3 Reasons Why Christian Creators Struggle with Pricing

It's a question almost every creator has had to face one time or another. Someone looks at you and says, so how much does this cost? Maybe you stall, maybe you've mumbled. Maybe you even started to give away something for free and you instantly regretted it. Now, if you've been there, you're not alone.

So many God fearing Christian creatives struggle with this question of charging for their work because it's not just a numbers game for us, it feels like a hard decision. So let's get to the root of why we fear this and more importantly, figure out how you can show up for the people that you are serving and earn a fulfilling income while you do so. My name is Alan. I am the host and founder of Guiding Gigs and this is where we help you to become the creator that you were created to be. Now, this recording is from a live stream, so we do have some visual references, but you'll be able to understand everything that we're sharing in these three ways that you can finally stop being scared of charging what you're worth.

First of all, let's be honest. Everybody open up a share one in the comments. A one in the comments. If you've ever struggled with charging a certain amount or any amount, have you ever as a creator struggled to price or to charge something? Anybody have? I'm going to wait a little bit. I'm going to go ahead and pull up a couple more things while you guys are answering that question. But I want to know, has anyone struggled with pricing or charging their worth before? A one if you have and a two if you have not. Okay, two means you're good. I never struggle. I know when I want some something, a certain amount, I put it in right away. And there was a really funny meme or post on LinkedIn from one of the people, actually the person that wrote Free Money, which is one of the great resources for freelancers on how to charge more. But he put him a picture of his daughter, apparently wrote him an invoice. I got a link to this. I'll link to it inside the app. Okay, so you guys can see it. And it was his daughter basically saying, hey, I did some work, you need to pay me now. And brought out an invoice. I love it. It was hilarious. And yeah, I think once you see that, you'll see that, hey, if three year olds and four year olds, six year olds and eight year olds can ask for money, then we should be able to as well. All right, so we got some answers. Simony says one that means she struggled with pricing and charging. Anita also says one, so I'm guessing there's some also ones somewhere else. Those of you who are commenting in other places where I can't see. So we do know we have some people who have struggled with pricing.

So here's the first reason why so many people struggle in the creative world, especially as faith focused creators, Christian creators, and that is we attach our value of the product to our worth as a person. The value of the product or the price of the product, we attach it to our worth as a person. Why would that be a struggle, in other words, to charge more or charge at all? If is because we assume as soon as we put that price on a thing, we're attaching it to us and we feel like literally like this is what I am worth. So it can be go, it can go both ways. It could say, well, I don't want to charge a whole lot, but I, I feel like I'm worth that. And then you feel like people are going to think you're stuck up or that you're a big head or whatever because you're charging this much. And that must mean they think you have this big head of how much you're worth. Or the opposite. You might say, oh my gosh, I don't want people to think that at all. I don't want people to think that I'm a big head. So I'm not going to charge at all because I don't want people to. I want to stay humble. I want to be, I want to keep things low. I don't want to be the person that's like charging. So I don't want to be seen like that. So I'm going to keep my price to zero or tiny because I don't, I want people to associate my value, and this is a weird way to say it, with something that is inexpensive and not really that big a deal. Which is kind of weird to say about someone who is gifted in a certain sphere and you've been given a gift by God.

Why would you want people to see you like that? But it's because we are scared of what people will think of us and we equate our value individually with the value of the product. Let me tell you right now, the person who is driving or has bought or has sold even better, a Rolls Royce sold Rolls Royce is neither more valuable or less valuable than the Rolls Royce. The Rolls Royce has its own price because that's the value of it to the consumer. But if I buy a Rolls Royce from somebody. I don't suddenly look at that person and say, oh my gosh, you must be, you know, a million dollar or $100,000 person because you just sold me the Rolls Royce. I don't equate the value of the car with the value of the salesman.

I don't immediately say to the person that sold me this particular, I don't know, you name another thing. A computer. I don't look at the salesman of the computer and say, oh my gosh, this computer is cheap. You must be a cheap salesman. I don't do that.

I know that the salesperson is giving me a chance to buy something, but I evaluate the product based on the product itself, not on the person selling the product. So so many of us as creators, we have to detach our personal value from the value of the art we create. And I know when you get to art, it gets really hard to do this. It's really hard to disassociate your personal value from the art itself because we say, oh, well, that's my baby, I made it.

But this is what happens. We then either cheapen our art to the level that we feel that we're uncomfortable selling or sharing or charging, or we think we have to charge way more because the only way to validate myself is by charging this huge amount when it has nothing to do with the actual product piece of art, the thing that you are offering to the world that stands on its own outside of your personal value. So that's the first reason that we struggle with pricing. If this is helping anybody, let me know in the comments, because this is where I wanted to meet up the conversation and go, and this is the consult, which means I would love to get your thoughts. Why do you feel like you struggle with pricing? That's the one that I came up with.

