Are You Undercharging? The Energetic Signs to Look For

Welcome back to Crafted to Thrive. I'm excited for this episode because I'm repurposing a live Instagram Live that I did a while back on the energetics of pricing as an entrepreneur with chronic illness. Now we hear so much advice out there about pricing our offers, and we also all usually have some mind drama and mindset things around our pricing. And this is a topic that I talk frequently with my clients around on how to have a pricing structure or strategy that heightens your energy and helps you give your clients an even more value-driven experience and also helps you not undermine your value and worth as a service provider. So whether you are creative, that does one-off offers, or if you are a coach that has long-term services, this episode is for you because you're going to walk away with a pretty comprehensive idea of how to align your energy and your pricing so that it makes it easier for you to navigate running a business with chronic illness. I'm busting the myth about how energy is not just a buzzword. It's really necessary to consider. When it comes to your offers specifically and how you deliver them and how you charge for them. So this episode is geared for you. I will say, as I mentioned, this is an Instagram Live that I did live. It has been edited a bit to give you a little bit more streamlined experience of listening, but I literally legit was recording this live, live from bed in the dark with a little light. On a day that I was really having a huge flare-up. And as you all know, I'm always about sharing with you how to show up in your business, deliver value. Nobody cares really about what you might look like as long as they feel like their problems are getting solved and that you get them and you're creating some value for them. So this is just me reiterating that and sharing that with you to remind you that you don't have to be perfect.

You don't have to do things.

In a pretty way all of the time. You do need to do things that give you the energy and the spark that you need to grow and thrive, even when you're not feeling well. And I truly believe you can make money even when you're in bed. You can make money not 100% healed during a flare-up, doing what you can when you can. And this episode is definitely a reflection of that reality that I have experienced in my own business, and that I'm sure will serve you.. So get ready to tune in and check out the link between energy pricing and success in your business as an entrepreneur living with chronic illness.

So stay tuned.

Welcome to Crafted to Thrive, the globally ranked podcast for entrepreneurs living with chronic illness. I'm your host, Nikita Williams, and after being diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses myself, I figured out the surprisingly simple missing links to growing a profitable business without compromising my health. Since then, I've helped dozens of women just like you learn how to do the same. If you're ready to own your story and create a thriving business that aligns with your health and well-being, you're in the right place. Together, we're shifting the narrative of what's possible for entrepreneurs with chronic illness. This is Crafted to Thrive.

