Why Are You Working for Less Than You’re Worth?

Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

How much time do you spend thinking about your job? Or is it just a necessary evil you endure day after day like a robot?

What do you really do at work each day? How long have you been doing it? Could someone walk in off the street and do what you do?

Could they do it as well as you do it?

You Don’t Want to Be Indispensable

If you’re having a hard time answering those questions it may be time to reevaluate your future.

Most people start work in their late teens and retire somewhere in their 60s. Your lifetime working career spans 40 to 45 years.

If you’re indispensable, then you’re also unpromotable. Management wants you right where you are — stay right there and don’t move.

To move up the income ladder you must move out of your comfort zone and determine what your true value is.

Is There Somewhere Else That Would Pay Your True Value?

There have been a few jobs in my life where a competitor has approached me to jump ship and come to work for them.

Any change requires answering two questions.

One, will the jump be beneficial to my family. That means money, working conditions, hours, and expected responsibilities. Can I do what they’re asking me to do?

Two, are advancement opportunities available? It might be to my advantage to move for less money if there’s a reasonable expectation for more in the future if I can help the company grow.

For example, moving to a startup with good ownership, solid investment, and a future might be a challenge I’d like to take on.

Learn While You Earn

When I teach college classes in entrepreneurship, I always tell my students, “Learn as much as you possibly can at whatever job you have.”

If you love pizza and want to open your own restaurant, then spend some time working in a pizza parlor and learn everything you can about running that business.

How do you order? How much does delivery really cost? How much flour, oil, tomato sauce each week?

Which sizes sell the most? What are the most popular toppings? This could go on forever.

But does it make sense that knowing some of those things might be valuable when the time comes for you to unlock your own front door?

Is it possible that some of the things you learn running a pizza parlor might transfer to other types of business?

Make Yourself More Valuable

Can you take classes either online or maybe night school? Can you be certified in your field?

Knowledge is power.

Should you walk in and demand a raise, or you’ll quit? Not the best negotiating tactic.

Your boss might be so busy in running the business he or she may not be aware of the extent of your skill and knowledge and how those are benefiting the company.

Document your value as much as you can. If your segment or department increased income, then show how and why that happened and how you were instrumental in that growth.

Some Final Thoughts

Medium is exactly what I’m talking about. I mentioned to my co host on radio that he should consider writing. What do you think his answer was?

“No one would be interested in anything I wrote.”

He’s smart enough to give his opinion to thousands of listeners three hours each week but doesn’t think he’s interesting.

How often have we heard this from new writers? Or course your ideas will be read and probably clapped for and responded to.

This is the heart of this article. Everyone reading this is probably worth more than they’re making but somehow blowing our own horn is some sort of societal violation.

“It’s grammar jail for you dummy!” Naysaying is easy. It should roll of your back like rain off a duck.

If you’re going to run a marathon, what do you do? You train. You make something happen.

Remember the Rocky movie — he wakes up at the crack of dawn, downs six raw eggs and starts running. Bad at first — but over time a championship. He showed up.

Success is nothing more than the day-to-day progression toward a worthwhile goal or dream.

How big is your goal? How big is your dream?

I hope you enjoyed reading this and that you’ll follow me. If you’d like to support me as a writer, consider signing up to become a Medium member. It’s just $5 a month and you get unlimited access to all the articles on Medium.

Take a look at Tom Egelhoff’s Amazon Best Selling Small Business book, “How to Market, Advertise and Promote Your Business or Service in Your Own Backyard.”

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