Signs Your Pricing Isn’t Working: 5 Symptoms To Look For As A Spiritual Entrepreneur

6 days ago
13 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

How do I know I’m charging the right amount?

For busy solopreneurs, pricing can often become the last priority on a list of more pressing jobs, resulting in hidden problems that become chronic over months or years
Knowing if you’re charging the right amount can therefore be difficult because the pricing problem may have started way before you became away of the issue
Often spiritual entrepreneurs get stuck with a pricing strategy they chose at the start of their business and are now unsure whether it still works for them
There are 5 telltale symptoms you are no longer charging the right amount for your services, each manifesting through different signals
Asking yourself key questions for each stage of your business can help you tune into whether your current pricing framework is effective or whether it is draining you
There is no perfect time to change the amount you charge, but making the decision to improve your awareness of pricing needs to happen first
Luckily there are specific steps you can take to develop self-mastery of your pricing, so you can charge the right amount and feel confident in your decision

Why Pricing Problems Run Deeper Than Money

Pricing problems in your business don't just affect your income. As a business owner in the wellness, holistic, healing or spiritual fields, when you have these pricing problems, they actually do something much worse. They can end up creating a compounding cycle of frustration and eroded confidence which affects your work with your community - and which gets harder to reverse the longer it goes on.

But how can you spot these problems before they get to that point? How can you get your pricing right before it all starts to feel very, very wrong? One of the areas that comes up for improvement very often with my clients is pricing, and it’s my job to spot the symptoms that might lead to issues later on. That’s what you’ll learn about in this article.

The Reality Of Running A Small Business Alone

Before we get into the signs that your pricing isn’t working, I want you to know that I get it. I get that when you run your own business, you’re doing everything yourself. Especially if you're just starting out, pivoting your offer, or work predominantly as a service-based business in wellness and holistic fields, I understand how much you are doing to run your business.

When I started out over 10 years ago, I did everything myself, from building my own website to delivering all my services, developing products, networking, marketing, finance … everything was done manually and I did it all! I was a true solopreneur, and probably you are too.

So when it comes to something like working on your pricing, I get that it becomes just another thing on a very long list of jobs that you've got to do. And what I found is that when I was getting sales - when customers were contacting me and clients were easy to find - I didn't feel any need to examine my pricing. I didn't feel any need to question my pricing strategy or what I was charging - because if the money is coming in, what’s the problem?

But what I found in my business is when you put pricing to the end of the list like this, it causes problems later on. Things that don’t seem like a big deal at the time end up becoming chronic issues that develop over months, if not years, of poorly chosen pricing strategies or working within a framework that no longer fits your business. You ignore the signs, or you don’t even see them as signs, until it is too late.

What 'Your Pricing Isn’t Working' Really Means

When I say that your pricing isn’t working, I’m not suggesting that you have the ‘wrong’ price - for example, that it is too low or too high for your target audience. I mean that whatever pricing strategy you previously chose is no longer working for you. Your old pricing framework has naturally run its course (or may never have worked properly in the first place) but for whatever reason you are avoiding this truth.

Being able to spot the signs that your pricing is no longer right is not about getting all your pricing perfect; it’s about making the decision to face up to what’s wrong, change things, and improve your self-mastery about pricing.

The 5 Signs Your Pricing Is No Longer Working

Symptom #1: Every pricing decision feels harder than the last

Pricing, money and sales for any business owner always require quite a lot of brain power. But if every pricing decision feels harder than the last, it’s a symptom your pricing is no longer working.

As an ADHD entrepreneur, I have incredible executive function for the things I care about, and for short bursts of time. I can think big picture, strategically and dive into the details of something quicker than many people I know. But I don’t have the energy to think about complex things all the live long day. So if there are ever periods in my business where each pricing decision I make feels harder and harder, then I know it’s a sign my pricing has stopped being simple and easy and started to generate unnecessary cognitive load.

If you are neurodiverse, menopausal, have memory issues, have a lot on your plate right now or are new to this line of your business, you will feel that compounding cognitive load quicker than other business owners. If your pricing strategy has run its course, if you are unclear on your pricing, if you haven’t thought about it and prepared, every decision will feel harder and harder, and you’ll be overloading your brain each time.

Every pricing decision that doesn't end up getting made, every time you change one of your rates on a whim, every time you give someone a discount randomly without really thinking about your policy behind it … every single one of those actions is like a withdrawal from the bank account of your brain. In turn this reduces your capacity to run a focused business.

These little withdrawals seem small but end up accumulating over months and years, creating this cognitive debt. You will feel exhausted every time you consider pricing, and you’ll feel stuck in confusion about what you should charge, to who, how often, and - most importantly - why your prices are what they are.

