Income is a direct result of the giving of an exchangeable item for money. With this in mind, creating more income is simply the result of increasing the contribution you make to another.

Recently, I came across a viewpoint that can certainly help with creating an increase in contribution and the results should increase one’s income eventually. The viewpoint is broken down on two sides. The Customer View and the Supplier View of work:

If you look at the above table, you will immediately see that the ‘Customer View’ is where one decides who gets to do what, and also will determine how much the service is worth to them.

The Supplier, on the other hand, is at the mercy of the Customer’s choices, and if the Supplier wants any repeat business from the Customer, they will ensure they provide what’s needed and wanted, produce something valuable and do this responsibly if they want the relationship to continue.

With these two viewpoints in mind, we can create better outcomes. So here are some clear tips as to how:

For an employee to increase income:

1. Know your job better than anyone else – find out what is really needed and wanted so it is down cold

As an employee, we are a supplier of services. We may or may not be aware but the purpose of one’s role as an employee is to complete a given task or group of them – it’s that simple. Often, it is how well understood a role is, that decides if someone ends up being effective or not. So in order to ensure one makes the best employee, I suggest finding out exactly what one’s job is, how ALL the tools work and interplay with ALL other parts of the business and how best to ensure you produce what is needed and wanted.

2. Be better than others – that is if you want to have security

As an employee, a real safety factor can be created by being more employable than any other. A great way to do this is to ensure that you take account of ways to improve what you deliver as a product/service for your employer and in turn their clientele. To do this, a few questions to ask ourselves as an employee are:

Do I do my best?

If there is one thing that can make us feel good it’s a job well-done. Not necessarily the accolades from it, but the act itself. Where you feel you are not doing this, then start, before long you will find yourself noticed and rewarded.

Where can I improve?

1. Time management is a big issue for many of us, there are only so many hours in the day and so many demands on our time. A great way to improve on this is to start creating TO DO lists – prioritise tasks so you can always know what you have on and when it is due. This makes for a clear head and minimal clutter. It’s easy at times to feel like we are running around in circles and not achieving anything. The best way to see if we are is to look at our TODO list, what have we done. Despite the fact that TODO lists seem like we are being overly organised, it is a great way of feeling confident in the tasks at hand and avoiding the forgetful mistakes of a person who appears to barely cope. It also can allow you to give feedback to management on what we have on, which can greatly assist in the allocation of a workflow to you where your capacity is being underutilised.
2. Find out what education we can add to ensure that we keep up with what may improve outcomes. For example, an administrator who deals in accounts payable may want to study bookkeeping. This does not mean getting a degree in accounting, this means taking some extra time to learn the purpose of the task we as an employee do and how it fits into the business operations as a whole. With this learning, one can see where we can improve outcomes for the business and in turn for ourselves.

Improve my relationship with those I deal with daily?

1. Finding out ways of improving your role’s interplay with other roles you deal with regularly can really improve outcomes after all many hands make lighter work. One idea is to start with the person you deal with most often and work on ensuring that your communication with them is clear, direct and effective. Ensure that any upsets they have with your role are clarified and where easy to resolve, request a change of process with management to improve the situation. Seek the best fit for their use of your service as a supplier to them. Often they will find they are obliged to do this for you also in return.
2. Ensure your communication with your suppliers and customers is always clear. Most of all mistakes come from poor communication, take some time to ensure yours is always on the money.

The above are just a few ways to improve you in the eyes of your employer, with this comes greater responsibility, as you are part of a team with a common goal. If you assist the goal of your group an employer can only hold you in higher regard and when a remuneration review takes place, they will remember and reward you for your efforts.

For an employer to increase income:

The supplier view on how to expand a business is usually well understood by all employers (business owners), but as a reminder here are a few good applications of this:

What are your client’s needs and wants:

Regular surveying of one’s clientele keeps you informed of what your client’s experiences are like. If they do not need or want what you are producing, chances are your product needs review or even a complete change.

Are there ways your business can be better?

It’s worth querying if what you do currently is the best use of your resources for your clients and staff. Ensuring that you are producing a great product for your clientele and a great environment for your staff, keeps your morale high internally and ensures that you get the best chance of referral business. Referral business is the least expensive to achieve, so why not address every client and staff member as a potential source of your new business rather than an expensive marketing budget. On average we all know around 200 people each. The power held in producing a great outcome for your clients and staff every time has exponential value. So do your best to succeed internally and externally – it’s as simple as that.

Do you measure your outcomes?

Taking responsibility as an employer means ensuring your customer and employee outcomes are measured and these measurements are used. This means taking note of what staff have on their plates, making certain their workload management does not impact on client outcomes negatively. Also allowing you to measure the customer experience and any expectations given, and to promoting change where needed. Measurement of the right statistics ensures any jobs you are putting out in your business are at a great standard and kept at that standard.

Being an inspiring and enigmatic leader does not take exceptional ability or knowledge, it takes the ability to communicate well and ensure staff:

1. Know their job;
2. Know how their job fits into the broader business; and
3. Have a reporting mechanism to indicate that they are doing it.

With that all in progress, it is just a matter of getting out of the way so staff can get on with it.

So as you can see there are many ways to improve what we do and in turn the potential of making more income. I really hope this goes some way to help out.

To find out about how we can help you, contact us.