#117 - Money Mindset Shift: Stop Undervaluing Your Work (A Simple Exercise to Help You Charge More)

If you’ve ever looked at your pricing and thought…
 “Is this too much?”
 “Who am I to charge this?”
 “Will people actually pay me for this?”

Then this episode is indeed for YOU. 

We’re diving into one of the most important shifts you can make as a solopreneur:

👉 You are not being paid for what you do…
 👉 You are being paid for the transformation you create

I'll walk you through a powerful money mindset exercise designed to help you see the true value of your work—so you can stop undercharging and start pricing with confidence.

✨ Inside this episode:

•  Why most women entrepreneurs undervalue their work 
•  The biggest mistake people make when pricing their offers 
•  How your work creates a ripple effect across your client’s entire life 
•  A guided exercise to map your impact (money, health, relationships, identity) 
•  How to shift your mindset so charging more feels aligned—not uncomfortable 

This episode is a must-listen if you:
 → Feel stuck undercharging
 → Struggle to confidently sell your offers
 → Know your work is valuable but can’t fully own it yet

🎧 Press play and start seeing your work—and your pricing—differently.

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Join me inside the Soul-Aligned 6-Figure Systems mini course!

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Mindset to Market is a Luminous Creative Production. If you'd like to learn more about our business coaching program and group coaching container, please visit us online at DeborahcSmith.com.

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Mindset to Market is produced by Deborah C. Smith and designed to inspire and support big-hearted creatives in finding their own unique path, building a sustainable business, and creating financial, spiritual, mental wellness and abundance.

