faith and fear cannot coexist

This is one of my favorite mantras ever. I've seen many renditions of it in my adult years. Several scriptures speak to having faith over fear. The slogan of one of my favorite brands, Pray 4 Fashion, is Faith/Fear. However, before I really recognized the affirmation I was receiving of this from literature, marketing and media, it was something I had to accept and choose to live for myself, day-to-day.

I revisit the phrase often when it comes to working for myself and launching my brands. When I first began Front Paige Marketing (FPM), I significantly undervalued my work, out of fear that 1) I didn't enough experience to charge a certain amount and 2) if I charged too much, I wouldn't get steady, or any, business. For instance, I only charged $10 for digital flyers. There are freelance markers in Philadelphia - my immediate target audience - easily charging $60 a flyer. Still, I felt like I didn't have the audacity for those rates.

In 2019 I rebranded, introducing a new look (logo) and new prices along with it; flyers were $20. My friend and marketing maven, Bola, promptly slid in my DMs. She told me I had to stop low-balling myself. I need to quote my work for what I was worth, then add tax! #fortheloveofBola #RIPBola

At that moment, I took that service menu down and re-evaluated AGAIN. Today, I am starting digital flyers at $30 and have increased the prices for my other services accordingly. So far I've grossed in 2021 the same amount I made all of 2020 from FPM.

Once I let go of the imposter syndrome I was dealing with, stopped being afraid of not getting commissions and started having faith that potential clients would see that value in my work, I started growing. I've doubled in profits and clientele since I've increased my prices, which I can't believe. But I've also started operating differently, which is a direct result of my confidence growing in my abilities.

The moral of the story is: believe in yourself. I was going to say as a business owner, but honestly as any individual with any goal, you can't afford to operate out of fear. What you want most is on the other of fear. My next goal is successfully launching this t-shirt line (see previous blog post). Being frozen in fear is a real thing - hence why I've been t a l k i n g about launching my t-shirt line since 2019 and am just now taking action. I hope this post inspires someone else to release fear and go for that thing they've been sitting on for a while. Get out of your own way and go for it!