You Know Better Than That!

A good friend of mine is going for a senior postion at a very large company.

As a manager, they are AWESOME!

• They have stood toe to toe with union officials and negotiated powerful outcomes that turned out to be in the best interest of the company and the union member.
• They have a level of loyalty in their staff that no other manager has ever created in this company before.
• They continually step up into their boss’ role for prolonged periods as their boss travels and consults elsewhere
• For seven years in a row their major projects have been nominated for major awards and have won the award on several occasions
• They are half way through an MBA at Australia’s most prestigious university (and getting really good marks)
• Their division in the organisation is constantly referred to as the “role model” by the senior executive team
• They have done the hard yards and performance managed the “dead wood” which has lifted the morale of the team

​Having said all of that, my friend still doubts their value and I spent an hour or so coaching them on understanding what they are worth.

Whether you are negotiating salary deals, contracts or any other deal you know better than to discount yourself – yet I see people do it everyday. Women seem to discount their value more often.

DON’T DO IT!! STOP IT!!

This is all about value. Make sure you know what you are worth and hold your value. You are only discounting yourself if you don’t. Be confident and proud about the value you bring. We all know charlatans who got paid more purely because they believed.

So Dear-Reader, what is your value or the value of your product or service?

Here is what Bob Newhart has to say about it.

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What Do You Get?

So often when I talk with people at conferences, their focus is “What do you get?” It was a delight to spend time with some people whose focus was “What can I give?”

I had the privilege of peforming MC duties for 250 women attending the Emerald Community Girls Big Night In (a Cancer Council fundraiser) and the following night performing the same duties for 150 people at the Big Brother Big Sister Awards night (pictured above). We heard some great stories of people who willing gave of themselves only to feel like they get so much more in return.

The work place is the same. You need to give to others on the team before you will get what you want. Unfortunately, too many people are focussed on the payrise, the position or the next political move rather than, how can I help my customers, my team and my business get what they need and want.

Zig Ziglar said, “The best way to get what you want is to help others get what they want.”

If you shift your focus from “What Do I Get” to “What Can I Give”, you will be amazed and how good you feel and what will get dropped in your lap.

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What’s Your Solution?

I am up in the lovely state of Queensland visiting clients and doing some tech support for my mum and I have to say it, mum’s boyfriend is a very handy dude.

He loves working in the garden but the sandy soil and loads of creatures up here makes for special problems. One of the solutions is to grow the strawberries in containers.
But he didn’t want the containers to sit on the grass and kill it. Also they are very heavy to lift and move, so what did he do?

A couple of old golf buggy wheels, a jockey wheel off the caravan, a wheel-less wheel barrow, some coaster wheels and a few bit of wood and steel all got made into portable plant tables you can see in the photo. A fantastic solution that just took a bit of thinking, looking at what resources were available and what skill sets were present to come up with a solution.

In the work place today it seems that we struggle with solutions. We are so used to “Other People” providing the solution, managers telling us what to do or giving up because “it just can’t be done”.

Next time this happens to you, think of my mums boyfriend and ask:

• What resources have I got available?
• What skill sets are available?
• What is the outcome I am after?
• How can I combine all of this to achieve the outcome I want?

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Got Leverage?

Archimedes (the mathematical legend) said something to the effect of, “Give me a lever long enough …and I shall move the world.”

This principle remains valid today in engineering as well as in finance and in business.

Today our levers are not simply a large plank of wood. They can be leveraging the ideas and wisdom of others as well as the finance of others. It is one of the many reasons why wifey and I love investing in property. We can get some excellent leverage financially and from other’s experience. I have blogged in detail about this recently (Click here to read it)

While we are living in one of the most affluent of times and the quality of life that most of us experience has never been higher, I believe it is still important to plan for the future. I am in the age group where I will not have a pension available. Laws on super keep changing for seemingly political reasons. So I am using leverage NOW to build a better future.

What about you Friends?

Are you taking advantage of the leverage available to you? Are you fast tracking your skills sets by learning from others? Are you using your finance in an intelligent way to maximise its growth?

Quite simply, have you Got Leverage?

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