A massage therapist I know asked me if he should start asking people to donate money for his services rather than pay a specific price. He thought the former would be the ultimate demonstration of abundance consciousness.
What do you think?
Is leaving the payment up to the customer or client a sign of prosperity?
I say NO.
Not wanting to charge for your services is a cop out. It’s a mind trick. It’s a sly way to trick yourself into thinking you’re so prosperous you don’t need to charge, where in face you’re actually saying you’re so afraid of money that you don’t dare ask for what you want.
Think about it.
If your electric company said, “Hey, we’re prosperous, so just pay us what you think we’re worth,” what would you pay them?
Be honest. Most people would practice scarcity consciousness and pay little or nothing, even when the service provided is one most of us need to survive comfortably.
Don’t think you’re immune to the money mind trick.
Decades ago a therapist I knew experimented with not charging for his service, charging a high fee, and charging a low fee.
The people who saw him for free or the low fee didn’t respect him, or his time, and didn’t change.
The clients who paid the higher fee showed up on time, paid attention, did the work, and got better results.
Money is just a tool, but it’s a loaded gun emotionally. Unless you get clear of the meanings around it, you’ll be like the massage therapist who thought he was being prosperous by asking for love offerings, when in fact he was being afraid.
I wrote an entire book to help you get clear around money, called Attract Money Now. I’m giving the e-book version of it away to take away your excuses for not being prosperous.
Have you asked for the book?
Have you read it?
Have you applied the seven principles in it?
Face it. You need money to accomplish most of what you want in life.
Even people who want to make a difference in struggling countries, find that having money makes it easier to make that difference.
I’ve been able to donate thousands of dollars to build schools, fix schools, and help children in need, as well as start a movement to end homelessness which CNN will televise.
Even people who want to volunteer for non-profit organizations find that they need money to live, travel, eat and work.
A friend of mine once said, “I want to do volunteer work, but I can’t afford it.”
Money is a powerful tool. You can use it however you please, but only if you have it to begin with.
Get clear with money and attract more of the results you want in life.
Begin by reading my book. Just click right here.
Remember, it’s free.
But if you’d feel better buying the hardcover version of the book, and if that would get you to actually read and implement what you learn, it’s available right here.
Consider what Arnold Patent wrote, “The sole purpose of money is to express appreciation.”
Go express some.
Ao Akua,
PS — The beautiful hardcover edition of my latest book, Attract Money Now, comes with a DVD of a fiery live presentation by me. It’s described right here. It’ll shake up your beliefs about money so you can use the Law of Attraction and the Law of Right Action to actually manifest some. Go see.
15 Comments
So True!!!!!! I think the not wanting to charge is a way to avoid responsibility. I can only say that as a recovering doormat who’s finally learning to stand up for herself instead pleasing everyone else. I even think not respecting myself is reflected in my finances. While enormously improved, I know I would be far wealthier already if I had been more responsible at a younger age. Live and learn.
Joe this is a great and important post! 😀
I remember once somebody said to me: “You can’t ask for money for spirirual work!” Like if money is “non-spiritual”, and you obviously have to have some kind of “non-spiritual” (whatever that is!?) work to make a living!
So far out!!
It is so important as you say to recognize the value of what you do and ask for what it is worth!
Money is neutral – they are not spiritual nor non-spiritual. They just are, and great to have loads of!! ;-D
Warm greetings,
Claus 😀
Joe this is a great and important post! 😀
I remember once somebody said to me: “You can’t ask for money for spirirual work!” Like if money is “non-spiritual”, and you obviously have to have some kind of “non-spiritual” (whatever that is!?) work to make a living!
So far out!!
It is so important as you say to recognize the value of what you do and ask for what it is worth!
Money is neutral – they are not spiritual nor non-spiritual. They just are, and great to have loads of!! ;-D
Warm greetings,
Claus 😀
You make some good points, Joe. In fact, I’ve taken steps recently to try to “monetize” my own hobby blog, although at this point it is just on a donation basis. It’s a start!
And, continuing the abundance theme in your own work, I’m thinking that maybe the people who are working on your Operation Y.E.S. documentary should be paid, rather than being asked to work as interns for no pay. But maybe it’s up to them to demand the pay.
