February 08th, 2013

D’you know when something is just so blindingly obvious, but you just can’t see it because you’re looking in the wrong direction..?!
You’re so ‘fixed’ about what you’re doing because you’ve spent 12 months and most of your savings working on your plan, developing yourself, developing your website and your marketing stuff and your service proposal. Building a structure of beauty and complexity to mask your lack of confidence that what you have to offer will actually sell…
And then you spend just two hours with a business Yoda who tears down your complicated structure, rips the blinkers off your eyes, and shows you just how simple your business really is, and more importantly, just how valuable the knowledge you take for granted, is to other people.  It’s enlightening…with a capital E.
It reminds me of the story of the man who charged the business owner £1 million for coming to his factory, hitting the one nut that got the main engine going again, and then leaving.  When the owner questioned the charge, the man told him…you had other people try and fail to get the engine going and you were losing millions every day it was out.  I charged you £1 for hitting the nut, and £999 for knowing which nut to hit.
We all ‘know which nut to hit’ in our particular sphere of expertise…but do we have the self belief to charge what it’s worth?
Belief in our skills and knowledge is vital. Just because we find something easy to do, doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. It’s probably easy for us because we’ve worked hard to develop the skill and invested time and money in making it easy.
My particular ‘nut’ is systems and service…that’s what I’ve done all my working life, it’s what I’m really good at, and it’s what I’m now having a blast helping other people with.  And that’s the key…if what you do can genuinely help someone else…make their life easier, give them more time, more control, more profit…then charge what you are worth, and they will happily pay.
“There comes a time in everyone’s life where you must decide your worth. You may lose yourself waiting on the rest of the world to do it for you.”
I know that now…and I hope you do too!