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Transcript

 Your work is not just a service that you provide, but it actually creates a ripple effect across your client's entire life, and your pricing should reflect that level of transformation. So today, I wanna start with a question for you. Have you ever looked at your pricing on your website or on a flyer, a post on the internet and thought, is this too much? I mean, who am I to charge this much money? Will people actually pay me for this? Okay, if that is you, you are not only not alone, you are one of all entrepreneurs, one of many, one of all. And today I wanna gently challenge something. What if the problem isn't your pricing and the actual number and the money, but how you're envisioning and seeing the value of what you actually do? Because the reality is, is that we don't get paid for what we do. We get paid for the change and the transformation that people receive because of what we do. So today we're gonna do an exercise that is gonna help you own the value of your work and shift the way you think about pricing your offers. Let's get into it. Hey there. Welcome to the Mindset to Market podcast, your go-to space for practical tools and solutions to the everyday challenges of being a creative and soulful entrepreneur living in a material world. I'm your host Deborah Smith, a holistic business coach and marketing strategist with 17 years of experience. I help my clients bust through mindset blocks and learn daily marketing practices that balance personal wellness with financial growth and impact. I'm here to offer you support with creativity, mindset, practical how-tos, and getting into imperfect messy actions so you can experience daily breakthroughs as you grow. If you're a purpose-driven entrepreneur building an online business, you're in the right place. Let's dive in. Hello, hello, hello, rock stars. Welcome back to the podcast. I am so grateful to be here with you today. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for listening. If you are someone who has listened to this podcast before, then this will make sense to you. This is gonna be an episode that I like to think of as a teaching episode, so I'm gonna talk a little bit about the topic and then share an exercise to do so. You could do this exercise in your head while walking along and just thinking about it. But the most impactful way to do this exercise is going to be with a piece of paper and a pen. So just giving you a little heads up. If you want to, um, participate in part two, you will need pen and paper. Um, and if you're like out there driving your car or walking or whatever, you can do this later. Um, but it's been a little while since we had a podcast. Since I shared an episode that was purely about money mindset, and I was looking back through episodes to look for, you know, to refer back to other ones. And I realize it's really been, um, months since I've focused just on your money mindset. So we're gonna do that today. So I have been deep in this conversation lately, um, and we need to talk about it. So I was recently invited to speak, um, at a, at an event, a women's business conference in Minneapolis that's happening in June. Specifically about the energetics of sales. This is something I talk about a lot on this podcast and also in my coaching programs, money mindset and really charging the true value of your work. And what keeps coming up over and over and over again when I think about this issue is that women specifically are wildly underestimating the impact that they create, therefore undervaluing their work and. I mean wildly, like I have talked to some brilliant women just this year alone. You know, just chatting with people, networking calls, sales calls, whatever, where they're like grossly undervaluing their work. And it's very familiar to me because when I think back to the beginning of this online. This journey of trying to, you know, create digital assets and create online digital programming and having like a virtual business and an online business. If I go back a decade, I was exactly the same. I, I used to like be terrified to charge $27 for something that was, you know, obviously, um. Many hundreds of dollar value program and, and just, you know, that that same diminished value was present across all of my offers. So I'm familiar with this, this conflict. Um, and it's not because we're not good at what we do, right? It's not because we are not creating valuable offers that provide people with great services and transformations. It's because we're measuring our work the wrong way. So here's what most people do. They price their offer based on time. Effort, how long something takes to happen or what they think people can afford. Which is dangerous territory. Um, a great coach once said to me, get your mind out of other people's pocketbooks and stop pretending you have any clue how much money another person has. You really don't know, right? Maybe they present in a certain way or maybe they tell you how much money they have, but your job is not to guess how much people can afford to pay. Your job is to price based on the transformation you provide. So, and let me say this very clearly. Your client is not paying for your time. They are paying for the result that you promised them, the transformation that you're gonna get for them and the shift that you're creating in their life. And so when you price based on only what you do, you collapse the value, right? You're collapsing the value of the transformation, that you shrink it down to something way smaller than what it is when in reality the work that you do creates a ripple effect that's gonna touch every part of someone's life. So. This is where this mind mindset shift needs to happen and where this is. Going to happen because when you truly start to see that ripple effect, charging more doesn't feel uncomfortable anymore because you understand the depth at to which you're impacting this person's life. It starts to feel not only accurate, but grounded in reality and much more aligned, and it becomes much easier for you to talk about your work. And the price about that you charge without flinching, without cringing, without apologizing. And so when we talk about the energetics of sales, it's really believing in the value of your work, right? The energy behind your price is that you believe in and understand the transformation. So. Instead of just talking about this, what I thought would be fun to do today is I wanna walk you through something, um, that is gonna help make this click. So today's a shorty, so we're already at part two. This is the exercise. So if you do have a notebook or, um, you could do this. I guess technically you could write this out on the notes app on your phone. Um, and if you're driving, just listen and come back to this later, or if you're like walking your dog or something. Um, but what we're gonna do is we're gonna map out the true value of what you do. So get your piece of paper, hit pause if you need to, and come back to me. And you can do this on just like a standard eight by 11 sheet of paper. Um, and if you don't have paper in a pen, uh, you could just do it in your notes app, like I said. So ready, let's go. Here we go. What I want you to do is draw a circle right in the center of that piece of paper that's roughly the size of a tennis