Last week, I completed a two-part entrepreneurship workshop, So You’re The Owner of a Million Dollar Company and You Don’t Even Know It! While the whole class was jaw-droppingly good from beginning to end (really, it takes a lot to keep business chit-chat interesting and Stephanie Lynn sure delivered), I thought I’d share my top two takeaways. While it’s never a walk in the park running a small business, these two points were huge eye openers for me:

1. To overcome your fears, put them on a shelf. Literally.

Hear me out: we all have fears when it comes to running a business / blog / etc. and I have a lot of them. If you’ve met me, you’ll know that I’m confident, a hard worker and I’m never afraid to seize new opportunities but at the same time, I also value stability. There’s a really fine line between craving a stable life and playing it too safe.

In class, we were asked to write a list of everything we were afraid of. I quickly scribbled down half a page of notes without a second thought. Easy enough, I figured. Fear flows out freely if you let it and glancing down at that paper, I was holding onto much more of it than I realized.

Next, we were each handed a Ziploc bag and told to place that list inside, zip it closed, take it home and place it on a very high shelf. It was time to put away those fears, once and for all.

I know this exercise sounds simple but sometimes the act of physically doing something is such a powerful thing. Just writing that list wasn’t enough — how many times have we each written those same lists when we’re scared? But the symbolism of physically putting those fears on a shelf really inspired me to finally let go and move on.

2. For your business to flourish, you MUST understand the difference between price and value.

No matter how fabulous your business is, there will always be people who come along and ask for a discount. There will always be people who want something for nothing. But if you’re not benefitting, don’t be afraid to say no. It’s hard but most of the time, these are not your ideal customers anyway.

Your ideal customers do value your offerings enough to pay you what you’re worth. They respect your talent and your experience. These customers aren’t the easiest to find at first but I promise you that they’re out there.

One of the keys to convincing your ideal customers that your product or service is worth the price you’ve set is to back that value up with a story. For instance, Stephanie used the example of her business, Sweet Spot Skirts — her story is that all of her products are manufactured in the U.S. and she provides jobs for unemployed women. She clearly outlines her commitments here.

Any time someone balks at your prices, reaffirm the value they are receiving from doing business with you. Do not lower your pricing unless you have very specific reasoning for doing so (such as a holiday sale, anniversary and so on).

If you have sales all the time and offer up a discount to anyone who comes along, you’re diluting your offerings and once you’ve gone down, it’s a tough climb back up.

Thinking back, I had come across these two concepts at earlier points in my life but sometimes it takes a certain teacher outlining specific experiences to bring them to life. And when they finally click, they’re lessons you’ll never forget.