Ever Hear a Potential Client Say, “I Can’t Afford You"? It’s a Bunch of Baloney

All freelancers have heard, “I’d love to work with you but I can’t afford you”. Some of the time this is actually true, your potential client can’t afford to work with you, but 9 times out of 10 they are not telling the truth – they can afford you, they just don’t want to.

People will virtually pay anything if they see the value in it. For example, let’s say you haven’t had anything to drink in a day – how much would you pay for a glass of water? Probably quite a bit.

How about if you were on a date and ate onions for dinner and had no way of brushing your teeth – how much would you pay for just a stick of gum? If you liked your date and things were moving along, I’d bet you’d be happy to pay a lot for that gum.

The point is, if people (your potential clients included) want something bad enough, they’ll find a way to pay for it. A while back, I had a potential client tell me he couldn’t afford to have a brand identity for his business – he said this to me as he was getting into his new Porsche. He said he had to pay taxes and that a family member might be able to help him.

Clearly he could afford it, the guy’s driving around a vehicle that costs more than some people’s houses – it had nothing to do with him being able to afford it.

Remember that people will virtually pay anything if they see the value in it. I know he had the money, he knows he has the money - but he didn’t buy. I was unable to help him see the value of what I could do for him and how he would benefit from it– that’s why I lost the client, not because he couldn’t afford me.