"Charge what you're worth" is terrible advice.
The worst 4 words in pricing.
Somewhere along the way, we mixed up our price and our worth.
We started believing that the price we charge measures our worth as people.
And it has a lot to do with this phrase:
“Charge what you’re worth.”
The worst four words in pricing.
The price you charge does NOT determine your worth.
As I’ll explain, the value of your work isn’t even determined by you.
(It is determined by your customers.)
To base your self-worth on the approval of others is setting yourself up for failure.
So let me make it clear:
You have infinite worth.
But with that being said, you should ABSOLUTELY:
“Charge what your work is worth.”
That’s what I’m going to talk about today.
Because those “charge what you’re worth” people weren’t TOTALLY off.
They correctly identified that our self-esteem, self-worth, and conviction have something very important to do with the prices we set.
It’s just the way they went about it was all wrong.
But before we get to that, you need to understand the basics of pricing:
What is price?
Price is the amount of money we charge for a good or service.
It reflects our belief and conviction that to the right person, our work is valuable.
We are free to set any price we want for our work.
Price is incredibly important because…
Price is the single biggest lever on profit in our business.
Pricing incorrectly can mean:
Making zero sales because the price is too high.
Making no profit because the price is too low.
Leaving tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit on the table.
But you just need to remember one rule:
Higher prices = higher profits.
Why do people buy?
“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”
- Warren Buffett
When someone decides to buy something, they make a simple decision.
This decision happens every single time - whether it is a cup of coffee or a $30,000 consulting package.
They look at the price (what they pay), and they compare it to the value that they perceive they will receive from it (what they get).
If they believe the value is greater than the price, they will buy.
If they believe the value is lower than the price, they will not.
One important individual is missing from this decision:
The seller. (That’s us.)
That is because we have no control over this price/value decision.
It’s essential you understand this concept:
We cannot CONTROL the purchasing decision.
Yes, we can INFLUENCE it through our sales and marketing.
But at the end of the day, the decision happens in the customer’s mind, not in ours.
Think of it this way:
Value is how much a customer believes something is worth to them.
Price is how much we believe the work is worth to them.
That’s why “charging what you’re worth” makes no sense.
Your job is to advocate for the value of your work.
Price is where your self-esteem and the market meet.
And 99% of entrepreneurs are undercharging.
Here’s the breakdown:
You WORK.
To the right customer, that work has a great deal of VALUE.
Your job is to ADVOCATE for the value of that work.
You do that by setting PRICES that reflect that value, and advocate for it through your sales and marketing.
This simple process creates so much anxiety in entrepreneurs, and is usually the result of two factors:
External Value: We don’t know how to advocate for our work.
Internal Conviction: We don’t know how to advocate for ourselves.
Don’t worry, this is something you can learn.
And it all starts with healthy detachment.
Your work is not your worth.
There is a certain amount of healthy detachment needed in order to advocate for your work effectively.
As someone who loves their work, and identifies with it deeply, this was a confusing thread to unravel.
When you identify your work as YOU, a customer rejecting it can be crushing.
That fear of rejection often leads to fear-based business decisions like:
Lowering our prices.
Stopping marketing.
Not selling assertively.
When you learn to practice detachment, everything becomes easier.
You realize pricing, marketing, and selling your work is not about you at all.
It is about the work and the customer.
You can still care deeply about your work, while still fully advocating for it.
How to charge what your work is worth.
Price is internal conviction of external value.
In order to charge what your work is worth, you need to improve two things:
1. External Value
First, you need to get clear on the value you’re creating.
I recommend starting with your best customers, and asking them about their experience working with you.
Ask them:
What specific results or outcomes have you achieved since we started working together?
If you had to put a dollar amount on the value you’ve received, what would it be?
What would have happened if you hadn’t hired me/bought this service?
What aspect of our work together did you find most valuable?
If you had to do this over again, knowing what you know now, what would this have been worth to you?
You’ll be shocked that:
The things you think are important, are not the things they value about your work.
The value your best clients are getting likely vastly exceeds the price you charged them for the work.
You may feel a bit silly for charging such low prices after these conversations.
Moving from vagueness to clarity around the value you are creating is essential if you want to price effectively.
2. Internal Conviction
Second, you need to cultivate internal conviction.
This internal work is about separating your self-worth from your work.
I’ll save this for a later article.
To get started, here are a few questions to reflect on:
What would happen if you doubled your prices tomorrow?
When you think about raising your prices, what physical sensations do you notice in your body?
Do you truly believe that your work creates meaningful value for your clients?
Do you believe that it is a good thing for clients to reject you?
If your best friend had your exact skills, experience, and results, what would you tell them to charge?
When you have genuine conviction in the value you create, and see yourself as worthy of being compensated for it, you’ll naturally advocate for it with confidence.
You’ll set prices that reflect a fair exchange of value for both parties.
Postscript: No one is coming to save you.
You deserve to be compensated fairly for the value that your work creates.
Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work that way.
If you don’t advocate for your work (through your pricing, sales, and marketing), no one else will.
Your price is what you believe your work is worth.
It’s your job to do something about it.
One more thing…
On Wednesday, January 21st, I am hosting a 90 minute free workshop called “How To 2-10x Your Prices In 2026.”
In it, I’ll teach you:
✅ The 4 steps to structure your business to charge way more in 2026
✅ The surprising trend I’m seeing going into 2026 (based on my work with high-level clients)
✅ Exactly what I’m doing to help those clients to close $10k-$250k deals
✅ How to future-proof your business from AI by “racing to the top” instead of racing to the bottom
The free workshop will take place on Monday, January 21st at 12pm EST and you can register below.
Needed this article thank you 🤍
So true about needing healthy detachment. I guess that’s why it’s so easy to advocate for others work and so much more difficult to advocate for our own