When you think of your career profession, how do you value your work? If you are a laborer for instance paid on an hourly basis making $10 an hour, would you say that the value of your services is $10 an hour? As a professional accountant, doctor, dentist or planner what would you consider the value of your services? Many people with tangible capabilities devalue their services based on the ability of others to pay for what they offer in currency. The value of your product or service does not change just because fewer people can afford to pay for it. Neither does the need for those who purchase your product or service change because they don’t have the cash to buy. Our current economic situation seems to have made this dilemma more common among businesses and individuals.
During this gifting season each of us should take a closer look at our value and what constitutes fair compensation for what we have to offer. In order to be fair to yourself, don’t just think about what you earn from a current employer or the standard rate of pay for your industry. Instead give some real thought to the value of your “gift”. God has given each of us a personal talent that has the ability to sustain our every need and to gain great abundance through the use of that talent. By placing a cash value on what it is you have to offer, one limits themselves to only what other are prepared to pay. True value should not be calculated based purely on a cost plus basis. If you could trade your talent for food, or clothing, or shelter, is there a significant difference than paying cash for those same things? Don’t allow the substance of your gift to be diminished because you are intent on selling it for cash. You could find that by rethinking the nature and value of your gift you are much richer than you ever knew.
Barter; which is the process of trading one product or service for another without using cash, can change the way you look at your value and that of the things you want or need. The process has survived for thousands of years, through recession, devaluation of currencies and more important the reduction of mans value based on the amount of cash they might have. These are factswe should all consider when attempting to assess our own value.
