How to Sell Advice

Kevin: A couple of years ago, there
was a, a shop that was opening

a, an auto detailer business.

So they would clean your car inside and
outside and make it look spic and span.

And we didn't have a fancy car.

We had a Toyota matrix and you
know, we loved it and we.

We wanted to get a clean because frankly
we do that once or twice a year anyway.

And I figured it would be easier to
spend the money, to get someone to

do it than to spend money, spend all
my afternoon on a Saturday cleaning

it up and doing all those things.

So what I did was I noticed there was
a, a shop around the corner that was

opening up and I brought it to them.

Well, first I called them and I said,
Hey, you know, we've got this car.

We'd love to we'd love
to have you detail it.

Is this something you
would help us help us?

Do you know, you've got a
grand opening event coming up.

And he said, yeah, you know,
we can totally help you do

that, but how, how bad is it?

How bad is your car?

And I said, well, what do you mean?

He's like, well, how dirt,
how dirty is the car?

And I said, well, it's, I think I probably
cleaned it a year ago, but we, you know,

and it's not bad, but we do have a dog.

So some of the backseat has some
dog hair that's kind of embedded in.

And whatnot, a short, short
hair dog, but a dog nonetheless.

And you kinda, you know, a little
Hampton hot kind of reluctantly said.

Yeah.

You know, I guess yeah, sure.

Bring, bring the, bring the
car in and we'll, we'll,

we'll give it a clean for you.

And it kind of was like a
reluctant side, like, I guess,

I guess we'll do this for you.

No problem.

Which kind of struck me because number
one, it was a brand new business.

So how could he be burned out and
exhausted already about doing cars?

Number two is if your job is to
clean cars, why would it matter?

I mean, obviously it matters that we,
our car was not atrocious by any stretch.

But why, why would it
matter if it was dirty?

Cause that's the point.

That's why people come to you and
if, unless you only want to clean

cars as a whole different thing.

So, so what would it kind of
taught me was a few things.

I think one, we have to do work
that we're motivated to do.

Now.

That doesn't mean you're going to
love your work every single day,

but if you're not motivated to do
the thing that you are hard to do.

Then you're going to burn out and
your, and your clients are going

to notice that your heart's not in
it and they're going to feel it.

And it's going to feel
like a slog for you.

And it's going to be feeling
like a slog for them.

And number two is you have to price
your work in a way that is exciting

to you and sustains your business.

So there's no point in being
overworked and under and having

a price that doesn't excite you.

So you don't want to show up, even
if you would for double the price.

If w if you were, if you'd be
excited at double the price, that's

the price you need to charge, and
that's the bar you want to deliver.

And it needs to sustain you obviously.

So you need to be charging at
decent rates anyway, to sustain you,

whether you're doing it at scale or
whether you're selling one-to-one

services, it doesn't matter.

The work has to sustain you and
has to be at the right price.

That's going to excite you and
make it worthwhile for you.

So you bring your best energy to do
the work that already motivates you.

So you kind of need to be aligned both
in how you're charging and the type of

work you're doing as well as ideally
the type of client you're helping.

And so these are some of the factors
that are, that are considered,

you know, why is this important?

Actually the finish the story.

He was at a business
about four months later.

So he'd cleaned my car and
it was, it was all fine.

And he was out of business and I'm not
surprised because opening a business

that you're not passionate about or that
you're not at least driven to succeed

in and excited about a challenge.

If you're not, if that's not
how you feel, then you're not

going to be able to sustain it.

And you're not getting your clients
and customers are gonna feel it.

They're not going to come back.

So you have to build a business that
you can sustain over long periods of

time that your clients want to be a
part of that they don't want to cancel

on, and you have to price it in a way
that is valuable to both you and them.

And that allows you by having this
alignment of what you do, who you

do it for and how you price and
being sustainable for everyone, you

end up being, building a business
that you can become great at.

And when you're great.

You'll get more opportunities to get.

People will talk about you and
referrals and all that stuff.

So it becomes this kind of flywheel
or perpetual, you know, motion.

So all of these things are, is,
look, you've got a choice to run

the type of business you want.

You got into marketing because
you were interested in it.

Whether you're a designer, developer,
strategist writer, it doesn't matter.

Now you get to apply it to any
industry you want, or maybe you just

do it broadly and you just pick the
type of client you want to work with.

But you get to work with the
types of clients you want.

And if you don't like the project they're
going to take on, or don't like the

type of client you're going to help,
it's up to you to notice that and make

a change as soon as reasonably possible.

Otherwise, you won't be able to
sustain the business first and

foremost, and you won't be able to
do great work and you won't be able

to charge a premium and you won't be
ever excited about the work you do.

And that's a choice.

You have a choice as an
independent marketing professional.

Do the type of work you want for the
types of clients you want to work

with, and that's doing things that
light you up and they usually requires

a degree of risk and trade off.

So you have to say no to certain
types of work and yes to others.

And that's a challenge for a lot
of people, but I just want to

leave that with you because I
think it's an important metric.

So if something feels off, if you're
feeling burned out, if you're feeling

not aligned with either what you
do, who you do it for, or you're

not excited when to put together
proposals, when someone comes to you.

Because the prices don't excite you,
you know, a lot of times it's a matter

of just charging enough that you get
excited, which, which then excited,

meaning that that's a good amount of money
I'm worth, it's worth doing this for me,

which means you're going to up your bar.

You're going to, not that
money is a motivator.

It really isn't.

But at least you're going to not
feel like you are being overworked

for what you're charging.

And that's a whole
different kind of mindset.

You're in this to make money and to
do good work and to build the business

you want and have a good lifestyle.

So you have to charge appropriately.

Otherwise you won't be in business.

You have to do work.

You like to doing otherwise.

We won't be in business
and you have to do work.

You like doing it for that for people
you like working for, otherwise,

you won't be in business long-term.

And so I just want to keep that in mind
as we go about this, you'll do great work.

If you pick the type of clients that you
want to work with and you do the kind of

work you want to do, and you charge the
amount of money that is right for you.

That's all for now.

Thanks.