1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,710 You want to make more money, you want to feel better about yourself, 2 00:00:05,220 --> 00:00:08,790 you got to listen to this episode of the Inside BSS Show. 3 00:00:11,190 --> 00:00:12,330 Hey, now I'm Dave Lorenzo. 4 00:00:12,330 --> 00:00:16,950 I'm the godfather of growth and I'm here with my partner and my friend Nicki G. 5 00:00:16,950 --> 00:00:18,570 Good morning, Nicola. How are you? 6 00:00:18,930 --> 00:00:20,910 Good morning, Dave. I'm great. How are. 7 00:00:20,910 --> 00:00:21,330 You? 8 00:00:21,330 --> 00:00:26,010 I'm doing absolutely fantastic and I know you're looking at this goofy 9 00:00:26,010 --> 00:00:27,300 headset that I'm wearing, folks. 10 00:00:27,300 --> 00:00:31,320 We're trying out a new mic system and I'm the Guinea pig and I'm wearing an 11 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:34,650 operator number one headset and the cola will not let me forget it. 12 00:00:34,950 --> 00:00:39,780 So today's topic is no guilt or a lack of guilt or why 13 00:00:39,780 --> 00:00:42,570 you shouldn't feel guilty when you're running your business. 14 00:00:42,570 --> 00:00:45,720 How guilt will weigh you down in running your business. 15 00:00:45,730 --> 00:00:50,280 So I'm going to tee this up for Nicola and I'm going to start by talking about 16 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:55,170 how guilt will hold you back and I'm going to share 17 00:00:55,470 --> 00:00:58,530 kind of an experience with you and we can discuss it and we can talk about ways 18 00:00:58,530 --> 00:01:03,510 for our entrepreneurial friends who are listening to remove guilt 19 00:01:03,870 --> 00:01:05,730 from their lives or from their business. 20 00:01:05,730 --> 00:01:10,320 So anytime I go to sell to someone and I 21 00:01:10,330 --> 00:01:15,060 have the feeling in the back of my mind that they can't afford my 22 00:01:15,060 --> 00:01:15,893 service, 23 00:01:16,410 --> 00:01:21,300 I used to kind of pull my punches and maybe a few times 24 00:01:21,300 --> 00:01:25,890 I would cut my pitch short and perhaps not 25 00:01:25,900 --> 00:01:28,830 make my A level offer, 26 00:01:28,830 --> 00:01:33,420 my top tier offer and then drop down into some of the 27 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:35,130 lesser expensive offers, 28 00:01:35,460 --> 00:01:39,960 and I would just go to one of the lesser expensive offers in the first place 29 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:44,130 because I would feel guilty that the person across from me might not have enough 30 00:01:44,130 --> 00:01:46,530 money to afford my services. 31 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:53,310 Then something happened to me a number of years ago, more than 10 years ago, 32 00:01:53,310 --> 00:01:58,110 which completely changed my feeling about this, changed my mindset. 33 00:01:58,860 --> 00:01:59,850 Here's the scenario. 34 00:02:00,870 --> 00:02:04,710 Somebody gets on my email list and they're getting a weekly email newsletter 35 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:06,570 from me and they call me and they say, 36 00:02:06,570 --> 00:02:08,940 I want to talk to you about using your services. 37 00:02:09,300 --> 00:02:13,830 I need your help growing my business. So I say, okay, fine. 38 00:02:13,830 --> 00:02:16,680 We schedule the appointment and my first question to them is, 39 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:18,870 give me some background on your business. What's your revenue? 40 00:02:19,890 --> 00:02:22,770 And this person says, my revenue is like $150,000, 41 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,240 and my top tier coaching program at the time was like 42 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:30,510 $45,000. And I immediately thought to myself, 43 00:02:30,510 --> 00:02:32,400 this person's doing 150 grand a year, 44 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:35,970 they're never going to pay me 45 grand to help them. 45 00:02:36,510 --> 00:02:37,470 This is crazy. 46 00:02:38,190 --> 00:02:42,870 So rather than do the entire discovery call the way I 47 00:02:42,900 --> 00:02:47,370 normally would and ask all of the questions that I would normally 48 00:02:47,370 --> 00:02:48,203 ask, 49 00:02:48,660 --> 00:02:52,860 I felt guilty doing that. And then saying to them, 50 00:02:53,010 --> 00:02:56,910 here's what you need to do. You need my maximum intensity program, 51 00:02:56,910 --> 00:02:59,220 which is $45,000 a year. 52 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:04,360 Rather than do that because I felt guilty taking $45,000 to a person 53 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:05,350 who told me they only, 54 00:03:05,770 --> 00:03:09,730 their whole business was only doing $150,000 a year, 55 00:03:09,730 --> 00:03:12,760 which meant they were probably taken home, what? 45, 50 grand? 56 00:03:13,330 --> 00:03:16,540 I was going to take their last 50 grand for me to coach them. 57 00:03:17,260 --> 00:03:20,440 So rather than do that, I pulled my punches and I said, listen, 58 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:24,100 I have $125 a month membership club. You need to join that. 59 00:03:24,250 --> 00:03:27,370 And they pushed back and they said, no, no, no, no. I need one-on-one help. 60 00:03:27,820 --> 00:03:29,650 I need one-on-one help. And I said, well, 61 00:03:30,610 --> 00:03:32,440 my one-on-one help is really expensive. 