April 18, 2017

The Picasso Story

Reader Kevin Fukawa wrote in to share this classic anecdote about master painter Pablo Picasso:

Picasso is sketching at a park. A woman walks by, recognizes him, and begs for her portrait. Somehow, he agrees. A few minutes later, he hands her the sketch. She is elated, excited about how wonderfully it captures the very essence of her character, what beautiful work it is, and asks how much she owes him. “5000 francs, madam,” says Picasso. The woman is incredulous, outraged, and asks how that’s even possible given it only took him 5 minutes. Picasso looks up and, without missing a beat, says: “No, madam, it took me my whole life.”

Whether this story is truth, fiction, or somewhere in between, it is a great example of someone charging for value, not labor.

ASIDE: There are also lessons to be learned here about the pricing effects of expertise, brand, notoriety, scarcity, and more... but we’ll save those for another day :-)

Yours,

—J

P.S. Not sure how to start charging for your value instead of your labor? I have one coaching call spot left this month: https://jonathanstark.com/call

BackRandomNext