Money, money, money

If you’ve been around these streets for a while, you’d know my old “coach” used to sell Hollywood movie scripts.

During the pandemic he launched a daily email. Some long, some short.

It lasted for 764 straight days.

There’s a few I’ve saved for a rainy day (or when I’m on vacation with the wife, brother and her family) that would benefit you.

Today’s posts are all part of my collection of his about “money”:

• All pricing being made up

• Scared money

• Sacrifices vs trade-offs

Some of you will stop reading here.

Some of you will stop reading after the first article.

Some of you will stop reading in the middle.

And a few of you (maybe 25%) will read to the very end.

Congrats to the few of you. You will do whatever you want in life.

The 75%?

You’ll never make the top 25%. It requires you to knock someone out of the top 25.

Think about that before you decide to read…

Now, onto the articles:

Disclaimer these are copy and pasted from his email newsletter.

Money

Most salespeople are scared of money.

What?

That's right.

How do I know?

Why are they so quick to offer discounts?

They are simply terrified... petrified of money and the power they believe it holds over them and everyone else.

The late real estate entrepreneur Stefan Aarnio made a good point about this in how he evaluated the importance of money in relation to a transaction:

"The least valuable piece in the game is the Money. This is because everyone has access to it. Money earns virtually nothing on its own and gets robbed by inflation. Since money is constantly depreciating, IT MUST MOVE TO BE VALUABLE. (emphasis added). Money can come from literally any source for almost any price. Cash investors will lineup for a good deal and will compete for a great deal if they know it’s a winner."

I want you to reread that paragraph. It's not exactly an original thought. But it's put quite elegantly and there's a lot of power in it.

Money must move to be valuable.

By fearing asking for the sale, by discounting your price reflexively etc-- all fear-based bullshit-- what you are effectively doing is keeping money caged, money that wants to move, to grow-- and you are hurting everyone involved.

You think the prospect is focused on SAVING money...

But the best customers will want you to LIBERATE it.

They are begging, "PLEASE TAKE MY CASH!!! SO IT CAN DO SOMETHING FOR ME!!!"

You might say that's for "investments" but all expenditures are investments-- some just have better returns than others and many of those are not financial returns.

Even a hit of dope is an "investment" to someone who perhaps (very unfortunately) has no other way to find happiness, however fleeting and artificial it may be.

The best business people have a comfortable relationship with money and how their personal value and that of their product represents a CRITICAL opportunity to unlock the potential of their prospect's cash -- and not merely exchange for it.

As we talk about a lot here, it's about SERVICE-- the unique benefit you are providing by striving to move AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE, provided the exchange of value is fair.

Worse, discounting and the rest of that nonsense are a tacit admission your product sucks and the list price was just a rip-off to begin with!

What's a great thing to get behind! "Buy from me! We were hoping to rob you blind... but have we got a deal for you!"

Nice.

Money is a living storage of value and every day it dies a little.

Unless.... unless you come in to save if.

It's like one of those abused animal infomercials with the Sarah McLaughlin music:

Every single hour countless dollars are held captive, in cramped, tiny bank accounts, unable to stretch their legs and run free.

The money is waiting for you to rescue it.

Won't you please help?

Operators are standing by.

All prices are made up

So the "open call" for topics produced some interesting ideas.

Here's one from Dante:

"If I could ask I would love your take on the importance of ‘Personal Branding’? I’ve been thinking about this for the last week or so and saw a recent post about Elon and his $69.420 red satin shorts selling out. It seems like Elon and Tesla can do nothing wrong purely on the basis of his intelligence and personal charisma."

For those who remember, not long ago I talked about how Elon Musk has such a superior product (and personal brand, to the extent that matters) he can do shit others cannot.

"Defy gravity," as it were.

To the unaware, Musk started selling those aforementioned boxing-style shorts recently and they had a strange price tag. Here's how Fox Business explained it:

"Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk took a swipe at short-sellers by listing 'short shorts' on the company’s website.

Musk has from time to time expressed dismay with investors who bet against his company. In 2018, he sent a box of short shorts to hedge fund manager David Einhorn and last November offered to send him more.

The red satin shorts with gold trim, available for $69.42, feature a Tesla logo on the front left side and have 'S3XY' written across the back. The 420 is a possible reference to the share price at which Musk said he had secured funding to take the company private, leading to a lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

'Enjoy exceptional comfort from the closing bell,' the website said."

Let me ask you: what's the "value" of these shorts?

A quick search of Amazon shows you can get satin boxing shorts for about $20 bucks.

So why can Musk sell his for 3x that?

Because, clearly, he's not selling garments. He's selling a message.

I find it funny when people talk about what things are "worth."

Spoiler alert: they are "worth" what a willing buyer will pay for them.

Actually, the "market price" of anything, such that it exists, is not actually set by the buyer... but by the person who refuses to pay more!

Truth is, Musk isn't looking to make money on those shorts-- he's got more important things that make more money like cars and rockets.

But he could sell those shorts for 10x that price and probably sell just as many.

The "elasticity" of the pricing of those shorts has nothing to do with any "competing" products, such that they exist.

There's a saying "some people know the price of everything and the value of nothing." It's like that.

