January 4, 2021 Antonio Aguirre, Jr. HOW MUCH ARE YOU WORTH TO SOMEONE?

This could be worth millions to you if you don’t know how much your time is worth to someone. If you already know the answer to the question, then you’re most likely wealthy right now. So skip this. But for those that aren’t and don’t know the answer, read and digest this until the end.

This is why you’re only getting what you give.

We all want things in life, as much as possible for FREE. In exchange for absolutely nothing, no strings attached. Is that even possible? We desire to be rich, own nice things in life, have a nice house, a nice car or maybe 2 and yeah throw in a hot girlfriend or boyfriend while we’re at it. But do we honestly think that we deserve it or them?

If you were given Php 100,000,000 now for doing absolutely nothing at all by someone you don’t even know out of nowhere. Just magically entered your bank account or on your doorstep. Do you think you deserve it? You might try to rationalize that “Yes I deserve it. I’m a kind human being and I deserve this for helping out.” Ok nice try. The answer is no, you don’t. You gave nothing that’s worth that amount. That doesn’t happen in real life. Even winning a cash prize in a TV game show costs something to get. A sponsor paid the game show that money to give to you based on the attention and entertainment value you gave to those whose attention was bought by the game show for the sponsor. Ok sure, you lined up hours to be part of the show, nice effort. Luck has nothing to do with getting paid what you’re worth.

Nobody is dumb enough to give you money without you giving something back that is of VALUE to them. Political candidates give money to people in exchange for their vote. How do you think that candidate will get back what they gave you once they’re in position? You already know the answer of course. If there is really something like that given to us in exchange for nothing, it’s called “Charity”. This is why a beggar on the street gets almost nothing because they give little to no value to the one they’re asking money from, outside of pity. The beggars today are even selling pity pretty well compared to before I must admit. Understand this: We are paid accordingly what is of value to someone else, either with our time, value, product or service.

Let me explain using an example below what it means.

A janitor is paid Php 12,000 a month because it’s not rocket science to be a janitor, plus anybody can do a janitor’s job easily. It’s unglamorous hard work, and while it’s an honorable job, but difficult to execute, not really. You can say, the janitor works extra hard to do his work, but he will not get a 25% salary increase by working harder. But a janitor that knows how to do let’s say accounting or marketing work flawlessly for the same office that employs him in the same amount of hours (I know it just became harder for him, right?), besides doing his job as a janitor well could be paid Php 30,000 to Php 50,000. Also, he now makes afternoon snacks and sells it at the office, earning him an additional Php 1,000 to Php 2,000. What just happened? He became more valuable to more people. Again, you are paid based on the amount of value you give to other people. An employee gets paid for their time. An entrepreneur on the other hand gets paid based on the value that they bring to someone and more. Think of any successful entrepreneur and ask what they do. Most of them don’t give their time, but instead offer a product or service that’s solving a “pain-point” to society. The harder the problem they solve, the higher they are paid or the more people pay for that service. All people can point out what the problem is in our society, our government, or family, our work and our relationships. But not all can see the problems and provide a solution(s) for it.

If what you can teach in an hour is worth Php 100,000 to someone, then you will be paid that and maybe even more. If you have to sit on your desk for 160 hours a month to make Php 100,000 less taxes, then you are being paid for your time. If you think what you know is worth a huge amount of money to someone, then it probably is. I know a hundred things that can be sold by anybody that is of value, just ask me what it is, and I will tell you. But it’s easier said than done. If it were easy to do so, everyone would be doing it. And that’s why many are “comfortable” getting something consistently every 15 to 30 days. They know what to expect. No surprises. Those performance and 13th month bonuses are even expected. You know it’s always to be coming in to your bank account. Comfort is an addiction that we don’t even realize, just like eating food and binging in social media is a bigger addiction than what illegal drugs does.

When you figure out what you can give to the world, and you don’t even have to ask or beg for what you deserve in return, you will never be poor again. The world gives you what you deserve based on what you can offer like an actual product such as food, electronics or clothing (the best is non-tangible goods like providing entertainment, giving out useful information or educational services because it’s free or almost free to make), not just what you desire or want.

So the question you want to ask yourself is this: What can you give consistently of abundance that is of value to 1 person or millions of people, so you can receive what you want to get in return? The possibilities are endless.