62 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:36,280 And they immediately had a visceral reaction and they said, 63 00:03:36,790 --> 00:03:41,350 you don't think I'm worth your top tier program? 64 00:03:42,220 --> 00:03:47,050 And I said, what do you mean you don't think I can be helped? And I said, 65 00:03:47,060 --> 00:03:48,070 no, that's not what I have, 66 00:03:48,100 --> 00:03:51,280 but you just told me you only make your business is only $150,000 a year. 67 00:03:51,290 --> 00:03:53,440 What could you be bringing home? You're not going to pay me. 68 00:03:53,650 --> 00:03:58,000 How much is your top tier program? And I said, it's $45,000. 69 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,180 And they said, I just sold my business, 70 00:04:01,540 --> 00:04:06,430 my other business for $18 million and you just lost 71 00:04:06,430 --> 00:04:11,020 out on a $45,000 a year client. And they hung up the phone. 72 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:14,620 And I immediately thought, well, 73 00:04:14,620 --> 00:04:19,150 I looked at myself in the mirror and I said a word that begins with A and ends 74 00:04:19,150 --> 00:04:23,620 with whole. And I pointed right at myself because I blew it. 75 00:04:24,280 --> 00:04:25,540 And to me, 76 00:04:25,870 --> 00:04:30,310 what I realized over time was that guilt 77 00:04:30,730 --> 00:04:35,050 about taking money from somebody who I perceived didn't have it, 78 00:04:35,410 --> 00:04:40,270 that guilt that I projected is what prevented me 79 00:04:40,270 --> 00:04:41,620 from signing up that client. 80 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:46,840 And so many times it prevents us from getting what we want. 81 00:04:47,380 --> 00:04:51,310 Think about it another way, Nicole. Think about it from a financial perspective. 82 00:04:52,030 --> 00:04:55,810 I grew up in a house where my dad worked for I B M for 40 years. 83 00:04:55,820 --> 00:04:59,800 My mother worked for I B M for 18 years. They had nine to five jobs, 84 00:05:00,070 --> 00:05:03,640 weren't entrepreneurs, and they made a very nice living. 85 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:05,710 Put my sister and I through school, 86 00:05:06,010 --> 00:05:09,070 we went to private Catholic school growing up, 87 00:05:09,250 --> 00:05:13,330 we lived in a nice neighborhood, we lived a very nice life, 88 00:05:13,990 --> 00:05:18,970 but we didn't spend a lot of money because we were a middle class family and my 89 00:05:18,970 --> 00:05:22,540 parents did everything they could to give us a great life and it is a great 90 00:05:22,540 --> 00:05:27,340 life. It was a great life. But there was always this thing about, well, 91 00:05:27,340 --> 00:05:30,370 how much does this cost and can we afford it? 92 00:05:30,370 --> 00:05:32,500 And we'd have to do a careful analysis. 93 00:05:33,460 --> 00:05:37,060 A couple of years we drove to go on vacation. We didn't fly because I don't 94 00:05:37,070 --> 00:05:40,090 know, maybe the economy was bad or there was a lot of inflation or whatever. 95 00:05:40,540 --> 00:05:44,230 So what does that project on me as a kid growing up? Well, 96 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,170 it gives me a feeling, a sense of money, 97 00:05:47,170 --> 00:05:49,870 and my parents would call it financial responsibility, 98 00:05:50,290 --> 00:05:54,760 but it also instills a level of guilt in me about 99 00:05:55,180 --> 00:05:56,013 listen, 100 00:05:56,530 --> 00:06:01,010 for years I drove a Toyota instead of driving a Lexus because oh, 101 00:06:01,010 --> 00:06:05,510 it's the same car. Why do I need to pay for the additional brand name? 102 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:06,673 For years, 103 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:10,970 I opted to fly in coach instead of first class because hey, 104 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:13,700 it's not our business class because hey, it's not worth it. 105 00:06:13,700 --> 00:06:16,940 It's just a little bit bigger of a seat. The plane gets there at the same time. 106 00:06:17,540 --> 00:06:18,860 But what I didn't realize, Nicola, 107 00:06:18,860 --> 00:06:23,780 was how that guilt permeates through 108 00:06:23,780 --> 00:06:28,190 the rest of my life and the way I act and the way I 109 00:06:28,190 --> 00:06:30,890 behave. So picture this, right? 110 00:06:31,190 --> 00:06:33,770 I go to an event and I'm the keynote speaker at an event, 111 00:06:33,830 --> 00:06:36,290 300 people in the event, I'm the last person to speak. 112 00:06:36,500 --> 00:06:41,420 Everybody's heading to the airport afterwards and 25 people from 113 00:06:41,420 --> 00:06:43,040 that event get on a plane. 114 00:06:43,460 --> 00:06:46,730 Two of them are sitting next to me while I'm sitting in the middle seat in coach 115 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:51,530 and I just got paid 15 grand to give a talk and I'm sitting on the middle seat 116 00:06:51,530 --> 00:06:54,590 in coach next to other people who are in the audience. 