Most assume that financial hardship is due to overspending. Yet for many professionals, particularly those in high-stress professions, the issue isn’t spending more than they shouldāit’s earning less than they can compared with their potential. This condition is referred to as underearning.
Underearning isn’t a lack of laziness or skill. Actually, under-earners are generally some of the most diligent people you know. It simply means you’re not bringing home what you could be bringing home, perhaps due to mindset limitations, missed opportunities, or decisions that indirectly restrict your income. That is where grasping money psychology and acquiring hands-on steps to make money comes in.
What Is Underearning?
Underearning isnāt defined by a specific dollar amount. Itās not about making less than six figures or comparing yourself to peers. Instead, itās about earning below your potential.
Ann Guinn, a consultant who has worked with attorneys for decades, explains that underearning often stems from active or passive choices. For example:
- Active underearning: discounting bills before clients even request, taking work from clients you know will not pay, or offering services too cheaply.
- Passive underearning: not increasing rates, not following up on past-due accounts, ignoring marketing, or staying away from new technologies that could help you work more efficiently.
The catch is that underearning doesn’t only hurt youāit can hurt your family, your business, and even your clients. If you’re under constant financial pressure, you’re less able to invest in tools, training, or support that will enable you to do your best work.
The Role of Money Psychology
To break the pattern of underearning, you must first learn about your money psychologyāthe thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that govern how you manage income. Most of us pick up restrictive ideas early in life:
“Good people don’t ask for too much.”
“I’m not the type who gets rich.”
These unconscious thought patterns can manifest as guilt when asking to increase your fees, anxiety around negotiating a salary, or avoiding paying bills that are past due. Even very smart professionalsālawyers, accountants, creativesācatch themselves doing this because it has nothing to do with IQ; it has everything to do with mindset.
The good news? Just as limiting thoughts can keep you stuck, shifting your money relationship can move you forward. In seeing financial expansion as empowerment, not selfishness, you can have your cake and eat it without guilt.
Seven Proven Steps to Stop Underearning
Easing into practical wisdom from Guinn’s Seven Secrets for Conquering Underearning and contemporary solutions, here are step-by-step actions to make money and unlock your full potential:
1. Acknowledge the Problem
Step one in any change is recognition. Acknowledge to yourself that you are earning less than your potential. Release denial and free up the mental power you now have to create solutions.
2. Find Income-Limiting Decisions
Create a list of active and passive ways you might be limiting yourself. Do you undervalue yourself? Not follow up on leads? Undercharge for your services? Awareness leads to accountability.
3. Establish Clear Goals
Money psychology teaches us that the brain prefers clarity. Rather than vaguely hoping to “make more,” put down clear financial objectives. For instance: “Boost my monthly income by $2,000 in six months.” Divide that into actionable stepsāmore clients, higher fees, or a career transition.
4. Make Daily Micro-Actions
Big things come about through small, persistent action. Take one step a day that moves you forwardāemailing an invoice, revising your portfolio, accurately tracking all of your time, or calling a potential client. Even adding 15 minutes of concentrated work a day to your routine can result in thousands more for your yearly income.
5. Invest in the Business Side
Whether you’re a freelancer or corporate worker, take time to attend to the “business” of your career. Monitor cash flow, check on progress, and work with receivables. Software such as practice management software for lawyers or expense tracking for freelancers keeps you ahead of your numbers rather than away from them.
6. Market Yourself Consistently
Guinn emphasizes that too many professionals under-market themselves. Determine your perfect client, locate where they spend their time, and get positioned thereābe it online forums, local functions, or professional groups. Keep in mind: people purchase from individuals they know, like, and trust.
7. Delegate Low-Value Tasks
Time is money. If youāre bogged down in bookkeeping, website maintenance, or clerical work, youāre effectively paying yourself minimum wage for tasks someone else could do. Free your hours for revenue-generating work and high-value strategy.
Shifting From Survival to Thriving
Breaking out of underearning is as much a mental adjustment as it is a doing thing. At first, you might feel guilty or even “overpaid.” That’s your old money psychology. But when you begin making conscious choicesānegotiating aggressively, charging more, paying bills on time, and pursuing opportunitiesāyou’ll see that making more money isn’t about greed.
It’s freedom, choice, and the ability to reinvest in your career, your family, and your community. Stability comes from success, and stability enables you to give more freely without sacrifice to yourself.
Final Thoughts
If you ever thought about why you work so hard and don’t reap the financial rewards you should, you might be caught in the underearning cycle. Escape isn’t about working longer; it’s about working smarter, aligning what you think and believe with what you’re doing, and appreciating your worth.
By integrating principles of money psychology with real-world methods such as Guinn’s seven-step process, and by using cutting-edge tools like pingshopping.com, you can now begin profiting at your maximum level.
The best part? Begin today. Even baby stepsāmonitoring your time, sending that long-overdue invoice, or boosting your rates a littleācan snowball into giant results. Because in the end, you’re worth it.