I woke up feeling not so great today. As the day has progressively gone by, I have taken naps, I've been writing emails, I did a couple of different things. But you guys know I'm all about showing you how it really looks like to run a business living with chronic illness. It doesn't have to be all fancy, and it doesn't have to be what we always see predominantly on social media. But today the topic that I want to talk to you guys was like, if you need energy in your business, what do you need to be doing now as far as your prices are concerned so that you have that energy? So as a chronic illness warrior, you and I know that energy— a lot of people talk about time, and I do think they're linked together, but for chronic illness warriors specifically, I think energy is more important. You let me know if you agree with me. Like, I believe that energy is currency as a chronic illness warrior. It's a currency that we are constantly negating or navigating with our, our businesses and our lives, right? So if you're not familiar with the spoon theory, then definitely look that up on Google. It's a great theory that a lot of chronic illness warriors talk about, but it's really like energy currency. Like, as much as we talk about time and money, energy currency as a chronic illness warrior has a lot to do. For everyone who's joining me, please let me know how you're feeling today, where you're joining me from. I am joining you from my bed. It's one of those days. Seems like the last couple weeks my body has been in a weird place. And so you guys know I love showing up just to show you that 5% looks different than 20%, and 5% usually looks different from 100% as a chronic illness warrior and doing what you can. So today was the day I thought I was going to cancel this call. But as the day has progressed, I felt like, hey, what can I do to show up? And for me, the energy said that I could show up from a bed with my little setup here. I'll have to show you guys what this looks like from bed without, you know, doing the most. I'm still very comfortable. I still have my hefty-dufty heating pad, and I feel decent enough to be here at my, my what I consider 5% So energy is currency as a chronic illness warrior. A lot of us talk about spoon theory where we're talking about like we all start out with like 10 spoons a day and we all have different currency when it comes to our energy. So one of the things that I find for my business owners is that a lot of time our energy is not matching our— what we charge for what we do, right? And that's part of the reason why we feel so exhausted. And that's also part of the reason why we don't charge like we feel exhausted and we're not charging what we want to charge is because our energy is not matching our prices. And what do I mean by that? And I don't mean this in like the super woo-woo way. What I mean is that when you create a business living with chronic illness, you prioritize things that are going to take your energy, right? They're going to take your brain capacity. It's going to take even physical energy. If you are like a photographer and you're moving around, if you're an artist, if you're, you know, painting and standing up or whatever, your way of working is going to be, energy is going to be consumed. So for me as a coach, energetically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, energy is currency. So I find that a lot of times my clients come to me exhausted and like burnt out and ready to burn everything down, or really unclear and kind of clouded in what they should be charging in their prices because they're exhausted. And they don't think it's because of their prices, they think it's because of their chronic illness. And I have found one 100% to be true with every single client, that often, if not always, the reason why this is happening is because there's a misalignment in your energy and your prices. When you do an offer, when you sell an offer at a price that is not in alignment with your energy, two things happen. Your, your excitement about the thing and your, your experience behind the thing wanes. Right? And the next thing that happens is you start creating resentment within your body as well as towards your business. And when you live with chronic illness, resentment manifests itself into inflammation and pain and all of the things that we don't want, right? So as much as you might be thinking, well, if I'm charging lower, more people will say yes. Also think, when you say you charge less means more energy for you to expand, to release, right? So I like to help people to kind of shift this perspective, and this is why I talk about $2K to $100K being the leverage beam. Like, I truly believe the $2K mark, like charging $2,000 for your services in some way, shape, or form, helps you leverage your energy in a better, more aligned, easy way, whether you're an artist, whether you're a photographer, whether you're a coach, whether you are a consultant, whatever the case may be. As a chronic illness warrior, we need to create offers that are at least $2,000 or more in some way, shape, or form. So this might be difficult to do for some of us, but I do think that when you see how much currency your energy is, when you get paid $2,000 to do something and you get paid to do it and it felt super easy to you, it felt like, oh my gosh, you know, I felt really good delivering this, I felt really excited to deliver this. You're not only adding to your energy as well as you're taking a little bit of energy away, but you're creating a new neural pathway in your brain that says, hey, when I expound this energy, even though I might be in fear or worried about a flare-up or chronic pain or whatever, I feel like I'm being compensated for what it matters to me energetically and financially. And if we really think about it, money is energy. Money is energy. Whether you want to believe that or not, it is true. When we have money, we see money, and we charge a certain way, people shift their energy. Have you ever noticed that when you pay for something, energetically things shift for you? Like the thing that you really wanted, or the places you really wanted to go. Have you noticed that, like, if you were really excited about buying this outfit and you're like, yeah, it's a little bit more than I wanted, to pay for it, but you bought it anyway, what energy shifts for you, right? Think about this in the context of in your business. Like when you have tried all of the free things or you tried hustling and trying to do all of the things, when have you experienced a shift when you actually decided to off— like to pay some money to do something? Your energy shifts. I cannot tell you, even for myself, I remember the first time I invested in like some coach learning that I have been like reading books and doing all the free things online. And I cannot tell you, the moment I paid for my first course as a coach, something in me clicked, and I felt so much more invigorated. I felt much more empowered to take actions and to like move forward. And then therefore, that excitement added to me attracting one of my first clients. And so this is what I talk about. If you need energy in your business it most likely means that you need to be charging more or charging differently in your business. This is just