"You’re Too Expensive?” Bet! Here’s What That Really Means

When someone tells you you're too expensive, that is not a reflection of your pricing. It is a reflection of their pockets.

In this solo episode of the Un-Traditional Entrepreneur Podcast, host Juming Delmas builds the most comprehensive case for knowing your value — and never letting a client's budget dictate what you charge — using five of the most powerful brand case studies in business history.

Apple. Yeti. Nike. Tesla. Louis Vuitton. Ferrari. Every single one of them was told they were too expensive. Every single one of them kept their price, found the right customers, and built billion-dollar empires because of it.

Topics covered:
- Why "you're too expensive" is a broke mentality — not a pricing problem
- Apple's premium pricing strategy: how they control 60% of US smartphone market at the highest price
- Yeti's $300 cooler vs. $40 competitors — and why it became a billion-dollar brand
- Nike's Jordan brand: how they turned a $40 sneaker into a $150+ cultural identity
- Tesla's scarcity strategy: why delaying production increased desire and justified premium pricing
- Louis Vuitton's no-discount policy and why raising prices makes you more desirable
- Ferrari's exclusivity model: why they reject customers even when they have the money
- The difference between people who value money vs. people who value time
- Why the clients who call you expensive will always be your most difficult clients
- How to find the clients who will pay what you charge and never question your value

You are not too expensive. You just haven't found your Ferrari customers yet.

The Un-Traditional Entrepreneur Podcast with Juming Delmas. Real talk. No filter.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The live today. Thank you guys for tuning in to the untraditional entrepreneur vibe that we got going on. We had a live recently that we just went off and uh things of that nature where I kind of just spilled the beans here on like entrepreneurship and equity and understanding the value of your business and being okay with that. Um, first of all, I want to come on and say, you know, I might have overspoke a lot of what I said. So you will never see that video again because it is gone. So I want to come on and say that, you know, business ownership isn't about, I mean, we we we all take this journey together, we learn together, we thrive together. But I think that oftentimes we we oftentimes misunderstand what it means to be a business owner. Um, the live discussed about um, you know, being expensive to a client or to individuals, you know, like I still stand by what I say about fuck that shit. If people can't afford your services, that's not your problem. You know, it's not your problem, and they shouldn't make it your problem. You know, I'm the type of person when I can't afford something and I want it and I need it, I say, how can I afford it? Not that I can't afford it, but how can I afford it? I think it really still boils down the mindset. I am one of the hardest working people that I know. I don't know many, but I do know I work hard. And oftentimes we all get it misconstrued on what hard work really looks like. So in our recent live, we discussed, we had some case studies that went over different businesses like uh Apple. Uh, we had uh not just Apple, we had Ferrari, we had um um Nike, you know, just different multi billion dollar brands and how they got their their image. Oh, anyways, overall, the the totality of the live was to demonstrate that you know when someone says something is expensive, that is not directed at you. That does not say you as a business are not pricing your stuff right, pricing your business, right? What that says is the reflection on their value of you and your organization. Um for me, I think that we all grow. I think that we all understand that there's certain things that are just expensive for some of us, and I really don't I really think that people underestimate business ownership and how expensive business ownership can be. Um, we overlook that, that you come out of a lot of money to be a business owner and you have to be okay with that. You it's not something that you come in here and there's this facade that you open a business, you run a successful business, everybody wants your shit, everybody wants to subscribe to you. Are you gonna be famous and you're gonna receive just all of this money because your business is so great, it's so awesome, it is you know, it's it's doing it in reality, like that's just not the fucking case, you know. And in our case study, we we discussed a lot about you know the different brands and what they do and what they bring and the psychology behind their strategy, right? Because these brands are smart. Business ownership is not this it's not this this this this this easy thing, and then and then when people say it's a lot of work, that's an understatement. It's a fucking lot of work, it's a ton of work, but you know, we we we flex through it, right? So I'm gonna reread these case studies and we're gonna talk about just the case studies, right? So let's start with the Apple case study, right? So Apple had a problem at one point. Um, the tech market was overcrowded with cheap functional devices. Consumers were used to low prices and saw phones as commodities, not status objects. Like, you know, back then, especially in the early 90s, like cell phones was more, you know, it wasn't like something you need like we need today, you know. Um, and then Apple came up with a strategy. Apple didn't compete with pricing, even though all the other cell phone prices were low and cheap or whatever the case is, they competed with ecosystem identity and simplicity. And that's why I fuck with Apple. I fuck with Apple because it's simple. I can understand it, I can see it, I love the continuity features of Apple. It makes plenty of sense when piecing these these business, the these functionalities together, especially like if you like working on some shit and you can't get to the computer, but you can, you know, you can write it on your on your on your, I'm sorry, you can't get to your phone, but you can write it on your computer, the text messages or whatever. Or if you have something saved on one device, it'd transfer it to the other device. I mean, it's just like that continuity feature that Apple has, right? It's it's it's like the gold of Apple. Because when you think about um