Scarcity mindset is the often unconscious belief that there is never enough.
Not enough time, not enough money, not enough clients, not enough opportunities. If you’ve ever told yourself that you’ll never earn decent money working in ELT, or that you simply can’t afford to spend any time working on your business because you need to be teaching, you might recognise this way of thinking.
Of course, you might say you’re just being realistic. And I’m all for realism. I certainly don’t subscribe to the idea that you just have to think positive thoughts and, ping, everything you want arrives on a silver platter.
There are genuine financial pressures involved in working in ELT, and I know plenty of freelancers who are struggling to make ends meet. Those difficulties aren’t imaginary, and they’re certainly not going to disappear just because someone changes their mindset.
But I do think the stories we tell ourselves about what’s possible, and what’s likely to happen, can have an enormous impact on the decisions we make. And those decisions can end up keeping us in exactly the situation we’re trying to escape.
There’s never enough to go round
We’re surrounded by messages about competition and scarcity. There aren’t enough good jobs, clients or opportunities. If someone else is doing well, that somehow means there’s less available for us. We need to work harder, get ahead of the competition and grab every opportunity that comes along.
You snooze, you lose.
And when you’re already worried about paying the bills, it’s very easy to get caught up in that way of thinking.
The trouble is that when we’re frightened about not having enough, we tend to focus on the immediate problem. We make decisions based on what will bring in money right now, without necessarily thinking about the longer-term consequences.
So we agree to work another weekend because there’s an opportunity to earn a few more euros. We take on clients who aren’t really a good fit because we’re worried there won’t be any others. We keep our prices low because the thought of losing even one student feels terrifying.
And all the while, we tell ourselves that we’ll make changes when things settle down a bit.
Except, of course, they never really do.
How scarcity thinking keeps us stuck
One of the most frustrating things I see among freelance language teachers is people working incredibly hard but never quite earning enough.
They know something needs to change. Perhaps they’re exhausted by the number of teaching hours they’re doing, or they’re earning a reasonable hourly rate but spending almost as much time on preparation and admin as they do actually teaching.
They may even recognise that they need to develop a more profitable offer, improve their marketing or rethink their pricing.
But they can’t afford to take time away from teaching to work on any of those things. And they certainly can’t afford to invest in getting help.
Now, sometimes that’s absolutely true. If you’re struggling to pay the rent, spending money on business development may genuinely be out of the question.
But I’ve also worked with people who are so accustomed to thinking in terms of scarcity that they find it difficult to consider any decision that doesn’t have an immediate financial return.
They keep adding more teaching hours, even though their diary is already full and they’re exhausted. They avoid putting their prices up because they might lose clients, without considering what would happen if they charged more and worked fewer hours.
They become so focused on holding on to what they have that they find it very difficult to create space for something better.
And that’s how you can end up running a business for years without ever really changing your circumstances.
But I just want to help people!
This is where things get particularly interesting in education.
We tell ourselves that we’re not really interested in money. We just want to help people. Teaching is a caring profession, after all, and we know that some of our students don’t have very much money.
There’s some truth in that, of course. Most teachers I know genuinely care about their learners and want to make a difference.
But there’s a HUGE difference between wanting to make your services accessible and feeling that you have some kind of moral obligation to charge as little as possible.
I think there’s also a tendency for educators to underestimate the value of what they do. Teaching is so often undervalued, and we’ve absorbed the message that caring about money somehow makes us less caring about our students.
Sometimes there’s a fear of judgement too. We worry that people will think we’re greedy if we charge more, or that we’ll somehow be taking advantage of our clients.
But do you spend your time thinking that your dentist or plumber is greedy because they charge a professional rate for their services? Or do you accept that they’re providing something valuable, and that they need to earn a decent living?
Why should teaching be any different?
Are you trying to rescue your clients?
There’s another aspect of this that I think is worth exploring, although it can be a little uncomfortable.
Sometimes, when we undercharge or over-deliver, there’s a part of us that enjoys being the person who helps, who goes the extra mile, who makes things possible for someone who otherwise couldn’t afford them.
And there’s nothing wrong with being generous. I’m certainly not suggesting that we should never offer discounts, do pro bono work or support people who are genuinely struggling.
But I do think it’s worth being honest with ourselves about why we’re doing it.
Are you making a deliberate decision to offer someone financial support, because that’s something you want to do and can afford to do? Or are you automatically taking responsibility for other people’s circumstances, even when it means putting yourself under financial pressure?
I’ve seen freelancers who seem to feel personally responsible for ensuring that every potential client can afford to work with them.
But that’s an impossible responsibility to take on.
You can decide what you want to charge, what kind of payment options you’re comfortable offering and whether you want to make any provision for clients with limited budgets.
Your potential clients can then decide whether your services are right for them and whether they’re willing and able to invest.
And sometimes the answer will be no. That’s OK.
If your business is only sustainable when you’re working ridiculous hours and constantly putting your own needs last, something needs to change.
What can you do about scarcity mindset?
I think the first step is simply to start noticing when scarcity thinking is influencing your decisions.
Perhaps you find yourself saying yes to work you don’t really want because you’re frightened there won’t be anything else. Or you automatically assume that a potential client won’t be able to afford your services, without ever having discussed the price with them.
Maybe you’ve been meaning to put your rates up for years, but there’s always a reason why now isn’t the right time.
When you notice these patterns, it’s worth asking yourself whether you’re making a decision based on actual evidence or on an assumption about what might happen.
You could start by looking more closely at your business finances. How much are you really earning once you take unpaid work and expenses into account? What would happen if you increased your prices? How many clients do you actually need to make the business viable?
You may discover that some of your fears are perfectly justified and that you need to make some practical changes. But you may also find that you’ve been making decisions based on beliefs that you’ve never really tested.
And if your current circumstances genuinely leave you with very little money or time to spare, I’d encourage you to think about what small changes might be possible rather than assuming you need to overhaul everything at once.
Perhaps you could set aside a little time each week to work on attracting better-fit clients, or start charging new clients a higher rate. Small changes can give you useful information and help you begin to move in a different direction.
The important thing is to stop automatically assuming that the way things are now is the way they have to stay.
You deserve a business that works for you, too
I think one of the most damaging beliefs within ELT is that being a good teacher somehow means being prepared to work long hours for very little money.
And I think we need to challenge that, both as a profession and as individuals running our own businesses.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to earn more, have time for your family and friends, take holidays or build some financial security for the future.
None of those things makes you less committed to your clients or less passionate about teaching.
But if you’ve become so used to worrying that there isn’t enough to go round that you’re constantly undercharging, overworking or putting off decisions that could improve your business, it’s worth taking a closer look at what’s going on.
You can’t necessarily change your circumstances overnight, and there are no guarantees that a different approach will automatically lead to more money.
But you can start questioning some of the assumptions that may be keeping you stuck.
And that might be rather more useful than simply trying to squeeze another client into your already overcrowded diary.
Want to earn more without working yourself into the ground?
If you’re starting to question your pricing, the way you’ve structured your services or some of the assumptions you’ve been making about money, I’ve brought together a collection of resources that might help.
In my Earn More Resource Centre, you’ll find videos and articles on pricing, money mindset and different ways to build a more profitable freelance language teaching business.
Explore my Earn More resources
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