In our group last week, I shared a fun story from the blog of one of my favorite marketing guys — Mark Merenda — about the cost that do-it-yourselfers and micromanagers incur in their businesses.

A sign his auto mechanic keeps in his shop illustrates the light-hearted point perfectly:

Labor — $95 per hour
If you watch — $125
If you offer advice — $150
If you worked on it already — $175

How many clients have we all known who need a little sign like this from us?

I took this idea a step further and added my own twist:

If you want me to show you how to do it yourself — $5,000 tuition and $500/hr after that.

This is sort of related to my post last Friday (That Is Not Your Client’s Burden) where I was talking about the real reasons your fee is your fee and why what it costs you to be in business shouldn’t be part of your conversation with clients.

You can’t put a price tag on all your years of unique talent, experience, training, continuing education, etc., that went into (and continues to go into) you being great and smart and expert at what you do.

And, for me at least, I’m not in the business of training.

If that’s what I wanted to be doing, that’s what I’d be offering in the first place.