Have you ever wondered “What can I do to get more money?”
If yes, you are not alone. I did too. and I still do.
There is no surprise that we all think about getting more money. With More money, we increase our freedom to choose and spend our time the way we want.
I remember when I was a university student, I wanted to learn how to swim. However, the price at the nearby swimming pool was higher than I could afford. However bad I wanted it; I didn’t have financial freedom to choose whether to swim or not.
Apparently, with more money, you can go wherever you want to go, enter any supermarket not afraid of prices, afford your favourite hobby, quit the job that you distaste, help your loved ones, go or take your child to the school you want, and donate to the cause you believe in. More money opens the doors of possibilities to enjoy more of the flavours of life.
Regardless of the fact we all need the money, it seems like some have a magnet that attract the money while others repel the money. You might know someone who have chased the money for so long and so hard with no success.
During my search for the answer, I landed on 2 things that we all need to get the money we need: value and communication.
In this article, I will share with you how value creation and ability to communicate your value can change your financial life.
Before going any further, pause for a moment and ask yourself “what is money”?
What is money?
When thinking of money, you are probably thinking about notes and coins. This gives an impression of money as a tangible thing. However, the fact that you can see it, touch it, or smell it doesn’t make money tangible.
Money is intangible. In fact, with new technologies, we transfer just numbers called money from bank to bank or mobile money to another.
Then what is money? A Medium of exchange (As I just learnt in junior high school)? It’s a bit closer but not a perfect definition.
In his book “Unscripted”, MJ Demarco, the author of Millionaire Fastlane, defines money as
The storage of perceived value during a transaction.
Simply put, When I sell you something valuable, you give me the money so the value I gave you is stored in form of money that I can use it to get something else valuable I need in the future.
Note that it is storage of perceived value not the actual value. Let me explain with an example:
Let’s say you buy a computer for 300$with a promise that you can use it for 5 years but after 1 year it crashes. The perceived value you paid for was 5 years usage but the actual value you get is one year usage.
So, after negotiation we pay for the perceived value. But after we pay, we take home the actual value. Actual value can be equal to perceived value and here we use a term “value for money”. However, it can also be lower or higher than the agreed perceived value depending on negotiation terms.
Not that during negotiation, the seller communicates to you the perceived value then you accept it or ask for discount. Then you agree on the perceived value which you pay.
The seller stores that perceived value in form of money so he or she can use it in the future to get another kind of value they need.
So, the surest way to get the money is to create value and communicate it. Let’s at this point see how you can do exactly that.
How to create value?
You create value by providing a product or a service that meets someone else’s need or solves their problem.
In terms of business, the utility the customer gets from every purchase is the value. for instance, a computer bought at 300$ and used for one year, the value is one year usage.
When I was in the 4th year of medical school, I had an actual experience of value creation. one morning in virology class, groups had to present different topics. The catch was the lecturer had to pick a random group member to do the presentation for the group. I witnessed a couple of presenters freaking out, shivering during the presentation. I could hear it in their voices.
This time I had had effective communication courses, and my presentations were often a reference. I immediately had an idea to prepare a paid workshop on effective communications (public speaking, presentation design and business writing).
I organised a workshop, designed, and disseminated posters, and went from class to class pitching the workshop. The day came, and around 32 students attended the workshop (not all of them paid me though).
To create value, you need the skills to do something for someone that they are willing to pay for. Or You should have the product that serves a certain purpose in someone else’s life (utility or luxurious purpose)
Apparently, the first step in value creation is learning a payable skill.
After mastering the skill assured that you can provide a service or a product (value), the next step is to communicate your value to potential buyer.
How to communicate your value?
When you write an application letter with a CV, you are communicating your value to a potential employer (a buyer of your skills).
During a job interview, the interviewer is trying to figure out that value you can add to their company.
All advertisements you see on TV, newsletters or social media do nothing else but communicate the value.
To be straight forward, communicating the value is all marketing and branding. Letting people know what you can do for them or the product you have can fill a certain gap in their lives.
One of the quote that changed my career course was by Lee Iacocca ” You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere”
In other words, you have great services or products but if you can’t communicate and convince people that your products or skills can help them, they will not give you the money.
Your communication should be clear and convincing. By convincing I mean you should appeal to people’s logic (utility) and emotions (feeling).
One communication leverage that many people miss out on is social media. While social media is often used for fun, it has the potential to be a platform where you communicate your values. You can brand yourself by positing about the value you can provide. Do miss out.
So, simply said, as MJ Demarco wrote, money is the storage of value produced, communicated, and delivered to the world.
Money is like bees, you can’t chase them, but you can attract them by planting a flowers garden. You can attract money by creating value and communicating it well.
If you want coaching or you audience needs training effective communication, you can reach to me here.
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