Why Do You Get A Job?
Why do you get a job?
With all this doom and gloom talk on the TV and all the pundits trying to equate our current situation to the ‘Great Depression’ I think it is good to step back and think a bit on fundamentals of economics. Don’t let the press and the politicians control your thinking take a break and think objectively for a bit and think on this question for a moment.
Have you ever heard someone complain that the company does not pay enough? Or that you need to ensure a “living” wage? In the news at least once a quarter some one complains that you can’t feed a family of 4 on the pay you get working for Mc Donalds. No Kidding?! Why would anyone think they should? It makes no sense to pay some one more than the cost of the item sold. Why would I pay you $10 to make a chair that I can sell for $10?
The problem is we know instinctively the truth of the matter but then comes politics and someone promises entitlements. If someone offered something for nothing who would not jump at it?! So,
Why Do You Get A Job?
When I ask this question of people in seminars I get the same answers that you are probably saying now your self such as;
To pay bills of course, or I need the money, or I have obligations, to pay the rent, to buy things. Etc and on and on.
The answer is no to all of those statements. NO you do not get a job because you have to pay your bills or you have 4 kids. You look for a job to get all those things. You look for work to take care of your family, But, You Get a Job because you are willing to something that someone else is willing to pay to be done!
Let me say that again. You get a job because some one else is willing to pay you to do a job they want done.
If you come to me and say “Give me a Job because I need one” I am not going to hire you. If you say “I know the work you do and I can be of service to you in this way” Now you have my attention! Also the income you receive is directly in relation to the service you give and the uniqueness of that service. You want to earn more money? Then ensure that your skills are such that they are scarce and you can ask any reasonable price. Take a look at the difference between a surgeon and a day laborer.
Example, I can mow my lawn myself, I can have a kid mow my lawn for a few bucks. Or I can hire a ‘landscaper’ to “fulfill my yard’s full potential and beauty” – see I may pay more for that guy. But then the results become the test. Is the money I pay worth the results I get? I may go back to the 12 year old who has the ambition and the cost to me is more to my liking.
Really think about it. If you tell me that you need to make $200 per day at a minimum and that you will mow my lawn do you think I really care if you need $200 per day at a minimum? Of course not! When I can get any one to mow the lawn for $10 bucks That’s what you will get or you will not get the job. If you would be paid what you want you must first learn to be worth what you want! The unfortunate truth is that most of us are paid what we are worth 
If we understand that we get a job because of the skills we bring to the workplace then we can design the skills we need to make ourselves valuable and earn the money we desire. But it takes personal responsibility. So next time you hear (or think yourself) they don’t pay enough or why does the CEO make more than the Office clerk remember to think on this question – Why do you Get a Job? and remember even during the great depression 70% of the people were working!
Keep Thinking!
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