by Tara Joyce | Nov 1, 2016 | Pay What It's Worth Pricing
Everyone can be your teacher, and everything can be an object of worship.
When you can free yourself from the scales of judgement in your lower mind—where one thing is held in higher virtue than another—in your higher mind, everything has the same value.
In this space, you see the teacher learns from their student, as the student learns from their teacher. In every exchange and in every relationship, there is value to realize.
When you can accept yourself and your true nature, you see this shared value. In acceptance of yourself, you lose the need to rank and weigh, and to judge any thing and any one as better or worse.
In this space of equanimity, you understand you create the value you give, and the value you receive.
What’s curious is that in this effort to understand our world and improve our self, we allow ourselves to realize the infinite value we possess.
photo credit: DorkyMum
by Tara Joyce | Mar 5, 2015 | Cultural Creativity, Pay What It's Worth Pricing
I’m so intrigued by what I’m witnessing. With time, I’m learning of more and more business experimenting with not setting prices. Their individual approaches to doing so are wholly unique, with nuances tailored to meet their specific business needs. What is shared by each however, is their need to identify and communicate what exactly they are asking for their customer to do, if their customer is not paying a set price.
How exactly does the exchange work?
What are my needs as the seller and what role does the customer play in meeting them?
What does the buyer need and what role do I play in meeting them?
What is truly being exchanged and valued between us?
While their answers may change with experience, in order to sell now, these businesses need to determine what they are asking for their buyer to do, and how to communicate it clearly. For as the buyer, before I commit to make a purchase, I need to understand what I am giving in order to receive what you are selling. I need to understand my end of our agreement.
Whether I set prices or not as a business owner, I need to have clarity around the question, “What am I asking for in my business exchanges?” It fortifies my integrity (and my customer’s) to establish norms, accountability and disclosure around my system for giving and receiving with them. The closer I get to knowing what I need AND what I’ve been asking for, AND how they may differ, the closer I am to creating my most value-adding and harmonious business exchanges.
In every relationship, business or not, in order for it to be healthy and mutually beneficial, I need to be responsible to my needs by identifying and communicating them. It is of deep service to my Self and to the person I am in relationship with to do the work to recognize my needs and to share them compassionately. For in growing my own awareness, I create space for the other person’s needs to be recognized too — by them and by me. Only when both of our needs are recognized and fulfilled is our relationship a healthy and sustainable one. And one where we can both trust and grow wealthy in our exchange of giving and receiving.
In your own business, do you know what you’re asking for? Are you receiving what you need? If you find there’s a space in-between, please take note of it. The more you learn about and explore this space of lack, the closer you’ll be to whole-ing it. It’s from this place of responsibility (to your own needs and your customers) that you can and will grow harmoniously together.
photo credit: Fibonacci Blue
by Tara Joyce | May 28, 2014 | Cultural Creativity
I’ve got this tendency in communication, maybe you have it too… I sometimes take on more responsibility than is rightfully mine.
You see, I am good at communicating. It comes naturally. I like it and because of this, I sometimes take on the job of doing it, even when it’s not mine to have.
Sometimes, I take on the job of valuing your words and expressions when you are not. Sometimes, I choose an unequal exchange.
An equal exchange
But here’s the thing, the truth about empowered communication and empowering myself through communication — sometimes, it’s best if I don’t listen. Sometimes, it’s best if I don’t acknowledge what’s being communicated.
If you’re communicating in a constructive way, then listening and recognizing you is my priority. But, if you’re not holding up your end of the communication bargain and being responsible for your role in the relationship, then your words lose their value. For you are no longer valuing them.
Your carelessness with your communication is not my responsibility.
Shared responsibility
What’s mine is my responsibility towards empowered communication and my need for co-creative communication.
What’s mine are maintaining my boundaries around what is our shared responsibility in our exchange.
valuing my words & expressions = valuing your words & expressions
Both are my job. And both are yours. That’s how we co-create communication together.
photo credit: Stephen – 10on12
by Tara Joyce | Feb 21, 2014 | Pay What It's Worth Pricing, Personal Branding
Value-For-Value
Pay What You Want
Pay What You Value
Gift Economy
Pay What It’s Worth
Collections of words. Collections of words that intend something similar, and yet different.
They all describe a concept. That you trust your customers to determine the value they receive from your work, and to give accordingly.
You can describe this concept, and your belief in it in many ways.
Value-For-Value
Pay What You Want
Pay What You Value
Gift Economy
Pay What It’s Worth
The words you use are a choice in how you design your communications. It’s your brand. Your experience.
What do you want and need to be valued in the exchange? How do you communicate your intent and the result you desire?
Value-For-Value
Pay What You Want
Pay What You Value
Gift Economy
Pay What It’s Worth
In the end, these terms may differ in their meaning but they describe one truth in their action. That you are a business that is choosing to create it’s own economy.
You’re criticizing the current economic system by creating your own system for valuing products and services. And it’s changing things.
Just as your life choices are creating the world you live in, your business choices are creating the economy you work and exchange in.
In trusting me to value you fairly, we’re creating an economy together where we step out of lack, and into a fair exchange of value, respect and love.
Value-For-Value
Pay What You Want
Pay What You Value
Gift Economy
Pay What It’s Worth
To start creating your economy, it starts with the ask. The intention of your action.
What do you intend to build with the economy you are creating? And how can you best express it?
What lies within the art of your ask?
photo credit: Iwan Gabovitch
for an inspiring talk on “The Art of Asking”, please watch: Amanda Palmer’s TED talk
by Tara Joyce | Nov 13, 2013 | Cultural Creativity
Look around you.
Where, and with whom, are you spending your Energy?
Do you feel like your spending it wisely?
If not, it could literally be the reason why you are having issues with money. For money, too, is an Energy.
Reflecting on your “money situation” does it mirror back important information about how you spend your Energy?
What do your money spending habits reveal about your energy spending habits?
A Fair Exchange.
Is there anywhere that you are “spending” too much “Energy”? If so, this is a to pay attention to.
For your Energy is worth so much more than that.
photo credit: hikingartist