Android, I'm pretty sure they're doing something similar now. I just don't think that, you know, most people at this point, by the time Android started doing it, Apple had already taken those customers and it just didn't make sense. Apple intentionally made it inconvenient for people to leave Apple because of the continuity feature. It makes sense to keep the continuity feature. So their decision was made by designs, not specs, right? The selling point. They created an ecosystem that made switching inconvenient. That's the continuity feature. They use premium pricing as a signal of quality, so they intentionally raised their prices to associate raising the prices with quality because people's minds are naturally going to go. Oh, because this is raised up in quality, and it's more, I mean, because it's raised up in price, that means the quality is better than what I've gotten before. Um, they built the brand loyalty through user experience. And in the outcome of Apple's strategy and key decisions, Apple controls over 60% of the of the US smartphone market share, despite being the most expensive. iPhone buyers, right, have the highest brand loyalty in the industry. 90% retention, right? Apple became the first company in history to reach a three trillion dollar valuation. What does that mean? When someone says that your business is expensive, they are not that is not a reflection of you. That is a reflection of them and their pockets. That has nothing to do with you. You know, people will buy what they value. If they value you, they will always see your growth, they will always see your worth. If they don't value you, it will be very clear. They would they would not listen to your advice. That's the first indication, right? When a client is not listening to your advice or a potential client doesn't take your advice with gold, they don't adhere to that. They're losing value in you as an individual. You might have been seen as this, you know, this five-star person when they met you, and then you easily drop to a two-star person. Um, and that happens, right? So people lose value. People do that shit in relationships. Shit. When you're in a relationship with someone, it's just like a business. You, you know, you are meeting a potential claim. Like one minute they have this great utmost high value in you, that then that value starts to diminish when the when you know when certain things start unfolding. But you know, to me, the biggest red flag is you know that understanding that you are not too expensive, you just have the wrong people that you're serving. There's people out there who for fucking sure will look at your value and be like, bet, this this guy knows what he's doing, he knows where he's going, he knows what he's gonna do. Um, so why this proved my point of Apple strategy is that Apple showed the world that price isn't your enemy, confusion about your value is um people tend to buy confidence, not cost, right? So if they're confident in your product or your services, they will be your client. But the biggest thing is, you know, keeping loyal people, right? You know, if somebody coming out the bat telling you you're too expensive when you first meet them in the consultation or they think your services are expensive, they're doing you a favor because they're probably they were probably gonna be a little difficult anyways in the business. Like the reason why I love doing what the fuck I do is because I love the people that I work with, I love my clients. Like I would say that I'm cool with all of my clients, we're all cool, and that's what makes the job that much more interesting. I'm not sitting here working for a client that I don't want to work for. If they already call my shit expensive, they're gonna be the problem, anyways. That means they're gonna look at you. That means they look at money as value and not time. There's nothing more important than time. Money is not more important than time. And if someone can cut back your time, cut back your costs because they have to sacrifice their time to get a job done for monetary pay. I mean, that's a pretty fucking fair trade. You don't have to do it. You can now utilize that time to to to do what you need to do. I mean, the way I look at it is like the biggest, the biggest, the biggest goal of any business owner is financial freedom. You want to be free from doing shit, but still make residual income. Business ownership is about residual income without you without you having to work. Business ownership is you laying down and you're still getting a check. Business ownership is about receiving money even when you're sleeping. Business ownership is about delegating tasks, not doing them. Like, what is the purpose of being a business owner if you can't delegate? And if you can't delegate, then you probably don't need to be a business owner. So you're trying to do everything yourself, get the fuck out of here. You don't need to. Like, that's crazy. I don't want to do everything myself. Why do that? Got a team. Why do that? That doesn't make sense, right? Um, another case study we did was Yeti. And I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with Yeti, but I'm going to see. Yeti. Yeti's Yeti's that spot. I'ma I'm a beyond 100. Yeti is that spot. Yeti. I first learned about Yeti probably like eight years ago. Didn't know nothing about Yeti, didn't know nothing about what it represented, but I learned a lot. So Yeti. Here, let's do here see what this is. Yeti is an outdoor, is a high-end luxury, high-end outdoor uh drink wear, cooler wear. I mean, you're talking, they changed the game. They do coolers, they do cups. Oh, is that a uh what do you call this? A flask. I didn't know they had flask. Oh, bet. Put the bourbon in there. We definitely on that. So, anyways, yeah. I mean, they broke the game because you know, they redefined what it means for durability, especially when it comes to outdoor wear. So the key decision. So the well, let's start off with their strategy. Uh, they redefined the category by selling experience and durability, not plastic. And I don't know if you ever had a Yeti container, but them shits are fucking durable like a motherfucker. Them shits work wonders. Me personally, whenever I get a Yeti, I know whatever's in that Yeti, the temperature is going to remain the same. It's not gonna change, it's not gonna be this whole ordeal, you know. Like, I love Yetis, they they they they they do be here, not gonna