August 13, 2020

Do you look more like a cog or more like a key?

If your marketing focuses on your collection of skills, then you’re presenting yourself to the world as a cog. A commodity that is easily replaced. Just one of many.

If your marketing focuses on the value that you can unlock for your clients, then you’re presenting yourself to the world as a key. A scarce resource that is hard to replace. The one and only.

Can you guess which approach will get you paid more?

If you are attracting buyers who are looking for a cog, then it doesn’t really matter how good you are. Even if you are the most amazing cog of them all, you’ll always be fighting an uphill battle trying to justify why you’re worth more than all the other cogs.

This downward pricing pressure creates a “race to the bottom” dynamic. Cogs undercutting cogs until all the margin is gone.

If on the other hand, you’re attracting buyers who are looking for a key, then what you’re worth is going to be based on how much value is locked behind the door.

This creates a “race to the top” dynamic that is limited only by the amount of value that you can unlock.

In other words, the bigger the treasure behind the door, the more your client will be willing to pay you to unlock it.

Yours,

—J

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