Believe in Your Worth

Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.

“It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.”

So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.

“It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?”

“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.

“B-b-but, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”

To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”

What is the price of experience?

Recently, I have come up against people who are aghast at what I charge for my service. I have been told that they have seen and could buy the same piece of jewelry that I am wearing at Target or Kohl's. Once I was asked to outfit an entire army of bridesmaids with matching necklaces, bracelets and earrings for $30 each. But then I have also had several nice, unexpected sales from people who not only felt that my wearable art was worth it, but a bargain.

Do you ever find yourself having to go into great detail about the cost of a product or service that you provide? Coming up against those who don't believe in the value of your experience? Or do you ever find yourself second guessing your pricing structure in the face of all that negativity?

If so, then that person you trying to convince is not a member of your tribe. A member of your tribe is someone who will certainly understand the worth of your time, talent and treasures. You will not have to spew a lengthy explanation to try to get someone to buy into my version of reality. They will see the value of your educational background, on the job experience, and hold it in the highest regard. They will be the ones who believe in paying for expert service and a unique product and are not at all fazed by the price. It is not that money is no object, it is that they understand your worth and value it.

There is a value in the talent that you possess. Whether you went to school for years to learn your trade, like Doug Schlei or Sue Wille...or you keep on top of the most current trends in your field, like Dave Harvath or Mark Pinkalla...or perhaps you just have a GGA (*God Given Ability), like me and you are not afraid to use it. You are an expert and you should be treated like one.

I know for a fact that those of us in this room are not necessarily the cheapest in our respective fields. But we are certainly the best. Now you have to go out there and believe it.

Case in point...I was visiting with Melissa Kedrowicz at her successful store, the Pink Boutique, one day last year. While we were talking a woman walked in and looked around. She came over to ask Melissa if she carried any jeans that were under $150. Melissa said no. The woman eventually left the store without even trying something on. I was concerned that Melissa may have lost a sale because she was preoccupied with me. She said no and then told me something I have not forgotten. "That woman was never going to buy anything here today. I would have had to explain to her that the pricing on the jeans is set by the company and is out of my control. I could have told her about all the benefits people feel when wearing them. But chances are, she still wouldn't have bought them. What you don't know is that before you came in, I sold two pairs of those same jeans to one lady as a repeat customer. She understood the value of my products and services. And I was working smarter, not harder."

So how can you work smarter and not harder?

You need to differentiate yourself from the competition.
You need to position yourself as an expert.
You need to focus on providing the best customer service.

You need to believe in the power of your passion.

You need to trust in the value of your experience.

You neet to know that you earn more when you believe that what you’re giving in exchange is incredibly valuable. Feel it. Know it. Trust it. Believe it.

Working Words of Wisdom

A machine in a factory has malfunctioned, and the engineers on site can’t find the source of the problem.


So they call on a retired worker who had spent a long time working with the machine. He comes in, walks up to the machine, looks at it for a minute, pulls out a piece of chalk and draws a circle around the screw that needs to be tightened.

He then writes them a bill for $5’000.


“$5000?! that’s ridiculous, all you did was draw a circle around a screw!”

So he writes them a new bill:

• Drawing a circle around a screw: $1
• Knowing where to draw it: $4999