We took our car to the garage last week.

There was some kind of weird rattling noise we couldn’t identify and we needed to check it was ok.

The mechanic knows us pretty well, so said he’d take a look right away.

Didn’t take him long to spot the issue

He took the car in for 30 minutes and bingo…no more rattling.

And when we returned, we got the bill.

On the surface of it, the bill was ludicrous.

He’d probably spent 10 minutes on the actual job.

And we were looking at hundreds of pounds.

But, here’s the thing.

There’s no way my husband and I had the skills, knowledge or experience to spot that rattling bracket.

And even if we suspected that was the problem, we would have had zero confidence in our ability to fix it safely.

What if we did it wrong?

What if that wasn’t the only problem?

What if there was a deeper cause of the loose bracket?

We just wouldn’t know.

That’s why we handed it over to an expert we trusted – someone we’ve been taking our car to for years.

And that’s why we knew the price was justified.

Because we weren’t paying for the physical work of tightening a loose bracket.

We weren’t paying for half an hour of a man’s time.

We were paying for his knowledge, training and 20 years of experience.

We were paying for peace of mind that we, and our children, would be safe when driving to places – and that we wouldn’t end up by the side of the road one cold, dark night waiting for recovery.

That was the true value of the work.

And it’s something I think you should take on board yourself when you consider a few of the big worries many newbie course creators have…

• Can I really charge this much money for my course?
• Why would someone pay me for some information they might be able to find elsewhere?
• How can I justify charging hundreds of pounds for something that’s got fewer words than a £9.99 book?

Well the answer is this….

The story of the £10K screw-turn

There is a classic story that has been used since the Edwardian era to explain what the value of someone’s work is.

One version of it is ’the £10,000 screw turn’.

The story goes something like this…

A mechanic turns up at a factory where there is a serious malfunction – all the machines have stopped working.

He scans the machinery, tapping with a hammer and poking around, until eventually, he stops at a screw in a tiny panel.

In a few seconds, he turns the screw and the problem is fixed.

The factory resumes production as before.

When the company owner gets the bill, he is astonished to see that it is for £10,000.

He asks the mechanic to break the bill down.

So he does – and it goes like this…

• Turning the screw – £2
• Knowing which screw to turn – £9,998.

This story has also has older versions where it’s a famous inventor like Thomas Edison or Nicholai Tesla turning up at the factory and fixing a problem, then breaking the bill down in a similar way.

Each time, the actual effort of the task is minimal, but the value of the knowledge and expertise behind it is what gives the task its financial value.

Not only that, but it’s the value of that task to the person who is paying for it, which matters.

For instance, if your loved one is going for a major operation, the value you place on the work of the surgeon is priceless to you, even if it takes him only 20 minutes.

This is how you should be thinking about your course when it comes to justifying the price.

While your course might not be saving a life….

It is going to be saving the customer a LOT of things such as….

Time, money, stress, hassle, pain…

You’re going to solve a problem, or help them achieve a goal, that your customer might not otherwise be able to manage themselves…

Or which (without your guidance) will take them many days, weeks or months of research – only to end up with lots of confusing and conflicting information that they have to sift through.

There might be plenty of information out there, but for someone who hasn’t the experience or skill, it’s impossible to judge its worth.

Which is where you come in.

You are the person who knows your subject, so they can trust you to get across the info they need to know and cut through the noise and confusion.

This way, they can get the result they want faster, with less worry and doubt that they’re going down the wrong path.

This is what can turn a relatively short and simple course into something worth potentially hundreds of pounds.

Because it’s not the number of words, or the length of the videos that people are paying for.

They’re paying for your knowledge and experience.

They’re paying to avoid frustrating missteps and costly mistakes.

And they’re paying for the benefits of your information on their lives.

Always keep this in mind when you start to get shy about the price tag you put on your course.

Know your true worth!

And if you’re interested in creating your own course then do get in touch as I’d be happy to help – you can reach me at [email protected].