137: How To Confidently Raise Your Prices with Dustin Mushinski

Sabrina: On today’s episode of the shoot it straight podcast. I have my new friend Dustin Machinsky with me, and we are talking about pricing and money mindset. And listen, you just need to buckle up because this episode is so chock full of. fascinating thoughts around money and why it gets in our way and why we can’t raise our prices.

And we’re talking about worth and comparison and fear. And Dustin gives us some incredibly tangible pieces of homework and things that we can do to get out of our own way. I’m telling you this episode is one for the books. You are going to love it. Get a pen, buckle in and let’s dive in. Welcome to the shoot it straight podcast.

I’m your host. Sabrina Gebhardt. Here, I will share an honest take on what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur while balancing business, motherhood, and life. Myself, along with my guests, will get vulnerable through honest conversations and relatable stories because we’re willing to go there. If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in, yet willing to talk about the hard stuff too.

The shoot it straight podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you shoot it straight.

Welcome back to the shoot it straight podcast. My friends today I have a new friend with me and I am legit so excited about where we’re going today. She and I, we have, we’re like on the same wavelength for a lot of things. Um, and I’ve been following her for a hot bit and I reached out to her and I’m like, girl, I want to have you on my podcast.

And she’s like, let’s do it. So here we are today. And Dustin, before we get started and get on a roll, cause this is going to be such a, such an awesome chat today. I’d love for you to introduce yourself to the listeners.

Dustin: Yes. First of all, I’m so excited to be here. Like so excited. This is my favorite thing.

So introduce myself, man. So my name’s Dustin. I am a business and mindset coach. I definitely fall into the multi passionate category. So I have a coaching business. We also own, if anyone’s familiar with pliables, the acai shops, my family and I own. six of those. We’re opening up two more. We do real estate investing.

I just am one of those believers that when money’s in the hands of good people, the world’s a better place. And I fully have embraced that in the entrepreneurial life. And I’m just obsessed with helping other women who have big dreams, get the F out of their own way. know that everything they want is possible for them.

They can have it all at the same time. You do not, it’s not this or that it’s and always the end life. That’s my vibe and that’s who I am. And that’s what I’m so excited to talk all about today. Oh my

Sabrina: gosh. I feel like I’m like, wait, wait, wait, wait. We haven’t even gotten started. We haven’t even gotten started and you already dove into something that I’m obsessed with, which is the, and it’s not the, or it’s the, and I am

So today we’re talking kind of about money mindsets and the listeners know that I love this topic. Talked about it a lot on the podcast. It’s a part of every program I do. Every woman I coach, I know it is for you too. It is such a thing. And I know that you have a backstory and I have a backstory and that’s why we’re so passionate about it because we’ve seen the transformation, but also like, it’s a, it’s an, it’s an ongoing transformation.

Like it’s, you never reached the epitome of like having this bomb money mindset, but you’re forever set. Right. It’s always a work in progress. So it’s just so, it’s so fascinating. It’s so fun. And. You know, like I said, I’ve got personal stories about money junk. I know you do too. And today we’re going to talk about specifically for creatives and photographers, this hot button thing that comes back to money mindset.

Nobody wants to admit it does, but it does. And that is pricing. We’re going to get into the pricing. We’re going to get into why undercharging is hurting you. We’re going to talk about the mindset struggles that go with the pricing junk, and we’re going to touch on everybody’s favorite question. How do I raise my prices?

And I’m excited to have your input on that today. So on this podcast, I always start at the very beginning. I’m kind of like a teacher like that. I’m like, let’s start with the foundation and then let’s go, let’s go deeper. Just overview. Why do people

Dustin: under charge? Oh God, that’s such a good question because our brains are a holes and they are constantly telling us lies.

Because they’re lies, right? Anything that says that you can’t have what you want, the success that you want, the amount of money that you want, you can’t charge what you want, you can’t have the level of client that you want, anything that directly conflicts with your desire, it is a lie. So our brains lie.

And there’s a reason for that, right? It’s your ego. It’s trying to keep you safe. It’s trying to keep you where you are, because our brains are, you know, caveman brains. And it’s like, oh my God, if you walk outside of the cave, there could be a lion out there, you might die. Stay in the cave. That’s our ego, like it’s our protector, and it goes, Oh my God, don’t step out of the cave, there could be a rat that’s going to attack your toe.

It’s raining out there, your hair’s gonna get frizzy. Like, it’s literally, and the same thing happens, because we have the same brains, where it goes, Oh my gosh, you can’t charge that. No one would pay you. You would lose every client ever and they would all go talk shit on you on a reddit thread and be like, who does she think she is to charge that much money?

Like, her pictures are just okay anyway. Like, I went and found a different photographer who costs way less and is way better and I’m here to tell you all about that. And then you think you’re going to lose your house because you can’t pay your mortgage and you’re never going to book a client again.

That’s what your brain does. That’s why we undercharge because the loud voice of imposter syndrome and who am I to charge that? And the fear of being judged or failing or not charging or not having people pay you is so loud that you just go, okay, I’m going to lower my price. Okay. I’m just going to keep it here.

Like, I don’t want to rock the boat. I don’t want to never sign a client again. I don’t want to scare clients away. So it’s a very fear driven thing. That’s so loud that we. Unless we know how, right, to do the mindset work, to do the inner work. We just like, almost like we like, cower to it. We’re like, okay, okay, like I’ll, I’ll stay over here.

That’s why. I think that’s one of the biggest reasons we’ve been under charge. Because the voices that we have to or that we can’t charge what we really want to charge are so loud. That we’re like, oh god, I surrender. I love

Sabrina: that so much. And I, I’ve talked about that a lot in a similar way, like that our brain is trying to protect us.