ball. And in the center of that circle, I want you to write down the core problem that you solve for your client. Okay? And go deeper than the surface. So it's not just gonna say like, I help with marketing. I help them with their health. I help them shift their mindset. But really ask yourself, what is the real problem that's underneath? You know, the, the title of your offer, what are they struggling with on a daily basis? What's frustrating them, what's keeping them stuck? And so take a moment for this, um, and write down, you know, as many as you can think of that fit inside that tennis ball. So I'll give you an example. I, from my own business, the struggle, the problem that I solve for my clients is I help them pick the things they wanna focus on with their business and align. So I'm helping them. Uh. To keep from spinning in circles, I'm helping them. Um, they often don't have the language. They don't know how to language what they do inside their business. Um, I help them overcome a fear of technology so they can actually put together their funnel pieces, right? I help them. Uh. Get more visible, like they're struggling with visibility because when they set up their system, they feel confident, and that confidence lends itself to easy visibility. You know, fear of being seen as a struggle that I help, that's a problem I help solve. So for me, I would say like, you know, self-confidence, you know, clar, clarity, things like that. So whatever you do, whatever you sell, what is the core problems that you help solve? And all of that is gonna go inside that circle. And once you've done that, we're gonna move on to another layer. So I want you to draw another larger circle around the outside of that first circle. And in this layer, I want you to answer the question, how would solving those problems for your client, how does solving those problems for your client affect their money and their finances? Okay, so does it help them make more money? Does it help them save money? Does it help them create stability in their life that allows them to get a gr grasp on their finances? Does it open new opportunities for them so that they can start to see things with more possibility in their life? Does it help them declutter their house and sell off all their own old items so they suddenly have a windfall of cash that they didn't have? Um, whatever you do. However you help, whatever problem you solve, how does that impact the finances and the money? Okay, so take a couple of minutes to think about that. Think about some examples from your life, uh, working with clients or, you know, experiencing the type of work that you do and, and how it relates to money and finances. And when you're ready to, we're gonna move on to the third layer and the third layer of these concentric circles. What you're gonna do is you're gonna draw another circle around the outside of those first two circles, and in this layer. I want you to answer the question. How will solving the problems that you help solve for your clients, with your clients improve and impact their health and wellness? Right? So if you help to solve a problem for your client, it's gonna impact their money and their finances, and if that's impacting their money and their finances positively, how does that then impact? Their health and their wellness. And so, for example, in my, uh, business, I know that if I can solve, you know, the problem of overcoming technology and, you know, gaining confidence so that you can string together the right funnel to help reach more people and make greater sales and build an income, well, that's gonna impact your, your finances and because you'll make more money. And if that happens, then you can afford to maybe invest in some trainings for yourself. It will help you to afford, you know, better quality food. Maybe you can, you know, feel less stress in your life because you can afford to pay your bills. Um. Maybe, you know, you can afford to hire a trainer or get a gym membership, and that's gonna impact your health and wellbeing because you're eating healthier and you're getting exercise. Um, there's the mental health aspect of feeling empowered and feeling aligned, right? There's a lot of ways in which. You know, the way that I help solve a problem for somebody is gonna have a ripple effect that's gonna impact their health and their wellness. So for your client, for the problem that you solve, how does solving that problem impact their health and their wellness? Give yourself a couple of minutes to jot down as many things that you can think of and fill out that third circle with all the ways that your work will have a positive impact on your client's health and wellness. And when you are ready, we're gonna move on to the fourth circle. And so just like before, we're gonna draw another circle all the way around the outside of those last three circles, and now in this fourth circle, third circle, fourth circle. Technically it's the fourth one. Um, we're gonna, we're gonna answer this question. How does solving that problem, the problem that you help solve for your client that's gonna impact their finances and their money, that's going to impact their health and their wellness, how is all of that gonna impact their relationships and family? Are they going to become a better parent? Are they going to be less cranky in their relationships? Will they show up more present with their partner? Will they have more patience with their kids? Will they feel more connected to other people and feel like it's safe to be themselves? How does solving this problem, that problem that you help solve for your clients, impact relationships? Write down as many examples as you can think of in that fourth circle. Because when someone is no longer carrying, you know, the stress of whatever problem they were carrying that you just helped them solve, it changes how they show up in their entire life. And so this fourth circle is a really important one because it shows you how when somebody is no longer struggling with the problem, it starts to ripple through all the parts of their life. And we have one final layer to our circle. Okay? So as before, you're gonna draw another larger circle around the outside of these others. Now it's starting to look like a target, like a bullseye, and the final layer is about identity and the future self. So who do they become because of the transformation that you help them achieve? So with the problem that you solve for your client, do they become more confident? Do they become more self trusting? Do they become more empowered in their life? Do they become someone who finally believes in themselves? Are they able to act more as a leader and impact other people themselves and ripple beyond themselves out into the world and have a positive impact on other people? Who do they become because of the transformation? Because that future self and those future possibilities are. Literally planting the seeds for entire generations. Think about it. If they become more financially secure and they can take better care of their health and wellness, and that's gonna make them a better parent, then maybe those kids that they are, you know, treating with kindness and having more patience with, go out into the world and do something extraordinarily impactful because they had a parent who was, you know, guiding them with love