What Do You Want to Be Paid For?

What do you want to be paid for? What an awesome question! But can you answer it?

Before you do, we need to dissect the question.

We start with what you’ll be doing: What is the product you produce or the service you provide? Why do you want to do it? What makes it enjoyable or productive? Why is your world or the world around you better because of it?

Next is payment. Oh, yeah! Profit is a good thing…bills to pay, wife and kids to feed, stuff to buy. Getting paid when you add value isn’t greed– it allows you to keep working and to keep serving.

The intersection of what you want to do and what someone is willing to pay for is where your passion meets your income. Going off and doing whatever you want is fine (moral, ethical and legal limits apply). The trick is that someone has to be willing to pay for it!

Examine the extremes:

• Do what you love and no one pays you for it = Fun hobby at best
• Hate what you do and make a living (maybe even get wealthy) = J-O-B and a numb soul

Now you can answer the question: What do you want to be paid for?

If you can, congratulations! You’ve uncovered a real mission statement for your work or business.

If you can’t, what are you going to do about it? Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Talk with your spouse, parents, a friend or pastor
• Read a good book on significance or purpose (I recommend Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Successful People or Robert McGee’s The Search for Significance to start)
• Engage with a coach (it works or I wouldn’t say it!)
• Join a relevant community like 48Days.net or FreeAgentAcademy.com (they work too!)

Whatever you do, don’t do nothing!

Note: This article originally appeared in July 2010 issue of the Tri-City Review.