Hello Colleagues, whenever and wherever you are. Welcome to the Joyful Attorney Podcast. I’m your host Laura Kelley. 

Today I’m going to be talking about truly knowing your own worth and valuing your own time. Today it’s a special topic as it comes from a listener to the podcast - it’s so great to hear from you all and thank you for taking the time out to write in. 

Cara the DC area says “One thing I’ve been struggling with is asking for my value. My clients are so wonderful and work is so fun, I almost feel badly for charging them! (Of course I do, but I hesitate) And I always struggle on how much to charge them, despite knowing what my for-profit and non-profit rates are. It might be something other people struggle with too if they have their own firms?”

Thank you so much for this question, Cara, and I agree it’s something that many of us struggle with. It manifests in so many ways. 

For those of us who are business owners or partners in charge of retaining clients, we may hesitate when quoting our hourly rates and underestimate our time for a retainer, if it’s a billable matter. For those of us who are flat fee, we may find ourselves undercutting our rates. I also see people taking on pro bono and low bono matters and then struggle to balance all their cases. 

But this also happens for associates, paralegals and other support staff. They may underbill their time. They may work 5 hours, but bill for 4 hours thinking that the activity shouldn’t have taken as long as it did or someone else may have done it more quickly. Ultimately, that underbilled time has to come from somewhere and more often than not, it comes from our own precious free time.

If we feel bad about how much we are charging for our services, then the underlying thought or belief system may be that we don’t truly believe in the value that we are offering to our client (whether that be the actual client or your boss).

When we believe in the value that we have to offer, then we know that we are actually honoring and helping our client by charging them and billing accurately for our time. We are giving them something special in return for payment. 

In fact, we are always giving them a great deal because they are getting top quality work for a very reasonable price. My clients will get the best work product. While I cannot guarantee them a particular outcome, I can guarantee that I will do my best. And my best is really great. 

When we hesitate, it’s because we don’t actually believe that we are going to give them the best. We doubt ourselves. We feel guilty because maybe we are charging too much for what they are getting. It’s just me afterall? 

This actually comes up quite a bit with my coaching clients. For example, I have a client who is a leader in her field. She is absolutely fantastic and at the top of her game. But she found that during consults, when it came to offer her value, she was underestimating the time certain matters would take. 

When the final bill would come, the clients would be upset that the bill was offbase from the estimate and she would end up discounting the matters to keep the client happy. By using a specific circumstance when this happened, we were able to uncover that there was an underlying fear that if she more accurately estimated her time, the potential client wouldn’t hire her - which means rejecting her, But in the end. She was essentially rejecting herself and her value. 

Colleagues, we cannot  make assumptions about your client’s financial situation and her willingness to pay for quality representation. Sure, everyone likes to get a good deal, but most of us instinctively know that you get what you pay for. And we know we enjoy paying for things when we recognize that we are receiving value. In fact, most of us can and should be charging more. 

Think about it. This is why we pay good money for quality luxury products. Well, our services are quality luxury products! 

Everyone will have different thoughts leading them to undervalue themselves or their services. Perhaps the thought is “I am not good enough to charge this much,” “I will be rejected,” or “The client won’t pay for this,” “I’m greedy to ask for money,” etc. etc. 

Our brains offer all kinds of  reasons to keep us small and “safe” from discomfort. Money makes so many of us uncomfortable. However, at the end of the day, we know we must charge to run our businesses. Our prices are fair and reasonable for the value that we offer. If we don’t believe that thought, then it’s a perfect opportunity for thought work. 

Another way this manifests is in “scarcity thinking.” The number one culprit I see around scarcity thinking is free consults. There are industries and areas of the law where free consults are reasonable and the norm, especially if there is a rigorous screening process.  

I even offer free consults for my coaching business. For me, coaching is so personal, it makes sense to see if we are a good fit before embarking on a coaching relationship. I also ask that my potential clients fill out an intake before they can book, so I know they are committed to the process. 

On the other hand, in most legal areas, free consults give the opportunity for some clients to shop around and receive free legal advice. When you believe in the value you have to offer a potential client, you know it’s absolutely reasonable for you to be compensated for your time. It allows you to value your time. It also weeds out potential clients who do not value yours. 

I believe many attorneys give free consults because they have scarcity thinking. They may believe they won’t get clients so they end up spending all their time conducting free consults. This leads them to have less time for completing their legal work and for themselves. Ultimately, If you don’t value your time and the quality of what you have to offer, your potential clients won’t either. 

I hope you can see how this plays out when it comes time to charging our fees. If we are stuck in scarcity thinking, we may feel that if this client walks away because we are too expensive you will lose the client or there won’t be enough clients willing to pay our price. It’s so interesting because I often find that it is scarcity thinking that leads to greed. When we think that we don’t have enough, we feel lacking or empty. Our actions then manifest to hoard or to seek. So much suffering comes from this.

On the other hand, when we feel abundant. We are able to recognize our value. We know that losing a client who doesn’t want to pay our fee actually means gaining a client who will. It means recognizing that there are enough clients out there for all of us. The world will always need lawyers, like it or not! 

Think about it. Let’s say we undercut our prices by half so that we have 10 clients at the discounted rate, but we could have had 5 clients for the same price. This means doing twice as much work for the same amount of money. Who suffers there? 

An Abundance mindset allows us to recognize that we don’t have to get caught up in “not enough” and lack. When we are abundant, we show up differently with our clients. We have more confidence in our dealings. We don’t put off needy energy that can repel others. 

We can get to abundance by being grateful for what we have and recognizing all of the abundance in our lives. We can feel abundant with what we have right this very second. We can also recognize the abundant value we have to offer our clients. We know we will over deliver. We know that we have our best to offer. That is so much more compelling than needy, desperate energy. 

Let your clients experience the abundant value you have to offer them by charging them what you are worth. You do this by knowing and believing in your value and worth. Developing an abundant mindset is easier said than done. 

For us to embody abundance, we have to really believe it. This is especially difficult when we already have old beliefs and patterns of thinking. In order to establish new thoughts and beliefs, you are really going to have to take a look at what your current beliefs are. Run models about what you are thinking around charging. 

When it is time to give your client your price, what are your thoughts, feelings, actions and results? Really explore that model. Why do you have that thought? How is that thought holding you back? Can you understand that the thought you are experiencing is not true? Now, ask yourself, how would you like to feel? Perhaps “abundant,” “worthy,” “valuable.” What would you need to think to feel that way about charging your prices? How would this affect the way you show up and your results?  

If you are struggling to work these models alone, perhaps it’s time to get some one-on-one coaching with me, so we delve deeper into what may be holding you back from truly believing in your worth and abundance. You can contact me at Laura@thejoyfulattorney.com.

Also, I wanted to let you know that my next course on Extinguishing the Flames of Attorney Burnout starts on September 2, 2021. It is a 6-week course where you will learn how to manage your time and your mind. 

Not only that but it is approved for 10.5 CLE credits in Florida. I have something special for podcast listeners. If you sign up before July 31st, you can take advantage of the early bird discount, which is $50 off. 

The entire course is usually $297. It’s an excellent value for a class that will transform your time management and productivity and give you some great CLE credit. If you are not a FL licensed attorney, you can still get CLE credit by petition. If I get enough advance interest from a particular state, we can absolutely request CLE credit from that state. That’s why I’m letting you know with plenty of time in advance! If you’d like to sign up, you can check out the “Upcoming events” tab at www.thejoyfulattorney.com

I would love to have you in the course!

As always, I hope you found these tips helpful. Until next time….