Why Charging $5K–$10K Is Actually More Ethical Than Going Cheap

Gina was a story branding coach. For years, she charged $500 for her program. And for years, she spent 40 to 60 hours... sometimes more, helping each client. She told me herself: it just saddens me when I think about it.

She wasn't doing it wrong out of incompetence. She was doing it wrong out of misplaced kindness. She believed that charging less was the humble thing to do. The accessible thing. The ethical thing.

It wasn't. And the story she eventually told herself, once her mindset shifted, is one every coach needs to hear.

The Uncomfortable Truth About Low Pricing

Here is something I teach in every high ticket workshop I run, and I want you to really sit with it.

If you walked into a wine shop and you knew nothing about wine, how would you decide which bottle to buy? You would look at the price. The more expensive wine, in most people's perception, is the better wine. That is just how human perception works. We use price as a proxy for quality.

Your coaching program works the same way.

When you charge more, people perceive your program as more valuable. When you charge less, they perceive it as less valuable. And here is the part that most coaches do not realise: when clients perceive your program as less valuable, they also treat it that way.

They show up less. They do the work less. They implement less. And when they don't implement, they don't get results. And when they don't get results, you don't get testimonials or referrals. And so you keep serving clients who do not value what you offer, for a price that does not reflect the results you can produce.

That is the vicious cycle of undercharging. It is not ethical. It is exhausting.

When Clients Underinvest, They Under-commit

The relationship between investment and commitment is direct. I have seen it over and over across hundreds of coaching clients.

A client who pays a significant amount for a program shows up differently. They take the calls seriously. They complete the exercises. They push through the resistance because they know what they paid to be here. Their investment is working for them even before the first session begins.

A client who pays very little often does the opposite. Not because they are bad people. Because they haven't put enough skin in the game for the work to feel urgent. And when the work doesn't feel urgent, it doesn't get done.

Here is what that means for you. When you undercharge, you are actually making it harder for your clients to get results. You are removing the very thing that would have driven their commitment. You are being generous with your price and unintentionally undermining their outcome.

Charging low when you have a high-value transformation to offer is not helping your clients. It is underselling the result they need.

Your Price Is a Signal of What You Believe

Here is the most important thing I want you to write down.

Most coaches base their pricing on their self-esteem, not on the value they deliver.

I have heard every version of this in my workshops. "My clients can't afford it." "Who am I to charge that much?" "People wouldn't pay that for me." And I understand every single one of these doubts, because I asked them myself when I first started.

But here is the truth underneath all of those doubts. When you undercharge, you undervalue yourself. And when you undervalue yourself, your clients follow your lead. They undervalue you too.

Gina charged $500 for a program she was spending 40 to 60 hours delivering. For years. When she finally made the mindset shift... when she stopped tying her price to her self-esteem and started tying it to the value she was providing, she 10x'd her price to $5,500 in a single month.

Not because anything about her program changed. Because she changed how she saw it.

The knowledge, the expertise, and the passion you carry is worth thousands. Tens of thousands. It could be priceless to someone who is suffering and needs exactly what you have been through. The only thing standing between you and a price that reflects that truth is whether you believe it.

Your price communicates your belief in your own transformation. If you don't believe in it enough to charge for it properly, why would anyone else believe in it enough to invest in it fully?

So let me ask you something.

What price would you charge if you truly believed in your ability to deliver results?

Start there. Not from your doubts. From your results.

Championing your dreams ❤️