It’s doing its job. But like at the end of the day, when we’re thinking about raising our prices or doing something new in our business, like we’re not in physical danger. Our families are safe. We are safe. We are healthy. We are protected. We have a roof over our head. Like it’s not that deep, but our brain, it’s a punk.

It really is. And I feel like our brain and our heart are constantly like in this battle, you know? Oh, it’s such a mess. I love what you said about that. We know as coaches, you and I both know that when someone is undercharging, it’s actually not helping their business. Like they think on surface level, it’s helping my business because I have more clients coming in and I’m booking more sessions and I have whatever.

But we know that that’s actually a sneaky little lie. It’s, it’s actually hurting them. So do you have like one or two ways that you see most often that you feel like undercharging is hurting someone’s business? Oh my gosh.

Dustin: Let me count the ways. Yes, I think that the two biggest things that probably stand out to me are one is a very energetic concept.

It’s that if you’re out here feeling like saying to your partner, to your biz bestie, like, gosh, I just want to raise my prices. I want to be charging. 10k minimum for a wedding. Um, because I don’t want to shoot 90 weddings a year and never be there for my kids birthday parties and gone every weekend and editing until two in the morning or whatever, right?

When that’s your desire and you, that’s on your heart and you’re saying that out loud, but then you’re not raising your prices and you’re not undercharging. You’re not being clear with the universe or God or whatever resonates with you on that spiritual level. That’s, you know, co creating your reality with you.

It’s like, Wait, I’m confused. You’re saying you want this thing, but you’re not taking the step. So it’s like you’re saying, I want a new winter hat. I want the winter hat. I want the winter hat. And maybe you even put the winter hat in the Amazon cart, but you never clicked order. Amazon’s like, I can’t deliver this thing.

Like, what do you mean? You didn’t order it? And you’re like, hello, where is my hat? And it’s like, Oh, I’m sorry. You have to order it. Like that’s kind of how this works. It’s the same concept, right? Where it’s like, we want more money. We want to make more and work less. We want higher quality clients, right?

We want all of those things, but we’re not taking the action to freaking prove it. And you cannot, the universe cannot give you something you didn’t order. So you are sitting there with it in your cart. You have to order. So that’s the first thing. And then I think the second thing is really just like you said, right?

It’s like, it feels good to be fully booked. It feels good to have a full client roster, but at what cost, right? Because if I have a full client roster, 2, 000 under what I want to be charging, what’s actually true is I’m resentful of those clients. I’m not enjoying the work. I’m probably snapping at my kids.

If I, you know, I’m in a bad mood, I’m tired, I’m over it. Right? Like the whole point of your business is that you’re doing something you love. Right? You love being a photographer. You love creating the memories. You love it. You’re good at it. And if you are waking up every day, dreading it, dreading the editing, dreading the client emails, you know, you have 19 clients emailing you back and forth all day and you’re like, Oh my God, I’m just going to put my out of office on.

Like I cannot. And you have a back queue of editing and you have so many other client coming up. Like. At what cost? Because that’s not actually a successful business, right? We lie to ourselves sometimes about what success looks like. Success doesn’t always look like a booked out client roster. It can look like free weekends.

Or less clients, but more money. Right. And I just think we’re scared to admit that to ourselves, but that’s the actual truth, right? That’s what it’s almost like this concept of second gain, where it’s like, we say, we want this. We say, we want that. We say, we want that. But our subconscious mind actually thinks we’re more comfortable where we are.

And it’s like, Oh no, because if I have, you know, if I charged 10 K, 15 K, whatever it is, Then I have to get better at editing or I have to, you know, prove my worth or I have to add more hour and it’s like, is that actually true? No, it’s not. Right. But we, again, our brains are in here lying, their pants are on fire.

So that’s what it’s about. It’s just recognizing like where the lies Let me prove them wrong, let me get them the F out of Dodge, and then you’re off to the races.

Sabrina: Okay, I’m obsessed. I love in the first example, how you tied it into the analogy of you didn’t hit order. Like, that is such a clean, clear example.

You can wish and wish and wish and talk about it all you want, but if you don’t take the action step of doing something, like, what are we doing here? You know what I mean? Uh, it’s Uh, you have to put in the work like yes, I know that you and I believe like you have to verbalize what you want and put things out into the universe, but you also have to take action.

You also have to take action. So I love your analogy there. But then the second example of, you know, wanting the safety of having like the books out calendar, it looks good. It feels good. You’re in demand, quote unquote, all of this. Sure. Sure. But Business sustainability is so much more important and it’s just not as sexy.

And so I think people chase the, like I photographed 150 sessions this year and blah, blah, blah, blah. And I’m like, cool, but I made as much money as you. And I had every weekend off and took two months of sabbatical. And like, I’m pretty sure I’m doing better than you. You know what I mean? It’s just not like people don’t want to chase that sustainability and.

Another note there, you said like it feels safer to want the more obvious thing to want the booked out calendar and you think you to have the booked out calendar, you have to charge lower rates and all this, this, this lie, but putting in the work to get the better, the bigger gain, putting in the work up front, doing the scary thing because it is scary.

Raising your prices is scary. It’s kind of like the work of like, I’m going to go on a diet or I’m going to like start working out and like get myself in freaking shape. It sucks. It sucks to get up at five in the morning and go to the gym. It sucks to eat salad for lunch. It sucks to get up and do 10, 000 steps a day when you’d rather be watching a Netflix show or whatever.

But the gain on the other side of that commitment of putting in the work is so much better. And so much sweeter than how you feel in your little safety net right now. It’s

Dustin: the same kind of thing, right? Absolutely. A hundred percent because it’s a fake safety net, right? Like it’s not real and it’s not what you actually want.