lie. Um, and you know, I'm about to buy some of this shit now. What the hell is this? This is a bucket, beverage bucket. Look at this. You put your beverages up in here, that's dope. But, anyways, what I was saying is right, so Yeti key decisions that they made were they introduced high-quality, ultra-durable um coolers that they priced the coolers at$300 when the average cooler was running between like$40 and$60. Yeti was like, fuck it. We don't want to run alongside with the other coolers that are pricing at these prices. We want to target a specific group of people. They were very specific about the people that they wanted to target. And even this here, I mean, look at like the tumbler, like the cups are$30, right? But their coolers, right, are like upwards of$300,$400. You can get an easy Yeti cooler for about$400. Easy. I don't have a Yeti cooler yet, and it's not because I can't afford it, I just have an igloo cooler. That's you know, that that does the wonders. But like I do have Yeti Cups, I do fuck with my Yeti cups, my tumblers, things like that. That shit works wonders. When they when they first pushed out, they were targeting fishermen, hunters, and outdoor enthusiasts. Then they have expanded after that, right? And look, see, they're big on take it outside. Hell yeah, you can take that shit outside, and you have no problem. Like working outdoors with Yeti shit. You you you're gonna be pretty good. What the hell is this kitchenware stuff? Cookware. I didn't know they had like cookware things, Yeti cookware things. That's crazy. Pots, wow, that's insane. Look at this. That's a$300 skillet. I bet that shit cooked the hell out of your food. Look at this iron skillet,$300 for the iron skillet. I didn't even know they had this shit. That's insane. And look at this, they should they're showing you outdoor, like their biggest thing is they promote outdoor activity, they're real big on that kind of shit. Um, look, they they put the price like, look, here, you want to come here, you're gonna spend anywhere between$149 to$350. Yo, pick your choice. Most people like, man, I can get a whole pot set for that, right? They intentionally set that because they are targeting a specific group of people who care about quality and status. That's a Yeti pan for$150. Uh that's a that's that's insane. Hold on, what else they got up in here? They got case storage, buckets, accessory. Look at this shop all. What a t hard cases. What is this? This is a swivel seat. Oh, this is this a seat? Hell no, they got seats, buckets, a Go Box candy. Wow, that's insane. Yo, that's crazy. Yo, Yeti be out here for real doing the goddamn thing. That's crazy. Um, but anyhow, like when you think about Yeti, right? The outcome, Yeti became a billion-dollar brand. Like, real talk, they became a billion-dollar brand. All because they were like, fuck that. We're not gonna go in here with the same pricing as our competitors. We don't want, we don't want to target the same people, we want to target a specific group of people, and that's what they did, and they were successful with it, right? Their cooler sparked a new category, a new category. So before it was outdoor, now there's premium outdoor. All because Yeti was like, Fuck that, we ain't getting behind that. This is what we're gonna do. As they shouldn't care, because I don't give a fuck. I still buy yeti, and people like, you bought a$40 cup. Yep, it's Yeti, it's a status thing. I'll buy it again. I have multiple of them because it makes sense. Yetis are, you know, for me, it's quality. I haven't I haven't had a I haven't had a tumbler that holds better than Yeti. So for the price, you pay it one time, you don't gotta pay for that shit no more. There it is, right? Customers became brand enthusiasts. They they became they they they started walking around with Yeti cups proudly, showing off their coolers like it was some type of badge. Why this proves the point of too expensive is just something that uh that the broke mentality has to say, instead of saying too expensive, saying how can I afford it. Yeti prove that when your product solves problems and symbolizes identity, price becomes irrelevant. People will pay for it if they see the value in your stuff. So even if you lose a client or a potential client and you're like, Man, I really like that client. That's fine. That client didn't believe in your service or your product, so you didn't lose anything. You didn't lose anything, or even if you have a current client and you're like, hey man, I really lost that client. The only reason a client leaves is because typically they lost, they they lost the value that they saw in you, or unless you was just an ass and or you you were just treating them like shit. Outside of that, they just lost the value. And to be fair, oftentimes they don't lose the value, they're really worried about their pocket. It's ain't got shit to do with you. They're utilizing that time to say, hey, I could use this money to you know really play with some things, I can go on vacation. Like that's really what it's boiled down to. It oftentimes it ain't got shit to do with you, it got everything to do with them in their pockets. So don't even take it personal. The biggest thing is, you know, you get up, go find the next client that values what you want because there will be clients who will stick that shit out with you no matter what, through the thick and thin. They're gonna ride it out because they love your work, they love your product, they love your service, they love what you sell to them. They're gonna keep coming back. That's what makes them loyal customers, loyal clients, whatever the case is. You want the same thing, like you want to find those people. You won't you won't put a person who values money in the same room with a person who values time. Those are two different people. They're two different people. People who value money and people who value time see the world completely different. People who value money oftentimes think about saving and what can I do to feel good with the money that I have? Should I go get me this, this, this purse? Should I go on vacation? I could use this money to like play with it a little bit, whatever the case is, they're gonna make excuses as to reasons why they're using their money. But the the money is not made to be hoardered, it's it's made to be spent. And if you're gonna spend it, spend it on something that's gonna eventually provide you