Are you an alternative therapist, life coach or self-employed professional who has trouble asking people for payment? It seems that in these particular areas, people seem to think they should offer their services for free. But take a look around you – how many other professions offer their services for free? Are doctors and dentists in the private sector happy to treat you for free, does the dry cleaner do it for free, the taxi driver, the dog-walker – the list is endless. People in all areas of life charge for their services.

It could be that you just need to reframe it. Think of money as an energy and forget the notes and coins.

Say you’ve given an hour of your energy helping someone either with a treatment or a coaching session.  They in  turn show you their gratitude by giving you an energy called money – there’s nothing wrong with that, one energy is exchanged for another.

By not wanting payment, you are in a way undervaluing yourself and the service you give – it’s like saying “Actually, this treatment isn’t that great, that’s why it’s free” or “I’m not really worthy of being paid, I’m not that great at this“. Is that the message you want to get across?!

Think about something you get for free, you probably don’t value it as much as something you’ve paid for. It’s the same for giving your service for free – your clients won’t value it or you as much. We live in a society where the energy of exchange is money – this shows we want what we’re buying.

It’s understandable if you’re just starting out that you may not know what to charge. Start with an amount which feels comfortable to you, or ask for a donation. You need this initial experience to help bolster your confidence and to acknowledge that you can charge for this. As your confidence increases, start to increase your price since you’re now becoming an expert.

If you still have problems with charging, then you need to look at your beliefs around money and what it means to you. Do you think that

• making money is a bad thing

• money is the root of all evil

• rich people are rude and arrogant and you don’t want to become like that

• you don’t deserve or aren’t worthy of being paid.

There could be any number of reasons why you have a problem with being paid so write down all your beliefs and thoughts about money and see which ones are holding you back.

You’ll find that at a subconscious level you probably have limiting belief(s) which are holding you back. Remove that and you’ll know that your service is worth every penny.