So like you said, what are we doing? Yeah. Like, what are we even doing here?

Sabrina: I love it. Okay. So I kind of alluded to this at the beginning. Like we know that yes. The hot button topic every day in every industry, people are like, how do I raise my prices? How do I set my prices? What should my price be? People think that that’s like the magic if they can just get their price, right?

Everything is perfect, right? Everything will work out. And there’s just so much more that goes into it than that. There is so much mindset junk that goes into price. Yes, there’s formulas and calculators and you need to be profitable and you need to cover your expenses. And all of that is very important because if you’re not profitable, like come back to me when you’re profitable and then let’s talk.

Okay, like that’s business 101. But beyond that, once you get to that point where you are profitable and you’re considering raising your prices because you have more experience or that number doesn’t feel good anymore or whatever, you can raise your prices for whatever reason you want. There’s still that fear and that’s where the mindset stuff comes in.

And so I’m curious, like what are some common mindset themes or struggles you see behind why people struggle to raise their prices? Like what are the real reasons people are struggling?

Dustin: It’s so much, right? It’s that I’m not good enough. My work isn’t good enough. I don’t have enough experience. I have to get to this level or have this equipment or have booked this level of client before I can, right?

That, that before I can. This then that, right? Um, which is complete BS. There is the whole comparison game where it’s looking at what other people are doing and what their work is and comparing it to your work and what do they charge versus what do I charge and getting in your head about it all because that just is never going to go well.

So it’s so much of that. I think it’s comparison it’s an, and it’s all rooted in. I’m not enough. I’m not enough. My work isn’t enough. It’s not enough ness, which is innately a lie, right? I think that’s the, the core of the work that I do with my clients around mindset and money mindset and raising your prices.

Is, listen, everything that you want is available for you. The universe isn’t rude. It didn’t give you this dream of being a six figure, multi, six figure photographer working with dream clients, having time off, like loving what you do, being featured in whatever, right? Whatever your dream is. It didn’t give you that dream and then go, but psyche, you actually aren’t able to get there.

Like I wasn’t given the dream of being like an iron man, because by the way, like I would never in a million years get in water and swim with. Like I’m a land animal, like no, I would have a full on panic attack. Like I don’t want it. And I wasn’t given those skills to have it, given everything we need to achieve what we want.

And so that’s where it’s like, I’m not enough. I’m not good enough. Like I always say to my clients, there is no hot patrol, like telling people like you’re good enough. You’re not good enough. You need to have a little bit more experience. Like that doesn’t exist. The amount that people charge for their services.

has nothing to do with an actual worthiness chart or good enough chart because it doesn’t exist. Pricing, like you said, yeah, there’s math there, but like, that’s like 5 percent of it. It is all energetic. People are charging what they believe they and their work are worth. And what, where we get it wrong is we are waiting for the world to tell us our worth.

No, that is backwards. We are here to decide what our price is, what the value is, and we tell the world. We are the ones who, who declare ourselves. I am a luxury wedding photographer who specializes in warm tones or whatever, right? I’m obviously not a photographer, I have no idea, but like, you tell the world.

The world doesn’t tell you, you tell the world who you are and what your price is, and it’s because you believe it, and there are so many things. That we can help have you do to get you to believe it and be confident in it, but that’s why people like if you see someone like I hear this from photographers a lot, like, Oh my gosh, there’s this girl who’s been doing it so much less time than I have, like she’s new and she’s charging more and she’s booking clients and like, I don’t understand.

Or there’s like, Oh my gosh, there’s this girl who her, I feel like her work is so much better than mine and she actually charges less than me. So like, how could I ever raise my, like, and I’m like, Why do we even know what other people charge? That’s none of our business. It’s about you going internal and being like, how much money do I want to make?

What do I want to do? How do I value myself? And that’s my price. The end. I know

Sabrina: from experience, both personally and coaching women through it, it just takes one. Yes. At your new price point to feel validated. And there’s a lot of fear in, in the waiting game. But once you get that, yes, all of a sudden it’s like, Oh, people will pay this price.

Okay. I feel great. You know what I mean? I want to touch on really quickly. You said a lot of it has to come, it comes down to worthiness and you are a hundred percent correct. And I will say that. A lot of this can be worked through with a coach and with mindset, but some of this is therapy. Like some of this is, you need professional help.

This goes so deep. And I know that that’s why I’m constantly with a therapist. And I know you are too, is because like, I can’t coach myself. Somebody else can’t coach myself out of some junk. Some of this junk is just ugly and it’s deep and a professional needs to come in and help you. And also kind of, like I said before, like, and like you just said with your clients that make so much money, like worthiness is always going to come try and like jump into the conversation.

It’s trying to enter the chat. It wasn’t invited. It doesn’t matter what level you get to or where your business pivots or you know, whether you close your business. Like there’s just always that mess of like, am I good enough? Should I be here? Am I welcome at the table? Can I charge this? Whatever. So I would love to know like when you let’s say you’re starting to work with a new client and you’re like, okay, there’s a huge, there’s a huge worry Venus thing here.

Like they don’t feel good enough. They don’t feel like their work is good enough. What is the first thing you tackle with her? Like you said, there’s things that you can do to work through it. Like, what’s the first thing? Like, is there an exercise? Is there a, how are you getting into it?

Dustin: I would say the first two are probably parallel.

So I know that there is so much, like you said, junk and you’re right. Some of it is like childhood wounds and shit that like, yes, therapy will absolutely help you go back and unpack all of that, but. Sometimes it’s as simple as, you know, an experience that you’ve had. And when you sit down, you can really pinpoint these, like, and I have my clients do this where it’s like, let’s let go of your BS.

