Women Entrepreneurs Are Still Charging Less for Their Services
Sad but true: Women who set their own rates charge less than their male equivalents. As we know, women earn 81 cents for every dollar earned by men.
This strange and unfair wage gap explains why many women choose to work for themselves. When you own your business, you determine your own hours and rates. Easy enough, right?
So why are women business owners still charging less than their male equivalents?
It’s not you it’s…everything
Truthfully, the reasons why women business owners charge less than what they’re worth are endless. History and culturally-sanctioned expectations play a large role. Self-employed women must still answer to systemic biases.
According to new research from Freshbooks, 20 % of Women Entrepreneurs believe they must charge less than men in their industry to keep their clients, and 34% have experienced gender discrimination even while working for themselves. When you consider that many women entrepreneurs are also single parents, trauma survivors, and/or saddled with student loan debt, the lean and mean business world becomes increasingly difficult to navigate.
But there is good news…
When we acknowledge falsehoods within our hearts and minds, we can embrace more positive outcomes in the material world. Basic alchemy says this: we cannot accept the new until we dissolve the old.
The following reasons explain why women entrepreneurs charge less and how to overcome them. As clichéd as this might sound, change starts with you, and financial freedom starts with self-acceptance. Acceptance doesn’t have to lead to inertia. As the great Byron Katie says, “When we stop opposing reality, action becomes simple, fluid, kind, and fearless.”
3 Reasons Why Women Business Owners Charge Less
1. Imposter Syndrome
Photo by Hannah Pahl
Imposter syndrome, or the belief that one’s accomplishments, skills, and talents are either fabricated or come from a place of inauthenticity, permeates women entrepreneurs. Women, women of color, and members of the LGBTQIA community are more likely to experience imposter syndrome than privileged social groups.
When women doubt their capabilities, they play small. And when you play small in business or love, you receive very, very little. A lack of representation and/or role models play a huge role in how women conduct business among others and themselves. Pervasive racist and/or sexist ideas can negatively impact the hiring process especially in Fortune 500 companies.
But even successful women entrepreneurs still wrestle with imposter syndrome. Mila Meldosian an expert copywriter and marketer, says imposter syndrome is a common hurdle for freelance writers.
“We don't quite fit into the mold of traditional work and expectations. So we are compelled to choose our own path, but it can be lonely and difficult—especially if we are rather introspective as I think most writers are. And it can be hard to promote yourself and put your work out there to be judged! I know I struggle with perfectionism a lot and it causes a lot of resistance to take action.”-Mila Meldosian
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome to Grow Your Business
Raise Your Prices
A great way for women entrepreneurs to overcome imposter syndrome is to raise their prices. When you charge what you’re worth, you’ll attract quality clients and see a significant increase in your income.
Determining your prices is a vulnerable experience, and it can be hard to know where to start. For women entrepreneurs who are just starting out, study other people in your industry and see what they charge based on their experience and skill level. You should also determine your dream yearly salary and see how much you’d have to charge to reach that goal.
Freelance copywriter and creative writer, Megan Barlog has great advice for freelancers on determining their prices:
“I decided upon a $100/hr rate, and then I estimated how much time varying types of projects might take me. For example, a well-researched blog post might be $300, but a short listicle might only be $150. While a simple blog post might take me an hour or less to write, I also keep in mind the hours of unpaid work that must go on behind the scenes in order to land a project. That includes emailing clients about the specifics of a project, crafting proposals for clients that inevitably get turned down, plus ancillary business expenses like maintaining a website or purchasing office supplies. For every hour of "paid" work there are often additional hours of unpaid work, and that needs to be calculated into your rates.”
For more writerly tips and insights, be sure to check out my recent interview with Megan Barlog
Don’t Try to “prove” your worth. Write a Hypersigil instead
Hustle culture teaches us to constantly prove our worth. Women entrepreneurs are conditioned to overwork and undermine themselves for the sake of commerce. While actions can speak louder than words and hard work certainly pays off, our actions fall flat when rooted in scarcity.
One way to overcome scarcity and/or imposter syndrome is to write daily hypersigils. In magic/alchemy, a hypersigil is a feedback loop created between the magician and their persona. Hypersigils take the form of letters, poems, narratives, and more. The more effort you put into writing hypersigils, the clearer the results. Hypersigils help you alter reality in accordance with your will or intent.
