In my first job out of college, working at a huge advertising agency in Chicago, the Chairman of North America had a Christmas tradition every year.
He would walk around to everyone’s cubicle and give them each a Christmas bonus: a full-size candy bar.
But not just any candy bar. This one (image below; if you can’t see it, click Display Images above.)
Let’s remember that as a junior account executive in my first job, I was making exactly $27,500 per year.
And the Chairman, who was making in the 7-figure range, give us a candy bar that nodded to money, but was clearly not an actual monetary bonus.
I felt… degraded may be too strong a word, but I definitely felt like I was the butt of a joke. We all did.
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But now, looking back on it, it makes me think of two things.
One, how proud I am that I’m running my own business. That I’m in control of my financial future. And if I want to make money (say, one hundred grand), I know exactly how to do it. They’re the same steps I teach my clients.
And two, how proud I am of my students. Listen – $100k is nothing to sneeze at. But every day I’m seeing people who are learning how to get clients so that they can achieve that number on a timeline that fits with their business.
Some students are on track to make that in a year.
Some make it in a quarter.
Some make it with just one client project.
But for all of them, it’s the same. They finally know how to get the bigger clients, or raise their prices so they’re making 5x more per client project. They know the steps, and now they’re working them.
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Because money isn’t a joke. As I’ve talked about before, money is control and power. And a candy bar as a Christmas bonus is a bad joke made at someone else’s expense.
But knowing how to make money? Well, that’s definitely sweet.
To your success,
Leah
