Where is the value?

Where is the value?

WHERE IS THE VALUE?


Why is value important? Because value is the bottom line, on a multiplicity of levels, and it should be the most critical factor in our choices and in our decisions to purchase. Determining whether a purchase will deliver value, or whether spending your time (your greatest declining resource) is worthwhile means pausing and stepping back because even the best and brightest among are high jacked by emotions. Sometimes our initial gut feeling is right, other times we are swayed by something that has nothing to do with our gut and everything to do with how we are feeling at a particular moment in time.


Why do even the best and brightest among us sometimes forget about value? Because we are all built with the same primal wiring; the same initial operating system that served us well when we were living in caves and surrounded by predators. Yes, our default reaction is to want to follow the leader (to safety) or to flee from or fight predators. The feeling of being in control by following the leader, fleeing or fighting will ignite a positive feeling that can compel us to purchase. Have you found a miracle solution yet? I haven’t. I have found that success demands hard work, thoughtful preparation and the desire to learn, change, grow and succeed forward.

At a time when miracle solutions, programs and courses for business owners and entrepreneurs abound, the litmus test for your next purchase must be value based. Not investing in that which can take you forward faster and better is most often a mistake. We all need help to move to the next level of success; the right community, and the right support to develop a strong business or professional practice.


This is what I have learned about value.




Do not believe everything YOU Read. I just read an article in a serious business publication speaking about the fact that YOU are responsible for your success. Great headline, it got my interest and then fell flat. The wildly successful author speaks to the fact that anyone can succeed. Well, there are many “anyones”, many people with multiple degrees, genius IQs who are driving taxis. There are many people who have tremendous potential but they did not have the right connections, were not in the right organization to achieve the type of success that would have otherwise been possible. There are many brilliant people of high integrity who are struck my calamities and tragedies that impact their success and make simply surviving their focus.


Easy Does Not Mean Better. It is easy to jump on the bandwagon of the latest economic or personal fad that promises to make your life, business or career successful. Easy does not mean better. Easy does not mean cheaper or quicker. Easy is attractive because we all want to follow the leader or superstar; find that magic pill, that magic solution that makes his or her success rub off on us. While we cajole our epidemic sense of uncertainty with attempts to control that which we cannot, or try to find quick fixes when there are none, there is no doubt that getting the right advice is critical and that success is not achieved alone. It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes a community of purpose and dedication to grow a business.



Sometimes Cheap is Expensive and Free is Costly. Getting the best professional advice you can from a trusted advisor, coach or mentor is invaluable. YOU cannot be a mirror for yourself and it is often hard to find your way out of a box you have created or a political playing field you did not create. Your life and your career are YOUR priorities. Get the best advice YOU can from someone who shares your values, understands your strengths, challenges and who looks upon the integrity of their work as a priority. Sometimes free advice is valuable, often it is costly because the individual giving it cannot or does not take the time to really reflect upon the situation and consequences in their entirety.

How Can YOU Decide How to Invest Your Time and Money?

1. Identify your objectives and goals. Step back and ask yourself what you really want.

2. Focus on the value. Don’t be led astray by an initial desire to follow the leader or find the miracle pill or cure. Pause, reflect, review and decide.

3. Focus on YOUR values and theirs. Does the company or individual selling the service/product share your values? Will your particular areas of challenge be addressed? Is the company or individual you are considering hiring dedicated to the integrity of their work/products and the value they provide?

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John R. Bell

Living the CEO afterlife as Lume Books Novelist, Palgrave Macmillan Author, Screenwriter Wannabe

9y

If I can add one thing, Irene. . . some people don't know where to start. A trusted advisor or confidant can help them determine their goals and objectives.

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