I wanted to talk today about Some basic economic principles when it comes to value and the marketplace. I talked a couple of days ago about your income earning ability. That is something that you need to think about, your skills and your value to earn money in the marketplace are key ideas to explore. Do you have a financial thermometer? Most people do. A financial thermometer is kind of a set point where you are comfortable. There is a certain amount of money you are comfortable making, just like a certain weight you are comfortable weighing physically. You expect to make a certain amount of money and you'll do whatever you can to make that specific amount, but when it goes over that then a lot of people tend to back off a little bit so they finish the year at or near their comfort zone. If they are behind where their comfort zone is, they will work like crazy, sell things, take another job, etc. to get back to their comfortable level.
Let's talk about how you get paid for a minute. You get paid for bringing value to the marketplace. You get paid for value and results, not time. There are 4 basic ways to do this. As 1- an Employee, 2- a Self-employed professional, 3- a Business owner and 4- an Investor. A lot of people think, “well I make ten dollars an hour,” or “I make twenty dollars an hour.” This is not really accurate, because you don't get paid for the hour, you get paid for the value you put in the hour. All of this debate on whether we should raise the minimum wage or whether small businesses should pay people more money is unnecessary because you get paid for value. The value starts at whatever minimum wage is currently and it goes up from there. There are people who make 9 dollars per hour and there are people that make a hundred million dollars a year. There are people that make two hundred million dollars a year. Why would somebody make that much money? And how do they do it? They are extremely valuable in the marketplace. We are not talking about value as a person, but valuable to the market.
So, how do you get paid more money? It's pretty simple. Become more valuable. There are 2 things you can work on: 1- You can work hard on your job. This is noble. 2- You can work hard on yourself. This is exciting! You can have both noble and exciting! The way you get a raise is not to ask for a raise. The way you get a raise is to become more valuable to the company. Become more valuable to the market. Increase your skills. Increase your effectiveness and get better results in the same amount of time. Always do a little bit more than you get paid for as an investment in your future. Don’t do just enough to get by and get paid. Do more. Become more.
Your own personal philosophy will be the major determining factor on how your life works out. If your philosophy is “I'm just going to work hard enough to get my paycheck and go home,” you're never going to be wealthy, and you're never going to be financially ahead. If your philosophy is “I'm going to do more than I get paid for as an investment in my future and I'm going to work on myself and increase my skill level so I become more valuable to the marketplace,” then you'll make more money. That's how the world works. This is a ladder to climb, it's not a bed. We shouldn't have to be debating over how much minimum wage pays, what we should be talking about is “how are you going to work on yourself and make yourself more valuable to the marketplace?” THAT philosophy will get you ahead in life. So, start keeping a journal, reading books that teach and inspire you and writing things down to learn and grow as a person. Go to work on yourself, not just your job. Your income will grow in direct proportion to your personal development.