117 00:06:54,950 --> 00:06:57,260 What does that do to my brand? 118 00:06:58,280 --> 00:07:01,940 So the guilt that we feel, 119 00:07:02,390 --> 00:07:07,160 we need to release ourselves from that and make decisions that are 120 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:12,020 best for us in our business and not allow those feelings of guilt 121 00:07:12,470 --> 00:07:16,790 to change the way we behave. What do you think? I mean, 122 00:07:17,660 --> 00:07:20,930 that's a lot of baggage that I just unloaded here in this therapy session. 123 00:07:20,940 --> 00:07:25,460 So you tell us about how crazy I am now. 124 00:07:26,660 --> 00:07:27,710 You're not crazy, 125 00:07:27,710 --> 00:07:32,660 and this is probably why we get along so well is because there's so 126 00:07:32,660 --> 00:07:34,940 many similarities even in our backgrounds, Dave, 127 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:38,270 we didn't grow up with a lot of means either. 128 00:07:38,930 --> 00:07:43,520 Family vacations also included driving in the car to places we didn't fly 129 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:44,353 anywhere. 130 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:48,530 Sometimes it was 12 hours to get to the nearest beach from where I lived and 131 00:07:48,530 --> 00:07:49,820 nowhere Pennsylvania. 132 00:07:51,140 --> 00:07:55,340 So I'm glad you said that because it really helps 133 00:07:56,060 --> 00:07:58,670 put this into context. We can 134 00:08:00,530 --> 00:08:05,270 have guilt developed in our lives at a very young age and not even 135 00:08:05,270 --> 00:08:09,770 realize it. You can also have guilt developed later on in your life as an adult, 136 00:08:09,980 --> 00:08:14,360 but you've got to be aware that you have it because when you start working in 137 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:14,960 business, 138 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:19,880 it is going to drive some of the decisions that you're making and you've got 139 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:24,470 to be able to recognize it and stop it because it is bad for your business. 140 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:29,990 I really face this head on when I started working on my own and I knew 141 00:08:29,990 --> 00:08:34,280 what my services were worth and what I ought to be charging in the market for 142 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:36,350 them. But you face these small, 143 00:08:36,350 --> 00:08:41,150 sometimes it was small business owners and I would feel bad asking for the rate 144 00:08:41,150 --> 00:08:45,170 I knew I should be charging. And when you give into that, 145 00:08:45,470 --> 00:08:46,820 you had a great example, 146 00:08:46,820 --> 00:08:50,810 you lost an excellent opportunity where you should have charged that amount 147 00:08:51,380 --> 00:08:54,290 and you can have other circumstances where for me, 148 00:08:54,290 --> 00:08:58,980 it was ending up with a client that was not a good client because of it, 149 00:08:58,980 --> 00:09:02,820 because I undercharged what I should have because I felt bad. 150 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:07,380 That's not a good business decision and having worked with a lot of businesses, 151 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:11,940 I see guilt in other aspects of the business. Maybe it's an employee. 152 00:09:11,940 --> 00:09:16,890 This is one I see fairly often where it's someone who they care for the 153 00:09:16,890 --> 00:09:18,840 employee, so the owner keeps them there, 154 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:22,170 but they're a terrible employee. They can't do their job, 155 00:09:22,350 --> 00:09:24,900 so they keep finding new positions for them, 156 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:29,400 but it creates issues throughout the organization because they're identified by 157 00:09:29,460 --> 00:09:31,560 the rest of the employees who work with them, 158 00:09:31,560 --> 00:09:35,250 their peers as someone who's not pulling their weight but is there because the 159 00:09:35,250 --> 00:09:36,270 boss likes them. 160 00:09:36,990 --> 00:09:41,580 That also creates problems for the work environment that you've created. 161 00:09:42,450 --> 00:09:46,530 So if you are a business owner, you cannot allow guilt to drive your decisions. 162 00:09:46,530 --> 00:09:48,990 You are running a business. We are capitalists. 163 00:09:48,990 --> 00:09:50,640 That's why you have your own business. 164 00:09:50,670 --> 00:09:55,140 You have to be focused on how can I make money for my business and make the 165 00:09:55,140 --> 00:09:59,160 right decisions? And that requires removing the guilt from your decisions. 166 00:09:59,460 --> 00:10:02,220 It can be very difficult, especially, 167 00:10:02,220 --> 00:10:05,490 let me give you a particular example with family run businesses. 