Business is about selling a product or service that is worth more than the price you’re selling it for.
Whether you’re buying or selling, this is a consideration that should not be taken lightly.
However, ‘value’ is subjective and it’s important to recognize that what is valuable to me, won’t necessarily be valuable to you.
Now, let’s apply this to something beyond the realm of hedonistic, consumerist society.
Any entrepreneur worth their salt will tell you two things:
Offer more value than you receive and;
Know your worth
If you’re not happy with the offers being laid out on the table in front of you, it’s likely that you’re simply not offering enough value to your employer, client and/or customer.
The hard truth is that whilst it is a problem –we’d all like to be considered valuable to the people around us– it’s your problem and, as much as we like to convince ourselves otherwise, not theirs.
I was listening to a podcast recently where the interviewee (I can’t remember who it was) was describing their stockbroker friend.
He said: “When it’s all going right, he’s a genius but when it’s all going wrong, there’s a problem with the market.”
Just like the stockbroker –who I’m convinced is actually me– we often refuse to hold ourselves accountable for our shortcomings.
So how can we get what we want? How can we prove our worth to the people around us?
It’s simple and also extremely difficult in practice.
The trick is to offer so much value that people feel compelled to reward you for the amazing work that you’re producing.
Simple in that there’s not much else to it but difficult in that it takes time, commitment and resilience to see it through.
I’ll leave you with a couple of questions today.
- Where is your value?
- Where do others consider your value?
- How can you become even more valuable to your customers/employees/superiors?