Are You Worth It?
Are you worth it? I don't mean L'Oreal Preference hair dye worth it. There are plenty of women who spend the big bucks on hair, nails, massages, clothes and shoes. If you ask them why they spend so much money on themselves when they could certainly spend a whole lot less, they would say, "Because I’m worth it." Yet why doesn’t that attitude transfer into the world of business?
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PrintAre you worth it? I don’t mean L'Oreal Preference hair dye worth it. There are plenty of women who spend the big bucks on hair, nails, massages, clothes and shoes. If you ask them why they spend so much money on themselves when they could certainly spend a whole lot less, they would say, "Because I’m worth it." Yet why doesn’t that attitude transfer into the world of business?
I was at a meeting this week and sat next to a businesswoman who has a wonderful web business. Talk about a good business--she gets orders on her website every day. She could be on vacation and because her products meet a business need, she makes money while she’s sleeping! Her products allow companies to boost morale, increase productivity and as a result, increase profits.
Her expertise would be a perfect match for companies wanting to take her products to the next level of performance. She wants to consult, but she doesn’t. Why? She has a problem charging for her work. She thinks she’s not worth it.
She, like many women, needs to think differently about her worth at work. I talked with this woman about her reluctance. I asked her about the impact of her work. I told her to take one client and tell me about the results her work produces.
She told me that one of her clients was going to have to fire an employee because the person was not getting along with other teammates. The manager knew that this person was skilled at doing the work and it would be difficult to find someone with the same level or skill. It was just too time consuming to manage this person. The manager bought one of this "unworthy" woman’s products and was able to turn the difficult employee around. How much was this worth?
You may know the statistics about retention. SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, estimated that it costs $3,500.00 to replace one $8.00 per hour employee when all costs like recruiting, interviewing, hiring, training, and reduced productivity were considered. SHRM's estimate was the lowest of 17 nationally respected companies who calculate this cost. Other sources estimate that it costs you 30-50% of the annual salary of entry-level employees, 150% of middle level employees, and up to 400% for specialized, high level employees. Wow...
If you take the low percents of annual salary, this $75,000 employee was a $112,500 problem . This woman was afraid to charge even $75/hour to solve this problem because she thought she wasn’t worth it. My plumber makes that!
Then I asked her, "Could this company do the work as easily without you as they could with your help?" She said, "No, it would be faster if I worked with them." I asked her, "Did you just tell me that you would rather let another person suffer instead of your helping them?" She hesitated a moment. She said, "I never thought of it that way."
Women, every skill you have is worth something. For many women, you are worth far more than you think you are. I encouraged this woman to develop a fee structure that she could be comfortable with based on the results of the work she produces. That way, it’s very clear what she’s worth.
If you have any doubts about your worth, take a look at what would happen without your contribution at work. Or take a look at the value that your work has when other people use it. You just might realize that you’re worth a whole lot more than you thought.
I was at a meeting this week and sat next to a businesswoman who has a wonderful web business. Talk about a good business--she gets orders on her website every day. She could be on vacation and because her products meet a business need, she makes money while she’s sleeping! Her products allow companies to boost morale, increase productivity and as a result, increase profits.
Her expertise would be a perfect match for companies wanting to take her products to the next level of performance. She wants to consult, but she doesn’t. Why? She has a problem charging for her work. She thinks she’s not worth it.
She, like many women, needs to think differently about her worth at work. I talked with this woman about her reluctance. I asked her about the impact of her work. I told her to take one client and tell me about the results her work produces.
She told me that one of her clients was going to have to fire an employee because the person was not getting along with other teammates. The manager knew that this person was skilled at doing the work and it would be difficult to find someone with the same level or skill. It was just too time consuming to manage this person. The manager bought one of this "unworthy" woman’s products and was able to turn the difficult employee around. How much was this worth?
You may know the statistics about retention. SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, estimated that it costs $3,500.00 to replace one $8.00 per hour employee when all costs like recruiting, interviewing, hiring, training, and reduced productivity were considered. SHRM's estimate was the lowest of 17 nationally respected companies who calculate this cost. Other sources estimate that it costs you 30-50% of the annual salary of entry-level employees, 150% of middle level employees, and up to 400% for specialized, high level employees. Wow...
If you take the low percents of annual salary, this $75,000 employee was a $112,500 problem . This woman was afraid to charge even $75/hour to solve this problem because she thought she wasn’t worth it. My plumber makes that!
Then I asked her, "Could this company do the work as easily without you as they could with your help?" She said, "No, it would be faster if I worked with them." I asked her, "Did you just tell me that you would rather let another person suffer instead of your helping them?" She hesitated a moment. She said, "I never thought of it that way."
Women, every skill you have is worth something. For many women, you are worth far more than you think you are. I encouraged this woman to develop a fee structure that she could be comfortable with based on the results of the work she produces. That way, it’s very clear what she’s worth.
If you have any doubts about your worth, take a look at what would happen without your contribution at work. Or take a look at the value that your work has when other people use it. You just might realize that you’re worth a whole lot more than you thought.
