There’s a woman in my closest circle who spent a long career in a complex financial field.
She learned to make multi-million-dollar deals. And eventually they were easy for her. She’d sit across from people discussing amounts of money most of us will never see, and she’d feel calm. In fact, she’d push back in negotiations with men who’d been in the field way longer than her – and they’d cave in the face of her confidence.
She’s now been coaching for many years. She’s brilliant at it.
And she undercharges. Still.
She has closed deals with crazy amounts of zeros – and she still gets nervous before she says her fee out loud.
For a long time this confused me. Until I realized that there are two skills you need to enroll high-fee clients.
The first is your ability to be calm when you’re faced with a massive problem. Can you sit with a client facing something that could destroy their business and stay steady? She built that over twenty years. Most coaches never did.
The second is your ability to charge for it. Can you name a number that scares you a little, and hold still while the other person decides? Most coaches can’t.
They feel like the same skill. But they’re not even close.
You can be the calmest person in a multi-million-dollar negotiation and still go quiet when it’s your own fee, your own number on the table.
Because charging is never about the money.
Charging high fees is about what you’re willing to ask. And this has nothing to do with worth – she’s not worth a penny more than the next coach, and neither are you.
Your fee is simpler than that. It’s what you’re willing to ask, plus your impact. She can deliver. She just won’t ask.
The coaches in my community with a track record of success behind them are just as likely to undercharge as the beginners. Sometimes more. Because they’d rather get a yes to a low fee than a no to a high one.
Undercharging is the gap between what you can deliver and what you’ll ask for.
Getting better at coaching won’t close it. She’s already excellent at that.
What closes it is a community of coaches who won’t let you shrink your number, who see your impact and refuse to watch you charge less.
I’ve been building this community for almost 15 years.
And the skill of asking for high fees can be learned.
She’s learning it. She has more financial firepower than almost anyone I know – and she’s been my client for years, because no matter how good you get, you still need people who won’t let you play small.
She needs that community.
So do you.
Love. Rich