I was recently asked a question by one of our course students about how the convince clients they are worth the fees they are charging, especially when some clients talk about easy website builders like Wix or SquareSpace or mention that WordPress is free and so are the plug-ins or they can get a website built in India for $15 an hour.
As I was answering this question in our forum it occurred to me that many others have asked me the exact same question. So here is my answer from our forums:
These are all very good questions and I applaud you for having the courage to ask them.
When was the last time you asked your doctor or mechanic about their process? Hardly ever. This is because they are positioned as a specialist and you inherently trust that they know something you don’t. If somebody asks me too many questions about my process I encourage them to join one of my workshops where I’ll teach them everything I know (for a fee of course).
Regarding talent in emerging economies, I encourage clients to outsource their jobs to India or the Philippines if that’s what they want to do and I hint at the fact that it might be a viable option if they know what questions to ask and they know how to communicate technical details to these developers. At this point the conversation usually stops.
To answer your final question, I don’t convince anyone I am worth my fees. I make them convince me their project is worth my energy and expertise.
I know this sounds arrogant and it has taken me a long time to arrive here. However, I know now from experience that this is a mindset and nobody will give you permission to inhabit this space. You just need to step into it and own it.
Start having conversations about how you can solve their problems and add value to their business and stop having conversations about the technology and fees.