168 00:10:05,940 --> 00:10:10,290 That's where it's really prevalent because you have the family 169 00:10:10,290 --> 00:10:14,220 obligations pulling on your heartstrings like someone was laid off, 170 00:10:14,220 --> 00:10:15,360 I need to give them a job. 171 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:20,040 They're a family member and they never seem to pull their weight at least most 172 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:24,900 often pull their weight like someone who is outside of your 173 00:10:24,900 --> 00:10:29,010 business and is someone you don't have that kind of relationship with because 174 00:10:29,010 --> 00:10:33,720 it's just a different dynamic and it makes it very difficult for you to drive 175 00:10:33,730 --> 00:10:38,490 the revenue in your business that it ought to be achieving when you have these 176 00:10:38,490 --> 00:10:40,590 issues of guilt that are terminating the organization. 177 00:10:41,430 --> 00:10:45,090 Every business, every family business has Alfredo I love, we call 'em, 178 00:10:45,150 --> 00:10:48,120 it's Alfredo from the Godfather. Everybody's got Alfredo, 179 00:10:48,390 --> 00:10:53,070 and it's just so much easier to pay Fredo to go away than it is to give him a 180 00:10:53,070 --> 00:10:56,370 job in your business. Just give him a no-show job, 181 00:10:56,370 --> 00:10:59,910 pay him to go away so that he doesn't wreck the rest of your business. 182 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:05,070 There's another aspect of this guilt that I think we 183 00:11:05,070 --> 00:11:06,900 need to address today, 184 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:12,000 and that's when the guilt creeps into how you price your 185 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,690 services. You should price your services now, 186 00:11:15,690 --> 00:11:18,900 and this is particularly important for you as a professional service provider, 187 00:11:18,900 --> 00:11:21,120 but if you're selling products, it matters too, 188 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:22,860 and I'll cover both sides of the equation. 189 00:11:24,210 --> 00:11:29,040 You should price your services based on the value people get from 190 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:30,390 receiving your services. 191 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:35,580 You shouldn't price your services based on what people afford because if you 192 00:11:35,580 --> 00:11:38,430 price your services based on what people can afford, 193 00:11:39,030 --> 00:11:43,740 you're not doing yourself justice and you're going to end up working harder than 194 00:11:43,740 --> 00:11:48,690 you should to make the money that you deserve for the time and effort you put in 195 00:11:49,470 --> 00:11:54,310 and your profession. Your current profession is full of people 196 00:11:54,700 --> 00:11:58,450 who adjust their rates and it's hourly rates. 197 00:11:59,380 --> 00:12:01,900 I can't resist taking a shot at hourly rates. 198 00:12:01,900 --> 00:12:05,560 It's hourly rates that they adjust because well, 199 00:12:06,310 --> 00:12:07,570 people can't afford it. 200 00:12:07,870 --> 00:12:10,900 So what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you a pass on this one and I'm 201 00:12:10,900 --> 00:12:13,150 going to address your brethren who are criminal defense attorneys. 202 00:12:13,150 --> 00:12:15,340 When I first started working with lawyers, 203 00:12:15,490 --> 00:12:18,160 I worked with a lot of criminal defense lawyers because a really good friend of 204 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:22,600 mine was the president of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers 205 00:12:22,610 --> 00:12:24,940 and then the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 206 00:12:25,060 --> 00:12:27,850 and he got me in front of them on many occasions, 207 00:12:28,270 --> 00:12:32,140 and I will tell you that there's nobody I like having a beer with more than 208 00:12:32,140 --> 00:12:34,450 somebody who's a criminal defense lawyer. They have the best stories, 209 00:12:34,870 --> 00:12:39,550 but it's ridiculous how they'll adjust their 210 00:12:39,550 --> 00:12:43,570 pricing to handle some of the most complicated stuff. 211 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:48,760 I know people and the criminal justice system only work because good lawyers are 212 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:52,180 willing to defend people who do bad things. 213 00:12:52,390 --> 00:12:54,010 So let's just, 214 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:57,700 if you're listening to this now and you've got a problem with people who defend 215 00:12:57,910 --> 00:13:01,360 murderers and rapists and people who commit hideous crimes, 216 00:13:01,690 --> 00:13:04,300 I understand that you may have a problem with those people, 217 00:13:04,300 --> 00:13:07,420 but if there aren't people out there who are willing to defend these people, 218 00:13:07,420 --> 00:13:10,540 the system may not work for you or someone you care about when you're accused of 219 00:13:10,540 --> 00:13:13,210 something and you didn't do it. So we got to set that aside. 