Making Lemonade Out of Your Employment

As most of the readers know I believe that working for oneself is an ideal situation to promote financial strength and to eliminate vulnerabilities. However, I realize that the majority of Americans simply aren’t ready to make such a transition from working for someone else to working for oneself. So today I’m going to address some smart actions that you can take at your present employment in order to help mitigate some of the risks that you actually have in relying on someone else for your paycheck.

While working for someone else can be risky, there are actually some inherent advantages if you change your point of view a bit.  I’d like to explore those advantages in today’s article in hopes that you can use those advantages to your greatest ability.  The result you will get from implementing these suggestions I multi-fold. First you’ll have more satisfaction in your job. Secondly you’ll put yourself on top of the list for well-deserved recognition, raises, etc. And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, you’ll use this time while you’re employed to strengthen your self-employment venture.

The first thing I’m going to recommend that you do is to mentally take partial ownership of the company that you’re working for.  Eliminate thoughts of “the company pays for it” or “the company won’t notice” or “the company owes me.”  If YOU are the company then a lot of that misleading entitlement mentality is dissolved and you go from being a warm body to being a formidable producer for the company—thus making yourself invaluable.  By doing so, you will have a beneficial paradigm shift that will pay you large dividends for the rest of your life.

The fact of the matter is, YOU are the company.  You have the ability to be a huge liability or the company or to be a money maker for the company. If you’re a money maker, then obviously you can ensure that you’ll still have a paycheck even during troubled times. So, how do you apply this “own it” mentality to your work environment?

Well, first of all, apply it to yourself and your own work ethic. Ask yourself whether or not you are just filling space or making a difference to the bottom line of the company. There’s NO one in a company that should look at themselves as just a space filler. If the company spends money on a particular position then they must determine how that position is expected to earn the company more money. That goes for a receptionist, a janitor, a line worker, and every other employee.  If you feel like you don’t know what part of the company you are playing in their profits, then by all means ask. I assure you that such a question may very well be a refreshing change to most employers. Hmmm. Someone who actually wants to make sure that they participate in the strengthening the company’s bottom line.

Next, look at your fellow employees.  They have the potential to strengthen or shred your financial future. You probably know better than their boss what kind of an asset they are to the company. What can you do to improve their own work performance and set the bar higher for production and work ethic? When associating with your fellow employees, it’s wise to be a great example to them. A lot of people need to actually SEE what they are expected to do. And when they do see it, they are quick to mimic the examples which are set.  Look at your fellow employees as financial assets instead of as “friends.” I don’t mean for you to turn off your human kindness chip. Instead I’m asking you to recognize that your fellow employees have a direct impact on your financial future.  If an employee is a slacker, for whatever reason, guess what? They are a huge liability for your financial future because they aren’t earning the company any money; instead, they are costing the company a bunch of money. Ultimately a bad employee can cost you your job—either through fraud or by costing the company vital cash assets that could be better spent elsewhere to strengthen the cash flow of a business.  Ignoring the questionable actions of your fellow employees can cost you much more than just a job.  As an example, three years ago a highly successful business had to completely shut down and file bankruptcy—all because of the actions of a rogue employee and the fellow employees who failed to realize the intimate connection between employees and the success of a company. In this instance there was a disgruntled employee who chose to steal the company’s entire client list and then proceeded to call the clients and spew all kinds of falsehoods about the company they were doing business with.  This particular employee even impersonated an FBI agent in making their poison phone calls and caused a great deal of problematic fallout for the company and its employees.  The amazing thing is that once the company realized that this theft had taken place, only then did other employees come forth and say things like “Yeah, I wondered about her. She did “this and this” which made me question her honesty. But I didn’t want to get in trouble for bringing it up”  Well, guess what? Because these employees just looked at their work as a “job” they compromised their own job security by not looking out for the company that they were working for—and everybody suffered a huge financial loss—losing six-figure bonuses that were to be paid out later in the year. Ouch.  Success knows no cowards folks. Bottom line, if the business you’re working for does not earn a profit no one has a job.

Next, understand that nothing is free. While there may always be water in the refrigerator, or lunches brought in, understand that it all costs the company money. Logistically if there is less money wasted then there is less money to put in your own bank account.  Mentally, as a partial owner of the company, it’s natural to keep your eye out for waste that can cost the company money. As companies get larger it’s simply impossible to keep track of every little penny and how it’s spent.  However, if you can help to be a second pair of eyes and pay attention to wise spending, then you can literally pay for your position simply with the money you save the company.

Lastly, I recommend that you take advantage of as much education that your company offers as possible. Use the education to strengthen your position with the company and by all means, put the education into action. It’s one thing for you to hold a degree in a particular topic, it’s completely another though to actually put it into action. Use the time you have with your employer to hone and strengthen your skills and it will pay huge dividends for you for the rest of your life.

Taking these particular actions will help to eliminate some of your vulnerabilities in working with another company and help you better determine what you will and won’t do when running your own business.  Everybody wins this way and best of all, you get to leave your present company with a clean conscience that you gave it your all.

Join us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter here

To see our upcoming event schedule, click here

Check out our in-home-course programs

Subscribe to Preparedness Pro today and never miss a thing!

For any questions or comments on this article, please leave a comment on the blog site so that everyone can benefit!

Copyright Protected 2010, Preparedness Pro and Kellene. All Rights Reserved. No portion of any content on this site may be duplicated, transferred, copied, or published without written permission from the author. However, you are welcome to provide a link to the content on your site or in your written works.