Thoughts on self-worth and valuing what you do

Today I got a phone call from a local customer. This person has purchased medicine from me in the past (though very infrequently). She knows me and what I do. She was looking for a hard-to-find plant medicine for an issue she is dealing with and asked if I had any prepared. I told her that I did, that it was very high quality and stronger than a regular strength tincture (it was a soxhlet extract), so she would need far less for each dose. She asked the price and I told her $15 for a one-ounce bottle. She immediately told me that it was too expensive. I told her that it is more than I charge for a regular tincture, and again explained that she would need less per dose and so the bottle would last her roughly 3 times as long. She did not buy from me. It’s OK. Maybe she will find it elsewhere for cheaper.

There was a time when I would have caved in a situation like this. There was a time when I would have questioned the worth of my work, my products, or if I should even be charging money at all. There was a time when as soon as someone started to say my prices were too high I would immediately jump to lowering them or even just giving stuff away. 
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I don’t do that anymore.

That is not to say that I don’t give discounts or even gifts on occasion. But here is the thing… This is my work. This is my job. It has expenses, labor, education, plus my heart and soul poured into it. I’m proud of what I do, and I love this work too. (Is it OK to charge money for doing something you love? Hell yeah! I wish everyone could love what they do and thrive doing it too.)

We had new gutters put on our house this year by a local guy. He did a great job and we gladly paid him for his work. We had an electrician come out, and plumbers, we paid them all. They did good work. Herbalism is a skill just like any other skill. It requires education, practice, investment, and a good work ethic. But ultimately, if we don’t value what we do, how can we expect that of anyone else?

Now, the extract mentioned in the story above was made with plants I grew and harvested in my own garden at the peak of vitality. They were processed by hand and carefully dried to preserve quality. Once dried they were ground up into a fine powder. Then they were processed into a very strong extract using organic cane alcohol (that stuff ain’t cheap), using glassware that cost hundreds of dollars. The resulting quality of this medicine can only be found with small scale community herbalists like myself and others scattered across the country (and the world), making good medicine for their local communities.

I’m not writing all this because I am bitter or angry. Quite the opposite. I’m writing this because the interaction I described above made me realize that I have reached a point in my practice where I am comfortable with my own knowledge of the value of my work. I don’t need every other person I interact with to also value it (that will never happen), but I also don’t need the judgement of each person to make me question my own worth.

I am a good community herbalist. I’m still learning and growing (that will never end), but I teach what I know, I make good medicine, and I am confident in my skills. If this is something you value, I am here to serve you. 
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May we all stand in our own worth and power.
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