Understanding Your Value as a Holistic Practitioner

How do you feel about talking about your services? Do you struggle to articulate why you’re great at what you do? Do you cringe when someone asks you about your prices? Do you have a tendency to give away too much for free?

You’re not alone, many holistic practitioners undervalue themselves and offer their services for free or too cheaply. Whilst there is a time and a place for free services, these should be offered strategically and not because you’re avoiding charging people.

And value isn’t just about money; it’s also about how you feel about the work you do and owning the difference you make in the world. The work you do to support your clients is too important for you to be struggling to make a living.

Owning your value will help you feel confident when talking about what you do with clients and prospective clients, and charging for your services.

Here are some considerations to help you own your value:

Cost of Training

Speaking at a herbal medicine conference, I asked the attendees to review how much it cost them to train as medical herbalists. There were some shocked herbalists sharing figures ranging from £10,000 - £60,000. That’s a huge financial investment, let alone the time it took them to train.

Estimate for yourself, how much money you invested in your training to be able to offer the services you do:

• How much was your professional training?
• What was the cost of your books and any other materials?
• Did you need to buy any equipment?
• How much did it cost you for insurance and memberships to professional bodies?
• If you couldn’t work while you trained, how much income did you lose?

Your figure may not be as high as the herbalists but it’s still likely to be a significant amount. You’ve made a big financial investment to be able to do the work you do and that has value.

Setting up Your Business

Depending on your discipline, you may have had substantial additional costs to set up your business. If you had to make a significant investment for furniture or equipment, this is another investment you’ve made to be able to work as a holistic practitioner.

When I first worked as a practitioner, I didn’t need huge amounts of equipment, but I was surprised how quickly the few items I bought added up to a significant amount of money.

Ongoing Costs

Once you’re qualified and set up, it isn’t the end of the investment. For every type of practitioner, there are the ongoing costs of being able to offer your services. You must continuously invest in yourself to be able to maintain your practice and update your skills.

Work out how much it costs you to continue to be a practitioner each year. Include these and any other services you must pay for to maintain your status:

• Membership to professional bodies
• Insurance
• Data Protection
• CPD/training

Experience and Qualities

How you help your clients isn’t just about your practitioner qualification. It’s your years of different experiences and qualities that make you unique. Different life experiences, jobs, and hobbies give you a different perspective and way of working. It’s this uniqueness that will help you stand out and attract the right clients for you.

Make a note of all the different things that qualify you to help your clients and do the work you do. Include everything from work to life experiences and hobbies.

I’m not just a chartered marketer - my background in graphic design and print buying has enhanced my ability to support my clients with their marketing. Add to this the 14 years I spent running my own business in personal development makes me very different from every other coach-mentor.

Value of Client Results

What’s the value of the results you help your clients achieve? Many clients will have invested time, energy, and money into trying to resolve their issues before coming to you. How do they value the work you do with them?

Whilst this is more difficult to quantify, you can understand some of your value from client feedback.

Keep a file of all your great testimonials and client stories as a reminder of the great work you’ve done and the people you’ve helped.

Remember Your Value

Those times when you struggle to recognise your worth, remind yourself of these:

• The financial cost of training and running your business.
• The qualities and experience you draw on to help your clients.
• The results you’ve assisted your clients to achieve from their feedback.

If you don’t value the work you do, and the change you facilitate for your clients, why would anyone else? Start owning your value and your confidence will grow in how you market yourself which will in turn help you to thrive.

If you're struggling to market yourself in a way that feels right, you need your own marketing recipe. Book a discovery call and let’s have a chat about how I can help you.