Okay, but before we leave, I would love to see in the comments, especially since we have the people right here. You can see where everybody's commenting there. And if you're watching on replay, by the way, if you're watching on replay, you can also do this. Please share. Why do you feel you yourself struggle with pricing and charging your worth? And that was the first one that I shared, was the idea that your personal worth is not attached to the value of the thing you create. You are valuable. Your price is in front of the sight of God. That's it. You're not determined. Your value is not determined by the value of the things you create. Now, as I mentioned, it can work both ways. It can be where you have lowered your prices and you don't want to charge anything. Or it could be where you're afraid to charge more because you know that you should, but you now you feel like it's a dip. Not the same. The best way for you to consider this is consider the value to the person that you are offering this to, not to yourself. You are not the determinator. Terminer. That's a word. You do not determine the value of the actual thing. The consumer does, the buyer does. They decide the value based on what they want. And so now you've got to do the best job you can of matching your valuation of what this is worth to the customer or the client's value and make sure those things are aligned.

Will they always see things where you think they are costing this much and they think it's way less? Yes, that happens all the time. But the question is not about your valuation. The question is about their valuation and whether it's correct and whether you have convinced them that this is something that is worth whatever it is. I hope this is making sense, but I would love to see if anyone else is in the comments. Let me check over here. Once again, I got to check on our Instagram folks. There you go. I want to glance. There are some more friends who have joined us. Awesome. Thank you for joining us. If you're joining us right now on Instagram, I know that we're pulled that in the last minute. We didn't even announcement announce it. So if you are struggling with pricing, remember the first thing is to detach from the actual value of the art itself. Even if you spent years and years and years doing stands on its own. The second reason why people struggle with charging and pricing when the Christian community, most specifically in the Christian community, and we talked about this in a new episode, it's going to be coming out very soon, is because we forget, we forget as creators that we need to let people sow a seed into good ground. If you stop thinking of your particular art as end all, be all, oh, I just get money and that's it. That's not it. When people invest in work and creative work and investing in their own gifting or whatever that is, however they are like interacting with you.

They are putting seed in the ground. They are investing in themselves, they are investing into a dream, they're investing into coaching, they're investing into having a fun experience out there, trying to create something in their own life. And if you don't charge, you deprive them of the chance to invest into themselves. And we again start to think like, well, if I'm charging them, I'm giving them a prostate. You, you know, I'm making things too hard for them. Or they have to like do this and that.

You know, again, all the mental gymnastics we go through, meanwhile, they want to invest into themselves, they want to do something for themselves. And when you eliminate the price because you're scared to charge, you take that very, very real joy. Yes, people like to spend money. There are people who like to shop. I'm sure I'm talking to some of you right now. You enjoy the act of spending money. You enjoy the act of getting something that you really like. And by not charging because of this fear, you deprive people of that joy. You're actually depriving people of the joy of getting things. And you might say, well, everybody wants something free. Not everybody. And more importantly, when they do buy, they have a different sensation, a different dopamine rush, a different accomplishment when people buy things. So you have to realize you're struggling because you're seeing this as a one sided thing where I get money, I benefit, they get a thing maybe that benefits them, you know, in terms of like getting a piece of art or whatever. But what you're forgetting is the intrinsic value of them making a purchase that they like and want to enjoy and how that ripple effect works in their entire life. When you buy something that you really, really wanted, it improves your entire mood. You feel like, oh, I am finally moving ahead with this or that. And the other thing, you are actually helping people when you charge, not by doing it free. And I don't want to go into this whole why things shouldn't be free, but it's kind of like a, you know, the other side of the coin. I'm trying to focus on the positive, not on the whole why free is so bad, why people get taken advantage of when you offer things for free. So that is the number two, okay, why people struggle because you're equating your value of your thing to a one size fits all, I benefit. And they're just. And you're trying to think of sales and giving value to people as a one way thing. Like you get the value. No, no, no.

They actually get a valuable thing, not just the art. The actual act of investing and buying something is in fact a gift you give to people when you sell. And the Bible says, I want to find the right chapter and verse, so I'm going to look for this. I want to make sure I get the right chapter and verse of this particular passage, because I mentioned this, this says, one who withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it. I've always loved that verse. All right, so as I said, number three got hung up on number two, but number three. And we'll close off with this one.