Let’s let go of that stuff where you’re holding shame or resentment or anger, right? Like, did you have a client that told you that, you know, your picture sucked, or you didn’t deliver on time and they asked for a refund or whatever, right? Like whatever experience. We have those and we internalize them and they take up energetic space.

Like I say this all the time. I’m like, they’re like a big fat anchor. And when you’re trying to call in more money, more dream clients, more bookings, raise your prices, when you’re holding on to that crap, there’s no room. It’s like, I use this analogy all the time. It’s like, you are out here trying to buy a G wagon, but in your garage or two hoopties and they have rust and they don’t even go, your G wagon is like waiting at the end of the street, but it’s like, I’m sorry, like move the hoopties and like, I’ll be right there.

But like, I’m not, I don’t know where you want me to go. Like, I’m not going to live on the street in the rain. Like, no, I have a spot in the garage. We have to get rid of the hoopties to make room physically and energetically for the stuff that we want. So that’s the first thing I have my clients do is I’m like, let’s real quick.

What are some of the experiences and they’re always like top of mind, right? Like we know them, right? It was a client experience. It was, you know, maybe a parent that was like, oh you’re quitting your secure job to be a Photographer like are you even that good like not that they would see your face, but they you’re like, wait what?

Oh my god, and you question yourself, right? so there’s things like that that if we’ve all experienced that we have to let go of so I Do this quick exercise where I’m like, listen, feel your feelings. Remember the thing, remember how you felt. Were you pissed? Were you sad? Were you disappointed? Were you shocked?

Feel your feelings for like five seconds and then show yourself like, you know what, I get to let this go. I have been holding onto this. It has been taking up space, the feelings of shame and anger and resentment and disappointment. They’re negative feelings. You’re not going to attract positive things when you’re.

You have all this negative crap, right? It’s not how it works. So we flushed that. I’m like, how can we look for the lesson here? How can we let this go quickly, not like deep therapy? I’m not gonna have you go journal for three hours and like lay in a bed of crystals. Like that’s not necessary. We get to decide to let this go and it’s as simple as being like, you know what?

There was a lesson there. I learned that I might not have the support that I wish I had in my immediate circle and that’s okay. It sucks. Like I’m sad about it. I’m pissed, but I know that’s more about them than it is about me. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to know that I have to seek that type of community and support out in my entrepreneurial journey.

Got it. Good thing. There’s so many people out here who have created those spaces where I can feel lit up and we can normalize things like raising our prices and being worth more and all of that. And there’s no shame. And we under, like, it’s just a different level of conversation. So you flip it and then you flush it.

And you’re like, okay, permission to not let this be my anchor anymore. I’m moving on and it’s a letting go. And it’s not ever like, it’s not a forgiveness and like, it’s okay that my client was rude or it’s okay that I dropped the ball. Like, no, we’re not saying that we’re saying there was a lesson there and I’m not going to let this F things up for me moving forward.

So I’m letting it go because it’s an act of self love because I love myself and I’m not going to let this stuff clog me up anymore. So it’s a quick hitter. So I start there. Then the other thing I do is I’m like, we need a brag book. I truly believe every entrepreneur needs a brag book, whatever that looks like.

If it’s every time a client gives you a compliment and writes back to you, like, I love this sneak peek or like working with you was a dream. You were so much fun. You made the day so enjoyable, right? You guys hear that stuff all the time. Log it log it. Like you need an arsenal of I’m amazing. At what I do, my clients love me.

I’m so good to remind yourself of and how often, you know, I think we naturally, we could have 15 great reviews and one like medium one, which one do you think we’re obsessing over? Right. Right. Like the 15 might as well not be there. It’s like, Oh my God, this client said that I was five minutes late and it threw their schedule.

Like, Oh my God, stop. So that’s what I do. I’m like, we need a brag book. I want you to riff on every single amazing thing that you are proud of in your business, that you have heard from clients, or even if you’re brand new, if you’ve never shot a client in your life, I’m sure you took a picture and somebody told you it was good.

Like, you know what I mean? Like there’s always things to go in your brag book. So I think the combination of creating that brag book, And letting go of your anchor. Even just that I have clients. I, we did it on a call yesterday. We were inside of my shifted program and I have a client who was all up in her head and questioning her price and questioning her offer and doing all the things and.

I was like, no, who are you again? What have you accomplished? Like, right. Like we, we reminded her like, this is who I am. This is my brag book. And we let go of an experience that she had had that was negative. She signed a client on the call, like 20 minutes later, she’s in the chat. She’s like, I just signed a client.

I’m like, of course you did. Right. Of course you did. You shifted it up energetically. That’s what it takes. I think sometimes we think it takes like. Outside work. Most of the time it doesn’t. Most of the time it’s inner work.

Sabrina: Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love it. So good. Okay. So, hopefully everybody listening is like, Okay, I hear you.

I need to raise my prices. You’ve given them some great, like, you know, some homework to do to kind of work through some of their mess. To create room in the garage for the amazing car that they want to come. I love it. All of it. But still raising your prices is terrifying because like you said in the beginning, it’s, it’s our brain protecting us.

It’s the fear of the unknown. We’re safe where we are. We know people will pay our current rates. We don’t know what’s going to happen over here when we raise our prices. And it’s terrifying. So like, do you have practical steps on how to go from where they are today to raising that price, like to step through the fear?

Dustin: Absolutely. I’m also a big believer that you have to be energetically behind your price, right? Like I have seen where a coach will be like, Oh my gosh, you need to like, you should be charging double and they mean it right. Like as a coach, I mean that I can look at your work and be like, I would literally pay you so much money for those photos.

