Value-Based Fees: How to Charge—and Get—What You're Worth: A Guide for Consultants, Second Edition

Chapter 1. The Concept of Fees: Will People Actually Give Me Their Money for My Advice?

A fee is remuneration provided in return for perceived value received. I'm now tempted to write, "End of Chapter one."

The concept of providing a fee for services rendered is a very old one that probably began in earnest with the end of subsistence farming. Once people had the knowledge and the primitive technology to grow more food than they could personally consume, they created the first medium for a fee: surplus goods of perceived value (food, of course, being of immense value to people who are hungry). The farmer could now acquire goods and services that could not be produced personally due to lack of time, lack of knowledge, and lack of tools.

Consequently, a class of people arose who could not or chose not to farm but could earn their food by providing such goods and services. Some people provided things directly relevant to farming: tools, seeds, animals. But others provided for more personal needs: furniture, clothing, medicines. Still others, however, provided for the more conceptual needs: education, amusement, art.

It was only a matter of time before consultants were offering advice in return for food. You don't believe me? Every early potentate and satrap had court advisers, ranging from astrologers to fortune-tellers, from high priests to military experts. Some day archaeologists will unearth the pyramid that housed the thousands of consultants who guided that entire construction ...