Profits vs Wages

pby U.S. SBA Entrepreneur of the Year amp; Marketing Director of Fears amp; Clark a href=http://www.fearsclark.com target=_blankTulsa Real Estate/a GroupbremNo man can become rich without himself enriching others/emâ#128;#157; – Andrew Carnegiebrbrnbsp; Lets be honest and candid here. Sincerely, how empowering it is to go to work everyday knowing that you will always make the exact same sum? How much excitement do you get out of knowing that no matter how hard you work you will always make the exact same amount of money? How motivated are you to really push yourself after the latest rah, rah sales meeting when you know that your income will not incresae whether the company is successful or not? How much adrenaline pumps through your veins when the company announces its quarterly earnings when you know that the companys profits do not relate to your paycheck at all? How exciting is it to watch those first grade communist-style kids soccer games where no one keeps score? My friend over the years working as a serial entrepreneur and founder of 10 successful small businesses I will tell you this, strongprofits are always better than wages and salaries put adults in comfortable cages./strongbrbrnbsp;nbsp; If you are a fellow business owner then you have probably dealt with the issues caused by having a staff that consists completely of salaried people. As the owner you work everyday like your hairs on fire andnbsp; like your livelihood depends on the success or failure of the business, because it does. As an employee on salary, most employees make sure that they complete nearly every task that you have asked of them in their job description and thats it. As an owner you will stay late, get their early and do whatever you have to do to wow the customers (your boss). As a salaried employee, you will be their right on time and you will leave right on time and you will make sure that you do only the things in your job description because their are many things that are outside of your job description. However this employer vs. employee comparison does not have to be so dramatic.brbrnbsp;nbsp; Nearly 11 years ago when I started working in the Electronics department local retailer, I was excited. And my excitement stayed with me for around 3 days. Then overtime I began to discover that my Manager was an individual who was not concerned about wowing customers. My manager was not excited about looking for ways to cut costs. My Manager was excited about having a salaried job and the job security that his job provided. Although my manager did not know it at the time, he had actually exchanged his dreams, goals and life vision for a comfortable prison the moment he took that salaried job. The moment that he said, Yes, I would like to exchange my time for a set amount of money and benefits was the moment that he quit dreaming. On a salary you cant dream. On a salary you have to be realistic. On a salary you have to look at your schedule and plan out those 10 days per year you get off on vacation. On a salary you have to figure out how you can do the best you can do during the friendly confines of your 8 hour shift because working more than that just does not make sense. After all, when the company makes more money, you wont necessarily make more money.brbrnbsp; The companies that get it understand this idea of salaried employees only doing just enough to get by. Walmart has company stock that employees can purchase. When they purchase the stock, Walmart matches their contributions. Why? Because Walmart wants their people to share in the successes and overall profitability of the company. Walmart wants its employees to deliberate like business owners instead of just salaried employees. Southwest Airlines issues shares of company stock to its employees. Why is that? Why does Southwest issues employee stock when most other airlines do not? Why does Southwest hope to share its profits so much? Southwest shares its profits because it wants its employees to work like business owners not just salaried employees. As a result of this profit-sharing philosophy and their rigorous interviewing, hiring and training processes, Southwest is the ONLY AIRLINE THAT NOW MAKES A CONSISTENT PROFIT. Think about that. Since day 1, Southwest has been one of the most profitable airlines in the sky. Who comes up with all of their cost savings ideas? Their employees and their customers. Why do Southwest employees sincerely desire to listen to their customers? Because, their employees receive part of the profits, not just wages. Southwest understands that wages put employees into comfortable cages.strongSalaried Cages:/strongbrbrnbsp; What are comfortable cages? A comfortable cage is choosing to live your lfe in the world of scarcity instead of in the world of copiousness. Living in a comfortable cage is living in a house that you dont love, while working at a jobbrbrBeware of Comfortablenbsp; that you dont love, while slowly exchanging all of your big dreams with more realistic dreams. Comfortable cages are not too small. These