Are People Coming to You for Your Services? Then You Have VALUE. KNOW YOUR VALUE — Especially in 2025
Updated for 2025: Practical AI & Business Moves
Remember the story about someone selling a painting for $2 at a garage sale, only for it to turn out to be a priceless collector’s item? The buyer flips it for millions, and the original owner regrets not knowing its true worth. That’s exactly how you need to think about your business in 2025. If you don’t know your value, you’ll sell yourself short — and in today’s AI-driven, creator economy, that mistake can cost you big time.
If people are coming to you for your services, you have VALUE. They want what you offer, and they need it. Don’t let the flood of free information and automation tools fool you into thinking your worth is less. Your expertise, your unique perspective, your brand — these are your assets. Own them.
Over the past few years, I’ve written about how black entrepreneurs get taken advantage of by others. But here’s the kicker: sometimes we do it to ourselves. In the rush to land clients, we overshare, overdeliver, and undercharge. If a potential client bombards you with questions, learn to spot when they’re genuinely interested in buying versus just mining free info. And when someone asks for a favor, put a price on it — no guilt, no freebies. This is business, not charity.
In 2025, with AI tools making information and services more accessible, your personal and business value is your differentiator. You can offer discounts, sure, but never EVER give your work away for free. If clients get upset, that’s on them. They came to you because they see your value. If they don’t want to pay, expect them to keep coming back for free or cheap. And if someone tries to “help you get the word out” or claims “nobody really knows who you are” as a way to get freebies or steep discounts, recognize it as a test of your self-worth and business savvy — and move on.
Pricing in 2025 isn’t just about covering costs or undercutting competitors. It’s about value-based pricing — setting your prices based on the value your service delivers to the client’s goals, pain points, and outcomes. This means understanding your customer deeply, knowing what makes your offering unique, and communicating that clearly. AI and automation can help you gather data on customer needs and preferences, but the real value comes from your expertise and how you tailor solutions to them.
If clients balk at your prices, shrug it off and tell them to reach out when they’re ready. Others will pay because you’re on the right track. Remember, your value isn’t just in what you do, but in how you position and protect it.
Kevin "KevRoss" Ross is a music and radio industry expert. He is a 20 -plus year entrepreneur with the leading most successful industry trade publication and site Radio Facts (www.radiofacts.com). He has also published various books, magazines, performed marketing and promotions for major corporations and recording artists and he is on the advisory board of several industry organizations. This year Ross introduced his non profit organization LOMARI (Leaders of the Music and Recording Industry) to help teach young minority students how to market and manage their music and products.
