There’s a popular anecdote in the personal development world that accounts one woman’s encounter with Pablo Picasso.
Much of it has been lost in translation but it goes something like:
A woman saw Picasso at a cafe. He was sketching something on a napkin. She went up to him and asked to buy his doodle.
He agreed and asked her for a million dollars.
Baffled, she said, “But that only took you five minutes!”
He calmly replied, “No madam. It took me my whole life.”
The moral of this story is to never undervalue what you do. But I didn’t truly understand it until recently.
After running my own business for several months now, I finally have something to relate that little anecdote to.
At some point in my life, I’ll charge someone $100,000 a year for my coaching. Is that because I’ll be spending 80+ hours a week with them?
No.
They won’t just be paying for sessions with me. They’ll be paying for everything it took to get me to that point.
• All the thousands of dollars I spent on coaching and programs for myself.
• The countless hours of being on the brink of tears from doubt, uncertainty, and fear.
• The hundreds and hundreds of conversations I’ve had with people—powerful and awkward alike.
• The journey of my life: From attempting suicide to getting my shit together (and wanting to help others get their “shit” together).
So…when I get to that point, when someone asks me why it costs $100,000 for one year of coaching, I’ll simply tell them that they’re not paying for one year.
They’re paying for my entire life.