changes have air-conditioning and the prison guards outside of your comfortable cages do feed you well. Not great. But, they do feed you well. They offer you a little more job security and a few more benefits in exchange for a few more of your dreams. Sure, you didnt grow up wanting to be a middle manager at some large corporation, but you have stability (until you get layed off). The irony is that after 8 years living in your comfortable cage your care-giver decides that its time to move on and forgets to feed you. Your care-giver forgets to check in on you. And then you quickly discover that your stability has been taken away. And it really has been a long time sense you have had to feed yourself. Hell, you havent left the cage to hunt for food for nearly 8 years. You had gotten comfortable with the regular secure and prudent diet plan. However, now you are on the scarcity plan because your stability was taken away.brbrstrongAre you willing to bet on yourself and your results?/strongbrbrâ#128;#156;emPeople who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents./emâ#128;#157; – Andrew Carnegiebrbrnbsp; My employee friend, if you are living in your comfortable cage, get the hell out. My business owner friend, if you are putting your people in comfortable cages get them the hell out. Everybody I have ever met has always believed that they should be paid what they are worth. Well, how are you ever going to pay someone what they are worth, when you take the average production level of the group and assign wages to everyone based on average performance. Paying people hourly wages is insane. Working for hourly wages is insane as well. Sure, everyone needs a place to start, but are you kidding me? Do you really want to exchange the best hours, days and moments of your life for a secure paycheck. Thats nuts!brbrnbsp;nbsp; If employers want to motivate employees and hire people that actually care about what they are doing then we need to pay people based on their merits and based on their production. If Eddie makes 3 times as much money for the company as John, then Eddie needs to make 3 times what John makes. If Karen gets twice as many projects done as Kevin, then Karen needs to make twice as much as Kevin. Over the past decade, I have discovered this time and time again. The kind of person that craves stability over merit-based pay will always be outworked by the man or woman who is willing to work strictly on merit-based pay. The kind of person that is unwilling to work in a merit-based pay system is saying loud and clear, I REFUSE TO GET PAID BASED ON MY MERITS. AND I DEMAND TO BE PAID BASE ON THE NUMBER OF YEARS I WILL WORK FOR YOU AND THE NUMBER OF HOURS I WILL WORK FOR YOU. This person is stating, I DO NOT WANT YOU TO JUDGE ME BASED ON MY RESULTS. HOWEVER, I DO WANT YOU TO JUDGE ME BASED ON THE AVERAGE RESULTS OF OUR TEAM. This is lunacy.brbrnbsp; Over the years I have started one of Americas biggest wedding entertainment businesses, a professional photography business, a videography business, a party-rental business, a web-design business, a a href=http://www.fearsclark.com target=_blankTulsa real estate/a business, a business coaching business, a landscaping business, and numerous other business ventures. And everytime, without a doubt that I interview a person, I can tell whether they are going to make it or not based on their opinion of merit-based pay. The pro-union guy will always be outperformed by the guy who likes to bet on himself, his work ethic and his results. My friend profits are better than wages and salaries truly do put people in comfortable cages. brbrstrongAdvice For Employers and Employees/strongbrbremâ#128;#156;The secret of success lies not in doing your own work, but in recognizing the right man to do itâ#128;#157;/em – Andrew Carnegiebrbrnbsp; If you are an employer do not enslave your people and kill their dreams by offering them salaries instead of merit-based pay structures. The people what are asking you for those salaries dont have what it takes to grow anyhow. As an owner you get paid based on what you produce, so should they. As your company thrives and grows, your employees pay should grow as a direct result. As an owner you have a responsibility to incentivize and motivate your employees by compensating them fairly. Do not demotivate your top performers simply to pacify your bottom feeders.brbrnbsp; If you are an employee and you ever desire to get ahead in life and to truly live the life of your dreams, you must only be willing to work for profits, merit-based pay. You must only be willing to work at a place that will truly pay you based on what you are worth. Be leary of the company that offers you benefits and salaries because your salary will definately not rise at the same level as the companys profits will. brbrSincerely,brClay ClarkbrU.S. SBA Entrepreneur of the Year, Serial-Entrepreneur amp; Business CoachbrCofounder of Fears amp; Clark a href=http://www.fearsclark.com/about-us target=_blankTulsa Real Estate/a. www.FearsClark.com – 918-481-2080brbr/p