The Power Of Valuing What You Know

Would you rather listen to this article instead? Click on the button below, or download the mp3 file to your computer.

Do you sometimes “forget” that not everyone knows what you know and not everyone has the skills that you have? It could be costing you a lot of money in your practice.  Here’s what I mean…

My last “real job” was as a systems administrator for a dot-com in Manhattan.  In the tech field, I was quite the rare bird.  My past employers loved me for my superpowers of clear communication between the “tech weenies” (as my mother affectionately called us) and the rest of the company.

I have a knack for taking something complicated and breaking it down into very simple pieces so that anyone can understand it. Nonetheless, sometimes I’d forget who I was talking to.  And the person would look at me and say “Huh?”

“Oh, whoops,” I’d reply, with a sheepish smile.  “I forgot that not everyone knows this stuff.”

To me, all those wires and shiny boxes were “old hat.”  The inner working of computers was so ingrained in my knowledge that it was all too easy to assume that everyone else knew it, too.

But I paid BIG TIME to become a tech expert. (I have a masters in computer science from New York University, and years of training and experience.)  And I’m willing to bet that YOU have paid to learn (make that EARN) your expertise, too.  You’ve paid for training in your modality, profession or specialty, and you’ve paid in “sweat equity”: hours of practice, hours of work with clients, costly mistakes and course correction.  Even if you’re just getting started, I bet it’s safe to say that you’ve invested much more time and money on your specialty than those who seek you out.

Why is it so important to remember that you’re the expert here? Quite simply, when you start to think of what you do as commonplace, or even if you just forget that you know more about what you do than 99% of the population, you lose sight of the value you provide.  And value is everything.

All transactions in your business are a value exchange. Your clients come to you because you serve them with a solution to a problem.  That makes you very valuable.  But your clients will only work with you if they truly recognize and understand that value.  When you “forget” how valuable you are, both you and your clients miss out.

Clear communication of your value is your job alone. When you under-value what you know, whether by forgetting that “not everyone knows this” (like I did) or by a lack of self-confidence, there is no way that you are going to be able to communicate your value to others.

And that means fewer clients.  Lower fees.  Compromising.  Feeling resentful and dissatisfied.

At that last real job, I couldn’t understand why certain mucky-mucks in the company never said thank you, never respected my time, and – of course! – rarely offered up raises.  I carried around a lot of resentment, and I was almost always unhappy.  I didn’t realize that it was up to me to make them see what a great thing they had going on with me on their team.

Personally, I think the feeling lousy is the worst part.  It doesn’t feel good to haggle over your fees.  It’s insulting.  Have you ever found yourself saying, “I’m worth more than this!!”?

You ARE worth more – much more. The first step is to know it: to own the value of your work, deep in the core of your being.  Acknowledge and fully embrace what you really do for others.  From there, you can communicate that value with confidence and grace.

Your Turn:

If your potential clients are questioning your fees, price-shopping or are displaying disinterest far too soon, how you present the value of your work could be the problem.  Here are some ways to clearly communicate value:

• Know the problems you’ll help your clients solve and be able to communicate HOW you’ll help them do it
• Know the BENEFITS of what you do and offer
• Be able to answer the question that is always on their minds: “What’s in it for me?”
• Self-confidence is too big an issue to go into here, but if that’s a problem for you, seek out resources to help.  A lack of self-confidence is a huge value-killer.