Employee vs. Business

“The only difference between a rich person and a poor person is how they use their time.” – Robert Kiyosaki

I think we all need to get out of the “employee” way of thinking: “time is money.” Because, in my opinion, that is a falsehood perpetrated to exploit the workers of the world. It is not how you actually make money in business.

An employee gets conditioned to believe that time spent at the workplace itself is valuable, that his mere presence entitles him to be paid. That’s due of course to the fact that his paycheck is tied to a time clock. However, in my opinion that’s self-imposed slavery! Because, that way of thinking then requires a “master” to force you, whether by encouragement or threats, to actually do something.

I know that I may be “preaching to the choir” as all of this probably seems obvious. However, bear with me because I will try to explain how it may not be as obvious as it seems.

What most people don’t see is that it is the EFFORT exerted that’s valuable, NOT the employee’s time. It is the effort that is put into getting work done, that can then be exchanged outside of the company, that is what actually makes the profit. The reason that people don’t really see this is because they’ve been conditioned to believe that effort is something that is painful – something that you suffer – rather than something that is rewarding in itself. Because, they don’t really enjoy what it is that they are doing, i.e. “their heart isn’t in it.”

The problem is that real effort requires purpose and responsibility, which can’t be given by a whip or another’s direction. That is why you typically have the problem of cross purposes between “labor” and “management” in most businesses. They are never on the same page due to the different ideas about exchange (how money is made). Management is always trying to exploit the labor to get more effort for less pay, and workers are all trying to do as little as possible while asking to get paid more for their time.

I understand how tough it is to break out of the conditioning of this time-based way of thinking. Especially, in a business like I’m involved in (construction) where everything is billed by the hour! It’s also something that has been drilled into us since our school days where we had to sit in classes from bell to bell regardless of whether we got our assignemts done or not. I think we all struggle to some degree to free ourselves from this trap, which is why we see spending time doing nothing or taking a vacation as so rewarding. Yet, none of us could truly take a vacation forever without feeling worthless and going stir crazy eventually. Because, that’s a backwards way if thinking!

As a business owner you must change that thought process for yourself and others if you really want to be successful. You have to truly believe in the value of EFFORT EXERTED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, and be willing to spend as much time as it takes to see profit without any exchange ($) at all. It’s often not comfortable, especially in the begining of a business venture. But, you must maintain this belief system to become successful. Because, if you fall back into the idea that your time spent is what entitles you to exchange, then you are guaranteed to fail!

So, how do you force yourself to enjoy working? Most people try to solve this by looking for some magical profession that is their “calling” or try to turn some hobby into a business. While that’s not a bad idea, rarely do such things actually work out in today’s economy, since “value” or the exchangeable quality of your product is driven by another’s demand or desires. So, unless you are extremely good at manipulating somone else’s desires, then you have to adjust what you offer to fit the market. And this might not always be whatever your own choice of work may be.

Instead, I think the answer lies in learning how to enjoy the “game of life.” The truth is that effort (often translated in our minds as suffering) is the real commodity that we have as human beings to offer. And the true reward is WHATEVER we can willfully direct that effort to accomplish, as long as it achieves ANY purpose that we can agree to. Because, if you really think about it, does it not feel the best when you decide to do something, and then you actually get it done, whatever it takes. Is that not winning the game?

The trick is that YOU have to be the one who decides. It doesn’t matter if whatever “it” is that you are trying to accomplish started out as another’s idea. YOU have to take ownership of it as your own and then overcome whatever barriers present themselves in order to accomplish it. And if you do, you will find reward in the effort itself, because you will be fulfilling your own goals and you will be learning all kinds of new things along the way. And that effort will most likely be valuable, as long as it is exerted in a direction that is able to be exchanged with others.

It is my belief that the more people you can get to work together in a business with this point of view, the easier it will be to profit, and the less problems you will have. In this way, you can truly foster a sense of ownership in everyone involved, instead of a single owner (or group of investors) who just try to exploit the efforts of the majority of “workers” beneath him.

This in my opinion is how we all as a team will win!