How To Get Paid For Being You
Imagine getting paid for just being you?
It’s possible!
When Jeff Harry, a member of our Fall 2019 Accelerator first learned about this concept, he said it blew his mind!
He said, “That’s exactly what I want! I want to be paid for just being myself!”
He even shared this video on LinkedIn about his epiphany.
I want to help you create work that works for you too.
What does that mean?
It means creating work in alignment with your values, needs and abilities.
It means designing your own unique business model around your core habits and strengths.
It means YOU are the starting point of your business, not your customers or even your idea!
Work as it has been taught to you has been designed for the needs of corporations.
Work was never designed for your individual needs as a human being.
Think about it. In our current economic system, you are either referred to as a “human resource” or a “consumer”.
Your being has been reduced to nothing more than input and output to be exploited.
RECLAIM YOUR PERSONAL RESOURCES
Do you know how Big Tech companies became the most valuable corporations in the history of humanity?
They mined human “attention”. They capture your attention, my attention and everyone else’s attention. Then they sell that harvested attention to the highest bidder. (Watch The Social Dilemma if you haven’t already. I insist!)
Your attention is your most valuable and limited resource. Corporations know this, yet we easily let it be stolen from us every day.
Without reclaiming your attention, it’s next to impossible to get paid to be you.
I remind our Accelerator members that they are the first and most important resource of their business. Without you, your idea, your passion, your skills and your effort, your business won’t get off the ground.
When you want to get paid to be you, you first need to reclaim your personal resources of your attention, energy and time.
You need to take full ownership of them. Stop letting them be stolen. Stop thinking they are infinite.
How would you feel if someone stole money from you?
You’d be upset. You’d feel violated. You’d want it back!
Why on earth don’t you treat your attention, energy and time the same way? They are more valuable than your money!
To harness your personal resources, you first need to reclaim your full attention. It enables you to make more productive use of the rest of your personal resources.
To earn money you first need to focus your attention to direct your energy at a specific moment in time to acquire knowledge and to build relationships.
Then you get paid money.
Stop leasing your personal resources to your employer to fulfill their needs.
Harness them to fulfill yours.
WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL PRODUCTIVE?
Too many of us are overwhelmed, anxious and burned out because we’re working out of alignment with ourselves.
You’re so stressed out because you put SO much effort and energy into aligning yourself with the needs of your employer and our economic system.
We’re told how to be more “productive”. Heck, we were taught to “follow the directions”!
There’s no “one-size-fits-all” approach to productivity!
You want to get paid to be yourself?
Define what it means to be productive for yourself.
Have you ever asked yourself what makes you “feel” productive?
You know what makes me feel more productive?
Doing my most important work before noon every day.
Taking long walks in the afternoon or gardening.
Dropping everything when a family emergency arises.
Giving into cat naps when I need them.
Talking out challenges with my peers.
Reducing the number of decisions I need to make.
Listening to music without lyrics when I write.
Depending less on my to-do list and more on my habits.
Taking at least two months off each year.
Working an average of 5 hours a day.
Imagine if I asked for just three of these needs in a job interview??
Conventional work will never meet my needs, to say the least!
That’s why I decided to create work that worked for me so long ago.
How can you start the process of getting paid to be you?
ASSESS YOURSELF FIRST
Again, if you want to work for yourself, the most important resource in your business is YOU.
The first and most often overlooked step when starting a business is assessing yourself.
I believe most businesses fail because founders, solopreneurs and business owners skip over this crucial step.
They don’t know their strengths, what makes them feel confident or how to deal with distractions of all kinds!
You can’t get paid to be you without knowing yourself for yourself first.
When you choose to work for yourself, you’re hiring yourself.
Unfortunately, you can never fire yourself, so you need to learn how to manage yourself!
The only way to learn how to manage yourself is to first learn what makes you “tick”.
When you choose to work for yourself, you are choosing to explore what makes you feel productive.
Choosing how you like to work has not been a luxury most employers have extended to their employees.
So, the first question I want you to ask yourself is this, “What is the role you want work to play in your life?”
Second question, I want you to ask yourself is this, “Outside of earning money, what motivates you to work?”
If you’re ready to assess yourself now, I highly recommend taking a look at our 12-Week Self-Assessment Challenge.
Each week you’ll receive a new challenge focused on exploring a specific area of your life like managing your energy, understanding your values and learning how you learn.
If you’re sick and tired of working on someone else’s terms and you’re ready to work on your own terms, get started by assessing yourself first.
Honor your values, needs and abilities by creating work that works for you.
As work continues to change as we know it, getting paid for just being yourself, doesn’t just seem like a nice option, it’s fast becoming THE option!
Are you ready to get paid to be YOU?