Ingest this simple yet profound lesson I learned while listening to Jim Rohn. The simplest summary of economics is as follows; you get paid for bringing value to the marketplace. You don’t get paid for your time but for the value you bring to the marketplace. If you got paid for your time you could just stay home and let the money come in. But you don’t get paid for your time, you get paid for bringing value to the market place and you have agreed with an employer that your value is a certain dollar value per hour.
So, how can you increase your income? By increasing the value you bring to the marketplace. The most common way we increase our market value is through education and degrees. If you earn a medical degree, you bring a much different type of value to the market place than the high school graduate seeking his or her first job. While formal education is a good option don’t forget about the many other ways to increase your knowledge, craft and creativity. Learn from every source you can to change your value in the marketplace and one day you might actually be able to stay home and the money will continue to come in.
In a Facebook post I said, “the ones at the top earn their place.” Don’t take this in the sense that the strong eat the weak, rather you have to earn your keep. (Did I mention I’m a poet?) I’ve also heard it put this way. You have to become worth a damn.
The book Influencer states, “Psychologist Anders Ericsson has been able to systematically demonstrate that people who climb to the top of just about any field eclipse their peers through something as basic as deliberate practice…His research demonstrates that prowess, excellence, elite status—call it what you like—is not a matter of genetic gifts; it’s a matter of knowing how to enhance your skills through deliberate practice.”
The majority of people don’t practice new skills rather enjoy performing the skills they are already good at, many, show up to the ice rink, the gym, or the office, and practice but spend much of their time resting between reps, talking with peers and enjoying the environment, and then, the elite. The elite spend their time deliberately practicing key exercises and techniques that will improve their performance and value. They spend time with a specific focus on particular skills that need to be improved in order to perform their trade with greatness.
My Personal Value Journey
Not so many years ago I was a stone mason getting paid for the number of square feet I could finish each day. While that was a fun job and provided the things my family needed at the time, I used it as a stepping stone to put myself through school. I then changed my marketplace value by studying business and nursing.
I went into nursing, where I earned a set rate per hour for my predetermined new grad value. After one year of nursing I took a job as a clinical liaison for a healthcare company where I both marketed for them and did preadmission assessments. I earned a salary and gained the freedom to design my plan for each day.
18 months later I transitioned into a similar roll at a hospital for a nice raise and only 6 months later I quit that job and became a partner in a medical agency. While I’m back to commission, I’m now an owner so there is no ceiling on my earning potential and my market value continues to grow with the size of my network and team. At the same time my connections in the marketplace became valuable to others and I started selling a medical device for commission only which has almost unlimited growth potential as well.
While my income has decreased this year compared to previous years I’ve finally reached the one of my most exciting goals which is to be business owner. I’ve dreamed about being a successful entrepreneur for years and now I’ve successfully constructed the foundation of a business that will hopefully continue to grow month after month. I’m only part way down the road but this is the path to financial independence. Change your value in the marketplace, change your income.
