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Hidden Value of Our Work

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I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about my career and the value of my job. I know that the first thing that comes to mind in terms of value is my salary but I want to dig deeper than that. I don’t know about you but when I think about my job in terms of money, I end up feeling like a number. There’s gotta be more value than just the salary, right?

So, I sat back this weekend and did some brainstorming in regards to what I value within my job. As it turns out, there’s a lot more I value than just my salary! Here are the things I came up with and hopefully they will help you value your job a little more this week:

Complete Benefits Package

Most people don’t think about this benefit that adds so much value to their career. I didn’t until just recently when I had to get my teeth cleaned at the dentist. When I was walking about, I asked how much I owed for the service and I got a reply back, “sir, you owe nothing, your insurance paid for it.” What a blessing! The bill was a couple hundred dollars and not a penny came out of my pocket. I realized that a comprehensive health and dentist plan covered by an employer is a HUGE benefit and adds tremendous value to your career. Even looking down the line in my own life with a family and kids, insurance becomes that much more important.

And I can’t forget to mention 401k plans. Since most companies offer these retirement accounts, you can take advantage of employer matching (if yours offers) and get ahead in your retirement planning portfolio. You couldn’t do this without your employer. That’s another big value of working for someone. Speaking of which, I need to increase my contributions this week!

Matt’s note: You can do this without your employer, but employer sponsored plans are definitely a blessing to be used and appreciated.

Networking Opportunities

This is a massive value in my opinion.  We all know that most people end up changing companies at some point during their career.  You never know when you will need recommendations for job opportunities or need a contact about finding a new job.  We spend a considerable amount of time in the workplace and those relationships can last a lifetime.  Think about mentors you’ve had, great bosses, and fun co-workers.  These relationships add tremendous value to anyone’s careers and should not be minimized or taken for granted.

Making an Impact for Christ

This is something that I’ve begun to realize more and more as I work within the corporate world.  God has placed us in our career at a specific company for a specific reason.  I cannot begin to tell you about the amazing talks I’ve had with co workers and the opportunities to bring them to church with me – how amazing is that?!  God did not design us to be worker bees left with no purpose other than busy work.  He designed us to change the workplace for his glory.  I have found that this type of thinking not only adds great value to my career but keeps me inspired to get up for work in the morning even when I don’t feel like it.

Solid Work-Life Balance

For me, this balance ranks much higher than my salary.  If a company offered me $100,000 but expected 80 hours a week, I would tell the company to take a hike.  If a similar company offered me $75,000 but expected me to only work 40 hours a week, I’d take the latter of the two.  Work-life balance is huge in my book.  When I feel pressured to budge on this issue, I think about extremely rich people on their death beds with no friends or family to comfort them as they pass.  Remember folks, money is a fleeting thing and will never bring happiness.  Only Christ can fulfill our hearts desire, so don’t get trapped into the lie that money is more important than or your relationships with family, friends, and the Lord.

As you can see, salary is only a sliver of the total value of my career.  It’s critical that we think of our jobs as a total package and not just numbers.  It causes us to value our job significantly more which helps us have a better time at work.

Take some time this week and brainstorm some things you value about your career.  I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

Working On The Business Not In The Business

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“Being in business for yourself” can mean many different things. For every Steve Jobs or Bill Gates who started companies worth billions there are many others whose businesses provide for simpler means like a comfortable living or more time with family.

There are subtle, but critical, differences between different business models.  An aspiring entrepreneur must make the simple, but not easy, decision of choosing which path best suits his skills, personality, and passions. There are a number of different business models that, if followed well, will lead to successful business ownership. It’s up to you to understand the differences between the two. The following differences will help you determine which type of business ownership may be best for your own situation.

Self employment

Self-employment generally means you are working traditional jobs in a more independent and flexible work setting. One example of self-employment is a graphic designer who leaves a company to start his own graphic design company. This new entrepreneur is probably doing the same type of work he did when employed, but now is free to work with different companies and on his own time. Instead of going to the office for a set number of hours, he may work hours of his choosing from the comfort of his home.

A typical business model for this type of work is the independent contractor agreement, where you work for a company outside a traditional employee agreement. The companies for whom you work will pay you a flat rate or hourly fee instead of a salary. I will discuss the differences between traditional and independent contractor work in a future article.

Business owner

A business owner typically spends more time working on marketing, hiring employees, and growing the business than working in the business. You may do some of the “technical work” that an independent contractor would do, but you also set up systems and delegate responsibility to lessen the workload. You may hire employees or use other independent contractors, but you spend more time working “on” the business not “in” the business.

Services vs. products

Many self-employed individuals offer specialized services and may be writers, architects, accountants, financial planners, or any other profession where someone performs a service for a customer and is paid for time or results.

Business owners find ways to earn income that do not require an exchange of time. Small business expert Pat Flynn calls this type of income “passive income” because once initially set up it is generated without your direct involvement.

Many successful businesses contain a mix of products and services to generate multiple streams of income, Cliff Ravenscraft, founder of the GSPN.tv podcast network and nationally-recognized host of “Podcast Answer Man,” has transitioned his business from a purely service-based business to a mix of equipment sales, digital classes, and traditional consulting. Pat Flynn at Smart Passive Income is another example of someone who is building a business instead of creating a self-employment type of job.