Like, are you joking? Can I go back in time and have you shoot my newborn session? But if we’re not energetically behind it, and what I mean by energetically behind it, is I mean that you can stand there with confidence and say, this is my price, without feeling like you’re going to die. Like, oh my God, I’m going to throw up.

I can’t believe that came out of my mouth. I’m so mortified. I want to run and hide, right? If it’s that intense of a feeling, you’re not at, you’re not energetically behind the price yet. There’s also the other spectrum where your price is too low and you book a client at that price. And instead of being excited, you’re like, uh, I have to shoot this session for 500 and I know it’s not even worth my time, but oh my God, I need the money.

So here we go. Right. There’s two ends of the spectrum being energetically behind your prices like Goldilocks. It’s like, where is it that I book a client at that price? And I’m so pumped. Cause I’m like, yes, like I just made two grand or blah, blah, blah, or whatever. And I confidently can be like, and when I say confident, I don’t, I’m not like I’m loud and proud.

I’m going to put it on the billboard in Times Square level. Confident. No, like genuinely, you just don’t want to throw up when you say it out loud. That’s what I mean. Confident. Like this is my price, like the end. Right. So when you find that Goldilocks number or range, that’s where you’re like, okay, I’m energetically behind my prices.

But I feel like then, it’s like, kind of you have two choices when it comes to raising your price. Because we can do all this work and we can create your brag book and we can let go of your hoopty and all the things. But like you said, it’s like, okay, I’m still terrified. And you’re going to be. You’re going to be terrified.

The fear isn’t going away, but you can turn it into excitement. Because I say this all the time, fear is just excitement in an ugly outfit. So change its outfit as I sit here in a hoodie and sweats, but What I mean is change its outfit so the fear is gonna be there You are always gonna be scared to do something epic outside of your comfort zone.

That feels risky Good, you’re a human being but you’re also really excited to do it because you know on the other side of it our dream clients Are you getting paid what you really want to get paid? For that session. So instead of looking at fear is like a God, I’m terrified. Be like, All right, good. I’m terrified.

That means I’m excited. Me and fear are going to lock arms and we’re going to do this thing together because I know I can’t do it without the fear. If I wasn’t scared, it’s not big enough. If I wasn’t scared, it’s not important to me. If I wasn’t scared, it means I’m not excited. If I’m not excited, what am I even doing?

So embrace the fear, lock arms, do it scared, and then watch and see what happens because I promise you every single thing. Ready isn’t real. You’re never going to be ready to raise your prices. You’re never going to be ready to. You know, open the studio. It’s always terrifying because we don’t know what’s going to happen.

But when you take that leap of faith and believe in yourself, that’s the equivalent of hitting order. It’s how you get what you want. You have to hit order and you in fear can hit the button together. And that’s what you have to visualize yourself. Like there is no way to comfort yourself that I’ve ever found.

Are we doing this? I guess we’re doing it. Let’s freaking go. Right. And I think the other thing that is helpful, and I’ve thought this through myself and I do this with my clients all the time is like, you guys, it’s literally a number on a website. It can be changed any time you want. You didn’t sign a contract in blood that this is my price forever and ever.

Like. And by the way, you probably won’t ever lower your price because you are going to book clients at that higher price and it’s going to feel so good and you’re going to be like, why did I not do this sooner? I mean, you know, on the inside of it, it’s like, why was I being so weird about this? I’m so right.

But if you need to tell yourself that to comfort yourself, like, all right, you know what, I’m going to try this. And if it doesn’t, if it doesn’t go well, we can always go back. No one’s paying that close of attention. No one, only you, you go back. But if it makes you feel better to calm your ego down, say like, yeah, you could, you just change the number on the website.

It’s that simple.

Sabrina: Yeah. I love that. Uh, something that I tell my clients. When we’re working through pricing is like to take fast action with it, because I use this example a lot, but my daughter, who’s now 17, our girls are very similar, close in age. But when she was younger, she did not love swimming for a long time.

And we did lessons every single summer. Cause I’m like, we’re a swimming family. Like you’re going to swim. I don’t care. We’re getting over it. And she would do this thing where she would stand on the edge of the pool and I would be right there in the water, like within arm’s reach to catch her. And it’s like Emerson, jump in the water, Emerson, jump in the water, a mommy’s going to catch you.

And she would stand there and you could see the fear take hold and the longer she stood there, the less likely she was actually going to jump in because then the fear turned into paralyzation and then the paralyzation turned into tears and then the tears turned into a tantrum and then she ran away.

Whereas if she stood there and as we worked on it and she would be scared, but then she would jump like the quick action was quick reward because then she was laughing and having fun and in the water and it wasn’t a big deal. It’s like rip the band aid off. I think this is the same thing. The longer you hesitate.

The longer that like the more time your brain has to like tell you stories and to try and prove that you’re wrong and Make you look around and compare yourself to others and it’s like no if you’ve decided that this is your new price Okay, let’s go like let’s the next person that emails you gets the new pricing guide Change your pricing on your website right now like do it already And then I say the same thing that you do.

I’m like, you can always change it back. Like nobody cares, but you got to give it 30 days or six weeks. Like we’re setting a timeline, we’re setting a timeline. And if you legit don’t book a single person for however long this timeline is, I give you permission to drop it back down and it never happens.

It never happens, but that safety net sometimes feels good for them.

Dustin: You know? Yeah, I love that fast action. No, a hundred percent. And when I’m thinking about my clients or even myself. When I’ve raised my prices, so I tell this story to my clients a lot. The first coaching client that I ever booked, my first one on one client, I had people telling me like, all right, you’re a business coach, you have experience, you’ve coached so many women, like not in the coaching world, but in other worlds.

