Determine your Own Worth

When I was a young man (which now means when I was 20 – 40 years old) working for small companies and large corporations, I had a lot of misconceptions.  At first I thought the engineers were infallible since they were “professionals” and educated.  I thought the corporate heads were unfailingly upright people who pretty near always knew what they were doing…after all, how else could they have come to be in such positions of authority?  Yeah…I was naive’.  Of course, experience taught me otherwise as I came to see the mistakes that were made;…the affairs with secretaries, the backdoor deals with contractors and developers, the back stabbing and finger- pointing when incompetence finally came to light.

But for me personally, the one naive’ conception that lasted long into my career, the one that was most damaging, was the idea that my own brilliance would naturally be recognized by the ones in charge – and that I would automatically be compensated for it.  I always did a good job, often adding my creativity to whatever process I was working with.  I found shortcuts, pointed out ways to improve things, came up with solutions using my intelligence.  Eventually I became the go-to guy for sticky technical situations in my office (in several different companies).  They knew that they could always get a different perspective from me, usually one that panned out.

But I held onto the illusion that the higher-ups would surely recognize my worth and actually pay me for it.  I went along for years, accepting whatever raises were routinely doled out company-wide wherever I was.  If I came to a point where I wanted more money, I switched jobs and asked for a bit more with the new employer.  Once when I became aware of a huge disparity between my salary and a peer’s, I asked for a 10% raise…and got it.  but that was a one-time deal, spurred only by my sense of fairness.

Other than that one time, I really never took it upon myself to evaluate my own worth.  I clung to that misconception that the ones in charge would have my best interest at heart and pay me what I was worth.  Even more laughably, I had a not-so-subconscious attitude that if they didn’t recognize the value of my contributions, f*ck ’em.  I wasn’t about to go and beg for more money.  Boy, I really showed them.  🙂

Here’s the thing: in business, the object is to provide a service or product, spend as little money as possible providing it, and charge as much money as possible for it.  If a supplier of widget parts continues to charge the same amount for what you need to build your widgets, you’re not going to call him up and say, “Listen, we’re making sooo much money from selling our widgets…wouldn’t you like us to pay you more for your parts?”  Of course not.  You’re going to keep our mouth shut, make sure he gets the contract every year, and send him a calendar or a bottle of whiskey (the cheap one, not the one you send your widget-buyers) at Christmas time.  You don’t care whether he’s making any money.  That’s his problem.

The point is that you’re a big boy or girl.  For the most part, if you have a job nobody in the business world is going to take you under their wing and make sure you’re taken care of – and if they do, you can be sure that there will be a price attached.  You need to recognize your own worth, evaluate what that worth is to others, and do what you can to get it.  Have a chat with the boss, explain why you think you’re worth more (“I need the money” won’t work!), and ask for the raise.  If he says there’s no way,  it is then up to you whether you skulk back to your cubicle and forget about it, or begin scanning the want-ads.

The same is true if you’re an entrepreneur.  Nobody is going to offer to pay you more than you charge for your service or product (although there will be occasions when they will ask to pay less!).  As your skills and ability to serve grow, you should be compensated accordingly.  When you do finally take the plunge and raise your rates, you’re figuratively going into your boss’s office.  And when your “bosses” decide there’s no way they can pay what you’re worth, it’s time to begin figuratively scanning the want ads – not for a new “job”, but for clients who are ready to take advantage of the benefit that you provide, and willing to invest in it.

It’s your responsibility to determine your own worth.  Nobody is going to do it for you.