Charge what you're worth. Is that really a legit pricing strategy for wedding pros (or ANY creative entrepreneur)?

Nope.

Got your attention, didn’t I? 🙂

In our industry, all you ever hear is “charge what you’re worth.”

Honestly, how many times has someone said that to you?

Their intentions were good, and a few years ago that philosophy had a purpose. This catch-phrase got popular at a time when the wedding industry was growing rapidly, with a lot of new wedding pros entering the market.

The problem at the time? These businesses were selling their products and services for less than my Starbucks coffee.

For real.

And so the industry sent out this catch-phrase in a wave of solidarity, encouraging newcomers to increase their price to a reasonable fee.

And it worked. Kinda.

But things are much different today, and “charging what you’re worth” doesn’t necessarily ring true anymore. Especially for wedding pros and creative entrepreneurs.

Here’s the tea: the pricing for your services and products is calculated from a variety of factors. And worth doesn’t make the list.

Here’s what does:

• Experience level
• Geographical area
• Your ideal customer avatars
• And most importantly, the kind of profit you want to make in your business

Your worth doesn’t really come into play here and give me a chance to show you why. You could be worth a million bucks, but if your:

• experience level says otherwise, no one is going to pay that
• don’t live in a geographical area where there are tons of millionaires getting married, then you’re going to end up being a broke millionaire because no one has the coin to hire you
• ideal customers won’t pay that kind of fee, then you’re not going to have customers
• business expenses are $999,999.98 a year, well my friend, you just made two cents

Yes, you are worth something AND you are very worthy of making the kind of money YOU want to make. However, the pricing for your product or service doesn’t hinge on your worth. It hinges on what YOUR ideal customer is willing to pay and what YOU want to make as a profit.

Not charging what you're worth.

A pricing formula in the wedding industry looks different for EVERY business. I don't believe there is a one-size-fits-all formula for every business owner. Setting prices has always been, and will always be, more of art than science.

So stop charging your worth – and instead, price yourself for profit.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• The Ideal Client Blueprint Masterclass: https://candicecoppola.com/masterclass
• The Business Plan Blueprint: https://thebusinessplanblueprint.com
• Michael Hyatt: https://michaelhyatt.com/
• Profit First: https://amzn.to/38s5z2r

Explore More Wedding Industry Resources

If this blog post got you thinking, and you're looking for more resources, check out these other blog posts & podcast episodes:

• Top 3 Financial Mistakes You're Making in Your Wedding Biz
• 5 Online Wedding Planner Tools You Need to Use
• Why It's a Good Thing That Client Didn't Hire You
• Why You're Not Attracting The Right Clients & How to Fix It
• How to Vision Cast For Your Biz – And Why You Need To
• 5 Ways to Get Out of Drift Mode & Into Design Mode
• How Much Should You Charge As A Wedding Planner? Learn How To Figure Out Your Wedding Planner Pricing