facts. I have seen this for sure, and all of my clients who work with me, this is one of— maybe one of the first 2 or 3 things we're talking about is around like, how do you feel energetically in your business and how is that showing up in your money? So if you're feeling drained and exhausted in your business, or you're feeling like really overwhelmed while delivering a service, a lot of times this has to do with the fact that you didn't charge what you needed to charge in order for you to energetically show up to do the thing. And as chronic illness warriors, energy is currency. I've said that multiple times. Energy is currency and it matters, right? Because if you are feeling like, I gotta do this thing for these people, like that energy affects your body as a chronic illness warrior way more than fear of charging more. Let me say that again, that your energy of like going into offering or doing a service or painting a piece or taking an image, thinking like, I really, I really, this is going to be such a pain, I'm going to be so tired after, you kind of have resentment around that, costs you way more money than charging more. It costs you way more energy than upgrading your prices, okay? And I, and I mean this because I've been there. So I love talking about this because if you need energy in your business, besides literally looking at how you are running your business, you need to look at your prices as well. Because if they're not aligned with what you need to, one, thrive in your business, to thrive in your life as far as financially, if you're like struggling to make meet, but you're charging like $50 or $500 for a photography session and you're feeling like this is so hard— that energy, those thoughts is costing you more time, money, and energy than just charging what you need to charge. Charge the $1,000 if you need to charge the $1,000 so that your energy lines up. You can move into creating a mindset system that allows you to move in charging $1,000, and that takes way less energy. Trust me. Because when I work with my clients, one of the things we talk about is like the mindset we need to build a ladder to. Maybe if you're charging $500 an hour for a session or a coaching session and you know energetically that this is really a $2,000 offer, we can work on mindset steps to get you to $2,000, but we can't work on mindset that is going to not make you feel energetically drained when you're delivering this service. Because your body is telling you, this is not worth my time, this is not worth my energy, but I'm doing because I'm desperate for money. It's a different— it's just a different thing, you guys. And so yes, it might take a little bit different way of approaching in your marketing and your sales things to talk about these offers that are $2,000 or more, but energetically you will be more excited to do it. You will show up more. Let me tell you, like, if If you shift— I have a client who is a wedding photographer. She's amazing. She's a destination wedding photographer. And the thing about all of my creative people, you're not just expounding energy as like the person living with chronic illness, but you're also dealing with this from a creative energy, like creative energy, like you're thinking or seeing or being inspired. You're also very much being involved with other people's energy. And so one of the things, the like one of the first things I asked her is like, how do you feel during leading up to getting ready to do a shoot with someone? And she's like, you know, you know, I'm excited at first, but then I start thinking about all the things I gotta do and I physically kind of start feeling like more tired and I start physically feeling more exhausted. And I'm like, that's a sign that you're not charging enough. And she's like, girl, I thought that just was because, you know, I— this is a physically demanding job. And it's not because of the fact that it's a physically demanding job. It is because your energy and your prices aren't aligned. And when you are aligned and you're excited— like, let's say for example, let me blow your mind— let's say that you charge $5,000 for a wedding or a coaching offer. Are you more excited to get up and talk about that offer? Are you more excited about how life-changing that's going to be? Are you more excited about the memories these people will have for a lifetime time than charging $500, because you— they're going to get the same experience. They're going to get the same experience in the context of what they walk away from. But your energy to approaching it and actually doing it will be tenfold, because you know you're getting paid energetically, literally, like physical energy, and financially. And running a business with chronic illness We have to manage our energy. We have to learn how to prioritize our energy. And one of the ways to do that is to increase your prices. And even if you've reached the $100K mark, I have found this to be true with some of, like, the women I've talked to and coached through. Like, if you've reached six figures in your business and you're exhausted, you still have a money problem with your energetics. You still have a problem. You still have a problem. Most of the times it could be that you've just been deciding you're going to be doing all things and continue to do all the things and DIY it so you can hold on to the money. When you hold on to energy that needs to be used, it holds you back, okay? It holds you back. So whether you are just getting started with your 2K and you're like trying to like get your prices up there, or whether or not you've reached 6 figures and you're finding it even more difficult to get to 6 figures again, The reason is most likely has a lot to do with your energy not aligning with your prices, right? It's not aligned. And so it will, it will manifest in so many different ways. Let me tell you how it will manifest. It will manifest in lots of mind drama about like, ah, why am I doing this? Also, I feel so exhausted doing this, but I have to do this thing. Like, it will manifest in a whole bunch of mindset drama. You start thinking, second-guessing your worth because you're thinking, oh my gosh, like I'm just really not good at this. All of these different kind of things, you start dealing with a whole bunch of mindset drama versus, versus y'all, when you have decided to charge what you want to charge, that max matches your energy. The only mindset drama you might be having is about whether or not the person is going to pay for it. And we can work on that because people pay for things all over. We can find evidence for all of that. We can find evidence for the fact that people pay $2,000, $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, $20,000 for one thing, not even a whole experience. Like, this happens all the time. And so the, the manifestation of this, like I said, it can look like you're questioning your prices, you're questioning should you be doing this thing that you've been doing. Especially for those of you who have already made $100K, you are probably thinking it was so hard to get there. Is this even worth it? And if that's a thought, if you have mind drama about this, if you're looking at your business trying to figure out, I don't know if I could do this again, I don't know how I'm—