Symptom #2: You feel resentment toward your clients and collaborators

Running your own business, especially one in the field of wellness or spirituality, can come with a rollercoaster of emotion. However, there is one feeling that is a solid indicator your pricing is no longer working: resentment.

When you feel resentment in your business, particularly if it is towards customers or collaborators, you might initially want to push that feeling away. No one wants to admit to being pissed off with their clients! But every business owner I know has felt resentment towards their customers at one time or another. The key is knowing where that resentment is coming from.

If you don’t ignore the feeling, you might just assume you’re having a bad day, or the client was having a bad day, or there was something wrong in the environment, or audience, or marketing. Maybe you’ll even outsource the problem to the cosmos and tell yourself it’s because there’s an Aries full moon and everyone is feeling riled up.

But imagine you listen to the old saying: The customer is always right. If you pretend for a moment they are behaving normally, and you still feel resentment, you might start to question where that feeling is coming from. Then you can ask yourself one of my favourite coaching questions: “How have I contributed to this situation?”

What I’ve often seen when I ask my clients this question is that they made a decision about pricing and delivery earlier on that is no longer working for them - in fact, may never have worked for them. They chose a strategy perhaps from a place of fear or unworthiness, and now they are dealing with the consequences. Maybe you offered a discount, over-delivered, or worked for free. You agreed to a financial contract when what you actually wanted to say was: “No, that’s not going to work for me.”

So when you start to feel resentment, you can take it as a sign that your pricing and approach to money exchange in your business is no longer working. It’s time to practice something different.

Symptom #3: Despite producing lots of marketing content, you seem to be invisible

As a service provider, you want to be seen at the right time by the right people. If you’re feeling like you’re producing lots of marketing content, but you still seem to be invisible, it could be a sign your existing approach to pricing has run its course.

Visibility is such a marketing buzzword nowadays. Social media encourages you to always be ‘on’, there are more ways to reach your customers than ever, and there’s this elusive idea that if you could just be more visible you’d be guaranteed success. What isn’t often talked about is why the flip side happens - why you might be staying ‘invisible’ despite creating plenty of content and trying your best.

If you’re using a pricing strategy that no longer works for you, you’ll find yourself avoiding conversations about pricing. That means you will subconsciously avoid anything to do with pricing: talking about money, making sales, pitching an idea, putting forward an offer, even putting your prices down on your website or a flyer.

In particular you will end up avoiding questions about your pricing. You won’t want anyone to ask you about it, because every time you think about it, it feels like a pain in the arse. Any time you are compelled to talk about it, you’ll come across as very unsure or even reactive because you just do not want to deal with it.

And this is why despite producing lots of marketing content, you still feel invisible. If no-one knows how much you charge, they also don’t know whether they can afford you, whether you are good value, what you’re like compared to other service providers … and so no-one responds. No-one makes a decision.

It’s like a really high-end shop where there are no price tags: your customer will assume if they have to ask, they can’t afford it - even though the reality is they probably can afford it, they just have no idea they can because you’re refusing to talk about it. And if you avoid pricing conversations - in person, in a discovery call, on your website or a flyer - you're not going to end up appearing like Prada or Gucci, who have decades of brand history behind them. Rather, you’ll seem to lack credibility and confidence.

The self-mastery step here is not to necessarily suddenly plaster your prices everywhere and start pushing out lots of heavy sales content. It’s actually about overcoming the discomfort of thinking about pricing - especially thinking about where your pricing is no longer working. Once you master that part of it, you’ll find you are more willing to ‘talk shop’, answer questions about your rates, and come across as knowing your stuff. You’ll stop being busy but invisible, and start looking credible instead.

Symptom #4: The opportunities come in - and just as quickly they’re gone

It’s so exciting as a business owner - especially a solopreneur - when you are approached by a new client, gain another follower on social media, or meet a potential collaborator. But if you are finding that opportunities like this are flowing in, only to very quickly flow back out again, it’s probably a sign your pricing isn’t working.

That’s because your pricing is a data point through which potential customers make decisions about whether to buy from you. Imagine you’re in a shop, choosing between bunches of flowers. One of them has a price tag and another one doesn't. You know you want flowers, and both bunches are equally nice. Now, do you bother going to find an assistant, ask the price of the other bunch, wait for them to find out, then make a decision - or are you more likely to just buy the one with the price tag?

The likelihood is you buy the one with the price tag, because you have all the information you need to make a decision. It’s the same for your customers. Clear pricing means faster, more informed responses from them and clearer opportunities to make sales and build community. If you have clear pricing, it means that the customer can make a quicker response, whether that's a yes or a no.

