No one will value what you do unless you absolutely value yourself.
For instance, how are you at deciding on your pricing?
Do you give away too many discounts?
Reduce your costs
Give-away freebies
Are you confident enough to charge more than you think you're worth?
Doing this means that you're undervaluing your business which in turn means you underestimate yourself.
You're not allowing your clients to see how much value you create for them; you're actually inviting clients to know that you're undervaluing yourself and your services.
So why is this?
Is it because you think you're not worth charging at a higher rate?
This is especially common with creative businesses. Maybe someone, a family member for instance or someone you know, says something negative about your work, and so you start to wonder that perhaps you’re not the best at what you do, or maybe, after a poor sales meeting, you don't sell the work or the package you hoped to sell.
What if that dreaded imposter syndrome starts to rear its ugly head?
Well, you're not alone; millions of us evaluate ourselves on just one critical comment rather than seeing the ten other great pieces of feedback we get from people who actually love our work.
In my first solo portrait exhibition some years ago, the then Prime Minister of Great Britain, Gordon Brown, launched & made a beautiful speech about my work and remarked on how I should have been included in my own exhibition 'Black Britannia', which featured 50 black Britons, role models from all walks of life from around the UK.
How great was that!? Well, it was brilliant and justified all the hard work I'd put into that project.
The next day, there was a slew of interest in me, plus loads of lovely comments about my work.
But, amongst all these lovely comments, there were three or four really vile remarks about the quality and standard of my work. All on Twitter.
And guess what? I can only remember the nasty remarks & horrid words.
These comments stuck in my head for a long time. So much so that I couldn't even pick up my camera with confidence again for many months after this.
At the time, it didn't matter that No.10 Downing Street and the Prime Minister thought my work worthy of endorsing and applauding; I just couldn't shake off those negative comments.
And that's the thing; you should never let anyone try and tell you that you can't do what it is you love doing or get upset if they think your work is shit.
If you love something that much and you really want to succeed in what you do, then you're already on your way. Always value what you're doing; you'll know whether or not it's up to a significant enough standard to represent you.
Others will see the value of your work and will share it with their friends, colleagues and so on.
Is there any better kind of marketing for your work?
#value #marketing #creative #keepthefaith