You have to charge at least a thousand dollars a month and I was like, okay, okay, okay. And then when my first client reached out to me, I literally was like, it’s 1997 for three months. Like, yeah. Yeah. But that’s where I was energetically. I was like, I would be thrilled if this girl paid me that much money to coach her.

I can’t even imagine anyone paying me money to coach them. Actually. I’ve done it for free my whole life. So like, this is wild. And I would be really excited to make that much money and let’s just like F around and find out, right? Like that’s how we, so I did. That’s what I charged. And then I love the experience.

And I obviously, you know, she got incredible results. She doubled her income in the time that we were working together. And I just was like on cloud nine, like buzzing. And then the next client I charged a thousand, no, 2, 500 for three months. The next client was 5, 000 for three months. And then I stayed at 5, 000 for like the next three to four clients.

Cause that felt really good. Like I was like, all right, five K. Like if I signed three clients, that was a 15 K month. Like, what are we even doing? Like, hi, to do something I love, like a dream. And then as I got more confident because we get more confident by doing right. There’s no shortcuts of confidence.

You get more confident by doing the thing and showing yourself that you can do it. And as my confidence grew. It’s that inner knowing that like, Oh, this is worth so much more. Like I know that this is worth more. So in the first nine months of my coaching business, I went from charging 1997 for a one on one package for three months to 12, 000 for a one on one package for three months.

And people paid it without blinking an eye because I was confident and I was energetically behind it. Like it was like, Oh, the next client is more. The next client is like, I’m doing it. I’m just doing it. Right. And it wasn’t something I like sat down and crunched numbers on and thought about. I was like, the price is 12k, the price is 12k.

Like that’s just where that feels good to me. That’s how much I want to, I know that it’s there. The end. That totally

Sabrina: brings me to my next question is like, how do we know when we get to the quote unquote right spot? Like Yeah. Yes, there is an urgency. If you’ve been at a price forever and you know in your heart and your gut that it’s not right, maybe you’re not even profitable.

You know, you need to raise your rates. We’re definitely talking to those women. But for the people who have been in business a long time, who have no problem charging higher rates, who have that confidence. But there’s kind of this like, are we always raising our prices or do we get to a spot where we’re comfortable?

Or like, what are we doing? So I’m curious for those women who are on the more, the higher end, the higher experience, like what advice do you have for them as far as. Where their rates are now, and how long, and all of that. I

Dustin: think this is such a layered question in that it’s simple, but it’s not. Because the way that I approach that, and how I would like advise a client to approach that, is like, do a gut check.

I’m sure there’s people in the industry being like, you have to raise your rates every year or else, like, what are we doing? Price of price, cost of living, inflation, right? Like all those things. And they’re true. Like economically, absolutely. I bought, oh my gosh, I bought an anniversary card for my husband and I don’t, I’m not someone who like looks at the price of everything, usually those little things, but I, it was the only thing I bought, which is why I noticed it, it was the only thing I bought at Walgreens.

It was 8. 99 for a card, and I was like, what? I was like, wait a minute, what? I was like, I’m making a construction paper card. Like, it was just, I was like, this is how much a freaking greeting card is? Like, oh my god.

Sabrina: You know, prices do go up. They used to be like 1. 99.

Dustin: 1. 99. Yeah. So like, is all of that stuff true?

Yes. But at the end of the day, it’s that internal gut check with yourself where you go, do I want to make more money? Do I have any level of ick or resentment or, Ooh, that’s too low. Like, you know, I’ve gotten two more years of experience under my belt. I, I actually want to work two less weekends. I want to take even more of a sabbatical, right?

Like it’s a check in of desire. Every decision that you make in your business, in your life, it, all of it. I am such a believer in desires led decisions. So it’s not what does the industry say that you need to do? What did your, you know, competitor do? What did so and so do? What does your mentor do? It’s what do I want to do?

Am I still thrilled as shit to have clients booking me at this rate and then Buying in service or in person sales and Adam, whatever. Right. And then they refer me to their friends and I don’t even have to advertise. And I, you know what I mean? Like this feels so good to me. Like I am living my dream. And if that’s genuine, you’re energetically behind your price still.

But if you check in and you’re like, no, you know what? And this just happened to me with my one on one I was at 4k a month for my one on one for probably the last two years. My spots were always full. I only ever have three one on ones at a time. And I did like an end of year check in. And I was like, you know what?

I know how valuable my one on one is and I’m ready to raise it. Not because somebody told me to, not because the industry’s like, if it’s been two years, it’s time where people are going to think that you don’t value yourself, whatever. It was just this internal, like, you know what? I probably only want, I’m growing my group program.

I probably don’t really, and you know, my daughter, we’re doing the college thing. Like life is lifing right now. Do I really want three one on one clients? And the answer was no. The answer was, I think I want no more than two. And if that’s the case, then I’m going to raise the rate. And now it’s 5k a month.

And I, that was it. That’s how I decided. And it was from a place of desire. What do I want my life and my business to feel like? That’s how I would check in on that. Once you are experienced and you’re like, I’m not afraid to raise my rate. It’s just like, when do I, at this point, you know?

Sabrina: Yeah. I love that.

I love that. I love to kind of end our discussion every episode with like a really tangible step. So somebody is listening today. She’s nodding her head. She’s thinking, yep, this is me. But she’s also kind of a little bit overwhelmed by it all. Is there one tangible step you can give her to better her relationship with money or her pricing?

Maybe, maybe it’s a mindset shift, maybe it’s a book, a piece of homework, something. What’s one thing you can leave her with today?

