Becoming A Successful Entrepreneur with Pauline Malubay | Ep. 67

• Tiffany opens the conversation about the universal struggle with pricing, sharing her own journey from $20/hour to gradually increasing rates as demand grew.

Pricing is so personal... it's a lot to do with how you feel about yourself and your self-worth.

• Pauline emphasizes she doesn't price-shame because of demographic differences and lifestyle variations across the world.

• Tiffany shares her background in HR (not finance) and how lack of certifications held her back from charging appropriately despite delivering results.

I can't charge that much. I've only been doing this for X, Y, Z years... I haven't even got this XYZ certification. But they still get those results with clients.

• Pauline points out that perfectionism and patriarchal socialization cause entrepreneurs to measure themselves against unreachable ideals.

• Pauline warns against excessive competitor research that leads to fear and inaction, especially for experienced professionals entering online spaces.

Don't do any competitor research because I know what you're going to do. You're going to get in your head about it and you're going to get scared.

• She advises that pricing is iterative—the more confidence you gain, the higher you raise prices over time.

• Tiffany discusses losing her original $50/month clients after raising prices, but gaining clients who see the value and don't complain about cost.

We want supreme clientele... the people that's not going to complain about how much we charge, that actually see the value.

You become the Apple of whatever your service or product is.

• Pauline warns against becoming the entrepreneur who asserts boundaries then immediately violates them, which damages reputation and self-trust.

You basically teach your prospect clients and your clients how you want to be treated.

• She emphasizes developing habits of keeping your word even during feast-or-famine stages.

• Recognize what you're good at and build your business around that
• Build positive relationships from the first sales call
• Learn to be assertive (not aggressive) in expecting genuine exchange
• Start saying no—dream clients can't arrive if you're burnt out
• Raise prices 1-2 times per year as a deliberate CEO milestone
• Join masterminds for accountability on price increases

Saying no, that's not mean that you have to upset the relationship. You can end on good terms.

• Tiffany shares how hiring her career coach as a PR intermediary finally got a long-time free client to pay her rates.

So all this time, all I had to do was ask.

• She now limits free speaking to one engagement per quarter after realizing unlimited free work led to burnout without revenue.

• Tiffany reframed the conversation with a reluctant client by asking if they'd work their corporate job for free—helping them understand entrepreneurship is her livelihood.

British people, we don't like to talk about money. It's a very taboo subject, which I don't understand. It runs the world.

• Pauline shares sending her first five-figure proposal and feeling physically ill, only to have it accepted within an hour.

• Both hosts emphasize: if you're struggling internally with pricing, hire someone to help you break through the mental block.

• Tiffany helped her husband price a major out-of-state video project; despite his hesitation, the client accepted the full amount upfront without negotiation.

Don't try to then backtrack and break it down into payments... unless it's needed.