When I was living in Florida, back in the late 80’s up until the mid 90’s I worked out in a gym. And it was there that I met a guy named Sid.

You wouldn’t think at first upon meeting Sid, but he was a millionaire. At the time I met him, which was back in 1988, he was 66 years young.

Sid had his own business in New York City and had been a millionaire since the 1960’s. He owned a company that installed fire alarm sprinklers. Many of his clients were big companies and large corporations.

At first I didn’t know this about him but as I became friendlier with him he told me more and more about his business.

Since I would see him on a regular basis in the gym, he actually, in his own words, adopted me and said he was my “gym father.” We would go out to eat and at times I would go over to his condo.

Over the 7 plus years that I knew him, he would tell me various stories about his life and business.

Now here was a guy who by his own admission was not “book smart.” He didn’t graduate high school and when it came to the “book work” type of things he wasn’t too smart.

However when it came to “real life” applications and business, it was a different story as that is where he excelled.

One day he was telling me a story of a client he had who called him up and was basically in a panic because their fire alarm system wasn’t working and they were worried about violating the fire code.

So Sid went over, turned a screw and in less than a minute the issue was fixed.

Sid then handed his client a bill for $1000 and the guy got very annoyed, and said, “Why are you charging me $1000, all you did was turn a screw and it took you only about 30 seconds.”

Sid’s reply was…

“Did you have the knowledge to turn that screw.”

This story and its message has always stuck with me and so I decided to share this with you today and to also ask you the question…

“How much is your knowledge worth?”

For Sid “turning that screw” involved something he had a high level of expertise in.

For you, what is that “screw” so to speak. What is that high level skill that you have? Where do you excel? Where is your expertise beyond others?

Keep in mind that this, in many cases, has nothing to do with whether you have a degree, license, certification, or excellent grades. It has everything to do with what you do best.

If you find yourself saying “I don’t know” then there’s a pretty good chance that you’ve injected the values of others and perhaps comparing yourself to others and/or trying to be someone you’re not.

The fact is, you do have something you excel in. Where is it and how can it serve and help others?

Whatever it is that you excel in, stick with it no matter what. Many times people give up what they would love to do because someone said that you can’t make any money doing it. This of course is not true because anything you see with your eyes is represented by an industry where someone is making millions doing it.

Along with sticking with what you excel at, it is wise to gain as much knowledge and learn as much as possible on an on going basis, so you can have that knowledge which allows you to “turn that screw.”

Now of course it is important for you to learn how to market what you do and to promote what you do. Just keep in mind as it relates to this, is that your high level of expertise and how it can serve and help others is also your marketing of it.

The guy who got annoyed with Sid because he got a bill for $1000 was most likely thinking that in order to charge a high amount of money that it means you must do hours and hours of work on something…

But what if you can help someone in a very short period of time and get them the result they want?

Think about this as it applies to you and your situation.

From personal experience and what I do, I come across this often.

If I can help you breakthrough a money block or some type of distracting emotion in any area of your life involving fear, regret, depression, and so on, within a few hours at most, isn’t that worth a lot to you?

My point here is that if you can help someone in whatever it is that you do, and you truly deliver on getting people the results they want, then how much is that worth?

How much value is that service worth to you and them?

Of course you don’t want to exaggerate yourself and the services you provide by overcharging people, but at the same time you don’t want to minimize and under charge either.

So it comes back to the question, “how much is your knowledge worth?”

It is very wise to be in fair and equal exchange with others.

This applies to what I am speaking about here and in any area of your life.

Your magnificence and brilliance has value to others. As soon as you realize this fact about you, then it is time to serve and help others with it as well.

This is another way of me saying that you have a tremendous amount of value to contribute to the world with your amazing uniqueness.