In one of my posts yesterday I spoke about the importance of creating wealth within your inner world as a prerequisite for manifesting wealth in the world around you. I'd like to expand upon the importance of that concept for you today.
We spend much of our lives being programmed by the society around us. Society programs us to believe that we amount to very little and that we're worth what it decides to give us. That doesn't tend to be very much. We are further trained to believe that there isn't much we can do to rectify this. We just have to accept it as our lot in life. When we have no job, we beg for what we can get and we eagerly accept whatever they throw our way to prove our worth.
Yesterday I spoke of the principle of "As Within, So Without." The thing about principles such as this is that, depending on the circumstances, the inverse can be true instead. If you don't take the time to form your inner world and develop a true sense of your own will, the principle at play within your life will be "As Without, So Within." You can see the effects of this everywhere you look. People are constantly defined by the circumstances of the world around them. It forms their sense of whom they are. Most insidiously, it forms them in such a way that they're powerless. The society around them defines the value of their life and they merely accept it, along with whatever price tag comes attached.
When you take the time to change your thinking and to shape your inner world you fundamentally change this dynamic. How much would you like to be making right now? Choose a number, higher than your current salary. Keep it realistic so that your mind will have no trouble accepting it. Congratulations, you've just changed your value! Now justify it. Sit down and list all of the reasons as to why you're worth this new value. It might be hard at first but whatever you do don't talk yourself out of believing it. List your education, your concrete accomplishments, and your various proven talents. Keep it worded in positive language -- write about what you are and not about what you're not. Make every statement an "I" statement. "I graduated from high school at the top of my class." "I have a doctorate in chemical engineering." "I was responsible for designing the new office mailing system that improved efficiency by 10% last year." Include even the small accomplishments that you don't think are worth much on their own -- taken together, they'll turn out to be substantial! At the top of this list, write, "I am worth $[insert your new value here]."
Now keep this list in a safe place where you'll see it every day. Read it out loud, once when you get up and once when you go to bed, every day. Read it more than once if you have the time. Embed the new amount and the reasons for the new amount deep within in your head.
When it comes time to ask for a raise or to negotiate a salary for a new job, keep this number that you have set in mind and do not settle for anything less. Make sure to do your homework before going in. Look at your list and determine the ways in which the qualities you listed apply to the job in question. "I graduated from high school at the top of my class" might not mean much twenty years after the fact, but it does translate into you being a motivated hard-worker who can meet deadlines and memorize loads of useless information! Tailor your list beforehand and, when you're asked to justify your new value to your employer or potential employer, name off the items. Don't beg for the new amount -- sell yourself like a polished marketer. Explain the reasons as to why you've assigned this particular value to your services. Convince your employer that this is really what you're worth.
If you want to be in the driver's seat of your life, it all starts in your head. Set a value in your head. Justify that new value with the facts. Assert that value in the world around you so that it is set in the heads of others. Look for ways to offer the service of your talents when opportunities arise, both around work and outside of work. When you start to think and act in this manner you'll find yourself on a road towards greater success than you had previously imagined.
Showing posts with label negotiation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label negotiation. Show all posts
Monday, February 7, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Ramit Sethi's "I Will Teach You To Be Rich"
I found what I considered to be an excellent blog on the topic of wealth creation -- Ramit Sethi's I Will Teach You To Be Rich. At first glance his site appears to be a marketing scam. After raking through the voluminous information he has to offer, however, I can plainly state that there is much there that is worth your time. He offers it for free and appears to take a very ethical approach. I very much like how he's all about action.
I wouldn't say that I'd necessarily pay him for his services, of course. The value of his site comes from elsewhere. Pay attention to the techniques he uses in what he writes. Study them. His ultimate goal is to set a high value in your mind as to what his services are worth. That's what most wealth gurus do. Always pay attention to the marketing used when dealing with people who want to teach you to be rich. That's truly the key.
Marketing is about using what you know about yourself, using what you know about the other person, and, perhaps most importantly of all, using what the other person does not know in order to create a sense of value. Your services become valuable when you imbue them with a sense of value. That's what Sethi does throughout his blog. That's why he offers 99% of his information for free. That other 1% is where his bread and butter is. It may or may not be as valuable as the rest of what he's given you (and what he's given you is easily available elsewhere) but his website creates a sense in your own mind that it's worth every penny he asks.
