Your “P.S.” was very helpful to me today, as I’m currently putting together new packages and struggling with these very same issues!
Janet Barclay´s last blog ..How Much Should I Charge for Organizing Services?

P.S. Based on this type of content, you probably are worth twice what you charge

I’ve also heard “charge twice what you think you should” and had trouble with that concept, since I too am on the thrifty side.

Although there are lots of people who are cautious with money, they are probably not necessarily the type of clients you want. Much better to attract those who value your service and have the willingness and the funds to pay what it’s worth.
Janet Barclay´s last blog ..How Much Should I Charge for Organizing Services?

When I escaped from the corporate world and started my business (I can’t believe it was 8 years ago!), I made only one tactical mistake. I set my rates based on what *I* would have been willing to pay someone to do a comparable service. I didn’t take into account that I’m…well…cheap. Frugal. Parsimonious.

Whatever you want to call it, I was unintentionally undervaluing my service by charging too little, not because I didn’t think the service had value, but because I didn’t appreciate that people might think too low a cost implied a lower value. Professional organizers tend to be do-it-yourselfers and problem-solvers in their own right, so it’s hard to conceive of how much such an important and life-affirming services as ours should cost, especially when it comes so easily to us!

Since I can’t fathom buying a anything but the cheapest mode of safe transportation, for example, the idea of buying a $20K+ car (let alone a $40K+ car!) was foreign. I couldn’t conceive of people spending $4000 on a desk–when I casually suggested to a client she’d be better off with a desk that had at least two file drawers, I was thinking Target’s dorm desks, not an antique shop’s hand-carved masterpiece.

This not to say that everyone is buying Jimmy Choo and Christian Louboutin shoes, though I’m shocked that anyone does. My point is that people spend what they think a product or service is worth TO THEM, and if it’s priced too low, based on their expectations, they assume the value is too low and search elsewhere.

The points you mention fit in with this, especially with the going rate, not only of other professional organizers in the area, but other service professionals. It’s important that the rate we charge is commensurate with the value of the service we provide–we are not merely moving tangible items around a room, but (as NAPO says) transferring skills and changing the relationship people have with their tangible items, their tasks and their thoughts.

To do this, we have to recognize that our skills and abilities do not come easily to our clients–that’s why they need us in the first place, and why they are actually better at evaluating our value than we might be, ourselves (especially in the beginning).