financial freedom. And then there's people who look at val who look at time as their value over money. Like I'll spend this, this doesn't mean anything because you can make all the money in the world and still not be happy. But if you can buy back your time, like the book that I'm you know started reading that you guys should check out, it's called the uh by Dan Mantrell, Buy Back Your Time, it's a good book. It talks about buying back your time. Like he he's teaching you the value of time, not money. Money is not the end all be all. The only broke people think about money. Only that that's it. You don't have to like if fuck that. If money was not here on this planet and I could still get what I want, I could still have financial freedom, I could still get all my bills and shit paid for. Why the fuck do I need the money? If all these things are getting done for me, why do I need the money? Money doesn't mean shit to me. That's what happened with some of these fucking presidents. Shit, when they, you know, once they get done with their presidency, shit, they shoo shoo. You know, they they still get paid every they get paid every year. They don't have to work, they still get discounts on shit. You know what I'm saying? So it's it's like at the end of the day, like People who value money, you're always going to have problems with them. Always. That's not going to change. Their mindset has to change. If they're saying you're too expensive, that's telling you right then and there they value money more than they value time. If they tell you, okay, I like what I see. I need to work out my budgets to make this happen, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, that doesn't make them broke. That just means that they got to move some money around and they got to really be about that. You know what I'm saying? Because like oftentimes people don't really be about it. They'll say it, but they ain't really about that shit. They ain't really about it at all. You know what I'm saying? So, anyhow, so you know, that's what Yeti proves. Another case study I talked about in that live was Nike, right? Nike's another big one, right? Nike sells culture. Nike don't sell nothing else but culture. And they're very specific about the people who they sell to. They sell culture, not sneakers, right? Y'all think they sell sneakers. No, people buy Nike for culture, not sneakers. There's plenty of sneakers all over the fucking world. There's sneakers in Walmart, there's sneakers in the mall. But Nike is Nike, right? Sneakers were considered basic athletic gear, price sensitive, and competitive. Nike brought their ass in here and turned sneakers into symbols of performance, identity, and culture, right? That's what Nike did. So the key decision was they fucked around and signed Michael Jordan and created the 1 billion plus dollar Jordan brand, right? Look at these damn Jordan shoes. Let's go. We were talking about Jordans earlier, and I wanted to come back and piggyback on this, right? Check this shit out. Nike shoes here. The baby shoes, the baby shoes are$90.$90. After taxes, you're over$100. Kids' shoes, over$100.$105. Yep. Adult shoes for women, you know, you love well, big kid shoes. I'm sorry. That's big kid shoes. That's like big kid shoes, which some women can fit those big kids' shoes. That's$165 just for those shoes and$200. If these prices didn't work, they wouldn't put post them. The crazy thing about Apple, I mean not Apple, but Nike, is on average, it it cost about$2.50 to$20 to make these shoes to make Nike product. And then they turn around and fuck around and sell it to you for$150 to$200, you know, for you for you to purchase it. And guess what? People purchase it. Why? Because they're associated with the brand. Like even when people say that's too expensive, I'm certain people spend money on expensive things that just don't make sense, but because they value it, why they're gonna spend it. It has nothing to do with you, it has everything to do with them and their pocket. Don't let their pockets dictate your pricing. Your pricing is your pricing. Let that be that. You don't have to explain shit to them. This is your business. If they can't afford it, find the people who can. Find the people who want to be that for you. You know, I sat down on a call earlier and talked about what does this mean? How what can you do as a person? What I'm telling you is at the end of the day, know your value. Don't let clients, but people, customers dictate your value. You know your value, and then the right people that is meant for you will come to your business and be that. They would be a value to you just like you will be a value to them. And there's nothing greater than working in sync with people who are easy to get along with, clients who are easy to get, you know, to please, whatever the case is, because they just love your value. I have a client that's been with us from the beginning, and I absolutely love her. Whenever we are like when you and we can we'll do a whole thing on clients, but like when you find people who value your business, I'm telling you, I have never had a problem with this lady, I've never felt like she came at us at all. I you know, it was like she genuinely really loves what you know our company do it does for her. And you know what, you know what happens with people like that when you have a client who's in sync with you and you guys are in sync with your client, not only do you get better performance, she's our one of our fastest growing business, but also we're more willing to do shit for her at no other and at no extra cost. One, because she's loyal, two, because she's kind, she's easygoing, she's always on time with her payments, things like that. It's like shit like that. You really sit down and say, Wow, you know, really show some appreciation for the clients that you do have because there's people that value your service, and at the same time, you value them. So you show how you value them by giving them things that you're like, no, no, she's a this person's a good client, this person's a good customer. I want to show how I value them because value is key. But if you have somebody who's always calling you and and bugging you and telling you you need to do this, we need to do this, we need to do this, and they're like on top of you all the time. Man, they don't really trust your process, they don't really trust what you're doing. If somebody's constantly on you about