and patience. So. Can you see how this grows and ripples outward from, you know, this thing that you have done, this problem that you have helped them solve? Just take a pause and look at everything that you wrote down. Once you finish the exercise, this is the value of your work. Okay. Not the hour that you spent on a coaching call with them. Not the, you know, the single session or the series of sessions and not the, you know, the workbook, the PDF guide, the tutorial, or whatever you created that goes with it. But this deeper. Layered Ripple effect is the true value of your work. When you help somebody solve a problem in their life and you help them get a result that they're after, it truly ripples out into all these other layers of their world, and it goes on to impact other human beings outside of them and beyond them. So you are impacting layers of people through your work. So now let me ask you this. When you look at that full picture of that, those concentric circles and that ripple effect that your work is creating in the world, I want you to think about what is that worth? Can you put a price tag on it? Is that worth $500? Is it worth a thousand dollars? Is it worth $2,000? Is it worth $10,000? Like what? Can you even put a price tag on that and ask yourself, are you just offering a service like a little rinky-dink service, like a little, you know, small. Shy wallflower service, or are you creating a transformation in someone's life that impacts their money, their health, their relationships, and who they become? Right? Because when we undercharge for our services, we're not being humble. We're actually disconnecting from the true value of what we've created, and it's a disservice to everybody, not the least of which ourselves, who just made a major impact on someone's life and deserve to be compensated for it. And I want you to think about this. You know, the women who are out there building sustainable, profitable businesses, they don't just change their strategy. When they arrive at this conclusion, they change and shift how they see their own value, their pricing offers based on the value of the transformation. So this is such important work and it's something that does not happen overnight. I myself, it took me. You know, several years to really put this in practice to really start to see the impact that I could have. So once you've done this exercise, once you have the, the circles all laid out and all of the wording and all of the, you know, the value that you are creating with the ripple effect with your offer. I want you to keep it on your desk, post it on the wall in front of where you work, and take a peek at that to remind yourself when you are doing business, when you're tracking leads, and when you're reaching out to people, and when you're teaching a webinar, when you're building out the pieces of your offer, look at the value that you are creating, the transformation that you're creating, and this ripple effect. And remember that and go confidently, right? Do this with confidence knowing that you're creating something powerful for people. You know, having come through this transformation myself, it's such a pleasure to support other women in doing this work. I'm very excited that I was asked to speak on this topic, um, because I think it's just something that it is. Most of us are confronted by this, and I should. You know, shout out to the coaches who have gone before me, who helped me see this in my own life, and open this door for me because it really is helpful to shift the way you think about your pricing. If you're struggling with asking for the value of the transformation, do this exercise. And I promise you it's gonna help you. And I'm very excited to share with you that, um, my Soul Aligned six figure system mini course is live this week. This is a four video training where I'm gonna walk you through how to clarify your signature offer, how to align messaging with the transformation that you provide, and really how to build marketing that reflects your value, but feels easy because it's all aligned. And honestly, once you figure out the value of your transformation, the next step is aligning all the business assets in your ecosystem so that marketing becomes streamlined, right? And why I love this system so much is because it helps you to stop chasing trends and over creating, you know, oodles and oodles of content that is just going in every direction. And it helps you really focus on the one direction you need to be going in to start cultivating clients, creating more clients, and building more sales. So if this exercise shifted something for you, then that's a very good next step is really thinking about, okay, how do I align everything with this value in place with my mindset clear about how I'm gonna help people have a transformation? Well, the next step is gonna be building out a system that reflects that transformation and where all of your marketing content and messaging aligns with it. Um, you can get your hands on the new mini course, the Soul Aligned Six Figure System by either DMing me, you could DM me the word system. You can email me at hello@debracsmith.com. You can visit my website, which is debra c smith.com/mini course, and my name is spelled D-E-B-O-R-A-H, letter C-S-M-I-T-H slash mini. Dash, like a hyphen course and you will find the Soul Align six figure system there and you can jump in there. Uh, for $7, which is a steal, but it's something that I really want to get into the hands of people. It's kind of a culmination of many of my free master classes, um, and I think you'll really find that beneficial. So I'd love to have you in there. All right, my friend. I hope that you enjoyed this exercise. I want you to sit with this, okay? Do the exercise and then revisit it and look at it, come back to it. 'cause this is foundational work. Not only will it help you. Make a deeper connection with the person who you're trying to help, but it's also going to help you build confidence around putting yourself out there and connecting with the right people, right? Because your client is out there searching for the solution that you offer, and when you create clear valuation of your work and you learn. How to wrap your head around the money piece. It helps you to find those people. It helps you to connect with them and get your offer into their hands and get them into this transformation that they need. So you can do this. If you need my help, you know where to find me, and I believe in you and I know that you can do this because I did it. So that's how I know because I was once stuck, undervaluing everything I did. Underpricing everything I did and I got past that and I built a sustainable recurring bus income in my business that allows me to celebrate and live, you know, live this lifestyle that I'm dreaming of, which includes healthy foods and time with my family and all the things that I am. So happy to have in place in my life and I want that for you. So let's do this exercise and I'd love to hear how it goes for you. And if you like this episode, as always, I would appreciate it if you could leave a rating or a review for me, 'cause that helps me to get the word out to other entrepreneurs. All right, my friend. With that, may you have the most wonderful week. Enjoy the spring weather. And until we meet next week, may you be vibrant.