220 00:13:13,210 --> 00:13:17,770 Suspend your anger about people who defend criminals. Here's the thing, 221 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:22,090 I know a lot of people who are death penalty qualified here in Florida who do 222 00:13:22,100 --> 00:13:23,200 death penalty work, 223 00:13:23,500 --> 00:13:27,790 who don't charge fees that are worthy of the 224 00:13:27,790 --> 00:13:32,410 heroics that they pull off, and they do that because they think to themselves, 225 00:13:32,890 --> 00:13:37,660 I got to perform this public service. Well, no, that's guilt, 226 00:13:37,870 --> 00:13:41,350 okay? You telling yourself that you're performing a public service, 227 00:13:41,350 --> 00:13:43,660 that's guilt. You're bringing your baggage to this. 228 00:13:43,750 --> 00:13:48,250 You can take one case a year that you do pro bono and perform your public 229 00:13:48,250 --> 00:13:52,780 service and then charge an S ton of money for everything else you 230 00:13:52,780 --> 00:13:56,500 do so that you get paid what you deserve. 231 00:13:57,160 --> 00:13:59,500 Rich people commit crime, poor people commit crime. 232 00:13:59,620 --> 00:14:02,770 There's nothing that says you only have to represent poor people. 233 00:14:03,130 --> 00:14:07,900 You choose who your clients are and it's a function of guilt that you choose the 234 00:14:07,900 --> 00:14:12,550 crappy clients. So stop doing that. I'm giving you dispensation. 235 00:14:12,610 --> 00:14:14,830 That's what they say in the Catholic church. I'm freeing you. 236 00:14:14,980 --> 00:14:19,900 I'm giving you permission to feel free of the guilt of 237 00:14:19,900 --> 00:14:23,800 choosing crappy clients. Choose better clients. 238 00:14:24,010 --> 00:14:26,560 You are worthy of the better clients. 239 00:14:26,710 --> 00:14:29,950 The crappy clients will find representation. You can take one a year, 240 00:14:29,950 --> 00:14:32,920 but the crappy clients will find representation. Now, 241 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:34,720 when it comes to product manufacturing, 242 00:14:35,380 --> 00:14:39,130 if you put a ton of r and d research and development into your product, 243 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:43,360 if you put a ton of effort into your product, getting it to the market, right? 244 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:47,680 You have a product that has to have shelf space and you got to fight and claw 245 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:49,870 and scratch to get the shelf space, 246 00:14:49,930 --> 00:14:53,750 maybe you got to pay the vendors to give you shelf space. 247 00:14:53,750 --> 00:14:57,410 That's how stuff gets in the supermarket. Products pay for shelf space. 248 00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:00,230 You deserve to charge a premium price. 249 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:03,590 If your product is better than everybody else's product, you deserve that. 250 00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:09,200 Do not feel guilty, do not feel guilty. Other people, 251 00:15:10,340 --> 00:15:12,110 especially people in procurement, 252 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:16,100 and these are people who I wish would just find another job, 253 00:15:16,250 --> 00:15:20,780 but people in procurement will play on that guilt and try and get you to lower 254 00:15:20,780 --> 00:15:24,350 your price. Don't do it for their reasons. 255 00:15:24,350 --> 00:15:28,490 The only time you should lower your price is for your own reasons, 256 00:15:28,610 --> 00:15:32,720 and you shouldn't let guilt play into that decision in any way possible. 257 00:15:33,260 --> 00:15:37,250 I'm sure you want to respond because I attacked your brethren 258 00:15:38,300 --> 00:15:41,630 in the legal profession because you charge the same way people in the oldest 259 00:15:41,630 --> 00:15:45,020 profession charge. So have at it, do what you want to do. Well. 260 00:15:45,230 --> 00:15:50,060 My brethren on the criminal defense side may not like my response on this one 261 00:15:50,060 --> 00:15:53,960 because I'm going to agree with you, Dave, mark, this day down. 262 00:15:54,380 --> 00:15:55,430 I agree with you. 263 00:15:55,440 --> 00:16:00,440 You should not reduce your rates to take on clients because you 264 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:01,400 are one, 265 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:05,900 not recognizing the value of the services you know that you provide, 266 00:16:06,020 --> 00:16:10,850 which command a higher rate for them. And two, I assure you, 267 00:16:11,090 --> 00:16:14,240 you'll be buying a client that is not going to be a good client to you. 268 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:16,880 You want more of your best clients. You are not going to do that. 269 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:19,400 You're not going to get them in the door by lowering your rates. 270 00:16:19,970 --> 00:16:23,240 You have excellent clients know why they're excellent clients and replicate that 271 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:25,430 people will pay you what you deserve. 272 00:16:25,790 --> 00:16:28,040 That is a lesson that I learned the hard way myself. 