I had an interesting conversation yesterday about greed and the business of commissioned service providers, such as real estate agents.

Before I launch, let me share some of my background. I’m the daughter of a Baptist minister and I was fortunate to be raised in a loving, but strict, Christian home. We commonly had discussions about the rights and wrongs in our society with daily warnings of how we should act. I’ll say this helped shape me, but it did not mold me. Life has taken care of the lessons that have caused me to either embrace or change my opinion about how my parents wanted me to  think.

Now back to Greed. As you know, greed is one of the seven deadly sins. Calm yourself, I’m stepping down from the pulpit now.

If you’re like me and you grew up believing greed is bad, how do you wrap your head around charging what you’re worth? After all, you could provide the service for free. You’ve studied, you’ve prepared, you’ve gained experience…you have knowledge that leads people to seek you out and ask for your help. This knowledge has not come to you for free or by osmosis, so why would you give it away for free? It is not greedy to charge for services rendered. It’s also not greedy to up your fee as your knowledge and experiences grow.

If you set your own price, here’s a few things to consider to help get past the greed issue and turn it into confidence in your value.

• Are you providing a higher or lower level of service than others?
• Are there fees you incur before you get paid?
• What is the level of risk of not getting paid at all?
• What extra classes have you taken that make your value higher?

Once you’ve considered these and your other questions, make notes as to why you’ve set your price at a certain level. Keep these notes and refer back to them at times when the greed thoughts creep in and to constantly remind yourself you are worth what you charge. 

Have Confidence in your Value. I promise, it’s okay.