It’s common for energy healers to get emotionally caught up in how much to charge for their services. That’s because many energy workers equate their self-worth with how much they’re paid.

Therefore, we’re going to take the services = worth equation angst out of this blog post.

If you’re just starting out in your energy healing practice and have no idea what you can or should charge, I’m going to make this simple.

You need to know these two things:

1. What you need to earn per hour to make a profit.

2. What the market will bear.

How to Determine What to Charge for Your Services

Business schools teach a standard formula for determining hourly rates:

Step 1:  Add up your labor (salary).

To determine how much your labor is worth, pick a figure for what you’d like your annual salary to be.

This can be determined by what you earned while doing energy healing services as an employee, what other energy healers earn for similar work, or how much you’d like to earn — make sure your goal is reasonable.

Step 2:  Add up your overhead costs.

To compute your annual overhead, you’ll need to include all of the costs you expect to incur doing business this year. Factor in:

• Telephone expenses.
•  Energy healing equipment.
•  Rent and utilities, if you’re renting space.
•  Business insurance.
• Travel expenses.
•  Advertising and marketing costs for your website, business cards, and brochures.

Tip: If you’re just starting out, you’ll have to guesstimate these expenses or ask other energy healing practitioners in your same modality what they pay in overhead.

Step 3: Add in the profit you want to earn (profit margin).

Profit margin is usually expressed as a percentage. There is no standard profit percentage, although 10% to 20% profit is common.

Step 4: Then divide by your hours worked (billable hours).

Assume you’ll work a 32-hour week. If you plan on taking two weeks of vacation, that’s 1,600 billable hours per year (50 weeks x 32 hours).

Tip: You’ll probably spend between 25% and 35% of your time on tasks that aren’t billable, such as bookkeeping, drumming up business, upgrading your skills. This means you’ll probably have 1,000 to 1,200 hours for which you’ll be paid this year.

Example

Mary is a Reiki practitioner. She’s self-employed and operates out of her home. She wants to make $40,000 salary this year. In addition, Mary wants to make a 10% profit and estimates that she’ll work 1,200 billable hours. To determine her hourly rate:

· Mary adds her salary and overhead together: $40,000 + $10,000 = $50,000.

· Mary multiplies this by her intended profit margin of 10%: 10% of $50,000 = $5,000.

· Next, she adds this amount to her salary and overhead: $50,000 + $5,000 = $55,000.

· Finally, Mary divides the total by her annual billable hours to arrive at her hourly rate: $55,000 ÷ 1,200 = $46.

Next, Mary needs to look at the market conditions.

How to Investigate the Marketplace

Now that Mary knows what she needs to earn per hour, next, she’ll determine if $46 is realistic. That means she needs to do some market research. This will let Mary know what her potential clients are willing to pay.

Here are three ways to gather this information:

1. Contact the professional organization associated with your energy healing modality. In Mary’s case, she’ll be contacting the International

Center for Reiki Training and asking them what other Reiki practitioners are charging in her geographical area.

2. Ask other energy healing practitioners in your healing modality what they charge. Mary could call fellow Reiki practitioners, contact them through Facebook, email, or visit with them in person.

3. Use salary.com to determine what other healing practitioners are earning in your geographical area.

If you’re an energy worker and can’t find your exact healing modality, check out what massage therapists or personal trainers are paid. Since they’re in the ‘health care’ field too, this is a good indication of what annual salary you can expect.

In Mary’s case, salary.com indicated that in her geographical area massage therapists make $44,298 and personal trainers make $53,037. Therefore, her billable hour of $46  was a little higher than the market would bear.

Quick Link: Salary.com

Tip: If you discover that your hourly rate is higher than what your geographical market will bear, then either lower your hourly rate or keep it if you’re offering high quality or specialty services.

Tip: I suggest that if you’re just starting out, price your services at the lower end of the spectrum — say $30 per hour = $36,000 annual. Then, gradually increase your hourly rate as you gain more experience.

If you’re an energy healer just starting out, there’s no need to get emotionally caught up when deciding what to charge for your services. Use these four steps to determine how to price your services to attract clients and make a profit.

Jan

P.S. Click the link below and join the Energy Healers. Thriving Businesses Facebook Group for the best ideas on building your client-base. Plus get expert advice on handling administrative and financial tasks, and mastering the fundamental challenges of an energy healing business with ease, so you can focus on the work you love: helping clients heal.

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P.S.S. I’m excited about an innovative client attraction system for #spiritual and #healing entrepreneurs that I think you’re going love.

There are still some openings for a free client attraction strategy session this month. You can choose to have your free session by app (Skype or Zoom) or email.

If you want a spot, send me an email with your time zone and preferred app or email to:

jan@YourHealingBusiness.com or DM me on Twitter @Your_HealingBiz

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