I have been working online since 2010. I had a lot of skills to learn from talking to people to building the blog that I choose to use for my main business tool.
I literally didn’t know how to copy and paste on a computer and I had to google my way through knowledge until I found someone who could teach me more about business.
I remember very well cringing when I had to pay someone $50 to $100 for a 1-3 hour class, but I wanted the information they knew so I paid the invoice.
Over time it got a lot easier to pay that bill and I started looking for people to pay that knew the things that I wanted to learn.
Fast forward to 2019, I have spent as much as $20,000 for a business coach for a year. That is a lot of money, however the benefits is that it cuts a large portion of time off my learning curve to get to where I wanted to go in my business.
The last three years I have taken my business from 250K a year in sales volume to 1 million a MONTH in sales. As you can see it has been worth the price I had to move my results forward.
The value of knowledge
The knowledge I have gained over time was paid for but it now belongs to me forever. It’s a skill no one can take from me. In return of LIT = Learn – Invest – Teach, I now want to give back to others what I know and watch others move upward in their business journey.
As I grew in my business and my community who followed me I started to hear “I’d love to take you to lunch and pick your brain sometime.”
I provide value here on the blog, and in my weekly newsletter to help those who have found me so they too can grow out of their stuck zone in business.
Requests for “brain-picking” are rampant in any business, and they’re never fun if you’re the one whose brain is being picked. It used to happen to me so much that I found myself becoming resentful.
I also didn’t want to miss the subtle compliment that goes with being asked for advice. When someone asks you for your time for free, be grateful that they view you as someone who can offer valuable advice.
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Taking responsibility in your business
As hard as it was to hear my coach and fellow top earner masterminders made me aware that it was my fault that I was being ask that question because we train people how to treat us even in our business.
If they can ask to pick our brain and we let them – why would they pay for information they can get for free? Of course they will choose the free brain picking over paying for a course they would have to take their time to watch and learn.
You can’t blame people for taking the free route when the opportunity allows it to occur.
People who are asking to pick your brain already sees you as a valueable resource or they wouldn’t have ask to have a session with you.
Sometimes people ask because you have not shown them there is something to purchase,
Decide what you will give away for free
This is where the power of content marketing comes in handy. Your blog, YouTube channel, Instagram, Facebook are all places you offer free content to give away for free.
Don’t assume because someone
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Something you can say is “thank you for asking me about my business ideas, I do consulting would you like to know how that works?”
Direct them to your calander and let them know how they can spend some time with you on your schedule.
That puts the decision back on them to decide.
Get clear, get confident and start being honored by those “freebie” requests. That’s how you become an expert that always gets paid for their time. People dont know unless they ask and how you respond either encourages or routes the conversation like a professional.
When you respect your own business so will the people who come to you for help.