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How To Know Your Worth, Then Add Tax

Woman holding a clock with a uterus design, symbolizing time and female health. Leaves in the background. Text reads "Women of Our Time."


Hello and welcome to this week's WOOT blog. This one is for every woman who has accepted less than she deserved because she was not sure how to ask for more. Who has sat in a salary negotiation and named a figure lower than she had rehearsed. Who has undercharged a client, over-delivered on a brief and told herself that the goodwill would eventually be worth it.


It is a short quote and nobody is entirely sure who first said it, but it has become something of a rallying cry in business and self-development circles for good reason:

"Know your worth, then add tax."

Two steps. Know it. Then charge accordingly. The second step is the one most women skip.


The Numbers Are Not Comfortable


  • Women still earn on average 14.3% less than men in the UK, and the gap widens significantly at senior levels.

  • Research consistently shows women negotiate less often than men, and when they do, they ask for less.

  • Freelance and self-employed women charge on average 20% less than male counterparts for equivalent work.

  • And yet: women who negotiate consistently and confidently close the gap significantly over the course of their careers. The ask is the difference.


What 'Adding Tax' Actually Means - How To Know Your Worth


The first part of the quote, knowing your worth, is about evidence. It means building a clear, documented picture of what you deliver, the problems you solve, the outcomes you produce and the skills you bring that are genuinely scarce. That is your base rate.


The tax is everything else: your experience, your reliability, your network, your sector knowledge, your emotional intelligence, the things that are harder to quantify but impossible to replace. Most women calculate the base rate and forget the tax entirely. That is where the undercharging lives.


Why Women Consistently Leave Money on the Table


It is not a lack of capability. It is a deeply ingrained habit of shrinking the ask to make it easier for the other person to say yes. Of pre-emptively accepting less to avoid the discomfort of negotiation. Of confusing modesty with professionalism. None of these habits serve you. They just feel safer in the short term.


The Toolkit: How to Build and Deploy Your Value


1. Start Your Win Ledger Today


Your worth is not a feeling. It is a track record. Open a document right now and start logging: projects delivered, results produced, feedback received, problems solved, money saved or generated. Every entry is evidence. When it is time to negotiate, you are not asking based on what you hope you are worth. You are presenting what you have already demonstrated.


2. Shift to Value-Driven Language


Stop framing your contributions as costs and start framing them as investments. Not 'I was hoping to discuss a pay rise' but 'Based on delivering X which produced Y, I am requesting a salary of Z to reflect my current market value.' Strong verbs, specific outcomes, no qualifiers. Eliminate 'just', 'only' and 'I think' from your negotiation vocabulary entirely.


3. Define Your Tax


What is the one thing you bring that your organisation or clients cannot easily replicate? Deep sector knowledge, the ability to hold difficult client relationships, a network that opens doors, a way of communicating complex ideas that others cannot match? That is your differentiator. Practise articulating it in one clear, confident sentence. That sentence is worth money.


4. Master the Pause


Once you have named your figure, stop talking. The silence after a salary request or a quote is one of the most loaded moments in any professional negotiation, and most women fill it immediately by backtracking or softening. Do not. State your number, then count silently to five. The silence transfers the pressure to the other party. Let them carry it.


Scripts for the Negotiation Moments


When asking for a pay rise:

  • "Over the past year I have delivered X, which resulted in Y. I am requesting a salary of Z to reflect both my track record and my current market value."


When quoting a client as a freelancer:

  • "Based on the scope you have described and my experience delivering comparable projects, my fee is X. That includes [specific deliverables]."


When you receive a counter-offer below your ask:

  • "Thank you. That is lower than I was expecting given what I have outlined. Can you help me understand what flexibility there is?"


When someone implies you are overpriced:

  • "I understand it is a significant investment. Clients who work with me at this rate typically see [specific outcome]. I am confident in the value."


A Final Word


Knowing your worth is a professional skill, not a personality trait. It is built through evidence, practised through language and reinforced through consistency. The tax is real. It is yours. Charge it.


Ready to go further? Discover the Womeniverse™ Today


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Know Your Worth, Then Add Tax – Frequently Asked Questions 

Q. What if I ask for more and they say no?

A. Then you know where you stand and you have information you did not have before. A no to your number is not a no to your value. It is data about the organisation's priorities or constraints. You can then decide whether to negotiate further, accept, or take your worth elsewhere.

Q. I work in a sector where salaries are fairly fixed. Does this still apply?

A. Yes. Even where base salaries are banded, there is almost always flexibility in bonuses, benefits, flexible working, development budgets, job title and scope. Know your worth applies to the whole package, not just the headline number.

Q. How do I find out what my market rate actually is?

A. Talk to recruiters in your sector, use salary benchmarking sites such as Glassdoor, Totaljobs and LinkedIn Salary, and have honest conversations with trusted peers. Most people are more willing to share salary information than you might expect, particularly within women's professional networks.

Q. I am self-employed and terrified of losing clients if I raise my rates. What do I do?

A. Raise them anyway, with notice and a clear rationale. The clients who leave at the first rate increase were almost certainly not your best clients. The ones who stay are paying you what you are worth. And raising your rates almost always attracts better-fit clients at the new level.

Q. What if I genuinely do not know what I am worth yet?

A. Then your first job is to build the evidence. Start the Win Ledger. Track your outputs for 90 days. By the end, you will have a clearer picture of your value than most people ever compile. Knowledge first, then the ask.


 
 
 

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