unicorns, or pick fruit from a money tree. The point is, your pay me party is the perfect way to get comfortable saying, “I charge X.” Now the point here is you can’t just think this is a good idea. You have to actually do it in order to get comfortable charging.

Step number three, make it simple and sexy to get paid. This is one of the best times ever to be an entrepreneur because it’s so simple and sexy these days to get money from people. So Square is one of the most popular mobile POS, so point of sales systems, and in just seconds, it can take your iPad or your iPhone and turn it into a sleek and modern cash register. I love going into local shops that use Square because it just makes it really easy to fork it over. Feels like magic.

I bet that you’ve given your friends a ton of free outdoor adventures over the years, so what’s really going to get you over the money hump is if you actually start charging your friends. And what better way to do it than at the pay me party. You should get yourself set up on Square right now, and whether you charge your friends buck, or if somebody wants to book an adventure at your current rates, let them pay you.

So let’s wrap up this money adventure on a real deep tweetable. The courage to charge for what you do comes from charging for what you do. What can I say? Practice makes money. That was my A to your Q, Deann. I really do hope it helps. Now I would love to hear from you. Have you ever felt uncomfortable charging for something that you’re really good at? Or if you’ve been able to make it over this kind of money hump, and you have other tips and suggestions that you feel could help Deanna, let us know.

Now as always, the best discussions happen after the episode over at marieforleo.com. So get your butt over there and leave a comment now. Did you like this video? If so, consider subscribing to our channel. And of course, we would love it if you shared it with all of your friends. And if you want even more awesome resources to create a business and life that you love, plus some email updates from me that are just great, come on over to marieforleo.com and sign up to get them. Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world really needs that special gift that only you have. And yes, you can charge for it. Thank you so much for watching, and I’ll catch you next time on Marie TV. I got to A that Q. It’s because Elsa put one of these She-Ra rings on me that just makes me want to get slightly aggressive. (singing). A [inaudible 00:06:22] script, like I don’t know English, of course. I’m going to keep it together.