Your job description may outline what you do all day, but it rarely tells you what you really get paid for. Just showing up on time and doing an average job won’t make you wealthy. Nor will just keeping up with your co-workers.
To earn a large paycheck, you need to deliver the things that people and businesses pay for: passion, performance, expertise, and resources.
Of these, performance is the most common and expertise is a close second. Passion, although it usually can't pay the bills on its own, helps you build your expertise and develop the skills to deliver great performance. So that is where we will start.
1 - People pay more to have work done by those who are passionate and excited about their work. People can sense the spirit, enthusiasm and passion you put into your work. Just think about. Who do you want entertaining your children at a birthday party -- a bored clown or one who loves surprising and delighting children? Who earns a bigger tip - the enthusiastic and cheerful waitress or the grumpy one? People pay for having great service, wonderful products and meaningful life experiences - and passion is one of the main ingredients in each of these.
2 - Great performances earn great salaries. Most wages are tied to how well you perform on the job and the results you deliver. Some jobs, such as sales, are so linked to performance that these jobs are paid by commissions (a percentage of the amount sold). Sports, music and acting are other professions where how well you do determines the price of your contract. Just think about it. If you are a baseball player, your salary go up with your batting average. In the same way, if you are paid by the piece, the more you produce the more you earn.
In today's workplace, most salaries, raises and bonuses are tied to a performance review. And although performance evaluations are rarely a celebration of how well you are doing -- they do reflect how much performance is behind what you get paid. At the heart of every review is how much are you delivering what the company and the boss value. And if you have ever given or received a performance review -- you understand just how much it can differ from the job description. (There have been more than a few times after performance reviews when we wondered if we were hired for a different job! So if that has happened to you you are not alone. And now you know why they are so different. One tells you what you are supposed to do all day, and the other one tells you what you get paid for. Ironic that they differ so much -- but that is the modern workplace.)
3 - Expertise is highly sought after and rewarded. Ignorance and guessing leads to costly mistakes while expertise helps people gain advantages and take risks that pay off handsomely. So experts who have useful knowledge, know what needs to be done to succeed, and can put that knowledge into action are paid very highly. Think about it. Who do you want doing open heart surgery on you -- a chief surgeon or a new intern who has only read about it? Knowing what to do to ensure success or avoid failure is valuable, so people and businesses spend good money to buy the advice, services and products of experts and people in the know.
4 - People pay good money to access, use, rent and own resources. If you love to collect or already own unusual, valuable or useful objects -- you can make money from them. Everything from antique cars and attics full of civil war relics to second story balconies overlooking the Mardi Gras parade are worth real money to someone. In the last few years, eBay, sell.com, marketstand.com and other online auction and classified systems have provided a convenient and cost effective way to match up buyers and sellers. Chances are that if you paid good money for something, it has the potential to earn money for you.
