Let me ask you a question.

How many years have you trained for your career? How many hours, months, years has it taken to gain the knowledge you have now?

If you add up the number of hours and multiplied it by your hourly rate it would likely add up to a LOT of money.

Conservatively, I figure my knowledge is worth approx. $3.5 million dollars.

Intellectual property is what you buy when you engage a professional. You are buying someone with intimate knowledge and skills in a particular area, that you don’t have.

So why do so many business owners think that paying junior rates for senior skills is acceptable?

I have come across this time and time again in my business. The common wheelhouse of skills required reads like a shopping list of someone who hasn’t shopped for a month. Yet what they are willing to invest to fill their pantry is literally peanuts.

I have said no to many clients who not just want but expect to pay junior rates for senior skills. I remember one prospective client tell me his budget was $500 a month and he expected these totally unrealistic sales results in return. I politely told him that he’d need to look for help elsewhere.

Before you expect someone to discount their service, consider what the knowledge you are buying is worth to you?

I know that if I go a medical specialist, a lawyer, an experienced accountant, a business coach who has years of experience I need to pay for their expertise. I recently booked time with a business coach who was $500 an hour but the wealth of knowledge he had was worth so much more than that. I could’ve certainly found someone cheaper, but I knew I could end up spending much money to maybe get a result at some point.

I would never have asked this business coach to spare his time for a fraction of the cost. (That would just be downright rude and insulting). He knew the value he bought to the table and so did I. It was a win-win.

Remember you get what you pay for.

So, if you want to get paid for your skills and years of knowledge, do the same for their suppliers and partners you work with, too.