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No one will ever pay you
what you're worth.

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No one will ever pay you

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what you're worth.

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They'll only ever pay you

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what they think you're worth.

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And you control their thinking,

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not like this,

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although that would be cool.

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(Laughter)

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That would be really cool.

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Instead, like this:

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clearly defining and communicating
your value are essential

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to being paid well for your excellence.

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Anyone here want to be paid well?

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OK, good,

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then this talk is for everyone.

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It's got universal applicability.

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It's true if you're a business owner,
if you're an employee,

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if you're a job seeker.

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It's true if you're a man or a woman.

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Now, I approach this today through
the lens of the woman business owner,

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because in my work I've observed
that women underprice more so than men.

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The gender wage gap is
a well-traveled narrative in this country.

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According to the Bureau
of Labor Statistics,

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a woman employee earns just 83 cents
for every dollar a man earns.

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What may surprise you

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is that this trend continues
even into the entrepreneurial sphere.

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A woman business owner earns just
80 cents for every dollar a man earns.

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In my work, I've often heard women express

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that they're uncomfortable
communicating their value,

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especially early on in business ownership.

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They say things like,

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"I don't like to toot my own horn."

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"I'd rather let the work
speak for itself."

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"I don't like to sing my own praises."

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I hear very different narratives
in working with male business owners,

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and I think this difference
is costing women 20 cents on the dollar.

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I'd like to tell you the story
of a consulting firm

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that helps their clients
dramatically improve their profitability.

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That company is my company.

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After my first year in business,
I saw the profit increases

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that my clients were realizing
in working with me,

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and I realized that I needed
to reevaluate my pricing.

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I was really underpriced
relative to the value I was delivering.

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It's hard for me to admit to you,
because I'm a pricing consultant.

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(Laughter)

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It's what I do.

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I help companies price for value.

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But nonetheless, it's what I saw,

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and so I sat down to evaluate my pricing,
evaluate my value,

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and I did that
by asking key value questions.

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What are my clients' needs
and how do I meet them?

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What is my unique skill set that makes me
better qualified to serve my clients?

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What do I do that no one else does?

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What problems do I solve for clients?

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What value do I add?

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I answered these questions

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and defined the value that my clients
get from working with me,

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calculated their return on investment,

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and what I saw was
that I needed to double my price,

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double it.

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Now, I confess to you, this terrified me.

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I'm supposed to be the expert in this,
but I'm not cured.

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I knew the value was there.

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I was convinced the value was there,

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and I was still scared out of my wits.

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What if nobody would pay me that?

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What if clients said, "That's ridiculous.

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You're ridiculous."

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Was I really worth that?

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Not my work, mind you, but me.

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Was I worth that?

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I'm the mother of two beautiful
little girls who depend upon me.

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I'm a single mom.

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What if my business fails?

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What if I fail?

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But I know how to take my own medicine,

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the medicine that I
prescribe to my clients.

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I had done the homework.

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I knew the value was there.

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So when prospects came,

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I prepared the proposals
with the new higher pricing

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and sent them out

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and communicated the value.

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How's the story end?

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Clients continued to hire me

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and refer me and recommend me,
and I'm still here.

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And I share this story

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because doubts and fears
are natural and normal.

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But they don't define our value,

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and they shouldn't limit
our earning potential.

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I'd like to share another story,

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about a woman who learned
to communicate her value

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and found her own voice.

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She runs a successful
web development company

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and employs several people.

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When she first started her firm
and for several years thereafter,

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she would say, "I have
a little web design company."

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She'd actually use
those words with clients.

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"I have a little web design company."

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In this and in many other small ways,

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she was diminishing her company
in the eyes of prospects and clients,

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and diminishing herself.

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It was really impacting her ability
to earn what she was worth.

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I believe her language and her style

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communicated that she didn't believe

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she had much value to offer.

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In her own words, she was practically
giving her services away.

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And so she began her journey

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to take responsibility
for communicating value to clients

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and changing her message.

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One thing I shared with her

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is that it's so important

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to find your own voice,

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a voice that's authentic and true to you.

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Don't try to channel your sister-in-law
just because she's a great salesperson

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or your neighbor who tells a great joke
if that's not who you are.

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Give up this notion
that it's tooting your own horn.

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Make it about the other party.

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Focus on serving and adding value,
and it won't feel like bragging.

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What do you love about what you do?

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What excites you
about the work that you do?

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If you connect with that, communicating
your value will come naturally.

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So she embraced her natural style,

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found her voice and changed her message.

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For one thing, she stopped calling herself
a little web design company.

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She really found a lot of strength
and power in communicating her message.

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She's now charging three times
as much for web design,

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and her business is growing.

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She told me about a recent meeting

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with a gruff and sometimes
difficult client

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who had called a meeting questioning
progress on search engine optimization.

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She said in the old days,

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that would have been
a really intimidating meeting for her,

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but her mindset was different.

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She said, she prepared the information,
sat down with the client,

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said this isn't about me,
it's not personal,

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it's about the client.

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She took them through the data,
through the numbers,

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laid out the trends and the progress
in her own voice and in her own way,

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but very directly said,
"Here's what we've done for you."

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The client sat up and took notice,
and said, "OK, I got it."

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And she said in describing that meeting,

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"I didn't feel scared or panicky

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or small,

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which is how I used to feel.

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Instead I feel like, 'OK, I got this.

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I know what I'm doing. I'm confident.'"

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Being properly valued is so important.

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You can hear in this story

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that the implications
range far beyond just finances

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into the realm of self-respect
and self-confidence.

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Today I've told two stories,
one about defining our value

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and the other about
communicating our value,

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and these are the two elements
to realizing our full earning potential.

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That's the equation.

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And if you're sitting
in the audience today

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and you're not being paid
what you're worth,

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I'd like to welcome you
into this equation.

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Just imagine what life could be like,

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how much more we could do,

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how much more we could give back,

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how much more we could
plan for the future,

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how validated and respected we would feel

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if we could earn our full potential,

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realize our full value.

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No one will ever pay you
what you're worth.

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They'll only ever pay you
what they think you're worth,

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and you control their thinking.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)