In a recent salary poll by Channel Futures, respondents who had salary increases last year stated that it was due to their “job performance” (59%) or “additional responsibilities given” (24%), while people who earned LESS last year blamed it on “economic conditions” (56%) and “changed companies” (25%), which is probably another way of saying “got fired” because nobody moves to another job for lesser pay unless under duress.
That simple poll result gets right to the heart of why only 5% of the population are truly financially independent and 1% are really, really rich.
An ongoing fight is the “injustice” of inequality of income. So many passionately believe that there’s an “all-powerful” evil 1% of people who are oppressing the “hardworking, underprivileged” working class, making it impossible for them to raise their income. They want to blame them, the government, or the “system” for stacking the odds against them.
But it’s simply not true (my life being a perfect example). ANY person of sound mind and body has the ability to raise themselves up in status, skills, and income – the question is do they have a deep, burning desire to? Often the term “less fortunate” is used to describe the “less ambitious.”
Because IF you are going to raise your status and income, you must be willing to take full and complete responsibility for your current and future lot in life, refusing to blame others if your income is less than what you want it to be.
Will it be easy? No. Never is. There are sacrifices to be made. Risks to take. LONG hours to put in with no guarantees. Lots and lots of setbacks and disappointments. People all around will fail you. Intentionally try to take you out.
You have to really want it, not just wish for it. There is a difference.
The “how” to is relatively easy to uncover. Never before in history have so many had so much access to FREE information. If you want to learn how to start a business, learn how to sell or do marketing, open an Etsy store, start an e-commerce website, negotiate a raise or master any skill, it’s all a few seconds’ searches away on that device you carry around like Linus’s blanket.
Of course, business owners are no different. The ongoing saga I have with a company that has taken over 2 years (!) to complete a simple cabinet installation, which is still not done, is this “Don’t blame me” mindset to the “T.”
I’ll spare you the LONG list of things they screwed up and had to redo, which certainly destroyed any profit they made on the job AND simply produced a pissed-off customer and earned them a 1-star Google review.
But in a recent e-mail, discussing yet another failure by them for not ordering the right hardware, the owner said, “The original draftsman you spoke with left our company shortly after taking your job on. Unfortunately, incorrect or incomplete information was given to us by him.”
Oh, so it’s your ex-employee’s fault this entire job has been a fiasco? You didn’t have anyone else who might have had enough sense to come back out and ensure the job was measured properly, all the specs done right? Oh, and P.S., you DID have someone come back up and measure for a second time… didja forget that guy, or did he leave too? Stunning. It’s why he’s failing in this job and in his business.
The “Covid cop-out” is yet another never-ending “Don’t blame me” game that far too many businesses are clinging to. While this was an understandable and reasonable excuse during the months when businesses were locked down and for a few months following, it’s NOT an acceptable excuse nearly 3 years later. “Don’t blame me…Covid is causing us to not have the staff, not have the supplies, not produce quality work, not deliver on time.” Bull.
Yes, I’m being harsh. Are there times in business you get your ass handed to you through no direct failing of your own? Sure. Covid lockdowns did create a hot mess for all of us, some more than others. When running a business, you’re certainly going to have to take the brunt of employees, vendors, the government, the economy, and more SCREWING UP your life, throwing tacks under your tires and leaving a giant mess for you to clean up.
When that happens – and it will happen a LOT – you can sit and stew, blaming others, pointing fingers, and acting like a giant crybaby. Or you can put your big-girl panties on and own it, fix it, own the blame.
Here’s a mantra for you: I BLAME ME.
I accepted and quoted the job. I hired, trained, and managed the people who did the work. I chose the vendors. I chose my location, my customers, my price points, and my services. I chose my line of work and industry. I chose to not inspect what was going on. I chose to leave it up to someone else to do the right thing. I chose to take someone at their word. I chose to follow their advice.
Politicians play to the “You’re oppressed” game on both sides of the aisle because that’s what people desperately want to believe. Fat people are told, “It’s not your fault you’re overweight,” over and over again, because anyone telling them the truth is an unwelcome visitor.
Broke people are never told they’re broke because they’re intellectually lazy, incompetent, and unwilling to do what’s necessary to rise up and make themselves more marketable and valuable in the marketplace.
Marketers know and use this to sucker people into buying yet another quick fix or easy button. You don’t have an eating problem, you’re just overweight – drink this green glop every day that comes in chocolate cake or vanilla ice-cream flavor and it will right the wrongs put upon you in our society. You don’t have a marketing problem, you’re just not privy to the secrets of the few “in the know.” Buy my course and I’ll show you the secret to becoming a “7-figure earner” working 4 hours a week by this simple system.
So, here I go, back to the difficult stuff. If you truly want to live a life on your terms, become financially free, run a thriving, profitable business or accomplish anything of significance in your life, then seek to embrace total and complete ownership of EVERY outcome, EVERY circumstance, and EVERY failure in your life. Only by taking complete ownership and owning ALL the blame can you make change happen.
Then you can say, “I’m in the 1%…and I BLAME ME.”
Now, if you’re an MSP or IT services business owner who is willing to be honest when it comes to holding yourself accountable, and you know you need help positioning your business to have a strategic advantage over your competitors, preserve margins, and attract high-value clients, then you need to attend the IT Industry’s BIGGEST and BEST sales and marketing event of the year.
Right now tickets are available for our annual conference happening in April. This sells out every year so if you want to attend, watch this video and then click the button to get registered!
