Everyone has to earn an income to pay for their living expenses. You can only earn an income if you provide a service to clients (or have passsive income, which is not the subject of this article). You do not have to own a business to have clients. Anyone you provide your services to (this can include your boss, your company’s clients and even your colleagues) is your client.

Your income is optimised if you provide a quality and reliable service to your clients and are paid at least at a market related rate for it.

How can I provide a quality service to my clients?

• When you know what you are doing and have valuable experience and training. This you can gain by learning as much as you can in your current job and to go for training whenever possible. You can even create and follow a career plan, to grow your expertise, for yourself.
  • When you are young,  work to learn, not to earn – Robert Kiyosaki
• When you do the job well by being customer-centred and focusing your best efforts on the job at hand including going the extra mile. It is not how much money you can get out of it – it must be a win-win situation for you and your client. He gets what he needs and you get fairly rewarded for it.
  • Laziness leads to poverty; hard work makes you rich – Proverbs 10:4 CEV
  • When you do your work willingly, as though you were serving the Lord himself, and not just your earthly master. In fact, the Lord Christ is the one you are really serving, and you know he will reward you. – Colossians 3:23‭-‬24 CEV
• When you love what you are doing. Many people just do a job for the money they are paid for it. And it shows. Their hearts are not in what they are doing. The ideal is to love what you are doing (and you won’t have to work a single day again, the saying goes!). How can you make sure that you can be doing what you love? Firstly, you have to know what you value most in life. And then you either have to find the connection between what you value and what you do as a job or, alternatively, change your job to something that serves your values. People who have found their purpose in life are pursuing careers that support their highest values. Life is too short to do things you hate.

How can I provide a reliable service to my clients?

When your service is on time and clients can bank on you being available and willing to provide the service when they require it.

How do I earn a market related rate?

A market related rate is a rate your client is willing to pay you for your services because she cannot buy the same quality of service at a substantially lower rate from someone else. One would assume that your employer will always pay you a fair market related rate but it is good practice to check from time to time if the rate you are paid compares favourably with what the market is prepared to pay.

So go and be of best service to your clients and you can expect to be fairly compensated!