Make More Money; Solve Bigger Problems

You have to know what is important and what’s unimportant, for you.

                                                                                                         ~ David Harold Fink

     What does having a dream job mean to you?  I hear many versions of the dream job.  For some it is feeling love and passion for their work. For others it is having more time for family, or a flexible schedule.  The one thing all dream jobs descriptions seem to have in common is doing the perfect work for maximum money. 

     To make maximum money, you have to be able to solve bigger problems.

     Some jobs are more complicated than others. People that do more complicated jobs tend to earn more money.  Think of jobs as a group of problems that employers need solving.  Generally, the bigger the problem, the bigger the salary.  Salaries are based on the level of skill needed to solve a particular problem. For example, a person doing dishes in a cafeteria does not command the same salary as a person performing open heart surgery. Yes, having clean dishes is important.  Yet most people could step in and do this task with little to no training; whereas surgery involves skill, years of training, and experience.  It solves a bigger type of problem, and therefore pays at a much higher rate.

     The reality everyone faces is knowing that some jobs simply pay more than others.  I watched a former coworker transition from the role of Vice President of Sales to the dream job of running a horse farm. It took time and effort to get that dream up and running.  He’s thrilled with his decision, and wishes he had made the move sooner. The reality was, he had to wait until he could afford to make his move.

     Sometimes, we put dreams of the ideal job on hold for the sake of financial priorities.  Many weigh their options, list the pros and cons, and make a decision.  They are honest with themselves and what they want and need from a job and the types of goals they have for themselves. To them, the dream job is simply making more money for now in hopes that someday they can make a change. The good news is – they most certainly can! Anyone can!

     So for those wanting to improve your career with the goal of making more money, you will need to solve bigger types of problems.  Something to ask yourself is what you could do to position yourself to solve bigger problems, problems that have a higher salary value. Here are some ideas:

Go back to school for more education or specialized training. This could mean getting a degree or the next level of degree or even a second level of degree.  It could also mean improving your skills so that you move into a supervisory or management role.  Or you could get some kind of credential that would allow you to do a new type of work – like becoming an Emergency Medical Technician.

Take on more work. Instead of solving bigger problems, solve more of them.  This could mean covering more sales territory or managing an additional program.  I was given a salary increase when I started my job because I was willing to take on responsibilities not listed in the original job ad.  Taking on more work could also mean working overtime. This is a great way to earn more money.

Work at times others don’t want to. Like second and third shifts where people are paid more money. A friend of mine is doing this, working the night shift.  She is a nurse in the critical care unit.  She needs to make as much money as possible to meet her financial goals, so she chooses to work these hours. 

     Working is an agreement we have with employers.  We agree to solve their problems and get paid for the level of problem that we solve.  If you want to make more money as your career goal, be creative and find a way to solve bigger problems for employers!

Realize what you really want.  It stops you from chasing butterflies and puts you to work digging gold.  ~ Mary Caroline Richards

Wishing you success in your search for the dream job,