How Much Money Do You Think You’re Worth?

The answer is different for different people, but as you’ll hear from this Harvard University study, you can break “worthiness” down into two groups.  One group  earns lots of money and the other group doesn’t earn very much.

Which one are you in?

7 Comments

  • Joanna

    Reply Reply June 1, 2009

    well Steve, good point here. They say you’re worth as much as you believe you are. And that if you believe that your service is worth X, there will be poeple who’ll pay you X just beacause you’re good. Wonderful so far.
    So WHY 9 out of 10 people went for the lower paid job? Why do I have such hesitations when I think of charging more for my service?
    Changing your thoughts about how much you’re worth include a whole deal of stuff in my minds. But what to do to CHANGE them?

  • Vitalia

    Reply Reply June 1, 2009

    Hi Steve,

    Thanks for sharing such an interesting study with us regarding the job applicants. I love your logic regarding less competition at the top! :-)

    I offer leadership and sales training in some of my seminars and often tell sales people to “Price your value and value your price!”

    The same saying can be applied to ourselves when we are exchanging money for our services
    or applying for a job. If you don’t value your price, how can you expect any one else to value it either?

    In many instances, when I applied for certain jobs with various companies and was asked what kind of salary I was looking for, I indicated to the prospective employer that I was not looking to be paid the recommended salary range that the job pays, but rather, I deserved to be paid what I was worth.

    Steve, I have landed every position for which I have ever interviewed (except for two), and 90% of the time, I was hired based on the salary I asked for, which was usually anywhere from $3,000 to as much as $15,000 more than the advertised salary range.

    You have to know your worth and you must be able to communicate it confidently! :-)

    Now while I believe money is very important in terms of what it can do for you, what it can provide, I just want to share one of my favorite sayings with you: “A man’s wealth isn’t measured buy the change in his pocket, rather by the number of friends and family surrounding him.”

    May you always be healthy, abundantly wealthy and wise! :-)

    Vitalia

  • Belle

    Reply Reply June 1, 2009

    I’m learning to recognize how valuable I am. I have a job interview next week, and I needed to hear that! Thanks Steve, and happy Monday to you as well :)

  • Srinivas Rao

    Reply Reply June 1, 2009

    Nice reframing of the whole economic situation Steve. I think I’m going to setup an RSS feed for jobs with over 100K in salary.

  • Vladimir

    Reply Reply June 2, 2009

    Hi Steve!

    How much (money) do you think you are worth?

    Well, as far as I am concerned, the question is not quite correctly put. You can put it differently next time, may be something like How much money do you think your professional skils are worth? Or something like that. Because you and your professional skills are not one and the same thing, right?

    That was for a starter.

    Let’s now move to your question and have a closer look at it.

    In the video you mention that many people applied to the lower sum of money ad and only a few responded to the greater sum of money ad.

    What’s the moral then?

    In my view the moral is that everyone knows best what is the real price for his professional abilities. And knowing this everyone applies to job offers which correspond to what he himself could offer in the job.

    So there is nothing that the companies should do but just place same ads with different salary figures and let the job hunters evaluate their own worth.

    I wish you and the other participants a wonderful and worthremembering week,

    Vladimir

  • Steve

    Reply Reply June 2, 2009

    @ Joanna,

    I think the starting point is to answer your own question: Why do I have such hesitations when I think of charging more for my service?

    @ Vladimir,

    In reply to your comment: “In my view the moral is that everyone knows best what is the real price for his professional abilities. And knowing this everyone applies to job offers which correspond to what he himself could offer in the job.”

    I guess the question is where does that “knowing” coming from a person’s skills or their belief in the value they offer to the world.

    And here’s something to consider. 95% of your beliefs were formulated from 0 to 5 years old (for most people); and there is a reason for this – it’s because a child’s brainwaves are in a theta state where the unconscious mind is more susceptible to ideas and the influences of their environment.

    And here’s the kicker: approximately 95% of your behavior is based on those beliefs, which means the way you predominantly act and speak is based on beliefs that were created when you were 5 years old. So if you “didn’t feel good enough” when you were younger, you may still feel that way today and not know it (because it’s unconscious).

    What does this mean? It means that someone who is responding to the $20k job is acting from his unconscious self-worth because that’s all they know.

  • Vladimir

    Reply Reply June 3, 2009

    Hi Steve!

    We can continue the discussion but I am afraid that it’s going to get too serious and too heavy. So all that I am going to say is that I can see no big contradictions between your point of view and mine.

    And I would like also to admit that your comment is a very very good one. Thanx!

    Vladimir

Leave A Response To Joanna Cancel reply

* Denotes Required Field