Quantifying your Value

In my last post I talked about the word value and how I was starting to incorporate it into my personal life rather than just how I talked to clients.

Value also means what I can provide to others in terms of friendship and support. The balancing act with this came into play for me a few days ago when after nearly six months of supporting and helping out an acquaintance with a start up project, I started to feel used.

I mean, I don't mind providing support and helping out but when he consistently asked for investor and other members of my "black book", it started to wear on me. My head started buzzing with "hey, I normally get paid for this type of work!".

Of course I had casually mentioned when I was first introduced to the start up team that in fact I do get paid for this type of work and that as we moved forward that I was indeed interested in a more formal relationship, % on any money raised and equity and/or advisory role equal to what I brought to the table.

After another round of "who can you introduce us to and don't you know any celebrities that would be good spokespeople....", I put into writing exactly what I needed. I was nice, of course, not only because I liked these guys, but also because I'd been there too - a start up leaning on friends, family and the occasional friend of a friend for support and introductions.

In my email, I simply reiterated our earlier discussion reminding them gently that since I was busy doing other things that if they wanted me to focus more time that I really needed to understand the compensation. Their response was quite clear "we really have team and advisors that we need to reach our current milestones". Well, you can imagine my initial response.

I politely responded and between the lines let them know that I was happy that they had it "all figured out" and that they didn't need me to succeed in business. I think I even ended it with Good Luck.

Having to bring to the attention of two very smart guys the value that I was providing was challenging. While I wanted to be supportive and having been an entrepreneur for over 15 years I truly understood their plight and need, I also had to be fair to myself and my time.

It's not always easy to tell people or even express your "value" in a situation but I think it's necessary. Whether they come back or not with a different response is up to them - the ball is in their court.

If nothing else, I quantified the value of my time to myself and set my own bar on how much I value I will give.