The Salary Standoff

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it.

0:38hey there hope you're having a fantastic week in the last week i have had a i've had three clients come to me with an employee who believed that they should be paid more and in all three cases the employer did not believe that that particular employee was worth more. So let's deal with that a little bit today. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Bill Gilliland. I am a five times entrepreneur. Well, it's going to be six now. We're starting a new thing. I want to remind you that we do have the Asheville Business Summit coming up. You can go to WNCSummit.com and get all the details you're at the very least going to want to attend.

1:35You maybe want to become a sponsor. As a business owner, you want to bring your prospects and clients. It is going to be a great marketing event for you either way. So make plans to be there. And I look forward to seeing you there. It's going to be amazing. It's coming together. We've got six or eight great speakers. You're going to really enjoy it. Now, back to the question at hand. What do you do about an employee who believes they're worth more than you believe as a business owner? I want to talk to you employees out there first. So as an employee, a lot of people I'm finding out, particular younger people, get this wrong.

2:19They believe that you pay me more, I will work harder. That's not the way the world works. The way the world works is you work and accomplish more and get more results. I don't care if you work harder or not. You got to get results. Then you become more valuable in the marketplace. The marketplace will tell you how valuable you are. You will get recruited if you are worth more. Okay. Okay, now, so Jim Rohn famously said, work harder on yourself than you do on your job. That's the key to success. So work harder on yourself to yourself. Like when I was a kid and my dad got me to mow the grass, I had to do a good job before I got paid.

2:59The better job I did, the more money I could make per hour. In other words, if I could get the same job done faster than I could make more, I became more valuable in the marketplace. Okay. So as an employee, you want to make yourself the most valuable you can in the marketplace. Get off the habit of, and some of these employees were like that. They had a little bit of a thing. Now, it is not up to us to decide how much an employee is worth. The marketplace will determine that. The marketplace will determine value. It's interesting, as I've worked with numbers of industries, like some industries, the employees are paid better because in that particular industry, they're more valuable in that industry.

3:48So, you know, if you want to make more money, you may want to consider changing industries as an employee. As an employer, let's deal with the problem at hand. Now, as an employer, what you need to do is you need to develop people. So you need to invest in your people. First of all, you need to hire great people. You need to invest in them, invest your time, invest your money, pay them well, give them training, give them education, give them goals, give them benefits. But you need to be clear with them about what's expected and then help them achieve those expectations. So two sides of the coin.

4:37As an employee, you need to make yourself more valuable in the marketplace. As an employer, you need to make them more valuable in the marketplace. Because that's the way it works. The more valuable they become, the more you are able to do. It's a win-win. The company wins and they win. So how do you deal with this situation? Now, it's gotten out of hand. There's a misconception. They believe they're worth X. You believe they're worth not X, something under X as an employer. How would you deal with it? Well, first of all, I think you need to do some research and find out what the going rate is.

5:16Now, that sounds crazy, but all of you, I guarantee if you're a business owner, You've all hired somebody in a similar position and found out, holy cow, I haven't kept up over the years with the marketplace. So in other words, you hire somebody, you got to give everybody else a raise. Why would you do that? You want to be preemptive on that. You want to treat people well. You want to get ahead of that. So you might want to go out, do a little bit of research, figure out what's paying. Now, you've still got to make money. So you've either got to sell more, get your prices up. Now, that's something we can help you with.

5:47But along the way, happy to have a chat with you about that. Just have a cup of coffee. Reach out to me. We'll be glad to sit down and have a chat with me or one of my team. Now, the second thing is you've got to have a conversation with this person about how they can, number one, if they're delusional, they think that you pay me and then I'm going to work harder, then you've got to have a conversation about how the world actually works. The second piece of that is then you need to set up clear expectations, goals, and outcomes that will allow them to make more money. It's pretty simple. Hey, you need to do this over the next three months.

6:26This is what needs to happen at the end of that month. We'll have a review and we'll see how you are. And then we can make an adjustment or six months or a year or whatever it is that's reasonable. But you've got to have super clear thing. And then they've got to have a personal improvement plan for every single employee. Now, the third piece of that is you've got to work with them to help them get the result that they need to get. You have to get them the coaching. You have to get them the mentoring. You have to do whatever it takes to make them the best they can be. Now, you wouldn't do that if you didn't think they were worth it.

7:02If they're not worth it, they're not a good fit anymore, then you also have to have that conversation. Not fun, but most employees are dedicated, motivated, will work. I mean, all you got to do is look at what do they do on the weekend. Are they fired up to go fishing or do whatever their hobbies are, play golf or whatever? Yeah, we got to get them more fired up about what it is we're looking to accomplish as companies here. So set up those clear expectations, set up those goals, give them the help they need, give them a chance. It'll either work out or it won't. They'll either earn it or they won't.

7:38But it's up to them at that point once you've established the rules of the game. I hope this is helpful. If you're still having challenges around this or team building or anything to do with scaling a business, we'd love to have a chat with you. Just reach out to me. I'll get you in touch with me or one of my team, the appropriate person to help you get what it is you want in life. And remember, get yourself registered for that Asheville business summer. Hey, until next time, all the best.

8:13Hey, thanks for listening to the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast. Here's three things that you can do. Number one, remember to subscribe to the podcast. It takes very little effort on your part. It's going to help you and your fellow entrepreneurs. Plus, you guys know how it works. The more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you. Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach. It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly.

9:01Just send it to williamgilliland at actioncoach.com. That's my personal email that I read. No one else reads it first. It's not screened. It's my real email. Just send it to me. I can't wait to talk to you. Hey, and until then, all the best.