273 00:16:28,070 --> 00:16:31,610 You will find clients who will pay your rates and will see the value that you 274 00:16:31,610 --> 00:16:36,530 offer and you will have a much more fulfilling legal career if you 275 00:16:36,590 --> 00:16:37,460 do not lower your rates, 276 00:16:37,470 --> 00:16:40,220 but you should do this in any professional services space. Do not lower your 277 00:16:40,220 --> 00:16:41,540 rates to get those clients. Look, 278 00:16:41,540 --> 00:16:44,240 and this is with the exception of you're starting out. 279 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:46,490 I get that everyone's starting out. You got to make money, 280 00:16:46,490 --> 00:16:50,120 but when you have a demonstrated service, you're an excellent professional. 281 00:16:50,150 --> 00:16:53,270 Don't do that to yourself because this is how you're making money. 282 00:16:53,300 --> 00:16:57,080 You deserve the rate that you're charging. Now, aside from that, 283 00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:01,700 we've got to just cut out the guilt from running a business. 284 00:17:01,700 --> 00:17:03,650 You are running a business, you're making money. 285 00:17:03,650 --> 00:17:07,280 It should not be an exercise in what your feelings are about it. 286 00:17:07,310 --> 00:17:11,390 It has got to be about doing what is best for that business to make sure that 287 00:17:11,390 --> 00:17:12,860 you are maximizing the value of it. 288 00:17:13,340 --> 00:17:17,030 You're going to appreciate that and live a much better life as a business owner 289 00:17:17,030 --> 00:17:19,400 when you're focused on it. So remove the guilt. 290 00:17:20,330 --> 00:17:21,163 Yeah, 291 00:17:21,980 --> 00:17:26,300 guilt has no place in determining price or how hard you go 292 00:17:26,300 --> 00:17:28,850 after you sell to go after a client. 293 00:17:29,060 --> 00:17:33,500 And I see this all the time in people who sell, and I've done it myself. 294 00:17:33,500 --> 00:17:34,430 I just told you the story. 295 00:17:34,430 --> 00:17:39,410 I wouldn't sell as hard to somebody who I thought couldn't afford my 296 00:17:39,620 --> 00:17:41,150 services. Now, 297 00:17:41,150 --> 00:17:46,130 I sell hard to everybody and I don't feel any guilt when somebody 298 00:17:46,130 --> 00:17:48,230 says, Hey, I don't like to be sold to. 299 00:17:48,900 --> 00:17:51,750 The way that I look at it is selling is helping, 300 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:56,520 and if I don't sell to you, you don't know that I can help you. 301 00:17:57,180 --> 00:18:02,160 So I got to be a savage and do everything I can to go after that client 302 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,430 because that client is better off with me than without me. 303 00:18:05,820 --> 00:18:09,690 And to put a bow on this entire discussion before we wrap it up, 304 00:18:10,020 --> 00:18:13,440 I talked about something I can't remember, Nicola, 305 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:18,390 if it was on the Sunday special or if it was in a regular 306 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:22,380 show, but do you remember, it's got to be a couple of weeks ago now, 307 00:18:22,390 --> 00:18:23,250 almost a month ago, 308 00:18:23,610 --> 00:18:27,450 I talked about somebody who wanted a consultation with me but didn't want to pay 309 00:18:27,450 --> 00:18:30,040 my consultation fee. You remember that? All right, 310 00:18:30,780 --> 00:18:35,760 so I got an email from this person and maybe they're listening 311 00:18:35,770 --> 00:18:38,850 to the show and it doesn't really matter to me if they listen to the show. 312 00:18:39,060 --> 00:18:43,800 I got an email from them asking me for the link to my consultation page now 313 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:47,610 ready to pay to see if there's something we can do, I can do to help them. 314 00:18:49,140 --> 00:18:51,330 I replied to the person. I said, yeah, sure, I'll send you the link. 315 00:18:51,330 --> 00:18:53,160 I didn't send it to 'em this week. I knew I was busy. 316 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:54,270 I was doing a little traveling. 317 00:18:54,270 --> 00:18:56,310 You and I had an event we did together yesterday, 318 00:18:56,550 --> 00:19:00,150 so I knew I had a lot of stuff going on this week, so I didn't send it to 'em. 319 00:19:00,150 --> 00:19:01,320 I'm going to send it to 'em next week. 320 00:19:01,380 --> 00:19:04,530 Remains to be seen whether they'll actually pay it or not, 321 00:19:04,530 --> 00:19:09,180 but good on them for recognizing and taking the step to 322 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:10,020 say, Hey, 323 00:19:10,020 --> 00:19:14,730 this is valuable and maybe I should pay for it. 324 00:19:16,140 --> 00:19:18,150 Whenever that happens to me and somebody says, oh my God, 325 00:19:18,270 --> 00:19:19,890 because as we're recording this, 326 00:19:19,890 --> 00:19:24,600 my consultation fee is $850 and you get an hour with me for the 327 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:26,610 $850, but you're not buying an hour. 328 00:19:26,610 --> 00:19:30,420 You're buying 33 years of business experience for that $850. 