How much is knowledge worth if it were available?

Question

First of all, thank you to BP over the years with learning and networking that has helped my business. The topic " how much is knowledge worth" is one I've had many people asking why i havent charged a fee for my knowledge. Well for me its been easy to share when there were a few I'd work with but now there are so many newbie investors I'm thinking i need to charge a fee. I have over 33 years of real estate brokerage, home building, land developing, mortgage banking, flipping and mentoring in my area but i think the knowkedge i have can work anywhere. So, how much is my knowkedge worth if there were a fee? I think people want to shorten the learning curve than wait 33 years. Please advise all you BP peeps. Thanks for reading.

Omar Khan · Answer

@Barry Ratliff I want to build on @Caleb Heimsoth point. Unless you're offering a very niche service, you can't realistically charge very high premiums for coaching. There are a ton of real estate coaches and most of them can't tie their shoelaces together BUT people continue to pay top dollar for their "services". In those cases, honestly, I can't even blame the coach. If someone is dumb/lazy, why blame the coach?

In your case, you could structure your offering by allowing people to get on conference calls and the like. That is worth more than the usual generic material on offer by 99% of the real estate coaches.

Alexander Felice · Answer

the market will determine how much your information is worth when you package it.

write a book, do a podcast, start a blog.

information sales however is a low cost to entry, most people give out information for free (check out a site called www.biggerpockets.com to confirm). So the real value is in marketing information, or coaching, which is in abundance, and full of scammers.

You also have the problem of credentials. There are systems to ensure your value of information is noticed and you get appropriate value for them, be a college professor. I assume you want something more entrepreneurial though, so you're back to podcasts, youtube, books, or becoming a guru.

In the meantime, you'll be competing with a lot of people who are happy to give out there information for free, since the return on genuinely helping people is immense.

Barry Ratliff · Answer

@Joe Papp

Account Closed

Joe P. · Answer

Education is worth something different to everyone.

I'm someone who feels like he has good advice to share although my successes are extremely modest. I let people know how modest before I speak, generally, so they can decide if the advice is worth anything to them. :)

Account Closed makes a great point that its worth a lot, but people may not pay as much. If you're interested in "selling" your knowledge, I think that personally I would want to get involved with someone like you if it was a partnership. I would value your expertise in the business in all aspects of RE and would seek to partner with someone like you to help us both. I bring something to the table, you bring something to the table, and any other partners would need to bring something to the table. And we work to achieve our position collectively.

That to me is worth more than paying someone to tell me how to do something, personally.

Account Closed · Answer

Good question. It's worth a LOT!

However, the real question is how much will they pay. Not so much I'm afraid. People here don't consider the "time value of money and experience". Not a slam, just a fact.

People come here because it is free. Most people who post here giving advice feel it is fun and their duty and they are the "expert" and being able to be so is reward enough to them. So mentoring here is "free" and coaching is "free" except for a few individuals who have built a reputation of promotion over long years. They charge anywhere from a few thousand dollars to $60k one poster stated. I am not a mentor. I don't coach. I have only properties to sell so I am only speaking by observation, not experience.

Barry Ratliff · Answer

@Gavin D

Thanks you a different perspective on topic.  Though it may seem i am trying to validate my time I am really searching for a standard that may not exist. The notion of discounting for knowledge has some merit as I am trying to maximize my time management and don't mind the discount to teach than do. Doing is more profitable but takes more time as all of you know. So with that being said, i can use this discounted scenario and put in equation that lends itself to a reasonable value. Thank you.

Gavin D. · Answer

Let me pose a question in response to your question....Q. How would KFC benefit from selling its secret recipe to competitors?A.  Its not "How" KFC would benefit, Its "When"... KFC would benefit when their competitors believed customers still bought chicken from KFC.I do not mean this to be rude, but I must point out the irony.   You are trying to valuate your time.  As such, you inherently want as much as you can get for this commodity.  If 1 hour of your time spent imparting knowledge, helps you realize a greater profit than 1 hour of your time spent practicing what your teaching, you are simply validating that your knowledge is more valuable in theory than in practice.   If you are looking to generously donate your time and knowledge, its sale price should be of little concern to you. Or would you like people to believe you are taking a pay cut to educate them?  There is an old adage that comes to mind....  Those who can not do... teach.

Kadeem Wells · Answer

Hey barry I can tell you as a real estate agent and contract I charge a fee for my knowledge. For example If I go to evaluate a house an investor is considering buying I will do a Trip charge. If a new investor needs help learning what to look for in a house I can do a live skype session and point things our for $80. simple questions I answer for free more in depth problems I will talk someone through it and charge a consultation fee. It doesn't have to be a lot of money because for me its more about the networking and getting a another potential client by flexing my knowledge and experience.

Barry Ratliff · Answer

I appreciate everyones thoughts and ideas. I'll tell you all that im not one to travel doing seminars, preach that im some guru or even write a book but feel i have alot to offer thats real. Maybe its a new category like a fee for services job description that should be a profession and not some cheap shirt. Unfortunately there are no credentials i can get, classes to take or a state board association. Its like street sense but using real knowledge molding peoples lives from the novice investor to the homeowner that has no idea what took place prior to them living in their home. So thats why i ask how much is knowledge worth thats practiced and get real results.

Some of you have put a monetary value to that in relative to task so that would be isolating out a niche. If that were the case for me, then i wouldn't need to ask the question.

I will take in all what y'al have said and formulate something that could be marketable.

Ryan Blake · Answer

@Barry Ratliff It is tough to put a price on experience. I know that many people who actually have valuable information to share will need to charge a high dollar amount for their time because of simple opportunity costs. The high dollar cost causes many newbies to value shop for their education and end up paying a smaller fee for inferior information. I think the joint ventures and individual mentoring is the best way to go unless you just want to shill a guru workshop and travel. This is all just my humble opinion.

How much is knowledge worth if it were available?

Most Popular Reply