If you struggle to earn enough in your counselling or therapy practice, there may be many reasons for that. Some of those reasons may be external ones, such as the financial climate, or the location you practice in. However, there may also be internal factors at play.

The following exercise can help to identify one of the most common internal or mind set factors, our Income Set Point. This set point (we all have them) is the point beyond which it becomes uncomfortable for us to receive. It is the limit of our comfort zone. Often we can be totally unaware of where our set point lies, and the values and beliefs that hold it in place. As a result we can unconsciously sabotage ourselves and our ability to earn a decent living.

Awareness of our set point gives us choice. It allows us to stretch our comfort zone, (if we want to!) leaving room for us to earn more, perhaps through additional clients, or through a higher fee rate, or being open to trying different work.

Take a few moments to try out this exercise for yourself. You might be surprised by the results!

Identifying our Income Set Point:

1. If you are earning an hourly rate, write that rate down__________________________

If you are earning a wage or salary or receive a regular income or contribution, write down your weekly/monthly income___________(weekly /monthly)

(If you have both types of income, choose one for the purposes of this exercise.)

2.  Write down here the amount you would receive if that income figure were to increase by the factor mentioned, and in the space beside notice your thoughts and feelings as you imagine receiving the larger amount:

Increased Income Amount

Increase by 10%_________

Increase by 1/3___________

Increase by 50%__________

Double__________________

Treble___________________

3.What might be your fears or concerns about the consequences of earning more than you currently do?

Fears about how I see myself, or how others see me include….

Fears about what I might become include…..

Fears about what it might mean in my relationships include…..

Fears about what might happen include…….

4. You can also try the exercise in the reverse, by decreasing the current income rate by the relevant factors, and again, taking note of your responses. Explore the thoughts and feelings that come up, they may tell you a lot about how you relate to money.

5. Another way to look at this set point is in terms of the time you are willing to spend working. Try it out substituting hours for fee figures, and again, you might be surprised by what it tells you.

When I first tried this exercise, I realised that one of the reasons I didn’t want to earn more was that I was afraid of having a tax bill that I wasn’t able to pay. (This had happened to me in the past, when an old VAT bill had come out of the blue, at a time when I had no money to pay it.) Once I recognized my fear, I realised how short sighted I was being. Even if the tax amounted to 50% of my income, I was still better off by the other 50%! I realised that I could take steps to prevent the shock of an unexpected bill, simply by putting away some money regularly to provide for my tax.

Try the exercise for yourself, and let me know how you get on. Or if you’d like to explore how your income set points might be getting in the way of you having the income you’d like from your practice, please contact me for your free 20 minute consultation.