Those people would never buy $69.420 novelty shorts. They see everything as a commodity.

And that's fine-- those buyers exist. I merely suggest you steer clear of them.

Because here's the real secret: all prices are made up anyway!

Seriously!

Name me a price that... at the end of the day... didn't just come out of someone's ass.

Now, sure, some people will use all sort of elaborate "market comps" to "justify" their price but I think that's kind of silly.

Most people UNDERprice their goods, anyway-- so if you are pegging everything to the "market price" of similar items, you are basically resigning yourself to, somewhere along the time, basing your price on some moron who was selling a commodity version of what may well be your luxury good.

That means most "market prices" are really just mass delusions, a crowd-sourced race to the bottom.

Does that sound smart to you?

That makes sense for Wal-Mart and basically no one else.

I believe, and teach, value-based pricing.

Seek to create a certain level of "value," however your buyer defines that, and capture a fraction of it. That's fair.

Why wouldn't it be?

So when someone says "I can get XYZ good for cheaper" you can say "got it. But we don't compete with that."

What are they going to say?

"Well, I think that's overpriced based on...."

"Ok. I appreciate that. I trust you will make a good decision."

Place your own game. Run your own race.

Now, with a pair of novelty shorts, of course, there is no INHERENT value-- you likely won't make or save money by owning them.

BUT that's not the only people reason buy things.

Why do people buy Tiffany lamps over similar looking ones you might find at a second-hand store... or even Target?

Why do people buy fancy cars or clothes they sometimes rarely drive or seldom wear?

Price, my friends, is a signal and some people buy shit just because they can!

So "market prices" are for losers.

Charge what you can get that you think is morally, legally and ethically justifiable.

Notice nowhere in there do I mention what anyone ELSE is charging for something "similar."

You should come from a place that for what YOU sell to YOUR audience there is NOTHING really "similar," it only appears so to the uneducated eye.

Ignore those people.

They know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Elon does that. You can get cheaper cars-- and certainly cheaper shorts-- than he sells.

But they're the only ones HE is selling... so take it or leave it, asshole.

Or like I said before... go drive your Honda.

Everything is tradeoffs

I don't believe in a life of "sacrifice."

Now you might say "sacrifice is necessary!"

I would ask... is it?

Sacrifice means giving up something precious, not something worthless.

Why live a live of relinquishing the valued, the treasured? And by choice, no less!

That sounds terrible.

Now you might say, "but you can't have everything."

This is, of course, true but understanding that does not necessitate sacrificing ANYTHING.

Instead, it comes down to understanding TRADEOFFS.

Sacrifice is punitive, a punishment-- and who wants that?

Tradeoffs are different.

Neither inherently good or bad, they represent the choice between alternatives.

Going out for a night with just friends means not spending it at home with your family.

Not good nor bad. Just a tradeoff, with attendant costs and benefits.

Nor are they life judgements or eternal decisions. They merely exist in the moment-- and can frequently be changed.

Understanding tradeoffs also removes us from the world of judgment.

"Sacrifice" is a pejorative word. It means something bad or at least somewhat painful.

Who wants to live a life of pain?

Tradeoffs imply no value one way or another. They allow you the distance to look at your choices objectively as possible and with a clear head.

The problem with "sacrifice" is that it will tend to make you feel like you are giving something up that's important-- that you are OFFERING UP- as in a sacrificial offering-- the blood of something dear to you.

Doesn't that sound awful?

Instead, think-- how can I live a life where I understand the TRADEOFFS but sacrifice NOTHING?

You CAN do that.

Saving today, for example, need not be uncomfortable if you get cool with the spending you are not doing instead, that you are trading it off for.

(This is where I think the FIRE guys get it wrong by the way-- who wants to eat brown bananas and live like a peasant just because you hate your job. How about... I dunno... finding better work? Just a thought....)

And remember-- everything is tradeoffs. Everything.

Your relationships are the way you decide to spend time with people that could then not be spent with others.

Your investments are those things you choose to put money into which prevent you from putting that money into something else.

Your work is the thing you decide to do where you can't take that time to do something else.

And on and on.

None is good or bad-- but, as Shakespeare said, thinking can make it so.

When we call a tradeoff a "sacrifice"-- thinking made it so-- and we usher in our own sentence.

We are our own jailors, a one-person mob boss or racketeer, creating a problem for which we are the only solution.

Or... we can look at our choices and make one of two decisions:

a) Decide "I am cool with this... for now anyway-- and I absolve myself of any guilt or judgement around it."

b) Decide "I am NOT cool with this and will endeavor to change it post haste."

Most people live in the unstated option c): "sit and sulk in the situation I hate but refused to change or accept!"

Cool.

But when everything becomes tradeoffs we unlatch the door of our own prison and step outside.

We own our reality, own our choices and move forth into the light.

It's nice out there.

You should try it some time.

Or sit and stew.

Your choice.

But then.... is anything ever not? :-)

Weekly Challenge

Today’s weekly challenge is different.

It’s a test for the top 25% that want to move to the top 1%.

Do things with their career they haven’t quite imagined yet.

Book a 15 minute call here with Rick & I.

As Rick says..

I never charge for the first consultation. Nor the second, if you're real. A third may not be necessary.

Until next week,

Chris