advice Archives - Business RadioX ®

Family Business Radio

The Best Advice I Ever Received, with Anthony Chen, Host of Family Business Radio

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The Best Advice I Ever Received, with Anthony Chen, Host of Family Business Radio

In this commentary from a recent Family Business Radio episode, host Anthony Chen shares the best advice he ever received.

Anthony’s commentary was taken from this episode of Family Business Radio. Family Business Radio is underwritten by Anthony Chen with Lighthouse Financial Network.

Transcript

The most thankful advice I ever received from my mentor was “Anthony, people don’t make rational decisions. They make emotional decisions and then rationalize it.” And for those who know me, I know I’ve run my life in a very “Spock-like” manner where, Oh, what do you mean?

Everybody makes rational decisions. Yeah. Okay. That that, that took two to three years of him beating that into my head for it to finally sink through in terms of really advice to pass forward to piggyback off of our two guests and especially what just happened in the pre-recording is there is a calendar and spreadsheet of a life.

And then there’s life and for those who know me being the anal retentive control freak now that I have an almost seven-month-old that the idea of control is just fantasy. So for those of you listening in this I’ll end the show with this, if you think you can control life of on just a calendar and spreadsheet this is again, hearkening back to my mentor, Daryl, spoken like a true bachelor who doesn’t have a family yet.

And I did not realize that until I have my own family. Thank you for listening in to Family Business Radio.

Anthony Chen, Host of Family Business Radio

Family Business Radio is sponsored and brought to you by Anthony Chen with Lighthouse Financial Network. Securities and advisory services are offered through OSAIC, member FINRA/SIPC. RAA is separately owned, and other entities and/or marketing names, products, or services referenced here are independent of OSAIC. The main office address is 575 Broadhollow Rd., Melville, NY 11747. You can reach Anthony at 631-465-9090, ext. 5075, or by email at anthonychen@lfnllc.com.

Anthony Chen started his career in financial services with MetLife in Buffalo, NY, in 2008. Born and raised in Elmhurst, Queens, he considers himself a full-blooded New Yorker while now enjoying his Atlanta, GA, home. Specializing in family businesses and their owners, Anthony works to protect what is most important to them. From preserving to creating wealth, Anthony partners with CPAs and attorneys to help address all of the concerns and help clients achieve their goals. By using a combination of financial products ranging from life, disability, and long-term care insurance to many investment options through Royal Alliance, Anthony looks to be the eyes and ears for his client’s financial foundation. In his spare time, Anthony is an avid long-distance runner.

The complete show archive of Family Business Radio can be found by following this link.

North Fulton Studio

Ignore The Pricing Advice of Friends and Family

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Ignore The Pricing Advice of Friends and Family

Friends and family may assist you in your professional services practice in a lot of ways, like referring clients, for example. Accept that help and be thankful, but ignore their pricing advice. They mean well, but what they tell you, if implemented, could be damaging to your business. The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.

TRANSCRIPT

Hi,. I’m John Ray on the Price and Value Journey. If you want bad advice on pricing your services, go ask your friends and family. I’m deliberately overstating the case here, but not by much. One problem with friends and family is that they are well-meaning and they want you to succeed. And because they want you to succeed, they give you advice. And they may fall for that common misunderstanding that a lot of folks have that cutting your prices actually attracts buyers.

Now, price cutting may work sometimes for a can of green beans, let’s say, but you’re not a can of green beans. Discounting professional services transmits a signal of inferiority to potential buyers, leaving them scratching their heads and wondering what’s wrong. Now, in some cases, you might be giving the friends and family discount, in which case they don’t have any sense of value delivered relative to the price you charge. And it’s why I’m not a fan of friends and family discounts – at least. One reason.

Then, there are those so-called friends who are wallowing in their own business misery, they’re not charging enough for their own services and they don’t think anyone else can, either. And since they are struggling, they don’t want anyone else to get up out of the mud, either. These folks aren’t really your friends, but that’s another topic altogether.

If you want to get a better sense of how to price your services, ask someone who had no connection to you otherwise before they hired you, who has paid full price. Ask them what they’ve gained because of your intervention. Is it more time? Less stress? Then, ask them what their life now looks like with the time they gained and the stress they’ve unburdened. What’s all that worth to them? How are you pricing relative to that value you’ve delivered?

Further, if you dare ask someone who turned you down while they did so. You’ll be surprised to find, in a lot of cases, that they thought your price was too good to be true relative to the service offering you proposed.

Your friends and family may want you to succeed, but they won’t tell you all these things. So, ignore their pricing advice. I’m John Ray on the Price and Value Journey. If you want to connect with me directly, go to my website, JohnRay.co or send me an email, John@JohnRay.co.

About The Price and Value Journey

The title of this show describes the journey all professional services providers are on: building a services practice by seeking to convince the world of the value we offer, helping clients achieve the outcomes they desire, and trying to do all that at pricing which reflects the value we deliver.

If you feel like you’re working too hard for too little money in your solo or small firm practice, this show is for you. Even if you’re reasonably happy with your practice, you’ll hear ways to improve both your bottom line as well as the mindset you bring to your business.

The show is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.

John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey

John Ray The Price and Value Journey — **John Ray, Host of “The Price and Value Journey”**

John Ray is the host of The Price and Value Journey.

John owns Ray Business Advisors, a business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneur and small professional services firms on their pricing. John is passionate about the power of pricing for business owners, as changing pricing is the fastest way to change the profitability of a business. His clients are professionals who are selling their “grey matter,” such as attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, consultants, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.

In his other business, John is a Studio Owner, Producer, and Show Host with Business RadioX®, and works with business owners who want to do their own podcast. As a veteran B2B services provider, John’s special sauce is coaching B2B professionals to use a podcast to build relationships in a non-salesy way which translate into revenue.

John is the host of North Fulton Business Radio, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Radio, Nashville Business Radio, Alpharetta Tech Talk, and Business Leaders Radio. house shows which feature a wide range of business leaders and companies. John has hosted and/or produced over 1,100 podcast episodes.