doing something, or can you do this? Do you do this? Whatever, they don't trust your process, they don't trust that you're going to walk away. They can walk away, you do it. They have to have some form of control in the process, and that usually never ever is a long-term client. I've never seen a long-term client out of that, um, because there's no value in your product. Um, so I think it's key to understanding understanding you as a brand, right? So, Nike, right, their key decision was they signed Michael Jordan and created a$1 billion brand. Then they built advertising around emotions. Um, so when you think about emotion and aspiration, that's why they that's why they use the their quote word, just do it, right? That's their aspiration, emotion. Like, hey, just do it, get up and do it. Because sports is oftentimes associated with motivation, right? So they build their brand off of that, and they use scarcity, you know, plus hype to create demand. You know, there's always some shit about Jordan shoes. I'm not a big Jordan person, so I don't really rock them like that, but I I see the value in them, and I don't have it because I don't see the value. I just I'm not a sneaker guy. I, you know, I like wearing flip-flops and some and some some boots and and maybe some dress shoes here and there. I'm not a tennis shoe guy, but I do see the value in the Jordan's tennis shoes. They also elevated average sneaker cost from$40 to$150. Now all these other brands and businesses are trying to compete with them, right? The outcome of this, Nike remains the global market leader in the athletic footwear. They just do. Jordan brand alone generates over five plus billion dollars a year. Like people fuck with Jordan heavily, right? People are willing to pay seven to ten times the manufacturing cost because of the value. People will show their appreciation to something they value. Just talked about the client I told you guys about, who's been with us from the beginning. And we're here, we and we give her free stuff all the time. So like we know that this is extra service for everybody else, but not her. Why? She's been kind, she's been nice, she values us, she appreciates our work. We're gonna show our value to her because we value her as a client. You have people like that in your life, you're gonna always wanna keep them afloat. You're gonna always want to keep them happy. You want to make them happy. And then the people who say you're too expensive or they might and they might not even say you're too expensive, they may insinuate shit that that makes it feel like you're expensive. They might not necessarily come out, but they might treat you like they could do the job themselves, or they can find somebody to do it, and that's fine because finding somebody to do it or having somebody else do the job shows that this person does not value your services, and that's okay, that's completely fine. Um, the next thing, case study, is on Tesla, right? Tesla turning cars into identity statements big time. I'm a big Tesla fan, but I cannot afford to pay for my fucking Tesla with our current income, which is fine, and I'm not ashamed to say that. And here's what I will say: I'll say this, I mean not say that I can't afford it. I will say that I choose not to afford it because while I can get the car, grab the vehicle, whatever the case is, would I be living comfortably? Probably not. And and a part of me is going to be tossing and turning in my bed every night because of the fucking payments on these things. I could not fathom the amount of money that a person pays for a Tesla vehicle on payments. Now, if you paid it outright, kudos to you. But if you like somebody like me who gotta put that shit on a motherfucking levelway or lease that shit out, yo, that shit is expensive. Like, and I'm and I'm a very high-end person. I like shit like like there's this Tesla, but I want the Tesla truck, right? I want the truck. The truck alone starts out, starts out at 11. I'm sorry,$1,300. And that's the all-wheel drive, whatever the case is. Now, if you want the beast, the beast is a different story, right? The beast is a bigger truck, and I'm a truck guy, so I love trucks, so I want the beast. Starting out is two thousand dollars a month, like two thousand dollars a month for a cyber truck. I mean, to be fair, damn, you can buy a house, mortgage a house for that, you know what I'm saying? I don't know if I can grab my head around monthly payments, and it's not because I'm like it's cheap or anything, it's just that if I can control my monthly payments, I'm gonna do that. The one thing you can't like monthly payments on like employees and contractors are different, but monthly payments on objects and shit. If I can minimize and reduce that as much as I can, I would I would do that. I'm not, I don't know if I believe in necessarily making payments on a fucking vehicle. I would rather just keep riding my little hoopty, little 1997 Ford Ranger and be cool with that because I know I don't have these astronomical bills because fuck, that's just the truck at 2,000. You still got the mortgage or rent, the lights, the food, the internet, you still got all that shit. I mean, you're easily, easily coming out about five thousand dollars a month. And for me, that's scary because I like to be comfortable with my money. I like to be like, hey, if I lose this today, tomorrow, we'll still be straight. I my my debt is so low that if I lose everything tonight, clients, business, everything tonight, I could still go an Uber and still pay all my bills on just Uber alone part-time. I don't even have the Uber full-time. That's the position I put myself because I I don't have to, I don't have to get the this this big shit. I my most of my money goes back to my business. Look at this fucking truck. This shit right now with all the features and everything and upgrading it to the wheels. You got to get the nice charging system, the charging station here. You don't really need this, but that you know, the the universal home charge, you don't really need it, but why not have it? If the truck can act as a generator to power your house during a power outage, I don't see why not have it. It's two thousand dollars. Grab the shit, anyways. So now look at this. We are at two thousand dollars a month, and when you look at the equation of that, that is a hundred and eighteen thousand dollar truck.