329 00:19:32,220 --> 00:19:36,840 And I recognize that there are people who just swerved off the side of the 330 00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:40,110 road as they're listening to this show and they're like, Jesus Christ, 331 00:19:40,110 --> 00:19:42,090 this guy charges $850 an hour. 332 00:19:42,090 --> 00:19:46,140 I'm a lawyer and I only charge $400 an hour and I've been a lawyer for 15 years, 333 00:19:46,150 --> 00:19:50,250 blah, blah, blah. It's not my problem that you only charge $400 an hour, right? 334 00:19:50,550 --> 00:19:54,330 I know people who are nine, 10 year lawyers in the bankruptcy space, 335 00:19:54,330 --> 00:19:56,130 they're charging $1,100 an hour. Now, 336 00:19:56,280 --> 00:20:00,180 there are lawyers at Gibson Dunn that charge $1,600 an hour, okay? 337 00:20:00,510 --> 00:20:03,990 I feel bad that I'm only charging eight 50. I feel like I'm taking food out of 338 00:20:03,990 --> 00:20:05,910 my kid's mouth by only charging eight 50. 339 00:20:06,210 --> 00:20:10,560 So God bless me for doing this service for you and charging less. 340 00:20:11,490 --> 00:20:15,300 The way that I look at it is my lifetime of experience, 341 00:20:15,300 --> 00:20:20,220 if you ask the right questions, is worth probably quadruple what you're paying. 342 00:20:20,550 --> 00:20:24,000 So you should thank me that you get to pay $850 an hour, 343 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:25,530 and that's not arrogance. 344 00:20:25,530 --> 00:20:30,360 That's just recognizing the value that I provide. 345 00:20:31,450 --> 00:20:33,780 There are people out there right now. 346 00:20:33,780 --> 00:20:36,180 I worked with one for years and years and years. 347 00:20:36,180 --> 00:20:38,880 There's a guy named Marcus Buckingham. You can look him up. 348 00:20:39,510 --> 00:20:44,040 He was the original author on First Break All the 349 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:47,860 Rules and Now Discover your strengths to bestselling books. 350 00:20:48,610 --> 00:20:50,110 He was at the Gallup organization. 351 00:20:50,110 --> 00:20:54,910 His office was right next to mine in New York City when I started the Manhattan 352 00:20:54,910 --> 00:20:59,590 Division of Consulting for Gallup. And at the time that we were 353 00:20:59,590 --> 00:21:03,310 working together when I was a little baby consultant, he was getting, 354 00:21:03,910 --> 00:21:07,510 at that time, he was getting, I think $45,000 for a keynote speech, 355 00:21:07,930 --> 00:21:12,820 and I was getting 1200 bucks to give a speech. 356 00:21:13,390 --> 00:21:14,950 And at that time, 357 00:21:15,430 --> 00:21:18,670 he's a great speaker and he has a British accent, 358 00:21:18,910 --> 00:21:20,560 which is worth 10 grand in and of itself. 359 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:23,080 The British accent alone is worth 10 grand. 360 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:28,210 So his content was almost 361 00:21:28,210 --> 00:21:32,200 identical to the content that I was delivering because it was all based on 362 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:33,160 Gallup research, 363 00:21:33,490 --> 00:21:37,990 but the experience he had and the stories he shared were 364 00:21:37,990 --> 00:21:42,190 far more valuable because I didn't have that experience. 365 00:21:42,430 --> 00:21:45,790 He had been at Gallup for, I think at the time, 15 years, 366 00:21:46,210 --> 00:21:50,560 and he had had 15 years of additional experience working with dozens of 367 00:21:50,570 --> 00:21:55,120 different industries using the things that Gallup had discovered in those 368 00:21:55,120 --> 00:21:57,940 industries. And in that one keynote speech, 369 00:21:57,940 --> 00:21:59,770 if there were 500 people in the room, 370 00:21:59,920 --> 00:22:02,770 a hundred people could come away with things that could transform their 371 00:22:02,770 --> 00:22:03,700 business. 372 00:22:03,730 --> 00:22:07,600 So the event planners that booked him to speak and paid him 45 grand for that 373 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:09,880 talk, they could say, Hey, listen, 374 00:22:09,940 --> 00:22:13,600 you're going to get transformative material from Marcus Buckingham, 375 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:17,530 the author of these two books, who has had all of this experience. 376 00:22:17,860 --> 00:22:22,180 Or they could have booked Dave Lorenzo who would share Gallup's research and at 377 00:22:22,180 --> 00:22:24,670 the time didn't have any of the experience, 378 00:22:24,940 --> 00:22:28,870 but they could probably get $3,000 for attendance at an event where Marcus 379 00:22:28,870 --> 00:22:32,560 Buckingham was the keynote and they could probably get like 50 bucks for an 380 00:22:32,570 --> 00:22:37,030 event where Dave Lorenzo was the keynote because of the breadth of experience 381 00:22:37,150 --> 00:22:41,380 that Marcus had. Same content, different level of experience, 382 00:22:41,590 --> 00:22:45,640 different stories, different impact on the audience, 383 00:22:45,970 --> 00:22:50,680 and that's the difference between value and 384 00:22:50,950 --> 00:22:53,710 not delivering value, and we shouldn't feel guilty. 