Do you suffer from ‘Imposter Syndrome’?
Yesterday, I called a guy called Rob out to service my ride-on mower. He is my go-to guy for mower servicing. He is a really nice person, very efficient, and always fully booked up. In fact, I called him 3 weeks ago, and yesterday was the first time that he could fit me in. It cost £180 in total, and my mower is as good as new after the winter. Rob was here for a couple of hours.
Now I don’t know about you, but I am useless when it comes to anything mechanical. Actually, I am also totally useless at DIY, but that’s another story. I simply realised a long time ago that all I had to do was earn lots of money, then I could pay other people to do all that stuff.
So whilst Rob was here, Fraser, our handyman was also here doing some odd jobs. It turned out that he knew Rob well. Their kids even went to the same school.
Apparently, Rob lives in a grand house overlooking the estuary. His wife drives a nice Mercedes, and they don’t want for anything. He is fully booked all year round as The Mower Doctor and everyone goes to him.
I am relaying this story because, it shows that even in these crazy times there are still people that are happy and able to pay for good service, and there are people who are not afraid to charge for doing a good job. So in my view, anyone who is mechanically minded and can fix mower engines, rotavators, and other garden machinery can earn a fantastic living.
Oh – and as an aside, we also had Chris out to take a look at our boat’s outboard engine after the winter. He is booked up solid for at least a month and also charges good money for his work.
…and our cleaning lady was here too, she does a fantastic job, and we pay her £15 an hour. She too is fully booked up. She also makes celebration cakes too, and you have to give her at least 2 months’ notice. She charges between £50 and £100 for a cake.
All in all, it was an expensive day. Fraser copped me for £150 too for his work 🙂 But he is worth every penny. His work is fantastic.
Have confidence in whatever you do. Don’t get trapped into the mindset of ‘nobody’s got any money’ or ‘nobody’s going to pay that much for that’ etc. Shake off any ‘I’m not good enough’ thoughts and set yourself up properly with whatever you are doing. There’s no need to undercut others – instead, do whatever you are doing, better than what others are doing. Then you can charge more, for less effort.
Hope it helps. Have a wonderful day.