What is your professional value and how can you measure it?
There are a number of factors that can make up your professional value, such as:
- confidence
- experience
- aspirations
- reputation
You can measure your individual professional value in many different ways. In the world of conventional employment this value is based on experience, where you’ve worked, who you’ve worked with and how much money you’ve been paid for your skills and employment in the past. In other words, how varied and expansive is your CV?
These factors still apply when running your own business but nonetheless, have to be applied differently.
For example, running your own business puts more demand on your confidence and time, you get to choose who you want to work with and the type of work you do, which makes knowing your professional value so much more important.
I’m sure you can think of many more ways to measure your value, but I’m going to touch on just a few.
Confidence and belief
Confidence is key and believing in yourself and your business is crucial for it to become a success.
If you’re thinking about starting your own business but don’t feel confident enough, what’s standing in your way?
More often than not there are many different factors at play, but is it possible you’re getting in your own way? Is your self-doubt stopping you from doing what you really want?
If so, think about the fears that are obstructing you and how you can move past them. If you’re running a business and are finding it hard to maintain your usual level of confidence; talk to your peers, talk to them about the problems you’re experiencing and any other professional struggles you are facing.
Remember, a problem shared is a problem halved.
When I became a full-time business owner in June 2020 I had much less confidence than I’d have liked. Three months on, after working with my life and career coach, I found I was more confident than ever and truly knew my professional value. I know I offer great value to others and the feedback I get from clients validates that I’m doing a great job.
Communicating your experience
No man is an island, despite being self-employed, you may still need to work with other people in some areas of your business, for example, distribution, public relations or social media marketers.
Being able to communicate the worth of your business and your competence as a business owner in an effective way is important when relaying to people why they should partner with your company or business. Especially when they aren’t familiar with the type of business you run.
Effectivity communicating the identity of your business and your wealth of experience to your peers is crucial in ensuring lucrative business practices and fruitful collaborations.
You might know all of the buzzwords that are bounced around in your field of expertise but will your ideal client appreciate them? Ensure you’re communicating your experience in a relatable and understandable way.
Your value and purpose
If you’re running your own business, you probably already have a strong sense of what you want from your career and life.
However, if you’re struggling to maintain a strong definition for this, then think about and remind yourself of the reasons you decided to go it alone in the first place.
Ask yourself…
What do you get out of running your business that you don’t get from being employed within someone else’s company?
For me, it is:
- freedom
- flexibility
- variation
- pride
- working from anywhere in the world
- being able to exercise at times that suit
I can think of so many other ways I get value from being my own boss, but I won’t go on.
Creating a mission statement will help you to establish your value and purpose.
Think about what your business offers and what you can do that other’s can’t. Perhaps you want to use your business platform to highlight something important to you.
Make a list (I love a list) of the things that drive you forward within your business and that will help you keep a sense of value and purpose for what you do. Remind yourself of the things you’ve accomplished, while running a business.
Be proud of your business.
Know your worth
Lastly, don’t sell yourself short!
Being able to validate the experiences you’ve had will help when you’re in situations with people who perhaps don’t give you the respect you deserve, or value your work as much as they should. We’ve all been there.
Knowing your professional value is about being confident in your abilities as a business owner and believing that you can make a success of your business, whatever it may be.
Ask your clients for feedback! Not only will it give you social proofing content for your website and socials, it’ll remind you how amazing you are.
Let's talk professional value!
If you’d like help to measure your professional value, I’d love to hear from you.