But it also works the other way round. If you have a pricing strategy you feel confident in, you can make swift decisions about projects and collaborations that you get approached about. Imagine you are a flower grower. A stockist comes to you and offers to buy your flowers wholesale, and they give you a specific budget. If you have your pricing and your numbers sorted out, you will be able to respond quickly and confidently to that opportunity - whether that response is a no or a yes.

It’s the same if you are working with other practitioners, applying for funding, or being offered a contract: if the opportunity comes in and you have the pricing data you need, you can make a decision quickly and grab hold of that opportunity.

This is why if opportunities are coming into your business and quickly exiting, it can be a sign the pricing structure isn’t working any more. Because you subconsciously know it’s not really working, you’ll find yourself hesitating, wondering, spending hours on internal debate over whether you should accept an offer or charge a different price … all of which delay your responses to enquiries that might represent a business breakthrough. The longer you faff, the colder the opportunity gets, and the likelihood is that you will miss out.

But if you choose to prepare and develop the self-mastery around pricing, those opportunities will stay warm. More importantly, you will know which ones are worth your time and which ones you can confidently decline and move on.

Symptom #5: It feels like you’re taking the long road to success

Success is possible for you as a business owner. I know this because I’ve been in a position where I thought I would never be able to make it - and then I tripled my business income in one year. But am I acutely aware that success could have come round a lot sooner? Absolutely.

When it feels like you’re taking the long road to success, it is a sure sign that your pricing is no longer working. Maybe the initial strategy has run its course, maybe it doesn’t fit with what you do now - or maybe you’re like me and you’ve got a whole load of emotional and practical self-mastery to do on this topic. Whatever it is, it ends up having the disappointing effect of delaying your feeling of success.

You didn’t get into running your own business to become a financial expert or sales whiz. You did it to offer your gifts to the world in a way that worked for you. But when you ignore or avoid pricing problems, you end up hesitating, wasting time and energy going in circles when you could be moving forward toward success.

The hardest realisation I had about my business was that if I could triple my income in one year without compromising, then why had I not done that before? The truth is because I was not doing the self-mastery work around learning how to effectively price my work, think about pricing, or make proper choices about pricing. It wasn’t all ‘money mindset’: it was practical stuff, understanding economics and frameworks so I could make some confident decisions.

Because the most powerful thing anyone can do in their business is to make a committed decision about this moment now. Not what you will do later, or when you’ve learnt more, but now. And most of these now decisions are what I call Domino Decisions: they are the primary decisions which can make everything else easier, flowing and swift - or they can topple everything without you even realising.

Your domino decision is whether or not you will choose to develop self-mastery around pricing. This decision is not about whether to charge more or less, try this approach or another: it is the decision that you are going to get comfortable with pricing, you’re going to address it, take it seriously, and get it right for you. Once you do that, you’ll find the road to success shortens and business gets a lot easier.

Key Questions To Ask Yourself

Symptom #1

When I think about pricing, does it feel easier or harder than before?

Symptom #2

If I feel resentment in my business, how have I contributed to that feeling?

Symptom #3

Where am I making myself invisible by avoiding pricing conversations?

Symptom #4

What was the last opportunity I missed, and how did that relate to pricing?

Symptom #5

Where am I making business harder for myself by not deciding?

If You’re Looking For A Sign, This Is It

The time to address your pricing and make a decision to get it right is now. It is not when things get more settled, when you have done the other jobs on your list, when you are worried about how to get customers or bring in income. It’s now, when you make the decision to practice this self-mastery.

Peacefulness in your business comes from within you first, then it extends out into the work you're doing. Addressing your pricing so you feel confident and sure - not avoiding, not deflecting - is going to make a huge difference in feeling settled in your business as a whole.

And that is the whole point of this work. Yes, it will improve your business, and yes it will pave the way for the breakthroughs you want. But ultimately the point of pricing self-mastery is so you no longer worry about pricing and your precious energy can be used on more enjoyable, wonderful, and meaningful activities.

The Pricing Self-Mastery Pathway

Pricing is one of the big areas of self-mastery that I coach people on. This led me to develop a pathway of resources to help you with this topic, including articles, podcast episodes, an assessment tool and a book.

If this article has been helpful, then you’ll find the rest of the pathway helpful too.

✅ Step 1

Read Signs Your Pricing Isn’t Working: 5 Symptoms To Look For As A Spiritual Entrepreneur

➡️ Step 2

Read Why It Feels So Hard To Price Your Work: For Spiritual Healers, Wellness Experts and Holistic Practitioners

Step 3

Listen to The Real Cost of Getting Pricing Wrong

Step 4

Read How Much Should I Charge In My Spiritual Business? Your Business Owner Type Influences Your Answer

Step 5

Listen to The Four Types of Service Business Owner (And What Each One Gets Wrong About Pricing)

Step 6