Valuing yourself is often more difficult than it seems. From making a bad deal to staying in an abusive relationship, more than once in our lives we have doubted what we are really worth. And we have paid for it.
Whether you have a job or your own business, especially if you have been around for a relatively short time, there are always key moments where we must not only recognize but also know how to communicate our value.
We would like to think that by doing our job in an excellent way, achieving impressive results, or that by having a product or service that perfectly meets the needs of your clients, they will automatically look for you, and the opportunities will come by themselves. It does not work like that.
No matter how hard you try, if you don't learn to communicate your worth, no one will come to that conclusion for you. But to communicate you must be very clear about what you want to say.
Here are a series of questions that will help you clarify your underlying message when communicating what you are worth to your bosses and your clients:
Do you know your value?
If your business is to make products, you could automatically think about your raw material and production costs. But what about the time you invest, and your work? How much is that worth to you? Many times, for fear of "losing the sale" we prefer to give away our time, and it may benefit you at that moment, but in the long run it is a fatal mistake. One way to calculate this value is the "opportunity cost" or the opportunities that you lose and activities that you stop developing because of these tasks.
Do you think you deserve that courage?
Belonging to a field that is currently very well priced is one thing, but even if you are inside, do you value your work in the same way as that of your colleagues? I have met people with very specialized knowledge, with a good market, who say "although many others charge X, I feel more comfortable charging less than that." Do you think your work is not good enough? Was there someone who told you that they did not like your work, and that marked you? It's time to identify
Is your market willing to pay for it?
This point is crucial. I would like to tell you that it is enough to want to dedicate yourself to something, and you will automatically have a market at your feet and everything will go smoothly. Unlike. Much of the uncertainty generated by opening your own business or company is because you do not have that answer. You don't know how your market will receive it, so it is necessary to have a clear idea but also a flexible attitude to make adjustments as you go. It has happened to some of us that we had even thought of something in the beginning, and until we took action we saw that the market demands were going the other way.
Before you get married, you usually go through a dating period, a stage of mutual learning about how to live with another person. You learn what they like, what they don't, their values, etc. And once you have that knowledge - and the love has been maintained or increased - you get married.
The same happens with your business. Before "marrying" an idea, you must start, see how much acceptance it has, what adjustments have to be made and then, as they say in Spain, go "for it"?
And continuing with the dating analogy, before you learn to value another person for who they are, you must first value yourself. That is the first step in any relationship, including your business…
What did you think of the content of this article? My name is Isaura Martínez, I am a Coach and specialist in Communication & Marketing, and I help professionals, entrepreneurs and businessmen to use the power of communication to connect with their respective markets and sell more. If you are interested in receiving useful tips and strategies directly in your email, I invite you to subscribe to my weekly newsletter.