how I—

you know, you burnt yourself out. You like look at your client list and your testimonials, you're like, oh, they were happy, but I wasn't happy. It's because your money and your energy wasn't lined up. Your pricing for your offers and your money, your energy physically was not aligned. And this is something I love working with my clients. And let me tell you a win for you and what happens when you work on aligning your energy with your offer and your prices. I have a client who has so much on her plate, and I was talking about her earlier. She's a wedding destination photographer. I also have another coach I'll tell you about. And one of the things that was really bugging her is like she was working— like she was working two full-time jobs while dealing with family, taking care of family health issues, and her anxiety and chronic anxiety. And we were talking about, well, like I was mentioning earlier, how are you feeling before you lead up to these things? She was not happy. She wasn't happy. She felt dread before she went to actually do the thing. And afterwards, she felt more fatigued and more anxious than anything else because she was already thinking about how she had to hurry up and deliver this this, this image so she could have more space and capacity, not realizing that her capacity was completely in the tank because she had charged so little, right? And so what we worked on was like, we don't have to shift anything else around in your business. All we have to focus on right now is, one, where is your energy most being drained, and where is it most just like fueled up. And she, she loves being a photographer. What she doesn't love is feeling taken advantage of. But the problem was that was her doing. So we talked about pricing models, we talked about like how can we increase this up. She moved one of her, her packages up $1,000. And guess what? Because her energy was aligned with that price, she was booking faster, she was booking more bookings. People were saying yes, people were finding her more easily. It's because she started to move up with what her energy and her money was saying that she needed in order to create success in her business. Okay, okay. And I'll share you my story as a coach. When I first started off with my business, I was charging like $27 an hour for a coaching session. I'm like, I'm not shaming anybody. That's what you're charging and that's what you're doing. I was there, okay? Because I was like, I just want to do this and And when I realized that energetically, I'm a very like extroverted person, but I'm also very empathic extrovert. So I take on a lot of people's things and I was like getting like real resentment. So I charged $97 and that still didn't do it right. It still didn't align. And then I remember when I moved my prices to like $2,000, I realized that my belief even in what I was doing increased. My body started to relax when I was talking about pricing. I started to have fun talking about how clients were making money. I started having fun about how I was making money, and I didn't feel drained by it. And so that is the reason why you might not have energy or feel like you have enough energy in your business. This also could be happening to you, just on a side note, if you're working a fake job, as my clients call their like jobs that are funding their business. That might be the case too in your job job. Maybe it's time for that uncomfortable, real conversation about asking for a raise, right? Even in this economy, people are doing it. I'm just saying people are doing it. So really think about that. Look at your prices. Maybe you're not ready or comfortable to charge $2,000 for something, but how can you incrementally grow towards that? My clients specifically are already charging at least, you know, 2,000 or more and their offers. And sometimes it's about reshifting those offers around to align with their energy and like charging a little bit more because of where they are energetically with their chronic illness, right? And how they're feeling like they're expounding. And notice this is going to change in different seasons in your life. Like, you know, maybe you have a new diagnosis and you're recognizing because of that you are creating even more value because you are so linearly focused on this one deliverable for this one client, and they get more access of you, maybe charge more. If you're doing custom pieces or custom work as an artist or a photographer, like, and they want something done quickly and over— like, done quickly. Like, I had a client recently who was like, someone won a 30-minute session, and I was like, okay, don't charge less just because it's 30 minutes. You still have to bring the same energy that you would bring to an hour session to 30 minutes and Not only that, you have to be even more directed in doing that energy. So just think about not just about time, you guys. I know a lot of people are trying to change, replace time with money, money and time, but also think about energetics, okay? Energetics and time are all currency. They're all currency, like in some way, shape, or form. We're measuring it out in some way, shape, or form. Be sure that those things are aligned with what you're doing for your clients, what you're doing for your business, so that you don't turn around and just like leave it or just like hate it or just be like, I could do this, I could not do this, right? This just really is helping you to be more able to fulfill the goals and the dreams that you're going to with your business as a chronic illness warrior. And I think this is important to talk about. I know there's lots of content out there talking about raising your prices and all of that jazz. And we know that to be true, especially for women. We charge less than most people, like we just end up charging less, but even more so as chronic illness warriors because we're dealing with a couple of different things. We're thinking like, well, because we're sick, we may not be able to deliver. But I have found that 9 times out of 10, we are more efficient. We are more, we are more talented in what we do because we are more clear on how to get the results for our clients than in a particular amount of time because we are valuing our energy.

Right?

We're valuing our energy, so we don't want to be wasting our energy and our clients' energy because, you know, we got it. We don't, we don't. So that is something to think about. So I hope this was helpful.

That's a wrap, y'all. Thanks for tuning in to Crafted to Thrive, the podcast that helps entrepreneurs with chronic illness to thrive and build a holistic business and life. Check out our website at craftedtothrive.com for this episode's show notes and all the gifts and goodies. Connect with me on Instagram @thrivewithnikitawilliams for more tips and behind the scenes and more. Tag me to share what you loved about this episode, and I'll feature you on an upcoming episode. So until next time, remember, yes, you are crafted to thrive.