Reminder to myself: Don't let the market alone define your value
Agnes Asodi
Human-Centric Systems Design | Organisational Design and Architecture | Transformational Coaching
Before I got my first 9-5 job, I was a full time student and a mom of a little girl who I had when I was 19. I had to make ends meet, and our educational system with its quirky schedule wouldn't allow me to work even part time, so I used a lot of my time and energy on freelancing in jobs like interpretations, translations, giving Hungarian and German language classes.
At that time, being a young adult without any business experience, I let the market dictate the price of my classes. The first ones I was giving were probably priced at least 10% below the average rate, or less.
Before I even started giving lessons, I was thinking about how I can market myself and get people to come to me for lessons. I didn't know what I was doing at the time or even why, but I had an open mind to understanding not only how to be good at teaching (which I very quickly became since I'm a nerd) but also understanding the game. Who are the players? Who are the other teachers? Should I join a language center or should I fly solo? Where do I find clients?
And I tried it all. From posting ads on street poles and bakery windows to visiting all language schools that taught German and Hungarian in the city giving them my "CV" with volunteering jobs listed as experience. Hey, we all have to start somewhere, no? ??
No callbacks. None.
Then, I remembered, when I just had went back to the uni after having the baby, one weekend, I went out to a live ska gig, and met an older friend of mine. I met her probably 10 years prior to that night, when my big brother and I started visiting her language school in order to learn English. When I told her about me going back to my studies after the baby, she congratulated me on that decision and asked me to get back to her when I'm in my third year of studies. Smart woman, from the same uni, she knew that by the time you get to your third year, it means there's only one quarter of the initial student group left and we are the best ones. What she told me was too big for me to believe - she would open a German language wing just for me to lead. I dreamt small, so I brushed it off and it kind of slipped my mind immediately.
Until that moment, when noone replied to my ads. So I rang her up. She was good on her word. She marketed the school starting to add German lessons after 20 years of existence. And despite the fact that people didn't bite enough to make even one whole group for a class, there were still individuals who wanted to learn from me and those were my first pupils.
With them, I had very early sessions of frustration and disappointment, when it comes to classes cancelled last minute or just being a j*rk because they're paying. On the other hand, I met amazing and interesting people in my classes and I quickly started saying "no" to people who I felt were not worthy of my energy. Saying "no" to cancelled classes. I would start off every new relationship with strictly set boundaries. I would ask for a minimum guaranteed number of classes per month. I would charge 50% of price on those classes if cancelled 24 hours prior, 100% if the person actually shows up or does not cancel in time. I would also show flexibility - 2 for the price of one? In case of families, yes (if it was coming from the same budget). In case of friends or coworkers - no. But a reduced price for pairs. My pupils started forming groups on their own, opening up their homes to work there, if their kids were sick and they needed attention. We developed stronger bonds than just student-teacher relationships. We exchanged baby clothes. We visited each others' kids' plays.
领英推荐
Amazingly, this is what gave me a reputation of a teacher who asks to be paid fairly but delivers great value for students.
I quadrupled the price of my classes in the second year of my teaching work. I didn't know anyone else on the market doing this, I didn't have a roll model or mentor to fall back on, I just had to rely on people giving me the support they can and on experimenting with the market and seeing what works. I didn't let it define my value, but it helped me see my value and from there, I was able to set a high price for my work.
Today, I use the same experience now that I'm going freelance again, after 18 years of working 9-5 as an employee. Experimenting, listening to feedback from the clients.
But also from the community. Any good tips on pricing you feel like sharing with me?
Strategic Communicator/Mentor/Transmedia Worldbuilder
6 个月Great article and often controversial topic. Two things I find that resonate the most with my experience. 1. How do we set a price for ushering in a new type of practice, method, and methodology into the world of work? World of work because it pertains to all sectors, industries, etc. And 2. When in doubt, I think of the neat little real life parable I've come up with for my mentorship work with young women just entering the job market. Here it goes - one spring day, I went to the market to buy tulips. On the stand inside the market, a tulip was priced 100rsd, at the improvised, illegal stand outside 80rsd and a corner away 60rsd each. The insight and moral of the story here is that in all three contexts, the tulip always remained worthy, but it is outside factors that influenced her market value. Also, for example, sometimes we set the price lower because we want to grow with a specific type of community. So, blossoming into a unique practitioner is one thing, and setting the prices is a different one, and this distinction is a healthy one to reinforce with oneself and others.