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As always, during the week we receive many questions from companies about workshops and performances, or from individuals for 1in1 jobs in the form of coaching, counseling or therapy.
Some time ago we received an e-mail asking about the prices of 1v1 jobs.
The rates depend on the number of sessions and whether it is coaching / psychological counseling or business consulting. They range from PLN 900 to PLN 2,000.
In response we got a message:
– Are you crazy? What idiot … spends more than PLN 300, let alone PLN 1000 on 1v1 work ?!
If you are curious about my answer, she will be below it.
But first I will write why and why I am writing about it at all.
What does it depend on how much do we value our hour?
The topic of figuring out what you are worth on the market in your own head, how much you are able to take in an hour of your work is an extremely important issue.
Sooner or later, everyone is faced with the following questions:
How much am I worth financially? How much do I want to work for? How much is an hour of my time worth? What amount do I feel like someone is not respecting me, what amount makes me feel okay, and what amount makes me feel uncomfortable thinking: me? I’m not worth that much!
I start the new year with motivating you to set a goal for yourself and work on taking care of your valuation – yourself and your time.
Every person has a so-called financial barometer
When we are small, PLN 1-2 from grandpa are lucky. Later it is not satisfactory. We expect PLN 10-20. More to come in the years to come.
Once the peak of wealth was the communion bike. Now some children in primary school get an iPhone for PLN 4,000 to communicate with their parents. The border is moving.
We used to wait – as adults – for a big opportunity to buy something more expensive for the kitchen. Now some people buy such things right away, and for their birthday / name day they have nothing to buy, there is no idea – because today we can buy everything right away.
Of course, there are also people who wait all year to be able to afford a book for PLN 50 or a concert ticket.
All experiences from our youth build our beliefs about money. The way our family and loved ones approach finances and work greatly influences how we perceive money.
If a child receives gifts worth PLN 500-1000 from an early age, he or she gets used to it. What she doesn’t realize is that this is an unattainable level for most. On the one hand, he gets used to being wealthy and thus may have greater ambitions in his adult life, achieve higher earnings faster, on the other hand, it can be caused by a lack of humility, a lack of understanding how much “a lot of money” is and the expectation that it is easy to have expensive stuff.
When work starts, a lot of people think that PLN 12-20 per hour is the normal rate, PLN 20-30 is a good level, PLN 30-50 is a success, and PLN 50-100 is the best. This is partly due to the realities of the market, the realities of the industry and partly how we see the value of our work.
Others don’t count the hourly wage at all, but look at how much they earn each year. Many care less about wages, but wealth building and investment.
For some people the dream is to earn PLN 5-8,000 a month, for others the standard is PLN 30-100,000 a month and an annual bonus of PLN 100,000 – PLN 1 million.
The question is what is the standard for you and what is your success?
Do you view your work through the prism of man-hours, assets or the effects you bring to the company?
Our past and financial education
As a child, I received a monthly allowance of PLN 10-20 once a month and I envied my friend who received PLN 50-100 from my parents and PLN 100 from my grandfather whenever he came to their house for lunch. As a child, I used to spend my pocket money on pleasures.
My sister saved 99% of the pocket money. At 18, I had nothing, she had several thousand 🙂
Today my 6-year-old son has 5 moneyboxes. When he gets pocket money, we divide them:
- For current expenses – 10%
- For fun – toys – 20%
- For savings – 6-12 months – 10%
- For the future – for science – classes, books – 10%
- For the future – a further 5-10 years ahead – 50%
I don’t understand much of this yet. What he knows is how much money he has in his gift box and that it is worth saving for the future.
We recently talked about the fact that if he gives me PLN 10 for 6 months, he will receive PLN 12 for those 6 months. He was curious about it, but not yet interested.
The proportion of money boxes divided over the years will change, but we teach him to think from the beginning so that it will be easier for him in the future.
Once our friends told us:
-But you are raising your son in business terms!
And I replied:
-Is it good or bad? Because what does it mean in business terms?
