Jim Rohn once said, “You don't get paid by the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.”
Consider your pay and wages for a moment. Your bonuses. Your stock options. What factors influence how much (or how little) you earn? Is it because of your education? What is your level of experience or seniority? The performance of your company, the cost of living in your locality, your occupation, or your performance?
Are you getting paid for time or value?
The answer to the above question is value and not time.
Did you ever wonder why one individual is paid $3000 and another $5000 per month for working for the same firm, handling the same product, working the same number of years, and coming from the same background?
Why would one individual make twice as much money?
You could say that it is a matter of time and that one requires extra time to make extra money. I then realized that I need to let go of the idea of having more time. We don't have any more time, as the day is of twenty-four hours.
So, if extra time isn't available, what might you produce that would make a difference in economic outcomes? "VALUE" is the answer. You can never make more time, but you can make yourself more valuable.
People wrongly say we are getting paid 100 dollars per hour for a particular task. But that’s not true. The truth is that a person is getting paid 100 dollars for the value assigned to the hour he or she works.
Time is the most valuable resource we have. Instead of putting in additional hours, we should concentrate on increasing productivity per hour.
There was once a giant ship whose engine failed. The ship's owners tried expert after expert, but none could figure out how to repair the engine.
Then they called in an old man who had been repairing ships since he was a young person. He had a full bag of tools with him and got straight to work when he arrived. He thoroughly examined the engine from top to bottom.
Two of the ship's owners were standing nearby, observing this man and hoping he'd know what to do. After inspecting the situation, the elderly man reached inside his bag and drew out a little hammer. He tapped something carefully. The engine roared to life in an instant. He carefully packed his hammer. The engine had been fixed!
A week later, the owners received a ten thousand dollar bill from the old man.
"What?" exclaimed the owners. "He didn't do anything!"
"Please send us an itemized bill," they wrote to the old man.
The man sent a bill with the following words:
Hammer tapping...................... $ 2.00
Knowing where to tap........................ $ 9,998.00
Putting in effort is crucial, but knowing where to put the effort makes all the difference!
So, from the above story, it is clear that it is not for his time the man was paid but rather for his efforts and value.
Professionals in every sector spent decades honing their skills. Just because they can complete a task fast does not imply that they are not worth the money.
Every year, I pay my accountant what appears to be an expensive sum to do my taxes, but I don't complain. Why? Because my taxes are tricky.
Could I do it myself? Maybe, but while she can do my taxes in a few hours, it would take me a week's worth of work, if not more, and I couldn't promise they'd be correct. When you look at it that way, paying her bill happily is the best way to proceed.
Next time, when you're ready to set a rate, ask yourself, "How much money would make this project worth my time? How much value am I giving? What amount of time will I save my clients? How much money am I going to MAKE for them? How happy will they be after working with me?"
Remember, it's not just about how hard you work on the job. It is all about the benefit your job provides to your clients or organization.
Because at the end of the day, my ability to accomplish a task in 30 minutes stems from 10 years of learning how to do that job well. It's the years that you owe me, not the minutes.