Dustin: Ooh, I love this question. All right, here’s what I want you to do. I want you to write down the number that’s on your heart that you actually want to be charging. And then I want you to ask yourself this question, right?

So declare the thing, put it in the cart. What’s the number? What do you want to raise your rate to? Then I want you to ask yourself this question or, or do this exercise, I guess. I can’t raise my rate to 5k per session or whatever it is because And then from a no judgment, no shame in my game, whatever flows into my brain, I’m writing it down.

Every single thing that comes to mind, I want you to write it down. I can’t raise my rate because I don’t have the right equipment. I can’t raise my rate because I’m brand new and I’ve only been doing it for six months. I can’t raise my rate to that because I’m just not good enough. My editing sucks. I can’t raise my rate to that because I’m terrified that no one will book me.

I can’t raise my rate to that because I’m not even fully booked out at the rate that I am. I can’t raise my, like, go there. Absolutely. Go there. It’s so funny. Every time I do this exercise myself, number one, I have a major income leap, like literally seven times my income every single time. So this is like my holy grail you guys are getting, which I’m very excited about.

So I want you to do that. And then I want you to look at this. And I want you to go, what is the BS lie that I must be believing that is evident here? I can’t because, and there’s always like an umbrella reason. It’s usually rooted in, I’m not good enough, or I don’t have enough experience or some kind of lie.

So I want you to identify the lie. That is a limiting belief. And a limiting belief. is a big old C block. It is like, you cannot pass go, you cannot collect 200, or 5, 000 in this case, until you get rid of this thing. So you have to get rid of it, and the way to get rid of it is to prove that it’s wrong. To prove to your brain that it’s a lie, because it is.

It’s a lie. So then I want you to go on a riff, and what I want you to do is pretend like someone you love said that thing. It’s not you saying I’m not good enough. It’s your daughter. It’s your best friend. It’s your mom. It’s your person, right? And they, they’re like, I’m just not good enough. Cause I know every single one of you would stand on business and be like, are you joking?

Have you Scene your photos. Don’t you remember when so-and-so flew to you because she refused to use anybody, but you don’t. You remember the first time you picked up a camera and you were so passionate and so lit up? This is what you’re meant to do and you can absolutely charge anything you want, and you are so like you would freak out on them.

I want you to freak out on yourself. And then I want you to look at that and go, all right, that lie, I’m not good enough to charge 5k. I want you to flip it on your head and I want you to say the exact opposite of that. Like my work is worth 5k at a minimum because I’m amazing at what I do. And I care so much about my clients because that’s the truth.

And then I want you to write that on a post it. I want you to put it as a reminder in your phone. I want you to obsess and repeat that mantra, that belief over and over and over and over and over and over and over in your head because it’s going to replace the BS lie of, I can’t charge this because I’m not good enough.

I don’t have the right equipment, whatever lie is in there, right? Replace it and run with it and watch how quickly you start booking clients at that rate when you believe. That you can book clients at that rate.

Sabrina: I love that so much. I love that so much. That is excellent. Very practical tip. Excellence at just, although we’re done.

No, we’re done here. Okay. Um, I knew this was going to be such a fun chat, Dustin, but I’d love to end every episode with like some fun questions so that the listeners can like get to know you a little bit. There’s four of them. Number one, what is a hobby or something fun that you’re pursuing for joy this year?

Yoga. Okay. Are you like a hot yoga, a slow yoga, a power yoga, or all of it?

Dustin: Hot yoga. I want to do the flow, sweaty, the sound bowls. Like give me the candles. Like I want to sweat to death in there. Yeah.

Sabrina: Okay. I love it. I know it’s going to be a good yoga class when I’m sweating before we’ve started, like just sitting there.

Yeah. You’re like, Oh, this is gonna be good. Um, okay. What is something that you are always up to talk about money? I mean, money’s a fun one. My answer is always ridiculous. And the listeners are probably so like overhearing me say this, but you and I have very briefly talked about this on Instagram.

Because you are a new Swifty. I am always down to talk about Taylor Swift lore and like the theories and the clues and the Easter eggs and her it’s wild. Like that is my whole Tik TOK feed now is like the Taylor Swift. It is hilarious. So

Dustin: I’m going to have to pick your brain more because I am re I, I call myself a soft Swifty because it’s like a full time job to become a full time Swifty.

Like now there’s a lot there. Like I’m still looking forwards to the 10 minute version of all too well. Funny. As soon as I said money, I was like, Oh God, there’s also I’d say reality TV. Like you want to talk about Bravo and trash TV. Yeah. I’m either, I’m either like surface level, like. Reality TV, whatever, or let’s talk about money mindset and the meaning of life and our purpose and like one or the other.

There’s no in between.

Sabrina: Yeah, well for me, I don’t watch a ton of TV and so like, my pop culture is Taylor Swift and so I’m like, you know what, you can make Okay, I’ll be 45 next month and yes, I’m obsessed with her more than my daughter. She started it, whatever, but I’m not like, I don’t do all the other pop cultures to just let me have this.

Okay.

Dustin: Listen, I want to apologize on behalf of all the swifties out there because us non, I was a former non swifty, not a hater. I was never a hater. I’ve always loved her. I’ve always admired everything she’s done. I think she’s incredible in all the ways, but I just never was like a. Diehard fan. And when I started to really dive in recently, I’m like, okay, everyone in the Smifty community, listen up.

You were lying to us. Well not, you weren’t lying. We just like didn’t know the full truth. I thought you guys were out here just like playing in fields with kittens and trading friendship bracelets and it was like Care Bear Land. And like, sure, Care Bear Land’s fun but like I don’t want to live there.

