Monday 19 March 2007

Notes on How to Be Free part 1

You’ll often hear it said amongst people you talk to that you or they are ‘lucky’ to have a job.

Only someone with a Slave or Serf mentality thinks that they are ‘lucky’ to have a job. Instead of thinking like a Serf or Slave, think like an entrepreneur.

A job is not a gift from god (although life is), or some magical prophecy, it is you trading your time for money, it is a transaction like any other.

Most people don't like the job that they are in, or they have certainly done many jobs that they 'hated' and surely all of us have worked at one time or another, for an arsehole. 

You are the CEO of You. Inc, therefore you need to maximize your profits, you need to bring in as much money per hour for your time as is possible.

How do you do this? By adding value to your worth.

How does someone add value to their worth to an employer or client?

Take the example of a Labourer on a Construction Project or Building site.

Most Labourer’s are badly paid, do heavy physical work that can destroy the body over time and are seen as being something that is easily replaced.

Of course this is a shortsighted attitude on behalf of the employer, but nonetheless it is true.

So how does the lowly Labourer add value to their worth?

They add value by gaining more skills and being a fantastic all-rounder, by being able to do concrete’ing, kango’ing, floor sawing etc, they can add industry approved qualifications and first aid certificates etc. All this will add potential negotiating points.

In general, they get much better at what they do and make sure that what they do is appreciated for being a valuable asset to the company they are working for.

They make sure that the potential employer knows that they are skilled in many things and would be a very useful asset and so, the employer thinks ‘we’ll we’ll have him, what can we offer?’

By increasing their value to an employer or client, they raise their monetary worth, but also force the employer or client to start thinking about what extra incentives they can offer the employee in order to attract or keep hold of him or her.

The same mentality is applicable to all employees and their negotiations in terms of salary etc.

Think about what you can do today to add value to your worth as an employee.

If you are a Copywriter, how can you add value to your worth? What can you do to improve not only your skill as a Copywriter, but also your Marketability?

How then can you exploit that and publicize the fact so that you’ve got people coming to you to get your services?

This is the essence of increasing success, making yourself more valuable than the norm within your chosen profession or the one you find yourself in, in order to bring yourself more opportunities.

Alternatively if you hate it that much and you feel so undervalued, you can just leave and do something far more interesting instead.

Love and Kisses.