You can think about other forms of compensation besides cash while building your price discount strategies. How would it feel if you were to give away or discount your services in exchange for specific and authoritative feedback? Is there an opportunity for barter? If you barter, how will you measure the respective value of the goods and services being exchanged?

If you were only concerned with how responding to a request might feel, and not with how it might look, what decision would you make? How would it be to utterly trust yourself to make t

As a business owner you may be surprised to discover how often you are asked to donate your services. This may delight or disconcert you depending on who asks, how often, and how your practice is doing.

In addition to responding to requests for donated or reduced fee services, you may be wondering how to build your practice by giving work away. Both situations raise important questions on building your price discount strategies, and answering these questions is an exercise in authentic prosperity.

-- What do you want to give?
-- What results do you want from giving?
-- When has giving been effortless?
-- What has giving been a problem for you?

Giving in accordance with your deepest desires and in accordance with your resources and needs is energizing, motivating, inspiring. It is relatively easy to make a sustained contribution when you truly care about a cause. It is relatively easy to complete a project when you have the resources to do so. It is relatively easy to stay committed when you experience benefits from doing so.

However, if your donations and reduced-fee work feel like demands that distract from your core purpose, you are almost certain to feel resentful about offering discounts or giving your work away.

To discover what is right for you and your business and build price discount strategies that work, start by regarding these requests as opportunities, which you can accept or decline according to your values, resources, and needs. Then your giving will be generous and relatively effortless. After all, "no" or a counteroffer are perfectly valid responses to a request. Otherwise, the request was an ultimatum, and you need not be subject to a third party’s ultimatum; unless, perhaps, it comes from the tax collector.

In other words, being able and willing to say "no" is essential in order to be able to say "yes" with conviction and clarity.

Examine your commitments, noticing especially where you might feel resentful or anxious. What is behind this resentment or anxiety? Is there a disconnect between your core values/concerns and this activity? Are you giving in a fashion that results in your offer being valued and bringing significant benefit?

Do you care deeply, yet feel that you have committed more than you can give from available resources? Or do you have needs (for example, community, visibility, professional alliances, or learning) that are not being satisfied in the context of this commitment?

You can think about other forms of compensation besides cash while building your price discount strategies. How would it feel if you were to give away or discount your services in exchange for specific and authoritative feedback? Is there an opportunity for barter? If you barter, how will you measure the respective value of the goods and services being exchanged?

If you were only concerned with how responding to a request might feel, and not with how it might look, what decision would you make? How would it be to utterly trust yourself to make th

Giving in accordance with your deepest desires and in accordance with your resources and needs is energizing, motivating, inspiring. It is relatively easy to make a sustained contribution when you truly care about a cause. It is relatively easy to complete a project when you have the resources to do so. It is relatively easy to stay committed when you experience benefits from doing so.

However, if your donations and reduced-fee work feel like demands that distract from your core purpose, you are almost certain to feel resentful about offering discounts or giving your work away.

To discover what is right for you and your business and build price discount strategies that work, start by regarding these requests as opportunities, which you can accept or decline according to your values, resources, and needs. Then your giving will be generous and relatively effortless. After all, "no" or a counteroffer are perfectly valid responses to a request. Otherwise, the request was an ultimatum, and you need not be subject to a third party’s ultimatum; unless, perhaps, it comes from the tax collector.

In other words, being able and willing to say "no" is essential in order to be able to say "yes" with conviction and clarity.

Examine your commitments, noticing especially where you might feel resentful or anxious. What is behind this resentment or anxiety? Is there a disconnect between your core values/concerns and this activity? Are you giving in a fashion that results in your offer being valued and bringing significant benefit?

Do you care deeply, yet feel that you have committed more than you can give from available resources? Or do you have needs (for example, community, visibility, professional alliances, or learning) that are not being satisfied in the context of this commitment?

You can think about other forms of compensation besides cash while building your price discount strategies. How would it feel if you were to give away or discount your services in exchange for specific and authoritative feedback? Is there an opportunity for barter? If you barter, how will you measure the respective value of the goods and services being exchanged?

If you were only concerned with how responding to a request might feel, and not with how it might look, what decision would you make? How would it be to utterly trust yourself to make t

To discover what is right for you and your business and build price discount strategies that work, start by regarding these requests as opportunities, which you can accept or decline according to your values, resources, and needs. Then your giving will be generous and relatively effortless. After all, "no" or a counteroffer are perfectly valid responses to a request. Otherwise, the request was an ultimatum, and you need not be subject to a third party’s ultimatum; unless, perhaps, it comes from the tax collector.

In other words, being able and willing to say "no" is essential in order to be able to say "yes" with conviction and clarity.

Examine your commitments, noticing especially where you might feel resentful or anxious. What is behind this resentment or anxiety? Is there a disconnect between your core values/concerns and this activity? Are you giving in a fashion that results in your offer being valued and bringing significant benefit?

Do you care deeply, yet feel that you have committed more than you can give from available resources? Or do you have needs (for example, community, visibility, professional alliances, or learning) that are not being satisfied in the context of this commitment?

You can think about other forms of compensation besides cash while building your price discount strategies. How would it feel if you were to give away or discount your services in exchange for specific and authoritative feedback? Is there an opportunity for barter? If you barter, how will you measure the respective value of the goods and services being exchanged?

If you were only concerned with how responding to a request might feel, and not with how it might look, what decision would you make? How would it be to utterly trust yourself to make t

Examine your commitments, noticing especially where you might feel resentful or anxious. What is behind this resentment or anxiety? Is there a disconnect between your core values/concerns and this activity? Are you giving in a fashion that results in your offer being valued and bringing significant benefit?

Do you care deeply, yet feel that you have committed more than you can give from available resources? Or do you have needs (for example, community, visibility, professional alliances, or learning) that are not being satisfied in the context of this commitment?

You can think about other forms of compensation besides cash while building your price discount strategies. How would it feel if you were to give away or discount your services in exchange for specific and authoritative feedback? Is there an opportunity for barter? If you barter, how will you measure the respective value of the goods and services being exchanged?

If you were only concerned with how responding to a request might feel, and not with how it might look, what decision would you make? How would it be to utterly trust yourself to make t

You can think about other forms of compensation besides cash while building your price discount strategies. How would it feel if you were to give away or discount your services in exchange for specific and authoritative feedback? Is there an opportunity for barter? If you barter, how will you measure the respective value of the goods and services being exchanged?

If you were only concerned with how responding to a request might feel, and not with how it might look, what decision would you make? How would it be to utterly trust yourself to make the decision that works for you?

As you ask these questions, allow the answers to arise without criticism or censorship. Know that letting yourself be honest about what you do and do not truly value will help you to make stronger commitments -- commitments that you will love to keep and that will serve others.