The No. One strategy that may be hurting your embroidery business is your mindset! Many times 
our thoughts are what hold us back from succeeding at what we want to achieve and may really be hurting our chances of having a successful embroidery business. I wanted to charge higher prices for my embroidery work when I first started my business but then the negative talk started. I had been told so many times that there was no way that I was going to be able to make a living with an embroidery business and then I actually started believing it.
We second-guess ourselves and we have doubts when this happens. With all of the negative thoughts and other people‚’s opinions, we soon tell ourselves that we aren‚’t good enough, smart enough, talented enough, or whatever to be able to charge the prices we want or need to for our work. So we end up just settling for what we think we can get and really create a tough struggle for ourselves.
This was a huge struggle for me when I first started my embroidery business and it lasted for almost 15 years! I was convinced that I had to be the lowest priced embroiderer to get the work and stay busy! That mindset almost cost me my entire business!
As a woman, I did not value my time! It was hard for me to ask for the money and price my embroidery as it should have been priced because of all of the negative talk. I collected everyone else‚’s price list and priced my embroidery to match or just a little lower. I almost lost my entire business as a result of it!
I was determined to have the highest quality embroidery of any one that I knew of that was in the embroidery business and I was told many times that I had accomplished that. I was offering this very high quality embroidery at a price that was as low or lower than the embroidery businesses that were offering low quality. How stupid was that!
I did not realize that what I had to offer was a product that I could have priced much higher right from the beginning of my business but my mindset had blocked my ability to see that. It took my accountant practically batting me in the head to get this point across. Either I price my embroidery as I should or close the doors! I was not making any money and I was never going to make any money if I did not change my mindset and my prices. I just knew in my own mind that people would not pay those high prices!
I was so wrong! With my accountants help, I created a whole new pricing structure that was much higher. It was very freighting to me to do this because I just knew that I would lose most of my customers. I did lose some of my customers but they were only the customers that wanted the lowest price.
It was a struggle for me to change that mindset but with his help I was able to do so. I guess you would say, he was my first business coach. When I changed my total mindset and started promoting my quality product and excellent customer service I had plenty of work! Most of my customers were already coming to me for my quality and service and when I raised the prices, they were OK with that.
I found that the secret is not to project your thinking & feelings onto your customers! This mindset held me back for 15 years! Since everyone else was charging low prices, I thought that I had to stay in line with them or charge less to get the customers.
Do not let this happen to you. I would love to be able to convince you and all embroiderers that you need to charge for your expertise. We are not or should not be struggling artists! We are highly skilled professionals and should be paid accordingly and you need to develop the mindset of a professional!
If you are not sure whether or not you have the skill level to be able to charge high prices, get a coach that will help you develop the skill level that you need. Sometimes I just cringe when I see designs that come into to me for a critique. Many embroiderers do not even know that their skill level is not high enough.
I know that I am talking about skill level and charging more for your work, but this is all part of your mindset. If you develop the skills that you need to be a highly skilled embroiderer, then you have earned the right to start charging what you are worth! If you need help in this area, please contact me at joyce@theembroiderycoach.com.
If you have anyone telling you that there is no way you are going to make any money with your embroidery business, close your ears. Learn to block them out. Everyone that teaches about a positive mindset tells you to stay away from negative people. This is not always possible, especially if it is a loved one but you can learn to block them out. That is what I had to do and the negative talk will no longer bother you.
Just stay on your path to creating your highly profitable embroidery business and keep thinking the positive thoughts that are so necessary to have a successful embroidery business.
Without it, you will have a very tough road ahead of you! Stay off that road! Do not travel it at all!