Working How Much You Want To and Earning Your Full Value
Think about this. On average, the 500 companies in the S&P 500 index make nearly $500,000 in revenue per employee. That’s half a million dollars of sales for every employee in the company.
Regular non-executive employees at those companies earn anywhere from minimum wage (about $14,500 in the U.S.) to a max of maybe $200,000. Meanwhile, CEOs at those companies were paid $10.4 million dollars in total compensation on average last year.
Where does the rest of that revenue per employee go? Some is in the cost of goods sold, some is in executive pay, some is in overhead (like office buildings, supplies, software, etc.), and some is in profit.
Wouldn’t you like a bigger share of that $500K? There are a couple of ways you can get it. One way is to put in 20 years of 60-hour weeks at one of those S&P companies and do your best to become an executive. Then, you’d have a shot at making well more than that $500k.
Another way is to start a company yourself, cut out the overhead and executives and keep the profits and excess yourself. Will your small business make that $500K of revenue per employee? That depends on your business and how hard and smart you work.
The point is, how much you work and earn is up to you in the New Economy.
Maybe instead of working 40-60 hours a week like you would at a big company, you’d rather be able to make better use of your time and earn enough to support yourself while working less.
How about earning what you’d earn at that big company, while working 20 hours per week. Don’t think that’s possible? The people who have already made it possible would prefer you keep thinking that. There’s less competition that way.
The point is, how much you work and earn is up to you in the New Economy.
I’m not saying you’ll be able to earn six figures while working 4 hours a week within three months of starting your new venture. In reality, it will probably take a lot of hard work to reach a goal like that. If you want it though, there’s nothing but your own potential to hold you back.
80/20 Principle: I know this has been covered by everyone and their mom, but applying this principle has had such an incredible impact on my lifestyle that I can’t leave it out. By passing a few older clients off to friends of mine who are new to the business (and therefore can use the experience and cope with the smaller rates) and reducing the amount of time I spend on the phone, on IM, etc with people who are very talkative but not very good at getting to the point (while at the same time slightly increasing the number of more profitable projects I take on and spending more time with my more efficient friends) I’ve cut my work week down from 60-80 hours to about 10-15 in just 4 months. That reclaimed time is priceless to me, and just being able to read a few extra books a month and spend more time on my passion projects has been fantastic.
Colin Wright, Exile Lifestyle *
