Becoming More Valuable in the Marketplace

by Venchito Tampon | Last Updated on October 18, 2018

This week, I was having a conversation with one of our employees who just went to a 1-year evaluation in our company.

I went over her accomplishments, how she behaved in the office and the improvements she needs to make in the coming months or years.

It’s tough to give evaluated feedback as you have to support your objective comments with data, notes and situational cases, where both of you would remember and agree.

Like every employee, she wants her salary to be adjusted. Of course, who didn’t want that?

Given the results and productivity she had, her line of work and the professional behavior she showed, the value that she gave to the company doesn’t deserve a salary adjustment.

With a little pondering with my business partner, we came to that conclusion.

As I end my conversation with her, I gave recommendations as to how she could be more valuable to the company. I provided a few opportunities that she can grab and treasure and shared recommendations for behavioral changes that need to be made to acquire specific skills.

When we desire to get more from the marketplace, we have to give more and become more valuable.

As my favorite business philosopher, Jim Rohn once said,

“Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.”

What a fascinating philosophy that is!

More than just being a hard worker on your job, you’ve got to be hard worker on your own personal development and growth.

Your salary will never be more than your personal development. I strongly believe that.

Of course, there would be people who are undervalued in the corporate world today – meaning, they don’t get the salary deserved for what they have contributed.

If you are one of them, I believe God knows that if you invest time, money and other resources to grow yourself and put them into practice in the workplace. Time will only tell. In the right season, you’ll reap your harvest.

Working hard on yourself means learning some extra skills by reading books, attending classes and seminars, having lunches and dinners with mentors, coaches and trusted friends who can give you feedback and by doing other activities that will help you become a better worker.

It is better to make yourself more valuable than to wait for the annual review to get a raise. You may look for another company that gives a better compensation, but sooner or later, you’ll receive the salary that deserves your worth in the marketplace.

I say worth in the marketplace, not your self-worth. You get your self-worth alone from God and not from anybody and anything else. Our worth in the marketplace will increase if we make some changes in the way we think, the way we say and the way we do things.

Here are two ideas to increase your worth (or value) in the marketplace.

1. Develop the discipline.

Every one of us will choose either of these two pains: the pain of regret or the pain of discipline. The pain of discipline weighs ounces, while the pain of regret weighs tons.

How many times did you regret something you’ve never done or finished in the past? Whether it’s a new part-time business that you want to put up or a certification course you want to take or an MBA program, you want to enroll in?

Whatever it is, those regrets could be avoided if you have put enough disciplines to them.

In a moment of deciding whether to invest your money and time in an activity that helps you grow, discipline your mind. Think of the future, and not just the present.

You can easily waste the money if you decided not to. But if you invest it in the future, you’ll reap the rewards of your investment. And the investment is not on other people, IT’S ON YOU!

It takes discipline to decide whether you’d go for the necessary activities for personal growth or let days pass by without doing anything and just waiting for things to happen.

2. Acquire more than one skill

When you understand the benefits of becoming more valuable in the marketplace, you’ll start to look for opportunities where you’ll gain more skills.

We paid by the value of our hands. Knowledge and skills are both needed in the marketplace. But let’s talk about our hands – our skills.

The more specialized our skills are today, the more we increase our value.

Think about your current skills today. Do you have a technical skill you gained from your college course? Is there any chance you can deepen your knowledge towards that skill?

How about adding more skills? Other skills aren’t industry-specific but are critical for daily work.

Today, people skills are fundamental. There’s a high likelihood of you getting promoted when you have both technical and people skills.

Many available resources will help you gain knowledge in dealing and handling people in the marketplace. One book that I’d recommend is the 360 Degree Leader by Dr. John Maxwell. This resource will help you lead yourself, your co-employees, your subordinates, and even your boss.

There are other skills every one of us need to develop – skills such as communication and selling (if you’re entering into business, this one is a must).

Be intentional in gaining more skills. Because in this highly competitive world, highly-skilled people are ones who get the highest pay.

Takeaways:

With simple disciplines and a strong intention for accumulating new skills, you’ll increase your value in the marketplace over time. Maybe not too quick as you wish. But success is not an overnight success. Success is practicing daily disciplines consistently.