"I wouldn't pay more than what I charge now."

If you are not a member of your target market, toss thisthought about your own preferences out the window this veryminute. What you consider a reasonable price has nothing todo with how they spend money. Even if you are a member ofthe market you are selling to, it's a fallacy to assume thateveryone in that group feels as you do. Chances are, somefeel that your current rates are more than they want to pay,some feel you're charging just about right and others feelyou're a real steal. You probably don't need to sell to allthree of those categories and can do well by aiming at thosewho'd respect you more if you charged more.

The belief that she couldn't charge more than she herselfwould pay was a huge barrier for a friend of mine who was aphotographer. She had to do a lot of talking to herselfabout her customers' enthusiasm for her work, her strengthsas a photographer and the fact that the few colleaguescharging more in her town weren't any better at their workthan she was.

She also had to steel herself against customers trying tobargain with her. She reminded herself that when she heldfirm on her fees, most customers did pay what they'd justobjected to. Some people bargain mainly as a habit or agame.

Additionally, she joined a mastermind group of otherphotographers and picked up a few pointers on subtle ways toincrease the average amount a customer spent with her. Forinstance, photographers offering frames in different sizesalong with enlargements of family portraits always sold themost of the next to largest size on display. By adding alarger size frame to those hanging on the wall of herstudio, she sold more of the next-to-largest size,previously the largest.

Create a solid difference between yourself and competitorsto feel more confident about raising your rates. Toseparate yourself from colleagues, you can emphasizeselectivity (you accept only a certain level or kind ofclient), specialization (you possess more experience andexpert knowledge on one aspect of your industry), results(your superiority consists of a spectacular success ratethat you can document) or concrete benefits of your work(results that your colleagues also produce but neverexplicitly point to).

Pricing is a psychological phenomenon primarily, and theroad to higher profits begins with getting your own headstraight about what's reasonable to charge.

Marcia Yudkin is head mentor forMarketingforMore.com and the author of 6 Steps to FreePublicity and 10 other books. As an author, marketingconsultant and coach, she has spent 22 years successfullyturning words into money. By going tohttp://www.marketingformore.com/survey.htm , you can downloada free report, "Charge More & Get It," that discusses fivecommon self-sabotaging beliefs that stand in the way ofhigher earnings.