For me it is common sense, which some people mature after 30-40-50 years of age. Some people have a mindset: divide income into necessary expenses and small savings for a rainy day.
What about the others? The sooner we learn simple habits, the less energy we will spend on them in the future. If we properly build the way of thinking about finances, it will not occupy our head and will not be a problem in the coming years.
It all influences how we perceive money and rates for our work.
My challenges with my own valuation
In my psychological work, I used to start with the classic rates of PLN 100-200 per hour of 1-in-1 work. With experience, the stakes grew. But I went through a mental ordeal several times. In particular, when VAT was entered into on training services. From month to month, we had to increase the rates by over 20% or lower (not to change the price) the hourly / daily rate.
Less – bad.
More – I’m not worth 20% more.
I matured for a few months.
First, we raised the prices by 10%. But after half a year, we came to feel that the main price + VAT is acceptable for us.
As the price per hour worked increased, the clients or the form of working with them changed. A client who can pay PLN 200-300 received free webinars or paid online training from us. But to work with me individually, he had to pay PLN 500 first, then PLN 800, and now even more.
Over the years, I have come across such beliefs of wealthy clients:
Adam, if I earn PLN 20-50,000 a month, I will tell you honestly that I do not fully trust an expert who charges PLN 100-300 for hour. Doctor, masseur – OK. But not a coach, therapist or business advisor. If he takes too little, I have doubts about his competence. I may be wrong, but I am.
So I asked myself whether I wanted to work 5h x 300 PLN or 1h for 1500 PLN. The answer seems obvious. But not if your self-esteem and / or your competences are assessed lower by your psyche. Or when thoughts arise:
What will others say? This is an exaggeration. Am I ashamed to say I take so much? What am I better at than others? They are more experienced and they take less!
As a client myself, I can see that once at a rehabilitator PLN 100 per hour was an exaggeration. Later, PLN 150 became the normal price. Now, PLN 250-300 is fully understandable. If I had a serious problem and I knew that a manual therapist who takes, for example, PLN 500 per hour is outstanding, great and will help me, I would not hesitate. Would I like to pay less? Of course most do. But I am ready to accept the financial expectations of experts, even if I cannot afford them.
The financial barometer evolves for many, but it does not change for many.
It results from the level of earnings, but also subjective beliefs that are and are often irrational in us. I know people who earn PLN 80,000 a month, and no doctor, masseur or coach will be paid more than PLN 150. They can outrage the information that a 15-minute visit of a wife to a gynecologist costs PLN 200.
Important questions
I could write a lot about it.
Everyone has their own experiences that affect their personal financial barometer. The more we understand our approach to money, the easier it will be for us to manage it, the easier it will be for us to find ourselves in a professional career.
Therefore, I encourage you to ask yourself some questions:
- How much do I value my work? How much is 1h of my work worth?
- And if 1h was worth 20-100-500% more, what would have to happen? What would I need to know? What do I need to learn?
- When can I accept a higher rate for my work?
- Why am I entitled to earn more?
- What would I need to be able to make it possible?
- When can I accept a higher rate for the work of another expert? What does he have to do, represent himself?
In the new year, I encourage you to review your beliefs about how you value yourself and how you want to value yourself.
Reply to client’s email
Coming back to the e-mail conversation with the client who wrote:
-Are you crazy? What idiot … spends more than PLN 300, let alone PLN 1000 on 1v1 work ?!
This is our answer:
Mr. Mark,
I think everyone decides how much change, help, and how much is the expert they use. If someone wants to pay PLN 1000, let’s not call him a retard. Many of my clients use my services and support and are grateful for what they get. Feels like an investment worth the money.
If you do not value my person, competence and experience at this level, I understand.
Answering you further, I will answer as I once replied to a client who told me: – Mr. Adam, how can you charge PLN 1000 for a session when a gynecologist after 30 years of experience charges PLN 300 for a visit?
First point: Real earnings
From a business point of view, the gynecologist often takes the same or more. Because within 1 hour it will accommodate 3-6 people. The visit lasts 10-20 minutes. So the income from 1 hour is PLN 900-1800.
