18 Comments

Great advice ! Remind yourself that your time & expertise is valuable .

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This is a great article, Alexandra. I'm going to feature it in my weekly newsletter.

Thank you!!!

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So true ! Thank you for the reminder to value our time and expertise as consultants/people who work independently. I’ve fallen in that trap countless times. I love your suggestion of letting people know you offer coaching and sending the paid Calendly link:)

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You're pointing to a very interesting and true dynamic that I've experienced over and over as a professional speaker. I often get approached by an organization that wants me to discount my fees, and inevitably, if I bend to give them a lower price, they always wind up being way more work than those who pay my full price. So I've stopped doing that. You're absolutely right that serious people are happy to pay you. They always take responsibility for doing their own work and not expecting you to do it for them.

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May 18, 2023Liked by Alexandra Allen

I must say Alexandra, it takes a lot of courage to write about something like this. I want to acknowledge you for it. I'm going to keep this in mind once people start asking to pick my brain (which hasn't happened yet though....)

Several of my teachers and friends are convinced I DON't have a brain. Maybe it's that...XD

But in all seriousness, I am happy that you've had this realisation and I only see it as a positive in the long run. Good luck and Godspeed :)

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Yes!

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This is a great article and I took too long to learn this.

A while back I started using the guideline: “I’m paid what I’m worth or I work for free with nothing in-between.”

This gives me the clarity to decide to help a few people who are not in a place to pay me, but to keep the scope for those people small and time bound. Also it keeps me from agreeing to someone trying to negotiate down my price.

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this resonated with me so much! not exactly the same thing for me at this point, but I realized I was taking a lot of calls with strangers which in theory I enjoyed, but was sucking up my energy. The bandwidth isn't there for me to help random people I connect with and do my creative work. Still learning and practicing setting boundaries, this was the thing I needed to read! You are doing great work and people should pay you! I've seen so many great students come out of your course that I have no doubt it's valuable.

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I've learned over time that the ONLY time it makes sense to give free consulting is either A) you can use the engagement for customer research for a new offering, or B) it's for an existing customer of yours on a topic you are not currently a “billable” expert at.

And even in both those cases, you can likely still bill for the work.

As a last note, I'll also add that I love the do it “exposure” request. 99% of the time, those people who say that will not give you good exposure.

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