Asking money for the right reasons

A young man asked a rich old man how he was able to make his money.

The old guy fingered his worsted wool vest and said, “Well, son, it was 1932. The depth of the Great Depression. I was down to my last nickel.

“I invested that nickel in an apple. I spent the entire day polishing the apple and, at the end of the day, I sold the apple for ten cents. The next morning, I invested those ten cents in two apples. I spent the entire day polishing them and sold them at 5 p.m. for 20 cents. I continued this system for a month, by the end of which I’d accumulated a fortune of $1.37.

“Then my wife’s father died and left us $2 million.”

But suppose you don’t have a rich relative who could leave you a fortune. Suppose you’re employed, or you’re in a profession and you charge fees, and you would want a higher pay. How do you get the money?

I have met some honest people and I have met some dishonest ones. The honest ones are straightforward about their desire for a higher pay, and I respect them for that. But I abhor those driven by a strong desire to make more and more money, but insist that money doesn’t mean much to them, and that they’re doing it for “principles”.

“Money is not everything right?” famous Zig Ziglar would ask his audience, and most in the crowd would answer, “Right!” With perfect timing, Ziglar would shout back, “Wrong! Money is almost everything!” And the crowd would break into laughter. He also says, “Money is not everything, but it’s reasonably close to oxygen.”

This is so true, isn’t it?

I have heard speakers speak about money not being important, and yet when you look at their lifestyle and the way they do business, you’ll have to conclude that their lips don’t match their lives. One can also see this kind of people at work and in business.

I’ve worked with unethical people who would scheme, deceive and manipulate, and then come up with all kinds of rationalization why they did what they did, even when their sole motivation for their moral compromise is really, simply, money.

Some people are just so good coming up with good reasons to do wrong things.

But there are those people who are vocal about their desire for higher fees or pay, not because they’re greedy, but because of a very legitimate – noble, even – reason: because they feel they’re worth it. And they could be right.

If you and I want a higher fee or a higher pay, we should first make sure that we are worth it. This is where a fundamental marketing principle comes into play – that no one is willing to increase the price when there’s no increase in value.

This is also where scheming comes into play. Rather than going through the discipline of self-development, some take the more “convenient” path of manipulation. They threaten, they do moonlighting, they steal accounts, and they siphon off company resources, all the while justifying to others and to themselves that their actions are based on principles, not greed.

And this is where Scriptures come into play. Scriptures say that the love of money is the root of all evil. Notice, it’s not money per se, but the love of it that is the beginning of evil. And “some people, eager for more money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

There is always a right way to do things, and there are so many wrong ways to do things. Be on the right. Be honest at all times. Stop scheming, and start developing yourself. With respect and professionalism, articulate your desires in a manner worthy of trust. This is how you add value to yourself.

(I’d love to hear from you! Click on to www.franciskong.com to send me your feedback. You can also listen to my radio program “Business Matters” aired at 8:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. during weekdays over 98.7 dzFE-FM “The Master’s Touch”, the classical music station.)