118: Pricing is an Identity Choice
Why Your Pricing, Stability, and Success Start Inside You
There are many ways to build a business.
There are multiple structures that can support a system where you thrive.
It always depends on where you are, how you want to serve, and where you want to go.
But when you’re a healer, a coach, a writer, or a creative helping others… or even when you’re monetizing something you love creating… most of us don’t know any of this at the beginning.
I didn’t.
And I ended up building a system where I was chasing my own tail, which is not fun, not sustainable, and definitely not scalable.
We also don’t ask the questions that reveal what works for us.
We start working above the surface, copying strategies from people who are not where we are… or who are playing a completely different game… and we tell ourselves that imitating them will bring us their results.
And that just… doesn’t work.
There are some important questions to be asked, to assess where you are and where you want to go…
If you’re starting something new, I would say these questions matter more than your niche, your logo, or your posting schedule:
How much money do I need this business to generate in the beginning to feel stable?
Am I transitioning from something else (a job, a business, an identity)?
Do I have a proven way to help people — even with small, early results?
How long have I been doing what I do (formally or informally)?
Who’s already in my network?
List the people you know, ]who’ve worked with you before, or who’ve shown interest.How much time do I have to deliver my service or product?
How much time can I dedicate each week to building this business?
How quickly do I need this to replace my current income?
These questions bring you back into contact with reality… your reality…instead of building a business based on someone else’s blueprint.
However… there is a hidden inner challenge in charging premium, we think about the price but… the hardest part of this structure is not the price.
It’s the identity shift.
It’s the real confidence that needs to be remembered! (Yes, not the one you got from experience, repetition or certifications).
Before it’s a strategy…
Before it’s a number…
Before it’s a business model…
Charging Premium is an identity decision.
It asks you to step into:
Who am I when I stop playing small?
Who am I when I choose stability instead of struggle?
Who am I when I stop climbing the ladder rung by rung?
Who am I when I stop hiding behind “I just want to help everyone”?
This is where impostor syndrome kicks in.
This is where we start protecting ourselves with beautiful stories about wanting to be “accessible” and generous.
This is where the familiar identity of working harder for less feels safer than working clearly for more.
But here’s what we miss:
Charging premium for your services allows you to replace your current income faster than selling one thing for very low price to a lot of people.
This other model is incredible… when it’s the right season.
But if you’re building something new and you want stability sooner, it’s rarely the fastest path.
If you have a proven concept…
If you’ve been helping people but charging low…
If you know your work creates transformation…
Then this is not about pricing… it’s about permission.
Charging accordingly to your value becomes a declaration:
I trust my work.
I trust myself.
I am building a sustainable foundation.
I am done waiting for external validation.
I choose a structure that supports my life, not drains it.
This model doesn’t make your work “available to fewer people.”
It does the opposite.
It gives you the stability, time, and energetic capacity to:
support the lifestyle you want,
transition out of misaligned work,
create from overflow instead of pressure,
and eventually build low-ticket offerings from true abundance.
This is how you serve more people — not fewer.
And when you start seeing your business as a powerful tool of transformation you stop clinging in old ways of being, and start being more curious in who you are becoming.
It’s amazing hearing someone say:
“I went from charging $100 per hour to my first $2k client using this new structure.” I have one client, paying what before I needed 10 people to do it.
Yes we celebrate the money… but more than that we celebrate when people honor their needs, their desires and see the true value they bring into this world.
The pricing didn’t change their identity.
Their identity changed the pricing.
You can do this too.
But you must ask the right questions, choose the right structure for your season, and be willing to let the transformation happen inside you.
Your business… the one born from your heart… isn’t meant to be a side gig or something you squeeze into your days off.
It’s meant to be the place where you spend most of your time doing what you love, earning what supports you, and serving from your fullest expression.
Charging premium is not only about charging more.
It’s about expanding your ability to give, when you finally learn how to receive!
With Love,
Carolina
Happenings
Sacred Business Wonder Questions — Monthly Call for Paid Subscribers
(If you’re not a paid subscriber yet, you can upgrade here.)
