Value

If you ask someone how much they make, they will say something like, "I make $15 an hour". This isn't totally true however, because if they made $15 and hour they could just stay home and collect the $15 every hour. They don't get paid by the time they get paid by the value they are providing to the marketplace. The marketplace has determined that $15 every hour is a fair price to pay for that particular level of work.

Here's the really cool thing. . . are you ready for this? If you want to make more money then you need to become more valuable. That's it! The more valuable we become, the more tools we have in our toolbox. These tools will help the marketplace expand and make more money, consequently the marketplace will want to pay you more money. Wal-aaa!

We all know people that want to make more money, but they typically just focus on their boss not handing them more money. A lot of times, people expect more money for doing the same level of work (creating the same value). They think that the company "owes" them this for their loyalty. Or since other companies are paying more, they should get more. Putting this responsibility of making more money on everyone but themselves.

The next time a friend complains to you about making more money, ask them what they are doing to increase their skills. How are they improving themselves? What additional tools are they gathering so that they can add those to the marketplace?

The new federal minimum wage is $5.85 per hour which equates to $12,200 a year for a full-time employee. Any guess on the highest pay last year? Try a cool $40 million. That works out to be over $19,000 an hour!

A lot of people think "that's not fair". There is too much disparity between the lowest paid people in our society and our highest paid. If this is your thought, then move to a communist country. You would fit in much better there. The reason we have such a disparity in the lowest paid people in the country and the highest paid is that they highest paid provide the most value. There is a huge difference between $19,000 and hour and $5.85 an hour but the beauty of America is that it's a ladder with several rungs. Anyone can climb these rungs up from $5.85 and the way that they do this is by working on themselves. One by one adding tools to their toolbox. Little by little creating more value to the marketplace. And little by little increasing their pay. That's empowering!