This post has been a long time coming, and part of it is my own damn fault. More on that in just a second.
For full disclaimer purposes: stop reading this post if you believe you should not pay for someone else’s hard earned knowledge or skills or that everything informational ought to be free because you’re not going to like what I’m about to say. I’ll save you the trouble in advance.
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Here’s the rub . . . I get a lot of calls from people wanting help on various things. Auto-responders, SEO, social media marketing, direct response mailers, banner ads, targeted Google PPC placements, website design, graphics, ROI tracking & analysis, website analysis, teleseminars, webinars, workshops, bootcamps . . . the list goes on and on.
I’m beyond flattered that so many people turn to me for my insights and advice, but (damn it!) don’t expect me to give it away for free all the time!!! The reason I say this is partly my fault is because I truly enjoy helping people so I get roped in before the “tab” is paid.
When it comes time to pay the tab, some people are put off by the fact that I deeply believe I deserve to earn (good) money for helping them achieve their goals. Some of them say “but you didn’t actually DO anything . . . you just shared some tips and/or techniques that I sort of knew a little about already. You just helped steer me to complete them.” Hello!?!
When you call a painter to come out and paint your house, why do you pay him/her? It’s not like you’re not capable of painting your own house right? Same with a plumber–you can unclog your drains by going to Lowe’s or Home Depot, buying a “snake” and shoving it down in there to remove the blockage, but you typically don’t. You can cut your own lawn, but a good number of us hire others to do that for us so we can focus on other things. When you go to the doctor to get a prescription, why do you pay him/her? You are paying for their knowledge and application of that knowledge. Even though you may have done some research and come to the same conclusions on your own, you didn’t balk at paying for the knowledge, skills, or reassurance right?
You couldn’t visit your attorney, tax consultant, oil change dude, local sandwich shop, bakery, or restaurant and get a bunch of stuff for free so why do people believe a consultant or advisor should work for free when the main thing they sell is an intangible good (knowledge)? Yes, it doesn’t have a hard and set price tag associated across the board but believe you me, the knowledge didn’t come cheap! It’s taken years upon years and a lot of trial and error to figure out all of these different ways to “skin the cat” with Internet Marketing. You benefit from that because you don’t have to go through the same trial and error or the immense expense to self educate yourself on all of it and how to piece it together nicely.
Most of this knowledge and skill has come as a result of a lot of personal expense . . . to buy other people’s training programs and attend several live events to network and joint venture with equally sharp and motivated people so that you can achieve your goals with our help. If you’ve been following my stuff for any length of time (or even just a couple of days), you know I’m offering several training programs to share my knowledge with you without asking you to spend a lot of money with me to get the ball rolling. Maybe that’s the problem, you’d prefer to pay $1900 for the same knowledge to develop skills that you can pay less than $500 to obtain right now.
Hell, there’s even a measly $27 product available that is vastly under-priced, but some people believe that ought to be free, too because the videos are done, the website is finished, and the workbooks are complete. There is nothing “physical” so it should be free, they ration. The other argument I hear is that there is a lot of free information already out there on a lot of this stuff: SEO, Twitter, social media, auto-responders, list building, banner ads, PPC, etc.
Let me ask you this: how long would it take you to find this “free” information, consume it, reassemble it in a logical fashion so that it could be applied regularly, all while developing the confidence that you’re doing everything right? Here’s a benchmark: start at 100 hours to scratch the surface. Let’s say your time is worth $50/hour . . . that’s $5,000 right there, yet it’s too much to ask to pay someone that already has the abilities to not only apply the knowledge but is confident in their effectiveness?
So to make a very long story short, whether you do business with me or someone else, don’t be put off that you’re going to have to pay talented people at some point even if they’re only worth a tad more than a wooden nickel. It’s what we do for a living, and we deserve to get paid just like you.
If you’re just lazy and don’t want to take any initiative, you’re going to have to pay a premium to have whatever you’re looking to accomplish done for you. That’s how business works so the choice is always yours, but don’t be offended next time when it comes time to pay the tab.
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Now that you’ve endured my latest rant, go make something positive happen! Or better yet, buy some of my stuff or pay me to help you create your own stuff. 🙂