Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, I would rather time travel in a police box than a Delorean, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a recent lesson I learned involving a rabbi, a website, a webcam, and a YouTube video.

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What I Learned Yesterday:
There are some aspects of starting my entrepreneurial journey that have been hard for me to figure out. For example, I’ve had a hard time mentally accepting the value that I provide my clients and believing that I am worth the amount of money that I charge them. I’ve also had a hard time selling myself to new clients because I’ve feel like I have to brag about myself to do that.

The first part has been really hard because my salary of today is simply not comparable to the salary I received as a corporate employee. As a corporate employee I made between $35 and $40 per hour. That’s not bad money, especially in Oklahoma which has a very low cost of living. I now charge clients $150 per hour. You may recall that I doubled my rates several months ago which means that I started out by charging $75 per hour.

Now, it’s impossible to compare these hourly rates because I don’t have 40 hours of guaranteed work to do each week. Much of my time is spent doing things that don’t have a direct payment but will build relationships or establish influence. Besides that, I now have self-employment taxes, and a much higher health insurance premium to pay. My income and expenses simply can’t be compared to what I had before.

Even though I know that, it’s been hard for me to wrap my head around. I mean, $150 is a lot of money. I want to make sure that those who I get to spend time with feel like they’re getting their money’s worth. I’ve never felt like I was ripping anyone off for charging them what I do, it’s just been a struggle for me to value myself the way other people do.

I mean, I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had over the last year and a half that have been with people telling me that I’m worth the money. I’ve had other podcasters, clients, and even The Podcast Answer Man, Cliff Ravenscraft, assure me that I am worth the money. Still, my self-doubt was a mighty beast that I was unable to slay.

However, over the last few months as I’ve consulted with more and more people, I’ve started to see things differently. I’ve started to see the value that others have seen all along.

A few months ago I started working on the plan to separate my production and consulting services away from Golden Spiral Media. In October I officially launched Pro Podcast Solutions as my production and consulting company. I knew that it would be very important to communicate the proper message in the text and videos that I included on the new website.

I’m not really good at marketing, so I spent some time watching some videos about marketing strategies. Through watching those videos I learned about ways to communicate to your potential clients. I’ve always felt like what I actually sell is not a bunch of podcast production services, what I sell is time. That is, by using my services, my clients are getting valuable time back to spend doing the things they love most with the people they love most. However, they’re also getting professional production from a knowledgeable team in return for their money.

However, something was still not connecting. When I met with prospective clients, I still felt like I wasn’t communicating to them as I needed to. Something was missing that would fully help them connect and appreciate how I can fully help them. I mean, it’s not like I’ve lost a lot of clients, I haven’t. I just felt like there was something I should be doing to connect with them more deeply.

Then it happened.

A few weeks ago I got a phone call from a friend. This friend had another friend who was looking to start a podcast, and he wanted to refer his friend to me. My friend asked me if I’d ever heard of a book called [[[Thou Shall Prosper]]] by Rabbi Daniel Lapin. I had not. It turned out that my friend’s friend was Rabbi Lapin.

So I decided that I should familiarize myself with Rabbi Lapin and his book before I consulted with him. I emailed Rabbi Lapin and we set up a time for a consultation early the following week. This gave me the weekend to check out his book and learn about him.

I downloaded a copy of his book on my Kindle and began reading it. I must admit that I was pretty skeptical. I worked in Christian retail for nearly 20 years. I’ve seen a lot of religious people sell finance books that they claim are Biblical but are complete trash. However, [[[Thou Shall Prosper]]] connected with me almost instantly. This was no “name it and claim it” or “God wants you to be rich” books.

This book is different because it’s talking about adding value to people’s lives and by adding value to people, you will be rewarded. There are several things I could talk about at this point, but this podcast is supposed to have episodes less than 15 minutes. Suffice it to say that if you’ve ever had trouble seeing value in what you do as a job, the first chapter alone will help you. Whether you’re at an entry level job, blue collar job, white collar job, or seasoned executive, I think it will help you.

Here’s what I learned.

When I finished reading the first two chapters of [[[Thou Shall Prosper]]] I began to reflect. I thought about interactions I’ve had with clients over the last 18 months. I thought about the services that I provide. I thought about the rate that I charge people. I thought about the way I communicate on my website and in person.

I finally realized that I am valuable because I help people reach their goals. I help people find the next steps to take. I help people understand things that they once found confusing or fix a problem that they couldn’t overcome. They walk away happy. They see the value in what I’ve done for them and so should I.

Then I started thinking about my clients and what they all have in common. While many of my clients have a lot in common, I finally landed on the one thing that they all have in common. They all believe that by doing their podcast, they are making the world a better place.

This was a HUGE moment for me!

If you’ve listened to this podcast for very long, you know that making the world a better place is very important for ME! I get excited about opportunities to make the world a better place. The purpose of this podcast is to make the world a better place.

And then the magic moment happened. I then realized that the one thing that was lacking from my communication was that tiny little detail. Yes, I provide professional level services and knowledge. Yes, I give people time back to spend doing the things they love most with the people they love most. And while that last sentence is really close to the most important thing, it’s not quite the magic thing.

The magic thing is that I get to help equip and empower people to do what they are most passionate about. I partner with them to give them more time to impact the world and help make it a better place.

Yes, it’s a small difference in what I was communicating, but it’s really a big difference. I met with two people after I had this epiphany. In both cases my consulting session was going well. But when I told them that I help them do what they love and help them make the world a better place, they both had the same reaction. They smiled big, their eyebrows lifted, that sat up in their chair, and they leaned in toward the webcam. I had just connected with them in the way that mattered most to them.

I love this. I now know how to communicate effectively to prospective clients. But not only that, I’m not being anything less than completely genuine. I really do help them focus on their passion and do what they believe is their role in making the world a better place.

I’m now getting ready to start the 4th chapter of [[[Thou Shall Prosper]]] and I’m learning new things on nearly every page. Rabbi Lapin is now a client of mine and I can’t wait to work with him to achieve his goals.

So what’s your takeaway today? Well at the very least I want to encourage you to find a copy of [[[Thou Shall Prosper]]]. I think you’ll benefit from reading it. But I also want to encourage you to take time to reflect. Are you having trouble communicating in some way to somebody? Take time to reflect on the situation and see if you can discover ways to improve communication. And lastly, let me encourage you to be a difference maker. No matter your job or your circumstances, you can help make the world a better place. Find something, anything, that will help someone else, and go do it!

I’m Darrell Darnell and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.

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