Self-Devpt. Nuggets™

“After listening to each of my subordinates give me a self-appraisal of their performance, I have come to the conclusion that I have only three types of people working for me – Stars, All Stars and Superstars!” – Gunther Brink

Do you justify the pay you get for each day you show up at work?

In one of his books, Robert Kiyosaki noted that many people in paid employment today continue to demand to be paid more for doing less work!

Think about it. Some people go through a whole week (or year) without doing anything more than their jobs’ basically demand (sometimes they don’t even do up to that!), secure in the knowledge that come rain or sun, their salaries would be paid.

And this is true.

In many companies, for as long as you remain on the payroll, you will be paid – even if you perform poorly or averagely (especially with the labour union there to “fight for workers”).

That’s why Robert says that salary earners do not “earn” money – instead they actually receive “handouts”.

Now, before you challenge this point, I refer you to Zig Ziglar’s observation about people going to work each day without doing anything differently from the day before.

It is indeed – as he put it – A FACT.

The irony is that many find it easy to close their eyes to the FACT that they are asking to be paid more – or promoted – despite not adding any extra VALUE to their jobs!

The only time they change their reasoning in this regard, is when they start their own businesses and their own employees make similar demands of them!

Only THEN does it dawn on them that such employees’ requests are unrealistic!!

In the real world you WON’T get paid for work you do not do!

The obvious exception to this rule are crooked persons who acquire unearned income e.g by taking bribes, stealing, cheating etc

The real world demands that you prove yourself worthy of every reward you get.

You must sow before you reap. You have to give in order to receive.

Only in paid employment do we find this law of nature almost totally disregarded.

And that’s why when many people retire from well paying jobs, they are unable to adjust to surviving in the real world.

This is because they discover that (contrary to what obtains in paid employment), just putting in minimal effort does not result in multiple fold income returns.

For those who are NOT in paid employment, the need to “live in the real world” as described above is equally relevant.

Just being out there does not prove that you are “there”. What do you do with each day you spend there?

I refer here to fellow entrepreneurs, some of who choose to take the easy way out by failing to deliver promised value for payment they receive.

How well do the products and services you provide to paying clients, fulfil the promise made to buyers?

One Example: I’ve had nasty experiences with certain Internet Service Providers (True Story)

This has happened to me several times. Just before you pay they are all polite and friendly. They assure you their connectivity has not match in the area.

When you start using the service, it often works as good as they promised.

Then at some point everything goes crazy…I’ve had many instances in which just getting my mail box open took over 30 minutes. And uploading a 5KB file kept timing out in Filezilla!!!!

So you pick up the phone and call them. It takes maybe 10 attempts before you get someone who picks up. And s/he basically tells you “Well, from our end here, everything is working perfectly.”

To add insult to the injury, s/he may even go further to say “In fact, you’re the only one who’s calling to complain. All our other users are getting along just fine. Maybe you need to check your computer, and see if there’s a fault at your end.”

Saying this usually makes many people feel uncomfortable, as they are made to look like trouble makers. So, even when the problem is unresolved, they don’t call for support again.

The ISP support staff use this tactic knowing (or thinking) you won’t be able to tell if they are lying or not.

Unfortunately for them, they did not know someone like me would show up…!

Experience had taught me to hook up with at least one other person who used the same platform.

So, I’d always call him up. 99% of the time he often had the same problem.

Once I confirmed I was not alone, I would call support and ask them what the problem was.

If the agent tried to bamboozle me with the usual crap, I’d then tell him/her what I’ve already confirmed through my friend who lived in a totally different area.

Most times when I did this, s/he’d ask me to hold on. And then s/he would miraculously return saying they’d been informed that a fault was being rectified by “our engineers” in some zones!

In truth these people often already KNOW a problem exists even BEFORE selling to you!

But if you ask them if all’s well, they’ll often say everything’s OK.

Why?

It’s simply because they cannot bear to pass up sales by telling buyers that kind of truth.

Now, I understand their need to sell. But I disagree with their negative philosophy.

In my opinion, if you do not want to lose sales, then WORK HARD (proactively too!), to eliminate problems that can give clients bad experiences.

That way, you will have no need to lie and deceive people who want to sign up with you!

But people with this kind of mentality, rarely want to do such hard and honest work.

They prefer fleecing their buyers…giving as little as possible to get as much as possible.

Final Words: People who take more, while giving less, ultimately hurt themselves!

James R. Cook once wrote that “there are hidden penalties working against those who seek to get something for nothing.”

Those who act in the manner described above, be it in paid employment or elsewhere, VERY rarely endear themselves to others who work honestly.

What’s more, employers/clients who get cheated by them often find ways to break up with them.

As a location independent multipreneur, I have a unique opportunity to serve individual and organisational clients – in different societies (e.g Nigeria and Benin Republic). And I see people who display the negative habits described in this piece.

With very few exceptions, they rarely achieve long term authentic success.

If you do not wish to end up like them, I recommend you seek to add equal or greater value to everyone you meet – especially those who pay you to serve them at work or elsewhere!