CAREER
You Get What You Pay For
By Dan Miller
48days.com
CBN.com
-- Minimum Wage
This current discussion about minimum wage appears to me to be a meaningless argument. I don’t know of any serious business that can survive and thrive while trying to pay the minimum wage ($5.15). The market will not allow them to even consider it.
The question seems to me like asking how much you can sin and still get into heaven. Obviously, with that line of reasoning, the emphasis is in the wrong place. The focus should be how much joy can I experience by not sinning. You don’t get punished for sinning; you get punished by sinning.
The issue is the same with the minimum wage. If you fight for your right to pay only minimum wage, you will experience the curse of finding only people with that value. If I go to get my appendix taken out, I don’t want to bargain for the cheapest doctor. I want the best. If I want construction work done, I don’t look for price as the only determinant of who I choose.
Just this week, I got a bid from a local printer on a major printing job. I questioned the bid breakdown, as a small book spine was more than a full page. The president of the company e-mailed me and said he agreed there was something wrong with that quote. Now here’s where it gets interesting. Because of my past history with his company he said, “Why don’t you just tell us what you think the price ought to be and we’ll go with that?” If my approach was always to try to get it cheaper, would he have presented it in that way? But because I expect to pay a fair price for quality work, I did sit down and do my own calculations and told him what I thought the price should be. He readily agreed and began the job that afternoon.
I don’t want to make the other person lose when I do business with them. I want them to prosper and be successful as well. If you want the best people, the best service, and the best products, then buy the best. If you underpay and purchase sub-standard people or products, chances are strong that you will have wasted your entire investment.
I have frequent interaction with a company that has hundreds of employees. They are known for paying sub-standard wages as they think people should just consider it a privilege to work there. It’s easy to see that they could increase productivity dramatically if they cut their employee number in half and focused on finding the best and brightest people. They choose to continue with rampant inefficiency and low productivity, but they’re saving money on salaries.
Zig Ziglar’s motto has always been: "You can get anything in life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." I went to see him for the first time about 30 years ago and have found that adage to be extremely accurate.
And now – do you really want to eat that $.49 hamburger for lunch prepared by some dude who hates his job, resents what he’s being paid, and sees you as the enemy?
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Where's the Leak in Your Life?
Years ago a lifeboat in the London harbor sprung a leak, and while being repaired the workers found that a hammer had been left in the bottom of the hull by the builders 13 years before. The constant motion of the boat had allowed that hammer to wear completely through the planking and to then cause a tiny hole in the plating itself.
History is full of examples of buildings falling, cars disintegrating, marriages exploding, and careers collapsing as an end result of small blunders. The majority of airplane crashes, medical malpractice cases, and business failures are caused by small compromises or deceptions.
The dead letter department of the post office in Washington received seven million pieces of undelivered mail in one recent year. Eighty thousand of those bore no address whatever. Many were from established businesses. Are the workers responsible for those deserving of promotion?
Now is a great time to clean out your hull. Is there a small negative habit that is undermining your success? Is there a small indiscretion that is eroding a valued relationship? Make your life a Stradivarius; created with exquisite workmanship, unquestioned integrity, and life-giving habits.
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For want of a nail, the shoe was lost:
For want of the shoe, the horse was lost;
For want of the horse, the rider was lost;
For want of the rider, the battle was lost;
For want of the battle, the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a nail.
Explore 48 Days resources to fix the leak in your life.
No, That's Not the IRS
As April 15th approaches we are going to see more IRS related scams. Here’s a growing one:
You receive an official-looking e-mail, supposedly from the IRS. The e-mail states that the IRS is auditing you and that you must complete and return the attached questionnaire. If you do not respond within 48 hours, the message says you will face penalties and interest.
Like most scams, the questionnaire asks for personal and financial information, such as your Social Security number and bank account numbers.
Another variation on this IRS audit scam is a link in the body of the e-mail that will direct you to a fake IRS Web site. There you will be asked to input confidential information.
This e-mail is a type of phishing scam. The fake IRS audit e-mail is such a serious issue that the IRS has posted a warning on its official Web site. Don’t fall for this or any similar trap to get your personal information. Over the years I’ve had a lot of personal contact with the IRS. They don’t e-mail. Now that guy standing at your front door at 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning – he really might be from the IRS.
If you’re in business for yourself, don’t get behind with your IRS payments. Miss the light bill and don't eat if you’re short this month, but get the money owed to the IRS.
Read more at Scambusters.
Chit Chat Stealing
According to calculations by the business outplacement firm, Challenger, Gray and Christmas, the cost of workers' slacking at the office to chat about the Super Bowl could soar to $1.1 billion. That figure is based on the 48 million football fans who spend at least 10 minutes a day talking about football at a cost of $4.41 in wasted wages per person for each chat session. Although $4.41 isn't much to lose from one worker in one day, it adds up to over one billion when multiplied by all the football fans in the American workplace and the five-day work week.
Personal e-mails, surfing the Internet, and long lunches fall into the same category. If you've agreed to an eight-hour day, then anything short of that is a questionable exchange.
Humor - Uninterrupted Misery
I have always enjoyed the Dilbert cartoons and humor – because they are typically such an accurate depiction of the corporate workplace.
Friday’s had this conversation:
Boss: “Can you come to a meeting right now?”
Dilbert: “No, it’s almost lunch time. If I miss lunch, my day will be 12 hours of uninterrupted misery. I will envy the dead.”
Boss: “That’s stupid. The dead don’t eat lunch either.”
See it here.
Dan Miller is the bestselling author of 48 Days To The Work You Love and a renowned Life Coach specializing in career fulfillment. His weekly newsletter reaches 70,000 subscribers. Dan’s articles are featured here at CBN every Tuesday, and you can find out more about Dan at www.48days.com.
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