Increase Your Worth

DOES managing your finances seem extra-stressful these days? Apart from having to earn money and run a business, it seems whatever I have needs protecting – against depreciation, inflation, interest rates and exchange rates fluctuations.

My money also needs guarding against myself – my careless spending on things I don’t need and my misplaced beliefs about value that doesn’t serve me.

At a time like this, it might be worth creating a values matrix. This would be a strategy on generating income. We’d use it to govern our beliefs about how much our products and services are worth. We’d use it as a plan for managing our money and as a guideline for protecting our price.

Let me share with you some of my methods... ways I increase business:

1. Get more clients. 2. Have each client spend more. 3. Have them work with me again and again.

Sales talk. I can sense many of you grimace. You might say, “I don’t do sales. I’m in HR,” or accounting, production, quality control, or whatever.

Well, think again. All of us are “in sales.” By how we live, and how we communicate, we sell our ideas, our perspectives, our values. My take on sales is practical. With all the lying and cheating going on, people we care about deserve the best-informed, best-reasoned, most objective and knowledgeable advice we can give. Understand that we need to sell to gain more respect, increase our influence, advance our career, up our income, and promote our success. How good a salesperson are you?

First point: I avoid troublesome, unpleasant clients and those with suspicious motives. I’m prepared to walk away from business that clashes with my principles. You might think, “Yeah, sure. She can afford this privilege.”

Many approach me as if I have no need for money. They expect my services for huge discounts or in exchange for a meal. My tip to you is, establish value collaboratively with the client before you accept work. Base your fee on value, not task or time. I add a premium for when I personally “do it all.”

I’m trained to listen for what the client needs. Their talking about what they want, usually doesn’t solve the problem. I work so I’m able to provide the most powerful advantage, so it would seem totally irrational for them to do business with anyone else. Often this means putting the client’s interests ahead of my own.

I find the more value I offer, the more value I generate. The more I contribute, the more indispensable I become. Temper behaviour with sincerity, enthusiasm and consideration when working with clients. This will manifest in our respect for their time, their comfort and their well-being. After all, their success is directly tied to our own.

Train clients to describe exactly how you’ve helped. Mine often tell others how many months’ worth of anxiety I’ve taken out of their lives. They say that with the clarity they’ve gained from working with me, they’ve saved thousands of Ringgit, gotten the job they really wanted, or improved the quality of their relationships.

Many of us discount our efforts. Often, we do so much more than we ever give ourselves credit for. No wonder we feel deflated, distraught, defeated, and demoralised. We feel as if whatever we’ve done didn’t make any difference. To check, I ask, “didn’t I get involved in (the client’s) hopes and dreams? Didn’t I sort out all those complexities? Wasn’t I present, accessible, and available? Turns out, clients always say what I rendered, and especially how I rendered it, changed and enriched their lives.

I find Asians have a tendency to bend backwards to please and over-provide. Our business environment is one where rebates, discounts, and kickbacks are rife. Not the best conditions to protect value or show respect for competence, is it?

It’s silly, because sometimes we give contracts to foreigners who aren’t half as good, simply because they know how to create the perception of quality. Psychologically, higher fees = higher value. Does “white” still brand superior?

In conclusion, let me say that our income-earning capacity does not lend itself to our success, our progress or our self-worth. Realise it only has to do with the growth of our outer-life experiences. When we come to the fulfillment of our potential… at that point, our ability becomes complete, real and actual.

Name-calling in school

Q. Bullies in my school say nasty things to attack others, like calling me “fat”. I was so upset I lost 9kg in a month. Instead of worrying, my parents got angry. Neither they nor my teachers understand how I feel.

A. When my daughter was nine, she suffered name-calling at school and there was little that teachers could do to help. These problems of “identity” usually stem from young people wanting to fit in, wanting to be accepted by those they admire or those they consider role models.

Between seven and 15 years, our self-image is very much formed by the collective opinion of others. Unless children are taught to be confident about themselves, unless parents explain that being different is grand, unless seniors prepare us for the childish taunts of other kids, teens tend to assess their worth by what other people think.

The best defence against bullying is self-esteem. In the first place, bullying is an issue around confidence. Those who lack self-esteem and self-confidence (even adults) suffer issues about who they are (self-image) and what they can do (self-efficacy). It’s imperative that parents are alert to their children’s needs at this time and reinforce love, acceptance, trust and confidence so that children feel supported and understood during these challenging, formative years.

Conflict, not harmony

Q. I want to believe in someone and something that won’t eventually let me down. So far they all have. I’ve been reading holy books. The more I read, the more similarity I find. Where is the harmony they speak of when conflict is what the world knows?

A. What is your definition of right and wrong? How does one recognise harmony? Depends where one is looking and against what criteria.

Whoa… complex issues indeed. I tend to take a much more simplistic view of life. Chew on bite-sized nuggets, if you know what I mean.

Our thoughts, feelings, speech and behaviour are within our control. We are so powerful. Isn’t this amazing? But, as Spiderman said, with great power comes great responsibility.

We are responsible for our own experiences and happiness. No one can live our life for us. Many may “show us the way” but we choose our path.

But notice, in the absence of freedom, when there is no choice. See what happens when man isolates, when he imposes guilt (on the pretext of defining a social conscience?)

Belief of wrongdoing automatically enslaves man. To my mind it’s the concept of sin that forces man’s dependence on a “something” for our deliverance into well-being.