385 00:22:53,710 --> 00:22:56,050 Marcus never felt guilty a day in his life. 386 00:22:56,110 --> 00:22:59,170 Now he's charging a hundred thousand dollars for a keynote speech because he's 387 00:22:59,180 --> 00:23:04,180 got 25 years of experience, and he's never felt guilty a day in his life. 388 00:23:04,190 --> 00:23:05,800 God bless him, and I hope he's doing well, 389 00:23:05,810 --> 00:23:09,340 and I hope he's listening to this and thinking as he's sipping his tea, 390 00:23:10,150 --> 00:23:13,120 I'm making a ton of money and he's right, or I can't do a British accent, 391 00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:16,600 otherwise I would've done So. No guilt. We don't have guilt. 392 00:23:17,290 --> 00:23:21,340 People are going to pay it, so why are you not charging it? 393 00:23:21,340 --> 00:23:24,190 I have to reiterate the point that you made, 394 00:23:24,190 --> 00:23:26,920 which I think is the main takeaway here, Dave, 395 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:31,030 which is that you are not just paying for that hour of time when we are talking 396 00:23:31,030 --> 00:23:35,530 about the fee for speaker or it's an hour for a consultation with someone. 397 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:38,560 It's not just an hour of time of talking about an issue. 398 00:23:38,590 --> 00:23:43,090 It is all of your experience that goes into that hour because that is a lot of 399 00:23:43,100 --> 00:23:45,560 value that you are delivering in that short window time. 400 00:23:45,710 --> 00:23:47,450 I've personally been burned by this, 401 00:23:47,450 --> 00:23:51,950 and I tell you that from experience because oftentimes we learn the best lessons 402 00:23:51,980 --> 00:23:56,960 from experiences, especially the ones that did not go well for us. I delivered, 403 00:23:56,960 --> 00:23:58,940 and I'll tell this in a quick story. 404 00:23:59,660 --> 00:24:04,640 I delivered a pitch to a company for a lawsuit that I wanted to handle 405 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:06,170 on their behalf. It had been filed. 406 00:24:06,170 --> 00:24:09,110 Sometimes you get the opportunity to go to the Bakeoff, we call it, 407 00:24:09,110 --> 00:24:12,050 and there's two others that are there. They're pitching there themselves too, 408 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:16,190 and you've got to provide something that the other two aren't going to provide 409 00:24:16,220 --> 00:24:18,920 to have the best pitch. And in the end, 410 00:24:19,310 --> 00:24:23,390 what happened was we didn't get the business. This was several years ago, 411 00:24:23,390 --> 00:24:27,980 didn't get the case, and I had delivered a strategy that I thought was like, 412 00:24:27,980 --> 00:24:31,190 how could someone have taught that? I really thought this through? 413 00:24:31,190 --> 00:24:34,670 There's no way that they thought about this as much as we did, 414 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:38,450 and it comes to find out that they used the strategy. 415 00:24:38,540 --> 00:24:41,000 They just used the cheaper option to employ the strategy, 416 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:45,860 so do not do it because that value that was delivered in 417 00:24:45,860 --> 00:24:47,750 that short period of time was immense. 418 00:24:47,780 --> 00:24:52,340 It was years and years of experience and thinking that went into that to have it 419 00:24:52,340 --> 00:24:55,670 taken and used by someone else. So do not sell yourself short. 420 00:24:55,820 --> 00:24:56,810 You're running a business. 421 00:24:56,900 --> 00:24:59,750 You need to be selling your experience in those windows of time that you're 422 00:24:59,750 --> 00:25:01,400 selling or with your product on the shelf. 423 00:25:01,490 --> 00:25:04,130 You're selling everything that went into you developing that product, 424 00:25:04,130 --> 00:25:06,320 the way you've marketed, the way you've positioned it, 425 00:25:06,470 --> 00:25:08,630 to get that premium to sit there on that top shelf. 426 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:13,670 I love it. This is the Inside Bs show. My name is Dave Lorenzo. 427 00:25:13,670 --> 00:25:16,700 I'm the godfather of growth, and you are. 428 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:17,900 Nicki. 429 00:25:17,900 --> 00:25:20,150 T, and we're here every day with a great new show for you. 430 00:25:20,150 --> 00:25:23,120 We'll see you right back here again tomorrow, folks. Hey, do us a favor. 431 00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:24,650 I don't know how you found the show, 432 00:25:24,650 --> 00:25:27,920 but I'm betting you probably found it because somebody sent it to you, 433 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:30,410 somebody recommended it to you, somebody shared it with you. 434 00:25:30,860 --> 00:25:34,070 Do yourself a favor. Do another entrepreneur a favor, 435 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:37,580 share the show with a friend, share it with another entrepreneur. 436 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:38,930 It's good karma for you, 437 00:25:38,930 --> 00:25:41,750 and you may just change someone's business or change their life. 438 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:43,820 We'll see you back here again tomorrow, folks. Until then, 439 00:25:43,820 --> 00:25:46,640 here's hoping you make a great living and live a great life. Take care.