Your (Business) Income = Your Value

Do you always achieve a meaningful return on the investment of time effort and energy that you put into things?

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I’m here today to talk to you about one area of life and business that many people worry about. However, they worry about it in the wrong way.  They see only problems and negativity and loss.  When they look at it in the right way, they can see the value in everything they deliver.

What I want to talk about today is “Income”.

First of all, what do we mean by income?

Now, most people see income as just purely being a cash transaction.  It’s seen as an amount of money that you bring into your organisation, or into your home. That money then allows you to pay out on something else. That could be the mortgage or a rental agreement, a retirement plan, or just the necessities of food and clothing.

Organisations are pretty much the same, they require this kind of income and cash flow process, so they can pay for their outgoings such as, bank loans, rent, rates, wages, tax, maybe expansion plans, R&D, training and a whole variety of other things that are ‘expenses’.

So, when you look at any cash flow relationship, income and expenditure are essentially the lifeblood of your organisation.

Therefore, many people see income purely as being one part of an energy stream. Currency flows like a river flows, income comes in, expenditure goes out, and life goes on.

Have you ever stopped to think about what income is to you?

Here’s the thing.  Income is actually the return on the service that you provided. So, if you’re worried about how much income you’re making as an individual or as a business, you need to reflect on how much service you are delivering. The higher the level of service, the more significant the income that will come back your way.

You are there to solve other people’s problems. You are there to do what other people can’t do. And the rarer the skills you provide, the greater the perceived value of your service. Therefore the greater the income will be.  If you provide a service that’s not highly skilled or rare, like cleaning, for example, the price per hour will reflect that.  However, if you are a specialist with niche knowledge, then both the perceived value and the income will reflect that.

Now, this might simply be that your customer is time poor, therefore you’re taking that problem away by giving them some of your time. Perhaps they don’t have the technical expertise to do it themselves, but you do. It might be they don’t have the knowledge required for some complex piece of work, so you’re there because you have that experience.

Moreover, every transaction that brings income is also an opportunity to look at and improve how you are delivering and serving others. So, instead of worrying about what the return is going to be on the amount of time that you’re putting in, think again.

It’s not always just about the income.

If you are tackling a new project, for example, you are gaining valuable experience of what works and doesn’t work.  And if you perform the project well, then the testimonials and referrals you can gain are also very valuable.

Nonetheless, regardless of the final income, you need to be able to provide a successful and positive level of service, that permits and encourages people to give you more work.  In that way, you can also serve more people, and therefore you can also improve your income.

So, I’d like you to challenge you with this question.

Who are you going to serve in this coming week? How are you going to serve them better, to help produce improved results for them, so that they keep coming back to you giving you more?

Alternatively, are you just going to be the kind of person who’s going to complain because you think you’re worth more, but are not willing to give anything extra to receive it.