What do you think?
Hi Connie. I’m not writing or running the ads for interns; CNN is asking for non-pay interns and it seems to be the industry norm. Mark Twain once said you should work for no pay for two years to prove yourself. If no one hires you after that, you’re in the wrong field. Not sure Mark Twain ever actually did that, though. 🙂
Joe
Thanks for taking the time to explain, Joe. I was hoping that was CNN’s idea to use free labor and not yours. 🙂
Thought provoking post. Not wanting to charge for the value you give to your customers is saying you have no value. Letting the customer decide the value actually DEvalues your product. You know what you are worth. Put it out there! (and double the first number you came up with!)
Martha, that’s easy to say, but if one is selling really high-dollar services or products — especially in the wake of a serious economic downturn — it’s sometimes not so easy to get that first number you come up with, to say nothing of a “double” one. I suppose the trick is to market to more affluent clientele. But even the affluent don’t like to be overcharged, so it’s not just a simple matter of putting a super-high price on something and calling it fair.
Obviously, one has to find a happy medium. You can be fair to yourself without gouging clients. In any case I do think Joe’s basic points in this blog post are valid.
This is really interesting! Thank you for keeping this blog so exciting, I love being here!
I believe it’s more about the sacrifice. Generally if someone sacrifices more, they receive more, money is just the vehicle. Joe, read in your last email that you are a Reiki Master, always suspected but never knew! How cool is that. Now for a personal question, do you use “it” to set intent and empower your projects? Also, what is your feeling on infusing material world “stuff” with the divine energy? Probably a rhetorical question from your perspective, but I have a personal block on that matter and would love your input! Thanks for doing what You do.
Paul.
Hi Joe,
I am in the process of reading your book, Attract Money Now, after listening to your interview with Noah St. John. The 7 steps are very good and, if someone is serious, should not be impossible to implement. If a person values themselves, they should not have a problem charging what they are worth. In my work as a Paralegal, I was always so grateful to get ANY salary, that I would never even question what I was offered or ask for more. Later, I found out the other Paralegals were making a lot more money than I was, for the same level of work. A valuable lesson learned! I didn’t take myself serious as a Paralegal, even though I was very good at my job! Now I’m learning self-esteem and will never devalue myself again.
I was a free-lance photographer for many years in Chicago. Early on, I was barely squeaking through and yet friends who needed a head shot for this or that would ask me to do the photography for them for free. And I would! But then someone said to me: “When you give your work away, you are telling the world that you don’t value it very highly.”
So the next day a friend I knew who worked at a film place called and said they were honoring Louis Malle and would I take the pictures for free? Louis Malle, I said, you bet! But then I called back and told her they would have to pay me something, even if it’s just 10 bucks. She said: “OK, how about 10 bucks?” I did it because I wanted to meet Louis Malle and it would be good for my portfolio. But that 10 bucks was the beginning of my saying no to all the poverty pleas. It’s only up from here………….
Saying that people who don’t charge are afraid of money is a point of view. Maybe. But I still intend to give away my FREE Success Principles eCourse because there are a lot of people out there sitting on the fence, unwilling to commit money to (what is to them) a new unproven philosophy. I have read your books Joe, most of them anyway, and they are fantastic. I have been studying under several famous names for over 30 years. And the information has transformed my life from homelessness to abundance (as it has for you although I don’t claim to be as rich as you, yet). Now I want to give something back. Is there anything wrong with that Joe? I think what you are doing is really great, I recommend your books and programmes in my course, as well as the books and programmes from the other gurus to whom I owe so much gratitude. You also give stuff away free (‘Attract Money Now’ for instance). That’s great. So why say that people who don’t charge are afraid of money? They may have other, more noble, reasons too.
Hello Joe,
I am working my way through Attract Money Now. Thank you for sharing this as a free e-book! I find it extremely insightful, and I am surprising myself with my answers to some of your direct questions. The only thing is, I’d love to be able to highlight passages for quick referral. When I try to copy or highlight, it says I need a password. Any way around this? Thank you.
hee, hee. I thought the title said “The Monkey Mind Trick”. Same difference 🙂 and I totally agree.