Why don't you charge more?

The "charge what you're worth" advice doesn't work. 3 reasons why photographers may not charge more.

Ahead of my new Pricing Review Series (I’m excited!!!), I’m breaking down 3 reasons you may tell yourself why you can’t charge more.

The girlies love saying “charge what you’re worth” but that advice clearly isn’t working. For starters, your worth isn’t synonymous with a price quote. Women’s worth tends to fluctuate with society’s warp standards of beauty, the pervasive celebration of youth among other things. Breaking free of these standards and dangerous ideologies can take years. It’s no surprise that our warped view of ourselves can spill into our business causes all sorts of muck and gluck.

In my debut book The Photo C.E.O. [Spring 2024] I outline the pay inequities between men and women/non-binary photographers.

While there are more women photographers, men make on average $20,000 more than women and non-binary photographers.

There are several reasons and educated guesses for why; however, in this article I wanted to share why you may not charge more from a different perspective. Increasing your prices most times requires an internal mindset and energetic shift.

In other words, women have to stop waiting for permission to charge more. In most instances, companies/brands are advocating to protect their bottom line and so should you when naming your rates.

You may be talking yourself out of success before getting started. Here are 3 reasons why YOU possibly don’t charge more.

1. You think “why would I charge for something I love doing?”

   It’s a beautiful thing when passion intersects with profit. Nevertheless you need to make money for your labor. In hindsight when we say we love what we do and would do it for free, I take that to me, we’re f*cking great at our jobs, period. Women are taught not to speak with such presence and command. This article highlights how smart + capable women use “weak language” to get ahead. Let’s not confuse humility with broke. $$$ is an energetic exchange. Charge a substantial rate for your services. Need some inspiration? Try these articles on The Photo CEO Substack:

   How to overcome pricing objections

   Negotiation: Your New Safe Word

1. You think you won’t book enough clients if you charge more.
   Mo’ Money, Mo’ Clients? Chicken meet Egg. In full transparency as my rates increased my client bookings decreased. On the flip side, I didn’t need to overbook my calendar in order to break even and make a profit. I have more space to tend to other areas of my life and build some sort of balance/ecosystem that supports my well being. In addition, charging low rates has a psychological impact on your consumers. When we present low prices for services with a higher perceived value it causes a disconnect with your customers. [Citation]

2. You don’t know how to price your services.

   Pricing is nuanced and several factors go into it [Market, Experience and Usage]. But for the sake of simplifying start with basic Girl Math:

   Work Expenses [Fixed + Taxes 15 - 20%] + Ideal Profit [What’s left over] = Minimum Package Price

   This is the formula to get started. Once you have this price you can adjust things as needed [pricing + final image count]. I dedicated an entire chapter to pricing, price methods and other formulas in The Photo C.E.O. but this is a good start!

Have you ever told yourself any of these? Let me know in the comments!