Why you're scared to charge or why you struggle with pricing is because you're not looking at your own work as a business and as something that actually creates value for you. I know in the last one I said, oh, let's think of the other people. Now you gotta think of yourself. What would you be able to do for the kingdom if your income was increased? What would you be able to do for your art career if your income was increased? What would you be able to do if you charge what this valuable thing is worth and then solve again? New opportunities coming because you could afford more, because you could start to hire people, because you could start to improve your creative stuff, your creative. What you call your creative equipment, you can improve that. If that's the case, charging more is actually responsibility because you need capital, you need more money. And if you are sharing and giving quality for your work, you deserve to be compensated for it. Okay. I love this. Okay, I see what Fred O. Says. We tend to undervalue what we do.

Exactly. We talked about that a little earlier. We tend to undervalue our own work, which is again, why you need to be in communities like God and gigs360 so people can help you evaluate your work. So I love the fact that we were honest about that. Thank you. Simony and Anita Wilfredo would also love to know whether you've ever struggled with pricing your work, because this is where we can all share, like, different things. And you can also, before we finish closing up, please share how you might have overcome that. If you have overcome it. We're going to talk about it more throughout the week and out the year. But if you have got a sense of, oh, this is how I price again. Let me quickly show you. Let me see if it's here. There it is. This book, Free Money, is a amazing, amazing resource for people who want to save or not save, but earn more money and do a better job of pricing. Is by Austin Church. I'm trying to get where you can see it. Austin Church. There we go. It's by Austin Church. There. Okay. And this one is a great book on how to raise your prices.

Okay. Raise your prices and to be able to figure it out. Yes. I see that Anita is very hard to know what to charge sometimes. I'm dealing with the mindset and the mindset I think first of all is has to change where I worry about what people will think of me and then more thinking about how will this benefit them. Okay, one quickly again. This is why the book is so good. Okay, so let me do a quick link. Get a link. Let me see. Have I put it in the library? I don't think I put it in the library yet. The garden gigs library. You know what I'll do? I will put it in the show notes. Show notes. I'll put it in the description when I get a chance because this is not letting me type again inside that. So I can't give you the link real quick but it's Free Money by Austin Church.

Okay. Definitely check that out. If you struggle with pricing. And then the other one I would say was a good one for this. If you want to see some more examples of people who are starting to think think like business people would be Our book by our friend Christian Brehm, Profit first for Creatives. He has a chapter on pricing as well on like how you have to start to think about your income and it just changes your mindset. Again, this is all about mindset. If you start to think about wait a minute, my charging, my pricing is not to position myself, is to position the product in a certain way. Gotten gigs 360 is a perfect example.

Right now it's just $10 a month up until September. Then it's probably going to go up. Okay, not telling you like how much but it is going to go up in September. I know that $10 a month is even in today's economy with as expensive as everything is, $10 is not going to break most people's bank account and wallet. Right? So by charging that amount, I'm saying something with that price. I am saying I want this to be affordable. I'm saying you have no excuse. I'm saying this is an easy on ramp to be a part of our membership. Now as the price goes up, I'm still saying that, but I'm saying this in a slightly different tone. This is still affordable, but this is also getting more and more valuable.

So every price increase is letting people know what they are getting and why they should value it. So the price itself speaks to that. Now I also pay attention to what my competitors are charging. So that is a thing. All right. I don't try to charge way more or way less. I don't want to be the most expensive all the time, but I also don't want to be the cheapest. So I do pay attention to the charging of other consumers or other competitors, but not because I'm trying to be them. Because I need to know the community.

And this is why I'm really paying attention to other artists. I am getting ready right now to prepare an invoice for a three hour, two or three hour event. And best believe, before I even charged the price, I looked at the ticket prices of the event that I am going to make a Bing. I looked because this gives me a window is a wait a minute, how much are they charging for tickets? If they're charging that much for tickets, then I need to be in that ballpark of my budget because what would it look like for me to charge like the cost of like half of one ticket for my services? It shows that I don't know the clientele that I'm serving. It shows that I'm not really connected with them.

And then trying to be the cheapest in that version and actually makes me look bad. And it also makes the product, which is my music, look bad. So there are times that you people, you should charge yourself out of a job. It's okay because maybe that job does not a good fit. And it's like, okay, if I take this at this route, guess what? People will tell other people what you charge them.

That's not something you want going out where, oh, I got them for this much. They're like, what? You do not want the reputation of being the cheapest. So think about that as you guys are doing your pricing. Think about what the price says about the product, not what the price says about you. Divorce yourself from the need to connect your value with the value of your product. The value of your product stands alone.