If you don feel you deserve the money you make, you will find a way to sabotage your own success. If you don’t feel as though you’re making as much as you deserve, you’re just like all the rest of us. Ask for a raise. Increase your rates.

Setting a value on your work is perhaps the most difficult part of a creative career. It pays to know your market and to know where you stand in that market. What is the going rate in your area for what you do? Sometimes you can increase your income dramatically by moving to a better market.

Are you low – end, middle or high end, price wise? Is that where you want to be? Think about positioning yourself, the kind of customers/audience you want, the type of work you want, the amount of money you’ll be satisfied with. Aim your marketing at a specific target and you’re more likely to hit. You may have to work up from low end to high end, but it is actually easier to start out asking for more than to ask for a raise after you’ve been working for less. If you’ve got confidence, and good work to show, clients will believe you’re worth more if you tell them so.

One More Thought

The pursuit of money is a large part of people’s lives. Once you get it, you have a huge hole to fill. You don’t feel as good about yourself as you thought you would. What you’re lacking now is a goal. Yeah, I know you just reached your goal. Set another one, maybe one that doesn’t involve money.