$118,000 after taxes. Look at this after taxes, look at that after taxes. That's$129,000 after taxes for this beast truck. I cannot fathom in my head on payments. I would say to myself, okay, this is$129,000. How much money do I need to make as a business to be able to afford$129,000 out the bank? What kind of money do I need to be making to spend$120,000,$29,000? I can tell you right now, I'm gonna be at least 2.5 before I'm like, I'm gonna buy this. I'm not gonna be making$200,000 and go buy this truck and be like, I bought one and now I'm$70,000 remaining for the remainder of the year. That's fucking stupid. Just because I can buy it don't mean I can afford it. Um I can't afford to lose$129,000 from a$200,000 annual payout. I can't afford to lose that, so I can't afford it, right? So the question is, how can I afford it? How can I be like, I can I can run a$2.5 million business and I could take out$129,000 and it's not gonna really hurt, it's not gonna hurt me that much. I'll I'll be fine. We'll we can we'll figure that out because we figured out how to make$2.5 million, you know. So, you know, that's the way I look at that. Um the key position that that that Tesla put themselves in was they uh positioned the brand as innovative, right? They they they they they they they position it as elite as a forward thinking, they use scarcity just like Nike did. Um they also used a strategy where they delayed production to increase the desire for the for the vehicles. These these motherfuckers knew what they was doing. Fucking smart, fucking ingenious. They always pretend like, oh, oh, it's still in production, we got to get the shit together. Um I think this cyber truck was supposed to come out in like 2023 or sooner, 2020, whatever. I think these shits came out in like 2024, 2025, somewhere up in there. They delayed the process for over a year so that the desire of individuals who won them would go up because the show raised the hell out of my desire. And and and also Tesla leveraged Elon Musk as a brand, because Elon Musk himself is a brand, right? And then price the cars high on purpose to build what exclusivity. That's what they do, right? That's how they build. Um, so when we are thinking about you know expensiveness and why is this expensive, etc. When people are like you're expensive, you're not expensive, you just found the wrong people. Find the right people that's gonna treat you as value, like somebody would treat a Tesla vehicle as value. Somebody's willing to spend$129,000 on this truck. I'm willing to spend$129,000 on this truck if it came down to it. I would do it. Fuck that. Why not? It's$129,000. If I can afford it, I'll do it. Absolutely. And then it's not if I can, it's really when I can afford it. I'll do it, you know. It is what it is, I'll do it, you know. But when I'm not at$2.5 million to be talking about some getting this truck, so I'm not gonna buy, right? Another case study is Louis Vuitton. I I know I just talked about this on my last live, but yo, listen. I I I am not like um I'm not big into fashion per se, but these fucking purses at$3,000,$5,000. My God, my God. You know, people for me, I can't understand the purse costing that much. Why? Because I don't wear a purse, but women who wear purses are like, yeah, that bet that that's what it is. So I can't put value behind Louis Vuitton purses because I don't wear them. Now I know Louis Vuitton, the brand is top-notch. Um, but but look at these shoes. Shoe Louis Vuitton shoes in women are easily$1,500 to$2,000. This is insane. Look at these slippers. I've never seen slippers at$1,400. Never seen it. But again, Louis Vuitton is intentional, right? See, the problem with brands are luxury brands specifically, is luxury brands oftentimes get copied and then diluted, and then they they begin to lose exclusivity. Like they start getting into like um like these brands start getting into like uh like a Burlington coat factory or a Bells outlet or whatever, so they start losing quality when they start going to these stores. Not Louis Vuitton, they don't play that shit, they ain't doing that. As a matter of fact, Louis Vuitton's strategy was very clear, they protect their brand by using no discounts. You cannot discount our shit, you can't do it. Limited supply. You we're not gonna have a lot of this shit. We're only gonna get a few, and that's it. And then then they do price increase. So we want to continue to increase the price to continue to to attract the type of people we want to attract. These shoes are fucking nice, they're$1,200. They look actually pretty nice. These are pretty nice shoes, very classy, very sophisticated. I can fuck with that. Not that I would wear that. I mean, if I saw a woman in that, I think that'd be pretty pretty nice. Um, but if you see a woman with Louis Vuitton, that tells you everything you need to know about that woman. So you better make sure your pocket is right because look I'll be looking at these pricing and let her fuck around and have nothing but Louis Vuitton in her closet. Your ass is, yeah, you better be, you better be botdamn ready for whatever. Um, but yeah, um, I mean, I fucked around and just found out Louis Vuitton, you know, did things for men because I didn't think that that was a thing. Um look at this, look at this, look at this man's Miss Male jacket. It's$4,500 for this jacket, right? So look, and this one here is$1900, you know what I'm saying? So like Louis Vuitton, and I mean the designs are hard. The shit is hard. I mean, but people are paying this because people are paying this for a shirt or and some pants and some shoes that can easily be torn and ripped. People will pay it, but they won't pay for your product or they won't pay for your merchandise or your service. Why? They don't believe they don't see the value in it. I this say this is a seven thousand dollar jacket. That's a seven thousand dollar jacket. Louis Vuitton is not playing, they want to scare certain people away. You can't afford us, that's okay. This is not here for you to afford us. We are not targeting broke people, we are targeting people with money. They want you to know that they're a high-end brand. And and like looking then, looking at this jacket that caught that that's cost$3,300. It probably cost them probably$250 to make it. Easy. But you would spend$3,000 for it, right? They're there how they made their decisions, they never discounted any of their products, they increased prices yearly to maintain exclusivity. Not only that, but they