Marketing Monday:pricing and the whole money thing.

Money, Money, Money the mere mention of the word causes many a stomach to tighten, that simple word is the source of  a lot of pain for a lot of folks.  The approaching  outdoor art fair season has caused the annual revisiting of that whole “how much do I charge” thing.

So what is the deal with this paper and coin thing? And why does it  cause artists to get all stiff, uptight and downright grumpy? Well…to start with, many of us grew up being told that talk of money was not polite, that it was also a source of…of PRIDE that awful thing. We grew up hearing our dads grouse about how much something cost and how he could “do just as good if not better even with his hands tied behind his back!” thank you very much! To even more complicate the issue, those of us from the “heartland”here had an extra thing to deal with…the only bragging we could do was related to bargains. So in addition to hearing the old man grouse we also had to deal with stuff that really didn’t work or really didn’t fit but oh was it a deal!!!

What this is all about is that we have been raised with a habit, that has turned into a value statement all tied to moolah, right and wrong and our own self worth. This is especially true for us small business folks. We tend to tie everything to money and then blame it when things get ugly or blame it as the reason for the world’s woes…it is the logical consequence of how we have lived! Even worse,our stoicism and tight liped  mindset has isolated us limiting our ability to receive and give support. Because of all the fear, regret, anger, desperation around money and our closely held habit of not talking about “that stuff” in polite society, we think we are the only ones with a money issue .

So before we can even talk about pricing we need to talk about money and our relationship with it. Yes..I did say relationship and no I’m not going to go all woowoo on you, and yes, yes it is important to understand our relationship with it. All of the energy behind the habit you have given power to leads you to see money as something bigger than it is.

Because money touches us at all levels of our lives and because that touch is so deeply rooted a lot of what we feel around money is automatic and our feelings about it are no where to be found because we are collectively living in denial.

So…let’s step back and take a look at this money thing. There are generally three main areas that hang us up when we talk about pricing  each is loaded with potential triggers from our past:

• Value- as in we have to start “valuing ourselves more”
• Getting- as in we can “get more money”
• Receiving- as in ” I need to learn how to receive”

So let’s first look at the “value”thing…

My friend and Mentor Mark Silver points out that the problem with the way we use the word value turns it into a fundamental judgment statement. The judgment statement puts our worthiness  somewhere on a value continuum between great and worthless. Even more yucky is that judgment implies comparison, one thing is better than the other based on where it lies on the continuum…because value has no meaning if it isn’t measured, compared and evaluated. Ultimately what ever we are comparing ends up on the continuum including our selves.  So when we make statements about “valuing ourselves more”  we are unconsciously invoking judgment which starts the whole snow ball to avalanche thing going. How helpful is that? Not so much…

The other thing about assigning value, especially when we look at pricing, is we almost always end comparing our work with that of others. Here’s the problem though …we may as well be comparing apples and oranges. Because, especially any one who creates, our work is unique to us and our pricing should reflect that. Also, we tend to compare ourselves by sales which repeats the whole apples and orange thing all over again. If we make pots it doesn’t make sense to compare our pots even with another potter because she has a whole diferent vision than we do. Finally, comparing our sales of pots to Joe the wood turner, also doesn’t make sense, because we each have buyers looking for the kind of stuff we sell.

What about the “get” thing?

Well first of all, announcing that we need to “get” more money kinda does a couple of things, first it turns that money into something to be “gotten” through shear force of will. Essentially turning the whole thing into a competition,  with ourselves that can never be won because we have no control of the impulses of our buyers. We can become so focused on the “get” that we easily miss other opportunities that might pop up unexpectedly and lead to more sucess. Isolation happens here also, because we “have” to be focused if we are going to “get what we want” and miss possibilities and support available from others.

On to the “receiving” thing…

Learning to receive is a good thing for the most part, but saying “I just need to learn to receive” implies that whatever comes our way  is from some external power doling stuff out by some unknown criteria. Thinking this way can lead us to the slippery slope of blaming others for our short comings…think blaming those “idiots who couldn’t recoganize good art if it hit them in the face”. The other thing this mindset of “receiving” can lead to is scarcity which turns into fear and we all know where that goes…right back another time around the loop. If chasing your tail sounds fun then have at it, but sooner than later we all get dizzy and fall over from runing in to many circles.

So…before you start cringing and obsessing about pricing our work let’s spend some time looking at ourconversations about money. We need to pay attention to our view point, how we  frame the money thing because how we see money will show up in our conversations, by way of our body and your emotions.Our feelings about money can cause a buyer to automatically push the “reject” button close her ears and run for the hills. If the mere mention of money triggers a flash back to hearing your parents you might want to spend some time sorting out this whole money thing.

Pay attention to all this stuff and know that all it is, is habits and habits, we can change… all we need to do is be ready.

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