And I came and I was like, oh my god, it’s not that. She Feral, she is unapologetic. Her, her song, I’m like, what did she just say? I know. I had no idea. I had no idea. This was like a very fun place to be. So I was like, I didn’t know. And I think other people don’t know. So they need to know. I’m here to tell you she’s queen of the fair AF girlies and I’m here for it.

Yeah, it is a wild

Sabrina: ride. And I definitely am not the like full time, like I don’t have spreadsheets and stuff. You get on Tik TOK and you follow these people and they’re like, I have spreadsheets of when she wore different things and timelines and dates. And I’m like, you don’t have a full time job. That is your, that is anyways, which is good for them.

They’re content creators making a living. doing all that. That’s fun. I’m definitely not that, but I love to consume it. And it’s just fascinating to me. It’s just so fascinating. So I’m always up to talk about that. Um, okay. Question number three, what is something that you have up your sleeve for

Dustin: 2025? Uh, I have so much up my sleeve for 25.

Actually the thing that I’m most excited about. is my business bestie, Jenny Maroney. Her and I are going to do, it’s so ridiculous, but so fun. We are going to do a podcast tour, but we do not have a joint podcast. There’s only one tour date. I love it. So it’s more of a live show. And we just booked the venue in New York.

It’s called asylum, which like how fitting, like what? And that’s exactly what it’s going to be is like an experience like a girl’s. Night out, grab your bestie. You know, she’s a seven figure entrepreneur. I’m a seven figure entrepreneur. She’s more strategy. I’m more mindset. And we are just going to go behind the scenes and like, tell it like it is, like all the things about how to make money, how to raise your price, how to get lit up, how to, you know, reignite your spark and just do it in a way that’s like unapologetic and feral and so fun.

And I’m so excited. Like, I’ve never seen anyone do anything like this. And this idea came so organically when her and I were like, peeing our pants like laughing. And I was like, we should show. And now we’re doing it. And we’re gonna put our we’re gonna put on a billboard in Times Square, like we’re planning all this stuff.

So I’m, I am so excited about this. That is gonna be

Sabrina: so so fun. I love it so much mine. Mine, what is up my sleeve is I’m actually in this season of like releasing things that don’t belong anymore. And so I actually have a lot of unknown in the second half of my year and I’m super excited about it because I know that something else is, is like going to be birthed and I don’t know what it is yet.

So it’s like, what do you have up your sleeve, Sabrina? I don’t know, but it’s going to be awesome. So best. Yeah. So I’m really, really excited to see. See whatever it is. I have up my sleeve. It’ll be a surprise to me too. So I’m, I’m excited about that. Okay. Last question. What is a business tool or a hack that you’re loving that you’re obsessed with right now?

Dustin: Business tool or hack? Um, when it comes to creating content, I am for the first time in a very long time, not overthinking it. I’m not exaggerating. It used to take me 90 minutes to do an Instagram feed post because it was the hook and the B roll and the caption and the blah. And I gave myself permission to FAFO with content and it’s so crazy because I am literally writing things that as I’m on a walk or as I’m on a coaching call, like whatever I say.

That becomes the post and I don’t care about the hook and I don’t care about the caption and I just speak my truth and speak from my heart and it takes me seven minutes. And my engagement is through the roof. Yeah. Engagement and anything. And I’m like, Oh my gosh, I’m so annoying. So the hack is I make myself do it while I’m on the go.

So like. while I’m, you know, get it. I dropped my daughter off to soccer practice and I go park. I take five minutes in the car, post it, bam. And by the way, I’m not like sitting there like for the next five minutes to engage with, like, I literally post it, forget about it, live my life. And then when I ever come back, I’m like, Oh my God.

Okay. And then I comment and I reply. So that’s my back is like, I don’t make it a thing that I have to sit down and do. I’m doing it more like stories where it’s like. I can post on the fly and it’s not that serious and it’s game changing. Yeah,

Sabrina: I love that so much. Similarly, something that I love and that I talk about all the time is like, like making your business like a game, you know, just like gamify everything, like try it and maybe you’ll win and maybe you’ll lose and then you can play again and it’s like not a big deal.

And so that is just, that takes so much pressure off of like, Needing to be perfect, needing to get it right, the right, like who cares? You know what I mean? And I totally realized that some of that is just. Experience and like confidence that comes with time. You know what I mean? And, and being an entrepreneur for so long and seeing that really doesn’t matter.

You can literally make any mistake under the sun and it’s all fine. Um, but that just taking the pressure off and like letting it be fun is, it’s just better.

Dustin: Yes, absolutely. Pressure will put you in fight or flight mode and nobody’s winning when we’re in fight or flight mode. No, absolutely not.

Sabrina: Dustin, this has been such a fun chat.

I knew it was going to be. Um, I cannot wait to get feedback from the listeners when this episode airs. So when you listen and you’re obsessed with it, you come message me, you come message Dustin, you tell us how much you loved the chat. Um, and then, like I said, we’ll have you back and we’ll talk about whatever it is.

We said, we said both. And that’s, that’s the next discussion. Yes, that’s the next one. Okay, my friend, thank you for this. Uh, let me just let you end on telling the audience where they can find you.

Dustin: Yes, you can find me on Instagram. That’s where I’m hanging out at Dustin Machinsky. And you know, Lincoln, my bio has all the things that you’re ever going to see me talk about on there or anything that we’ve talked about here.

Yeah, I love it. All

Sabrina: right, my

Dustin: friends, we’ll see

Sabrina: you next time.

Dustin: That’s

Sabrina: it. Bye. Thanks so much for listening to the shoot it straight podcast. You can find all the full show notes and details from today’s episode at sabrinagebhart. com backslash podcast. Come find me and connect over on the gram at Sabrina Gebhardt photography.

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