“Why can’t I make a decent living?” 5 features of thinking that prevent you from doing it

I think, like me, a lot of people wondered: “Why, despite their good education, curiosity, ability and hard work, they earn less than they want. Where is the bug that prevents you from earning more?

I want to show by my example several features of thinking that interfered with me. It will be great if in the comments you write about the plugs that interfere with you. It will be valuable.

Don’t look for the easy way

Eighteen years ago, I was sitting in a psychotherapist’s office and complaining to him that I really want to implement one complex (and money) project, but I will not pull it, because it is so complex, so complex.

— What is the difficulty? the therapist asked.

I started to explain. He listened, listened, and then said:

– It looks like you are trying to evaluate all the options for the development of events, to anticipate all the difficulties, to anticipate what could go wrong. But it’s like trying to move a house of cards on your hands, of course, it will fall apart. Have you thought about changing your approach?

He was right. Instead of moving a little at a time and solving problems as they come up, I tried to imagine everything that could happen before the project even started, I got confused and scared.

The problem was not that the project was difficult, but that it turned into a complex one in my head.

I remember this story whenever I see how people make life incredibly difficult for themselves by choosing a crooked path, and at the same time they believe that there are no other ways. Already at the start, they set themselves a bunch of restrictions that prevent them from earning. For example, they want to create a business, but in such a way that they certainly maintain good relations with all employees and customers. Or develop in the profession, but not make mistakes. Or develop the company, but only with your own money. And someone, like me, tries to calculate everything in advance and have a backup plan for any situation.

Very quickly, the task of “earning money” turns into a most difficult quest with many conditions, restrictions and mutual contradictions, and the beauty is that often these contradictions and limitations are not yet recognized. Therefore, it does not occur to question them. In order not to wander in the back streets of your own mind, it is useful to discuss your plans with a colleague, business partner, mentor, coach or psychologist. With anyone who can help you answer the question: “Are you thinking of garbage?”

Do something that doesn’t make money

I felt this moment well when I opened the business. Initially, it was a content marketing agency, because I wanted to write texts. And I wrote lyrics. I wrote them for a couple of clients, I wrote them for my website, but the problem was that in order to make more money, I had to sell instead of writing. And not your time, but someone else’s. But I did not like to sell, but I liked to write. So he earned much less than he could.

By the way, this problem is very common. Many businesses and freelancers invest in everything but customer acquisition and sales. It just doesn’t always look so obvious.

Companies can polish business processes, implement agile, move pixels on a site, draw logos, customize a chatbot, work on their corporate culture and suffer a hundred other things that do not bring them closer to money. But because they enjoy doing it, as I enjoyed writing, they will convince themselves that it is very important, that clients will love them very much for it and prefer them to competitors.

They won’t and won’t.

Decide for yourself what you are paid for

By my first profession, I am an accountant, and at first I had no doubt that they paid me for the fact that I keep accounting records: I enter the primary account correctly, prepare reports, pay taxes …

— How much, how much should we pay income tax? How soon? the CEO clutched his head after I had drawn up my first income tax return and brought it in for signature.

And that’s when I, like those swine beavers, began to suspect that they paid me not at all for the correct keeping of records, but for hmm … optimization of its results.

Many pros mistakenly believe that they are paid for what they do, not for what the client needs.

For example, contextualists believe that they are paid for the fact that they correctly set up advertising campaigns and lead applications. And then they find out that it is much more important for the manager who hired them that they take off the load from him, do not distract him with constant questions, collect data, provide reports on time and do not force themselves to manage. But it’s too late, the client has found other contractors.

Or, for example, site creators may sincerely believe that the client needs a lead-generating site (after all, the client is an entrepreneur, which means he is about applications and profit!) And then suddenly find out that the client is dissatisfied with the site, because the site turned out “like everyone else”. The client, on the other hand, needs an exceptional site to walk his inner narcissist who does not care about applications.

It just so happens that in 90% of cases we receive money directly from other people: employers, clients, investors. And they only pay if they see value in our work. And the value of our activities varies from person to person. Everyone needs different things from us, so it is so important to learn to understand what we do for our clients and employers, what they are willing to pay us for. That is why it is so important to talk to clients and employers and find out in detail how we can be useful to them.

Mix in a bunch of needs

A familiar entrepreneur complained about a client who took out his brain, demanding endless changes. The team spent so much time on this client that the entrepreneur didn’t make any money.

Why don’t you end the partnership? I asked.

No, no, I promised. I can’t let a client down.

“Why don’t you raise his rates for next month?” So to speak, payment for harmfulness.

— What are you! The friend got scared. – What if he gets offended?

If it seems to you that my friend is an exception to the rule, it seems to you. So many people, both in employment and in business, seek not so much to earn as to please their employers and clients (entrepreneurs, by the way, often delude themselves into thinking that this is about customer focus, but this is not the case). It is very important for them that they feel gratitude or at least not scold. They will break into a cake to do everything to make them happy. And if the question is this: to lose money or the location of the authorities, they will not hesitate to choose – to lose in money.

As long as the work relationship is perceived as a parent-child relationship where you need to earn the approval of the boss / client, this will interfere with making money. After all, any attempt to act in their own interests is perceived by the psyche as a rebellion against the parent, and is immediately suppressed.

How to solve this problem? Learn to share needs. Earn money at work, and seek approval and acceptance among family and friends. Mixing everything together is dangerous.

Strive to make the right choice

Before, I tried to guess the solution that would bring me the most benefit. Let’s say a project came up that promised millions, and I threw all my strength into it. Then, for reasons beyond my control, this project was covered with a copper basin. As a result, not only did I not earn, but I had to.

The world is like a casino. There are many opportunities in front of you, some lead to loss, some to win. And so we begin to rush about: bet on red or black? Buy shares of Apple or Gazprom? Get a job with one company or another? Use an ad creative with a cute cat or dog?

But how do you make the right decision? Data is never enough. The situation can always turn 180 degrees. Something can always go wrong, and, as the experience of casino players shows, their calculation is constantly wrong, and they are completely lost. As, however, everyone, including me, who is forced to bet on certain decisions and try to guess what will “shoot”.

And how can it be otherwise?

Everything becomes much easier if you use the “sales funnel method”. What is a sales funnel? 1000 people saw the ad, 100 of them went to the site, 10 bought. With this approach, we do not have to guess who out of 1000 will buy, especially since the chance to guess is only 1%. We need to create conditions under which those who need our goods will find us themselves.

If you start looking at the world as a “sales funnel”, it stops disappointing as you begin to evaluate it mathematically. Chose a company, sent a resume, but no one answered? Direct path to disappointment. And when you send 300 resumes, go through 20 interviews, then it’s not difficult to find a money job.

Not trying to guess the right option, but making sure that the right options find you themselves is a very competent strategy that immediately reduces risks and increases the amount of money. I like to find strategies that bring me closer to the goals I need, I share them on my telegram channel. Subscribe if interested.