Without going into details, he also uses subtle and very effective psychological techniques in what he writes to increase that sense of value even further. Study what he says, but also pay attention to how he says it. Study the gears that move in your own mind as you read through his words. It's effective and, at the end of it all, it's like you'll want his services.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. The ability to attach a high sense of value to your services is perhaps the single most profitable skill you can develop. No one forces you to pay for a particular product or service. It's all about the value you choose to attach to it. A great example of how he does this involves a contest he was running every week for the past month. As a reward for successfully applying his principles, you could choose between an expensive prize worth thousands of dollars or 15 - 30 minutes of his time. The implication is that his time and the value of his services far surpass the value of whatever else he was offering. It's a classic psychological marketing technique.
There is nothing wrong with this. Value is in the eye of the beholder. This is exactly what he teaches.
At any rate, I would recommend Mr. Sethi's website unreservedly, if only as a study guide for the methods he uses in establishing value in the minds of his readers. I don't personally recommend his premium services. I personally do not need such services and I believe that no one's advice is worth as much as he asks. If you find yourself considering paying for his services, listen to this bit of advice -- the value of a particular service is no more or no less than that which you personally assign to it. If you find yourself convinced to pay that sort of money for advice, it's not so much that the advice is worth that so much as that you've been convinced it is.
Study, examine, and recognize the marketing methods that go into the way he sells his services before agreeing to put your hard-earned money into paying for them. Realize, just as he recommends, that an intelligent individual would negotiate a buying price before going in. Finally, recognize that nothing is given to you in life. Even with the right mentors and consultants you absolutely must earn your success every step of the way.
I wouldn't say that I'd necessarily pay him for his services, of course. The value of his site comes from elsewhere. Pay attention to the techniques he uses in what he writes. Study them. His ultimate goal is to set a high value in your mind as to what his services are worth. That's what most wealth gurus do. Always pay attention to the marketing used when dealing with people who want to teach you to be rich. That's truly the key.
Marketing is about using what you know about yourself, using what you know about the other person, and, perhaps most importantly of all, using what the other person does not know in order to create a sense of value. Your services become valuable when you imbue them with a sense of value. That's what Sethi does throughout his blog. That's why he offers 99% of his information for free. That other 1% is where his bread and butter is. It may or may not be as valuable as the rest of what he's given you (and what he's given you is easily available elsewhere) but his website creates a sense in your own mind that it's worth every penny he asks.
Without going into details, he also uses subtle and very effective psychological techniques in what he writes to increase that sense of value even further. Study what he says, but also pay attention to how he says it. Study the gears that move in your own mind as you read through his words. It's effective and, at the end of it all, it's like you'll want his services.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. The ability to attach a high sense of value to your services is perhaps the single most profitable skill you can develop. No one forces you to pay for a particular product or service. It's all about the value you choose to attach to it. A great example of how he does this involves a contest he was running every week for the past month. As a reward for successfully applying his principles, you could choose between an expensive prize worth thousands of dollars or 15 - 30 minutes of his time. The implication is that his time and the value of his services far surpass the value of whatever else he was offering. It's a classic psychological marketing technique.
There is nothing wrong with this. Value is in the eye of the beholder. This is exactly what he teaches.
At any rate, I would recommend Mr. Sethi's website unreservedly, if only as a study guide for the methods he uses in establishing value in the minds of his readers. I don't personally recommend his premium services. I personally do not need such services and I believe that no one's advice is worth as much as he asks. If you find yourself considering paying for his services, listen to this bit of advice -- the value of a particular service is no more or no less than that which you personally assign to it. If you find yourself convinced to pay that sort of money for advice, it's not so much that the advice is worth that so much as that you've been convinced it is.
Study, examine, and recognize the marketing methods that go into the way he sells his services before agreeing to put your hard-earned money into paying for them. Realize, just as he recommends, that an intelligent individual would negotiate a buying price before going in. Finally, recognize that nothing is given to you in life. Even with the right mentors and consultants you absolutely must earn your success every step of the way.
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