The second point: earnings often depend on the level of responsibility and pressure
It turns out that many people will do a physical exam, but are not able to bear responsibility for the psyche, emotions and decisions of clients. It’s not that I make the decisions for my clients. But many people feel pressured to talk to the client as a therapist / psychologist / coach and fear that he will hurt someone. The ability to deal with this is highly valued. When you join my therapeutic-coaching-business skills, it gives a much broader ability to work on many issues.
The third issue is costs
The costs that we incur – to do what we do in the company through an online website – webinars, blogs, trainings, to be able to develop our competences, to be able to hire employees, we need an appropriate level of income. The rate also results from the scale of operation and development of the company and the additional value it creates: books, articles, videos.
The fourth issue is the subjective and objective valuation of the service
Subjective – when asked how much is my work worth: I feel that the minimum is PLN 1,000. Objective – that is, resulting from market analysis: looking at the competences of various specialists, comparing efficiency and rates, I can safely say that my service is worth this.
Fifth point: At some point in life, we don’t look strictly at the cost, but at the effect we get
Is the result worth the money. If we have evidence, or at least feel so, we go into it. We prefer a more expensive hotel, restaurant, shoes, equipment because we know that they will give us more. I provide my clients with psychological or business effects that are often worth more.
The sixth point is customer target group
I reach clients who will not go to a psychologist, coach or consultant cheaper than PLN 500. Because they feel this way or have become alienated more than once and are looking for someone who has a similar mindset, a similar approach and will understand their world.
After this reply we received an email:
Interesting perspective. Thank you for your answer. Please tell me what can be done within an hour? Because even if I accept this price and I could afford it, what is actually happening at the meeting?
So we wrote back:
A lot can often be done in 1 session, and sometimes this is the beginning of a 4-8-12 session cycle. It’s hard to say. But there are situations, there are 40-50% of them, that 60 minutes is a big difference.
Before the session, I ask you questions to understand the topic of the work. I am asking the Lord for an answer to them. During the session, through dozens of questions, we come to the essence of the problem that has not been noticed so far.
Lots of people would be able to deal with the problem, but they don’t understand what it is really about. Sometimes they are not sure, the clout or just an idea of how to do what they would like to do: what to say to the boss, employee or client in a difficult situation. They do not make decisions about a change in life, company or business because of their fears.
And fears can often be disarmed in several dozen minutes.
Finally, we specify the course of action. Knowing what to focus on, what to focus on, what to do is salutary, cleansing.
Usually clients in 1 session bring up topics:
- discovery of the first blockages that inhibit you from making a decision
- understand your personality better
- what should I do when there is a conflict at the company / home
- I have no idea what to do with myself, where should I start
- how to calm my thoughts, the stress that bothers me
- I don’t know what decision to make, I’m at a loss
- what to say at the recruitment meeting / with the boss / with the employee
We have received an email:
OK, I’m taking one session. We will check.
I thought this client was going to be difficult , rude, demanding, testing, but despite the words he used in the email, he was open to work.
After 45 minutes of conversation he said:
-I now understand the value of working with people like you. You think fast. You perceive more. You ask questions from which it is impossible to escape and on which you have to make a decision. These 40 minutes gave me more conclusions than the last 3 months of my reflections. Is it worth PLN 1000, it remains to be seen – when I implement the ideas. But tidiness of the head, clarity of thought, calmness and confidence – that is strong.
After a month he wrote an email:
And it paid off. I negotiated such conditions at work that now I will spend every 1-3 months on you and you will be my sparring partner! With you, I will achieve what is important to me faster and break the blockages that are holding me back faster.
Summary
Being aware of yourself and your worth is a key source of persuasion and earning.
If you want to increase your confidence, assertiveness, negotiation and persuasion skills , I invite you to the next Winning Leadership Mindset Workshop, which will be held on February 25-26 in Warsaw.
If you want to receive an essential summary of this article and learn about 7 principles that affect the valuation of your work, self-confidence and your rate , please download free additional material in PDF .