limit supply to keep demands high. They use heritage storytelling to justify premium pricing. So the outcome, Louis Vuitton, is the number one, the number one brand in the world, luxury brand in the world. Number one, their product often appreciate on the resale market because you cannot just throw that shit in Burlington, they shit appreciates, right? Customers equate price to status, rarity, and quality. So why this proves my point further is that Louis Vuitton shows you that when your brand is strong, raising prices make you more desirable in the long run, right? And that's what it's about. The last one I'm gonna do, and you guys know about this, and it's funny because I had a guy, he was talking to me and he was like, you know, you're talking about these multi-billion dollar, million dollar companies. People can't relate to that. Yes, the fuck you can. Here's why you can relate to that. You know these brands, you know these products, you know what they are. What I'm showing you is these are big brother companies that's doing this. These are big brother companies that are like, hey, we're doing this. You should do the same. You know what I mean? You should, you know, this is this is a model. Stick to what you want, stick to your price. Understand the market and stick to your price. Understand where you stand as a brand. Because people are going to always try to make it seem like your pricing is astronomical. When in reality, they're probably not going to find a price lower than yours, to be fair. And it's not about being low or high, but it is just about value. And oftentimes, if your price is too low, you're going to attract those kind of people when your price is too low. So that you know that that's gonna come with that. My God, I got a birthday coming up. So I'm hoping people who out there listening, I got a birthday coming up, and I'm definitely looking at this Louis Vuitton watch. It says, you know, it says it's$74,500. I mean, I don't I don't see nothing wrong with that. I feel like shit, if you got the money, you got the money to go get the Louis Vuitton watch. I don't see the problem. If you're gonna get me one. All right, the last one I want to run through uh for today is Ferrari. I can say that out of all the brands that we discussed, Ferrari is by far the most gangster of them all. I feel like Ferrari is look at this shit. This car said it is this car is$340,000. People are paying this money$340,000 to$590,000 for a car, and most people will never see that money in a lifetime, and people are paying this kind of money for a vehicle that probably is not even as reliable as a Honda, but people will pay it. So, what makes you think that you're not valuable? No, it's not that you're not valuable, or it's not that you're too expensive, it's just that they they don't understand your value, and this is a clear indication that value you know is subjective, it's very subjective. People deem what is valuable to them. Find the people who deem you as a value and don't want to lose you as a partner, as a uh business, whatever the case is, they don't want to lose you because this is what it's about. Now, Ferrari, I'm gonna be a hundred. Even if I had the money, I don't think I would still do it. Because I understand the status that comes with it, but I personally don't too much give a fuck about what people think about me or the status that I carry as far as my brand and luxury. I would rather spend that money on getting my house comfortable because I'm a homebody. I would rather sit my ass at the crib. But let's get to this case study because we ain't here to talk about me sitting at a damn crib and my taste. We're here to talk about why your why your service, product, and or merchandise is not too expensive. Because there are people who are willing to pay for this. And I imagine if you had these kind of clients for your business, man, people who are willing to pay money for a Ferrari, what the fuck? I would love a client like that. So here's the problem that Ferrari had. So car brands often lose exclusivity as they grow. So the older the car gets, the more it loses value, oftentimes. But now you have older cars that are like super rare and like worth a lot of money. But typically, genuine, genuine, generally speaking, that's the case. Ferrari built exclusivity through restriction, right? So restriction was their selling point. Key decision limit production intentionally, limit it, right? You can't buy certain models unless Ferrari approves your ass. Ain't that fucking crazy? Ferrari gotta be like, hey, look, we don't care that you can afford our services. The question is, are do we think you're worth being in our club? Do you do do we think that you're worth being in our in our culture, even if you can afford it? Because just because you can afford it, just because you can afford to buy it, doesn't mean you can afford the brand. They are very they are very loud with telling you they don't want to deal with broke people, even if you have money to afford us, they still don't want to deal with broke people. And these cars are fucking nice. All right, I might have lied. Hold on, hold on, hold on, I might have lied. All right, when I do get the money, I actually might get a Ferrari. I'm not gonna lie. What is this? Is this a this shit is hard? This is the Ferrari, what's this poor pure so sungu? Okay, it's pronounced P-U-R-O S-A-N-G-U-E. My god, that is a bad motherfucker right there. That is a bad motherfucker. I okay, I lied when I get the money. I I might sneak in one Ferrari up in there. That's bad as hell. I don't know why that just and it looks like a little SUV, but that's shit hard. All right, let me get out of here. Damn, that shit hard, anyhow. So Ferrari, like we talked about, limit productions intentionally. Um, you can't buy certain models unless Ferrari approves you to buy that model, and they do customer priority first. So prior customers who were with Ferrari are they take precedence over the newer customers. So just because you get into Ferrari don't mean you're gonna be able to get all of the you don't mean you're gonna be able to get all of the new cars that's available, they're gonna feed their people first. You gotta bit you literally have to build your way to the top until somebody new comes underneath you and so forth, and you just gotta you just gotta live with that. Um, and that that's the beauty part about and people are people are willing to do it, people