Thank you everyone for your comments. It is really helpful to us to hear you relate to how we have struggled and how we deal with those problems. I hope that our suggestions help those of you who are wondering about some of these very problems in your own business.

Jill, those are some great ways to look at and combat the fear and anxiety that come with charging appropriately for our services and offering our guests additional services. One of my favorite ways to look at the client saying no in a positive way is to realize that they are not saying no forever, they are just saying no right now. I can especially relate to “I have never charged them before — how do I start charging them for it now.” Last week I talked about how in the beginning it was difficult for me to charge my clients for the services I provided. The strategies you talk about are some of the very ones I used to help me to get over my fear of charging for those services.

When I finally did realize I needed to make a drastic change, I made a sign and set a date for a month ahead and let my clients know there would be price increases and changes to my policy. At first I let my fear take over and let the sign do the talking for me. Over the next several days, as my clients saw the sign and asked about it, I realized they weren’t offended or angry. My confidence grew and I began to talk about it with them. Once the date came and I started to charge them the new prices, with one or two exceptions there wasn’t even a hiccup. They all just paid the new price and a couple even reminded me that the price had gone up.

I had to get past the stage where I looked at myself as a cosmetology student and realize that I was now a professional. For me it really was about just looking at it differently and realizing that my time, skill, and my recommendations were worth it.

— Sandy