You’re Not Expensive—They Just Can’t Afford You

Have no second thoughts! You’re not expensive; they simply cannot afford you, and by default, they are not your target audience.

Whenever someone tells you that your price is too high, don’t feel bad. Just remind yourself that it’s them who need to come up higher.

The same service they say is too expensive is the same one someone else is charging 4x what you’re currently charging.

I remember years ago when we were charging N1,000 to deliver a single graphic in less than 1 hour.

Yup!

Our promise was to deliver, no matter how complicated the design is in 1 hour or less. We were essentially doing more than 7 designs daily, with a flood of DMs from interested prospects.

This was many years ago, and if you know me, you know I have a high taste for design, so we delivered top-notch work.

When we decided it was time to up our price game, we raised the price from N1,000 to N3,000 and lost a couple of clients who believed they knew someone doing it for less than N1,000.

We agreed and bid them goodbye.

A few days ago, one of our former clients, who had left when the price was N8,000 for someone else charging less, came back to us. Her company was celebrating a milestone, and she needed the best design to represent the occasion.

Guess what? N35,000 per design, and she ticked the box.

And instead of our public promise to deliver in 1 hour, we extend it to a few days, even though we still complete the project in 1 hour but holds it until the promised number of days have passed.

Humans are just so… anyway, I’ll share more about that in my next publication.

Early on in this journey, I realized there’s a clear difference between my clients and my audience. So, I stick to the plan.

I also realized that I don’t need everyone to scale.

You don’t need 300 clients to hit your target.

One, two, or three clients are enough to help you achieve that goal.

‘People get money to afford your fee, nah you just dey dull with those prospects wey dey disparage your skill.’

Have you also noticed that when you try to serve everyone, you risk burnout?

The most troublesome clients I’ve had to deal with are those who pay the least and come with the wrong mindset.

They spend xx on hiring your expertise but panic the hell out of you.

Right now, I’m thinking about a particular client I worked with in Switzerland. With my Nigerian mentality shaped by Nigerian clients, I promised her a 4x ROI in 30 days, and she was shocked.

According to her, she was hoping for a 2x maximum. She thought 4x sounded like a Ponzi scheme. It took extra persuasive skills to convince her that it wasn’t, and that I was capable of delivering what I promised.

Poor me! In Nigeria, that was perfectly normal. In fact, if you can’t guarantee prospects they’ll spend N5,000 and make N1,000,000 in 30 days, you haven’t even started!

Get away from those crowded prospects.

Listen, ‘you self deserve’ to be paid in multiple six figures just for speaking with someone on the phone for an hour.

It’s time to up your game.

Have no second thoughts! You’re not expensive; they simply cannot afford you, and by default, they are not your target audience.