Work smarter not harder

There is nothing inherently right or wrong with either type of business. In fact, many businesses start as service-based companies because little start-up money is required. As the business grows and the owner generates more revenue, selling products and generating other passive income allow owners to spend less time doing technical work and becoming an entrepreneur instead of a worker.

The beauty of entrepreneurship is there a nearly-unlimited range of opportunities to achive the goal of owning a business. What you must do is find the business model and activities that match your personality and individual goals. Owning a business should reflect your unique ideas and vision, and it’s up to you to find the right way to bring the best of yourself to your business.

Matt’s note:  To increase joy and longevity make sure your business helps fulfill your life mission, whatever that may be.

Recommended further reading for this topic is Michael Gerber’s excellent book The E-Myth Revisited – Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It.
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Learning To Dream Again

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I’m smiling right now and have been for days.  About a week ago Betsy resigned and is now officially working alongside me as a full-time entrepreneur!  She had been miserable in her job for several years and was in desperate need of a sabbatical and career change.  Her employer took good care of her and she was friends with many coworkers but the career was just a bad fit for her goals, dreams, and gifts; it just took her a long time to realize it and even longer to do something about it.  I traveled a similar path.

Let’s take a closer look at how I lost sight of dreams then rediscovered their importance and learned to find the courage to chase after them again.

How I lost sight of my dreams

When did I lose site of my dreams?  I think it happened during college, but am sure that by the time I graduated my dreams had completely dropped off my radar.  Instead I was busy writing a resume analogous with most other graduates and groveling for entry level jobs that I knew very little about.  Would these jobs challenge me?  Would they help me find happiness?  Would they even be something I enjoyed doing?  Surprisingly I spent almost zero time pondering these questions and instead moved along like a zombie because it was the path everyone else seemed to be walking.  College didn’t equip me with critical thinking skills and never challenged me to answer these terribly important questions before choosing a life path.

And so I graduated still unable to answer these simple questions and even further away from asking them.

Life chose my direction

To be honest, until recently I never knew what I wanted to do with my life.  I went to college because my dad wanted me to and because all my friends were going.  I finished college – with a 7 year bachelors degree – because I wanted to finish what I started and had no idea what else to do.  I pursued a job in my field because I had spent $50,000+ on the education.  I kept the jobs in my field, despite being unhappy and unfulfilled, to keep up with the debt and to begin pursuing other “normal” life progressions like buying a car, buying a house, filling my house with cool stuff, etc.

The point is, if you don’t consciously chose your path at every turn, life will chose for you.

So whose fault is it?

It’s nobody’s fault really, it was just the path I traveled in life.  I don’t necessarily regret any of it because it all worked together to bring me where I am today.  I don’t blame college, I don’t blame society, I don’t blame anyone… mostly I’m thankful that God is continually shaping and molding me into a vessel to be used for His glory.  I mean, who knows?  If I hadn’t been through so many uncertainties in life, would I be writing this article today?  I doubt it.

Without my trials and tough times I would likely be more selfish and less focused on my goals.

Learning to dream again

Through all this uncertainty I was continually unhappy about my lack of true purpose.  I knew I was a Christian and I knew I needed to glorify God.  I was sure He wasn’t calling me into full-time ministry in the typical sense, but just as sure I was in the wrong line of work.  For a long time I thought there was something wrong with me, but as time passed I became increasingly certain that I simply needed a career change – but I had too much debt!

I started really chasing my dreams at the start of 2009 when I started DebtFreeAdventure.com.  I realized I badly needed a change, that my lifestyle choices up to that point had trapped me, and that my debt played a major role; so I decided to start getting rid of it.  DFA was a healthy step in learning to chase my dreams again, and it continues to be today.  Now I use DFA to stay accountable to my financial goals, to help others understand the power of debt and to help them get out, to encourage more saving and giving, and to help people understand that they need to focus on finding and fulfilling their life mission.

Where are we now?

In October of 2010 I lost my job as an Information Technology professional but decided to keep looking for another while taking a shot at replacing my career earnings with the income from DebtFreeAdventure.com and DiyNatural.com.  After having no luck finding IT work in Michigan’s poor economy I took a shot at becoming a financial advisor but quickly discovered working in that field would be yet another misadventure.  So in February of 2011 I decided to finally go for it; now, come hell or high water, I’m committed to turning my web properties into something that will help others and provide for my family. We are having to scrimp, sacrifice, and slash expenses for now but it’s all worth it to finally be pursuing a vocation that is in line with my calling!

We work hard and trust God for the increase.

The Jabs Dream Team

Now that Betsy is done with her career we’re chasing our dreams together and working full-time to deliver content that helps people increase personal freedom and joy.  We teach people how to break the bondage of debt so they can pursue their dreams.  We also teach people how to increase their self-reliance skills as an empowering creative outlet that helps save money, know what is in their food and household cleaners, and to live more sustainable lives that give back to society rather than blindly consuming and trashing.

All these things also help us and others prepare for an uncertain economic future.

That is our dream, so that is what we’re doing.  Now go chase your dreams!

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As featured in the Get Out Of Debt round up.