I recommend that women entrepreneurs keep a daily journal dedicated to hypersigiling. Perhaps you write a letter to your future self and/or intuition. Be very specific in how you want things to go, especially in terms of emotions. For example, perhaps by 2023 you’d like to earn six figures off your life coaching business. In your hypersigil, write to your future self (or vice versa) about how you plan on making 6 figures and how that will make you feel internally. Will you feel elated, powerful, sexy, invincible, or grateful? Write it down, feel everything, then tuck the hypersigil away. You’ll be amazed at how quickly certain elements of your hypersigil will come true.
As a freelancer, I love hypersigiling. I’ve even come to love the phrase “fake it until you make it.” That’s how things get done. When you approach people and situations from a place of fulfillment, everyone wins.
2. A Healthy Sense of Boundaries
Photo courtesy canva.com
I know, I know. How can a healthy sense of boundaries limit women in business? Boundaries are a common but misunderstood form of self-care. While boundaries are an act of self-love, they’re also an expression of energetic violence.
Think about it. You can’t have boundaries without self-love, and you can’t have self-love without self-defense. Boundaries mean nothing without a healthy dose of threat. They’re like sanitized martial law. While boundaries in our personal relationships keep us healthy and safe, too many boundaries (conscious or unconscious) can limit how we thrive in business.
As you know, competition is fierce. The aggression alone can alienate women entrepreneurs, especially those of us who were raised to be nice and apologetic about literally everything.
And if there’s one thing women would like to see less of in this world, it’s violence of all kinds. Patriarchy’s primed us to feel afraid whether we’re in true danger or not. This fear loves to creep into our pricing and services.
Overcoming a Healthy Sense of Boundaries to Grow Your Business
Stick to Your Prices but Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for More
Women succeed in the business world not by abandoning compassion but by overcoming psychological hurdles created to keep us “safe.” I recommend pushing your limits by setting your rates in a range that may be just a little outside of your comfort zone. Once you make a decision, stick with it.
Firm decisions hold power because they exhaust all other possibilities. However, that doesn’t mean your prices can’t go up. In fact, they should go up. Your rates will most likely change in your favor on a client to client basis.
And remember, don’t be afraid to ask for what you’re worth. Chances are, you’re worth a lot more than you think.
3. A Lack of Ferocity
Photo courtesy canva.com
Imagine a tiger alone in a jungle. What do you see? In William Blake’s famous poem “The Tyger,” he describes a creature burning bright with “fearful symmetry.” The same creature burning bright is the same creature that will bear its fangs to those foolish enough to stand in her way.
As writer and business coach Carolyn Elliott says, if you’re in business for yourself, you are a predator. Obviously, the term predator has negative connotations in our culture and for good reasons. However, think back to that peaceful tiger. As Elliott rightfully notes, even a creature as gorgeous and gentle as a tiger, has the power to destroy for the sake of survival and self-interest.
When I pitch to a client or submit to a writing contest, I don’t do so to foster community. I enter to win. However, when I coach writers and students, I give them the tools they need to rule the jungles of their unique human experience so they can surpass others in their fields (myself included).
Entrepreneurship is a constant dance of submission and slay. The faster women can make peace with reality, the better chance they have in changing it for the higher good.
Overcoming a Lack of Ferocity to Grow Your Business
Love All, Trust few. Take Vengeance
If you’re a woman, an abuse survivor, or a member of the disability, BIPOC or LGBTQIA community, then you have every right to take vengeance on the First World. I define vengeance as the drive toward justice. Whether you’re motivated by political energies or are simply pissed off, vengeance can help you become spiritually, financially, and emotionally wealthy.
Your talents are at once desired and undermined. That’s not a viable way to live life or conduct business. Give yourself permission or whatever it is you need to change this fraught and beautiful world. Just don’t think you have to do it all on your own.
Put those revenge fantasies to practical use by linking up with fellow masterminds. The following are a list of beloved groups and resources for women and/or BIPOC, LGBTQIA entrepreneurs:
Black Women Business Owners of America
Indigenous Women Business Network
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