are willing to to do just that. So also Ferrari don't play that shit about selling selling Ferrari cars too quickly. Like you just can't come out here selling a car and then and then like now you see uh a used Ferrari on a car lot. You don't you will rarely ever see a fucking used Ferrari on a car lot, ever. Because Ferrari don't play that shit. If you sell the shit too quickly, which is subjective, they determine this car is fucking hot. Damn, look at that motor. Shit, I'm trying to see the interior on this thing. Look at that key. That key says everything. Oh, it's got the mic. Oh, all right. I gotta get off this. I gotta get off this. This right here should be motivation. For me, it's like, why say you can't afford it? Why say something's expensive? Why you just can't say, How can I afford this? I know I need this service, how can I make this happen? I know I need this product, how can I make this happen? Do I need this Ferrari? No, but if I can get it, why the fuck not? You know what I mean? And I don't know what it was about that, but that that little car was nice, and I'm not even like into like the SUV slash look of things, and I'm not even sure if it was the SUV. God, damn, what is this? This don't even have a passenger seat. What the hell is this? Timeless style. What wow, what wow. Imagine somebody pulling up. What is this? This is the elegance, elegance and refinement in a pencil stroke. What the hell is this? A model whose uh contours appear crafted by the wind. If this is a racing spirit absolute comfort, this has one seat, and the passenger seat is just completely gone. Holy crap, this shit is hard. I wouldn't get this one, I'll still go with the other one. Um, but anyhow, you know, Ferrari is just that car. You know what I mean? Like they are intentional about saying they don't want broke people using their shit. You have to have money. Even if you have money, you just have to have status. Our cars come with things. You can't put this shit on a lot. We find out you put our shit on a lot, you will never buy another Ferrari from us again. And people who are in this club are probably like, no, I ain't trying to get kicked out. It took a lot for me to get in here, and I ain't trying to do that. Ferrari did that shit on purpose. They want quality customers, they want loyal customers, right? People want to feel belonged because value is not in the$250,000, value is not in the$600,000 car. That's not value. The value is uh status and value is time. Like, how is this gonna save my time or how will this make me look? That's what people value, not the money. Money's bullshit. Money is a coupon that the that the government throw that shit away, anyways. Money is a coupon, that's all it is. Look, you don't believe me? Open up a fucking dollar. Open up a damn dollar. Let me see. I think I have one. I know I don't got it on me now, but at the top of a dollar, let me pull up a dollar. They're fucking coupons. Right here, look at this shit. I kid you not. Look at this. This says a federal reserve note. It's a note, it's a promissory note that basically says the dollar is good. This is all it is, it's just a note. We hold on to this shit like it's gold. This ain't gold. This is not backed by gold. This is backed not by gold. This is backed by government shit. I ain't gonna even get into that because I know how these platforms be tripping. But this is this is not backed by gold nor silver, it's a promissory note that says, I promise that I will pay this back. The government is making that promise that the money is good. Come on, anyhow. So, with that being said, the outcomes for Ferrari, Ferrari maintains insane resale values, right? Insane. You can't buy certain models unless they approve it. Their cars become investment pieces, they become investments to individuals who purchase them. They have one of the most loyal customer bases in luxury cars because none of them want to get fucking blacklisted. Who wants that shit? It doesn't even make sense, especially through all the shit you gotta go through to get there. So, why this proves my point is Ferrari just proved that exclusivity is a sales strategy, being too expensive is part of their brand, it's part of it. So, anyhow, I hope that we got some good taking on this. I know that today, you know, was one of those days that you know we wanted to kind of chat, kind of see where you guys were at, how you guys feel about that. I I know we talk a lot about you know people being broke and things like that. And and I'm gonna just say this here I don't have anything against broke people. I only time I have something against a broke person is when they're using them, their lack of ability to manage money to make it someone else's problem. That's not somebody's problem, that's your problem, your business, your stuff. Figure it out. This is your baby. I'm not here to to to baby you. Yeah, we're not here to baby you, we're here to grow and get to a point of of unity at some fucking point, right? That's what we want to do as a whole, you know what I mean? So you as a person, you as a business are not too expensive for the person that is right for you. It's like finding the right lover. You won't be too much to the person that you're supposed to be with. They won't find you annoying or they don't think that you are this person that you're not supposed to be with. You're gonna find the right people in the right circle. And when you find those right people, you treat them right. It's easier to treat people right who values you and they show you that they value you. You'll it'll make you want to do for them immediately. Anyways, thank you all for tapping into the untraditional entrepreneur. If this episode hit home for you, make sure you subscribe, hit that notification bell, and definitely tap into our Patreon. That's where we go deeper with unfiltered content, the game, and how to strategize on growing your business. But remember, we're growing this business together as a unit. So when I get to the point of multi-million dollars, we take the people with us. You know what I'm saying? Our business grows, you grow as a unit. Next week, in the next week's episode, we're gonna be talking about why broke people say podcasting is a hobby. We're gonna be breaking down why being cheap, making a podcast is not the route to go, and how podcasts will be changing the game for most businesses. Thank you all for tuning in, and in the meantime, I'll see you guys.