We’re hosting our first monthly call of 2026 this coming Wednesday, January 7th, at 10:30am EST.
If you’re someone who relates to business as more than a way to make money… but also loves making money, and sees business as a tool for evolution and part of your spiritual journey, you may really enjoy this conversation.
This call was born from a genuine desire to build meaningful connection.
Connection with others who care about true service, and who understand how wonder opens the door to new possibilities.
Through wonder questions, we explore how we relate to our capacity to serve in our own business.
There aren’t enough conversations like this in the world. When we look inside and do the work, the outside transforms. Come and join us!
See you soon.
Sacred rituals Planning Challenge starting soon (Jan 12th)
Our Sacred Rituals Planning Challenge enrollment closed yesterday, and we’re so excited to begin this journey together once again.
This is how intentions become reality.
Through the small, daily actions that gently move you closer to what you named in your resolutions for 2026.
Not through pressure or force, but through presence, consistency, and devotion to what truly matters.
We can’t wait to begin.
If you feel called to participate and would like to join, we still have a few spots available… just reply to this email and we’ll make it happen.
Who We Are Celebrating This Week: Dr. Kelly Flanagan
I want to celebrate the work of Dr. Kelly Flanagan.
If you’re not familiar with him yet, this is a beautiful invitation to explore his writing, his publication The Less Triggered Tribe carries so much wisdom about how we relate to our own triggers.
I often see myself in his posts. Again and again, he reminds us that what we experience as “out there” is so often happening within. We perceive situations as separate from us, without realizing that the trigger lives inside, just waiting to be met, not avoided.
There is always more room for love when we’re willing to look inward.
His new book is coming out in March, and I have a strong feeling it will be pure gold. I’m genuinely excited to read it and to keep applying his wisdom in my own life.
If you haven’t ordered your copy yet, here’s the link for the pre-order.
With gratitude for teachers who help us soften, remember, and love more deeply.
What You May Have Missed Last Week
The Morning After Your Plan Falls Apart. That whiplash between total clarity and total doubt isn’t a strategy problem. It’s your nervous system hitting its limit. This essay breaks down why plans collapse overnight, why more thinking makes it worse, and the three structural anchors that make progress possible even on your hardest days.
The Part Of Your Work You Keep Hiding. Your real advantage isn’t another strategy. It’s the part of your work you quietly downplay to avoid judgment. This essay explores why hiding your Invisible Edge drains momentum, how commoditization makes presence more valuable than tactics, and what happens when you stop treating who you are as optional.
Things I’d Like to Share
Adam Quiney - Saying Yes to the Dance
I read a piece the other day called “Saying Yes to the Dance,” and I’m sharing it here because it shined light on something in me and I have a feeling it might do the same for you.
It’s about our relationship with fear.
What touched me most was how it spoke to being my own leader.
To my capacity to choose from love and not from fear. And how, when fear is mislabeled, we don’t even realize we’ve lost that choice. It hides itself as protection, as being “right,” and from there we keep choosing things that don’t actually serve us.
He asks a powerful question:
What do we say yes to when we have mislabeled our fear as something else?
I’m still digesting that question. I’ve been journaling a lot, and I’ve also been feeling very triggered lately…more than usual, actually.
It doesn’t feel good, but it’s bringing me clarity. I’m beginning to see how many things I once labeled as something else are, in truth, fears.
Fear of being alone, of not being able to handle my responsibilities and fear of not being liked.
It takes a lot of honesty to peel off the layers what we once called protection, or what once felt like the right way of being, and name it as fear.
And then to lean into it fully.
Wishing you the courage to look at your own fears and choose love instead. Let’s dance!
Thanks Adam Quiney, I had some great insights out of your essay :)
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Thanks Carolina. This is such a great post and a real reminder for me about the importance and relationship between value and identity. As a Brit, I find it very hard to put a price on my expertise or even to talk about pricing in general. This article has definitely re-evaluated what that means in terms of my own identity. Thank you.