Do you really need to work for money?
This is a question that not many people ever ask? But for the vast majority of people out there who are well and truly indoctrinated into the money for time exchange this just seems to be the accepted way of life.
When it comes to having a job, your role and the amount you’re given for the work you do is ultimately reduced to a single number … dollars per hour. And as an extension of this you’ll be expected to work a set number of hours. Pretty standard stuff.
Within this arrangement you’ll be expected to also deliver a surplus of value. I.e. you will be expected to provide $1 Million in value per year, but you’ll be paid $100,000 for the value you actually deliver. In some cases this is generous.
Your employer who gives you your job is getting a great deal in this scenario!
But is the ‘dollars per hour’ an accurate reflection of how much you’re truly worth?
Not all time is equal
Unfortunately it isn’t. In fact it’s a really bad and inaccurate measurement but it is still used because it’s simple and easy to understand. In fact it’s so simple that when it’s published during recruitment it’s the dominant factors that can decide whether or not someone either does or doesn’t go for a job.
But here is the reason it’s a bad indicator of worth.
It’s the minimum value that someone is willing to give in exchange for the value that will be provided within the time that will be traded.
So what happens when more value per unit time is provided and achieved?
In many situations nothing. In fact over delivering value per unit of time tends to work backwards. [in many cases]
Related: The Mindset shift to being your own boss
If you’re really good, effective and efficient you’ll probably find that you will be given extra tasks, and this means that your dollars per hour actually depreciate, as your earnings remain the same while the value you provide actually increase. Employers love this!
If you work in the public sector where salaries are public information and you’re known as the ‘go to person’ to get things done, not only will you get lumped with extra work (extra value that you’ll be expected to give back) but you will have a whole bunch of policies and guidelines that will work against you because ‘you can’t be given a raise.’
Dollars per Hour ($/hr) or Value per Action (V/A)
So what if we can look at things differently! What if we remove time from the remuneration trade? Then it becomes dollars per … something else.
Not much is going to rid the commercial world from the dollars per hour metric but if you’re looking at a better way at measuring your value then Value per action is it, and for budding solopreneurs this is the best way to stop yourself from putting in excessive hours on your side hustle.
Value per action is simply a way for you to be able to measure how valuable your work (income generation) is, and the people out there on big dollars do exactly this—they do not trade time for money!
“If you dont find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.”
Warren buffet
Related: Why being rich and financially independent are two different things
Let’s take a look at a few examples.
If you’re hourly rate is $30/hr then you simply need to be at work for 40 hours to ‘earn’ $1,200 regardless of the value you provide.
But what if you simply did a single action that could generate $5,000? Let’s say you make a phone call to a hot customer or run a webinar and get this sort of payback? Regardless of how long it takes, the result in this case is $5,000 per action.
And most importantly; Actions scale!
If we look at the $30/hr case, then once the $1,200 is spent or used you have to go back to work for more.
If you can execute high value actions, then you can simply make more!
Investment actions
But not all actions are money makers!
Some actions are like various moves in a game of chess. But it does not mean that they do not have value.
Successful educators, solopreneurs and entrepreneurial types who do not trade time for money will have to spend time doing ‘investment actions.’
These are actions that do not generate revenue today, but will generate value in the long term. These can be anything from creating marketing copy, rehearsing a presentation or sales pitch or making user experience within their business better.
These actions today themselves do not generate profit, but they generate profit later each time a new Value action is done. In most cases ‘Investment actions’ that streamline the income generation process make the final value per time result that much higher.
Related: Why Being an educator means you have no competition
Money for time is a bust
Regardless of what it is that makes money, time and energy need to go into it. Even the stock market which can yield $1,000 per mouse click needs some work to make sure that mouse click is safe and profitable.
Do you really need to work for money? Now that you have asked yourself whether trading time for money is the only way then the answer is ‘No.’
You need to simply provide value for your actions.