I’m not going to tell you that if you work a 9-5 job, you are a schmuck.  Far from it, just about everyone who makes their living online has worked for someone else at some point in their money-making journey.  The typical job gives you perks, time off, paid leave, and provides stability for you and your family.  For many people working for a company gives them the security that they want (or need).

However, when you agree to work for someone where you are exchanging time for money, you are effectively placing a value on what you’re worth – whether you like it or not.  I am a big fan of performance-based pay (that’s the entrepreneur in me) because it gives you the ability to generate income based on your production and skills – not based on the amount of time that you actually work.

Changing your mindset

Whether you own your own business, have a blog or website, or you’re working for someone else, exchanging money for time can have a huge negative impact on your income and your ability to generate wealth.  There is only so much time in a week or month and you can only charge so much for that time.  But if you try and base or build your income off of results that you produce, the effect that it can have on your income can be profound.

There is a story that perfectly describes how to capitalize on your skills and knowledge:

One night a couple experiences a major leak in their house and with neither the husband nor the wife knowing how to fix the leak, they immediately call a plumber. The plumber arrives and goes to work fixing the leak with the husband watching over his shoulder.  The plumber grabs a wrench, tightens a pipe… and a minute later the leaky pipe is fixed.

The plumber goes to his vehicle and returns to the couple with a bill and hands it to the husband.  When the husband looks down at the bill he is outraged and says “How can you possibly charge me $500 for something that only took you a few seconds to fix, when I could have done it myself?!”  The plumber looks up, smiles and says “Because I knew how to fix it.”

This is an excellent example of why trading time for money is a poor way to accumulate wealth.  Had the plumber simply billed for his time he would have made much, much less.  But people are willing to pay for expertise and skills when they need it.

Whether it’s your business model, your employer, or even things like your blog or website, adapting a mindset of exchanging results instead of time can literally change your income situation in life and allow you to make significantly more money and provide you with more financial security than you could ever imagine.