how much would you pay for this? (pic)

Last Friday, my friend Skylar and I were walking down a small sidewalk in Bowling Green, Kentucky in front of my old apartment.

"Are you serious?" she said. "You really don't remember that?"

"Uhhhh... I think maybe I knew it somewhere super deep in my brain... but yeah I guess I don't really remember it," I said.

Apparently, after I had moved out, Skylar and her boyfriend had moved in. And another one of our friends had moved into the building too.

I guess that's information I should have known... but in my defense -- I smoked a lot of pot in high school and all this did happen five years ago, sooooooo...

Anyway, Skylar and I move on -- both emotionally and physically -- from the apartment, and on the corner, we see a yard sale.

We walk past, slowly eyeing the goods, when I see them -- a row of four beautiful, brand-new wooden skateboard decks.

Oddly -- this is perfect.

My old skateboard recently got snapped in half, so I need a new one.

I inch closer and look at the price:

"30" -- the small pink sticker reads.

It's a random skateboard at a yard sale, so $30 seems a little steep. But I decide I would happily pay $20 for it.

If the woman running the yard sale will accept my offer, I'm sold.

... but I'm not the only one interested.

A little girl and her dad are looking at the skateboards, and she's trying to pick out which one she wants.

She grabs a board, and I watch her and her father walk up to the woman running the yard sale.

"Would you take $20 for this?" he asks.

The woman pauses.

"Yeah... we could do that," she says.

Roughly 60 seconds later, I walk up and ask:

"Would you take $20 for this?"

"Yep, that works," she says.

Then she turns to her friend next to her:

"He's going to be so happy people bought these."

... what I didn't tell you about these skateboards was that they had intricate, hand-drawn designs all over them.

She turns to me:

"My husband made these," she said, referring to the skateboards.

"They're awesome!" I said.

We talked a little longer, then she gave me my change, and I walked away with this beauty.

In the days since, I've been thinking a lot about pricing and the fact that, this woman's husband is clearly a talented artist...

But he's selling his masterpieces for $20 a pop.

Don't get me wrong -- making any sort of money for your art is fantastic. Getting people to pay for something you created is a big step.

But I keep thinking about the fact that, if this guy took his skills digital and worked to become a sought-after graphic designer...

He's no longer selling his projects for $20...

He's selling them for $20,000.

Hell -- maybe the guy already is a graphic designer and this is his passion project. Regardless, here's my point:

If you're trying to make money from your creativity, ask yourself --

"How can I provide the most value possible?"

A yard-sale skateboard has a $20 value.

But a new logo for a local skateshop has at least a $200 value.

And, theoretically, if this guy became one of the best graphic designers in the industry, I think it's possible he could charge $20,000 for a logo.

Just something to think about.

Robert