You're Probably Worth More

I might be one of the only people on Earth over the age of 40 who hasn't seen the Breaking Bad series, up until recently anyway.

In case you are the other person who hasn't seen it, Breaking Bad is a TV series where the main character, a chemistry teacher named Walter White, has been diagnosed with cancer. In order to pay for his treatment, he decides to start making and selling meth amphetamines.

As I watched the series I couldn't help but make a connection.

As a chemistry teacher he was essentially ignored by his students, paid relatively poorly for his level of training, and otherwise left behind by society in a benign and mundane existence.

As one of the best meth chemists in the game (albeit an illegal and violent one), he was hailed as an elite specialist and ends up getting paid in a week what he used to get paid in a year.

The point I'm making is, as a teacher Walter White was largely ignored and never really broke through financially.

As a meth chemist, he was regarded as the best in his industry, and paid as such.

Same guy. Same skillset.

Different application. Different market. Different pay.

Now, I'm not suggesting that you go out and conduct illegal activities in order to make more money. That is NOT what I'm saying.

The point I am trying to make is that you have to know your worth.

Also, you have to deliver a solution to a market that will pay you disproportionately well for it. You may not need more training or more skill, you may just need to position yourself in a way where you can optimize your outcomes.

I remember having a conversation with a coaching mentor I once had. He was describing to me how he had started as a photographer for his local newspaper (once upon a time when news papers still existed). His father had questioned him one day asking him how he could take his current skillset and make more money by applying differently.

As a result of that conversation, he decided to start photographing weddings and realized that he could make what he made in an entire year as a newspaper photographer by shooting only 10 or 15 weddings.

This meant that instead of working full time, he could essentially be on site, working only 10 days a year, but making the same amount of money he previously did by driving all over the place 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year.

This is the point I'm trying to convey and it is what I found so interesting about the Breaking Bad connection.

How can you take your current skillset and position yourself in a way where you increase your market value, thereby increasing your income?

Same you, same skills, different application, better money.

I'm currently asking myself this same question.

How can I take what I know and position it in a way where I can leave my soul sucking job behind and, by doing so, deliver more value to the community, which in turn could deliver more dollars to my wallet?

Again, I realize that Walter White became a meth chemist and did all kinds of other nefarious and illegal things in order to change his identity. I'm not saying that you need to break the law or become a criminal to make this change.

What I am saying is, you should at least ask yourself the question:

Is there a way I can take my current skillset and reapply it to maximize my returns?