The Virtues Trap: Why Good People Choose Low Profits

The most dangerous traps are baited with virtue.

I see it frequently in the conversations I’ve had with clients over the years.

"I need to keep my prices reasonable to serve those who need help most." (Translation: I'm choosing martyrdom over sustainability.)

"I want to prove myself before raising my pricing." (Translation: I'm choosing humility over acknowledging my proven value.)

"I'm focused on impact, not money." (Translation: I'm choosing noble struggle over expanded influence.)

These aren't just pricing problems. They're identity crises.

Here's what makes these mindsets so challenging: none of these professionals see themselves choosing low profits. In their minds, they're making the ethical choice, the responsible choice, the professional choice.

This is precisely how the trap works: It forces a false choice between being virtuous and being profitable. Between serving others and serving ourselves. Between maintaining our virtues and increasing our value.

The true danger, however, lies not in the virtues themselves. It's in believing that embracing our full value would somehow compromise them.

And this belief shapes everything that follows: our pricing conversations, our business models, the sustainability of our business, and even the opportunities we allow ourselves to see.

When Virtues Become Traps

These identity traps start with a legitimate professional virtue that ends up twisted into a self-limiting belief:

The Helper's Trap: “I want to help people, not just make money."

 The virtue: Genuine desire to serve others

 The trap: Believing that higher prices reduce your impact rather than expand it

The Humility Trap: "I need to discount because I'm not as established as others."

 The virtue: Professional modesty

 The trap: Using humility to justify self-sabotage

The Hard Worker's Trap: "If I just keep delivering great work, the money will follow."

 The virtue: Commitment to excellence

 The trap: Mistaking effort for successful entrepreneurship

The Fairness Trap: "I want my rates to be fair and reasonable."

 The virtue: Professional integrity

 The trap: Confusing low prices with greater fairness

Notice how each of these starts with an admirable professional value: helping others, staying humble, working hard, being fair.

These virtues aren’t wrong. In fact, they are honorable. They are part of our excellence in delivering transformation for clients.

But when we try to build sustainable businesses, these same virtues can become counterproductive to the very qualities we want to maintain and the clients we seek to serve.

Why "Charging What You're Worth" Is Terrible Advice

"Charge what you're worth" sounds empowering. But it's actually reinforcing the very identity trap we should be trying to escape.

First, it suggests that your pricing should be tied to your personal worth, as if charging more means claiming to be "better than" others. This notion triggers every self-limiting virtue we just discussed.

Second, it implies that there's some objective measure of worth that you need to live up to. You stay trapped in the comparison game, looking for external validation.

Most dangerously, it makes profit about you when it should be about the transformation you create for clients.

Here's the transformative truth: Your clients already see more value in what you create than you do. By "charging what you're worth," you're actually limiting yourself to your self-perception rather than the value your clients experience.

No amount of pricing strategy or "worth" calculation can overcome an identity that's programmed for self-limitation.

The Path Forward: Making Profit an Intention

Once you recognize how your identity might be limiting you, what's next?

The most successful service providers adapt fundamentally different mindsets:

--First, they stopped trying to prove their worth and started trusting their clients' perception of value.

--They shifted from "What should I charge?" to "What transformation am I fostering?"

--They designed their business around profit as a core intention, not a hoped-for byproduct.

It’s not just about changing your prices. It's about changing the questions you ask yourself:

--"What would my pricing look like if I truly believed my clients' perception of value instead of my self-assessment?"

--"How would I structure my business if profit wasn't a coincidental outcome but a fundamental commitment to myself and my clients?"

--"What opportunities am I not seeing because my current identity needs me to stay comfortable, right where I am?"

The answers might make you uncomfortable. That discomfort is the feeling of new growth: your identity expanding to match the value you already create.

Your profit isn't just a number on a spreadsheet or a tax return. It's a reflection of who you're willing to become.

And who you're willing to become is a choice you make every single day.

Image Credit: DALL·E by OpenAI

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Are you frustrated by your pricing? Need help articulating your value? Do you need a better way to identify and close your best-fit clients? Do you want to restore the joy you used to have for your business? I may be able to help you.

I’m John Ray, a business consultant and coach, author, and podcaster. I advise solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their two most frustrating problems: pricing and business development. I’m passionate about how changes in mindset, positioning, and pricing change the trajectory of a business and the lifestyle choices of its owners. My clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as consultants, coaches, attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners. Click here to learn more or contact me directly.

I’m the author of the national bestseller, The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices. The book covers topics like value and adopting a mindset of value, pricing your services more effectively, proposals, and essential elements of growing your business. The book is available at all major physical and online book retailers.