I used to only drink white wine, mostly Chardonnay, but occasionally Pinot Grigio. Until my husband and I went to Italy on vacation. I got such an education in wines, in preservatives, in the wine making process- it was fascinating. And I fell in love with good red wine. I rarely drink white wine now, and generally only in the summer or when traveling to a region where it is the predominant wine.

I had a wine tasting event at my house with some friends and one of my friends said, “I don’t like red wine.” However, this was a guided wine tasting with an expert, so she was tasting them all along with the rest of it. The last wine we tasted was an exceptional bottle of red wine. It was complex, and very smooth. She was shocked. She loved it. She told her daughter (who is a red wine lover), “I found a red wine I love.” This was the ‘good stuff’. And this wine was on the more expensive side… as most of the really good stuff is!

How often, in life, do we not like something or not buy something, only to find out later that whatever we wanted, that we did not like, was not good because it was not the best value. I want to say cheap, but it is not just about dollars, but about quality. The old adage ‘You get what you pay for.” is true. When you are buying wines from the grocery store full of preservatives for example that are $9.99 and under, they definitely don’t compare to boutique wines without preservatives that may cost $70. I understand you might be on a budget- don’t get mad at me. However, the point is that often you dismiss something as not valuable before fully checking it out, when the real problem was the quality of the product.

In business, I have dismissed training I have taken, for example. I have bought online programs to train me on social media or other means of marketing and found them to have little value. Recently, however, I decided to do another marketing training program and found one that is way beyond what I purchased before. In this program, I am getting hands on, practical application work versus the theory of the other ones. It took some time to find the right one, and it is not the cheapest around, but it seems to be useful for my purposes.

As a business success coach, I have had clients who have been coached by others and gave up on coaching as ‘not worth it’. Then, they worked with me and I am happy to report, love being coached and are producing great results in their businesses.

I encourage everyone to always do research and check out the validity of whatever product or service you are buying before you buy. Look at the ROI- is it worth it. If you buy the lowest priced product, is that the best decision. It might be, but until you really check out the range of products and compare from a return on investment standpoint, you won’t know. Wine might not be important to you, so the cheap stuff might suffice. Same in business, if you buy the cheapest product, just be sure you are getting a good value for your money. Sometimes spending a bit more for a product or service will pay for itself many times over.

It is about finding the quality, finding the ROI and going for it. Don’t give up because the first few tastes of red wine are not good. Find the good stuff, and go with that! It is worth it in the end.