You earn little; Why?
After the normal school runs this morning I sat at my table in the office to do my ‘To Do List’ for the day but I kept having this nagging question in my head; why are you earning so little? This question stems from the radio program I was part of over the weekend. A caller had called in saying he earns N20,000 (about $100) a month hence he cannot save from his income.
Though I would normally have retorted to the normal phrase ‘if you can save when you earn a thousand even if you earn a million you are not likely to save’ but somehow I just asked him why he earns so little. Though he did not answer the question but this got me thinking. One hundred dollars($100) is really not so little considering that minimum wage in Nigeria is about eighty dollars ($80)
The general idea behind financial literacy which was our topic of discussion at the radio program is to encourage savings especially for investment purposes. Savings can be done by reducing your expenditure and saving the freed cash or increasing your ability to earn more and saving the excess earning for investment. If you asked any financial expert, you will be told that the easier way to save is to cut down on your expenses. Very true! But what happens if your income is barely enough to make ends meet then the other logical option should be to increase your ability to earn more.
Let’s look at why people earn what you are earning and why I earn what I am currently earning. Please do not get me wrong I am not saying your income is small, by no means. You may be earning tens of thousands, hundreds of thousand or even a million plus monthly but why is it all that you earn? Why can’t you earn more? Why do you have only one stream of income instead of multiple streams?
I concluded on the following because I am asking myself the same question though I have a few streams of income.
- Ignorance; this is one major reason why people get stock in a job and believe there is nothing else they can do about the situation. Financial ignorance, career ignorance and all manner of information deficiency can create a false sense of worth and victim mentality. To overcome ignorance, learn more, read more, become financially literate and you will be amazed how many things you can do that will add to your income. A personal experience I had recently illustrate the need to search for knowledge. I have authored two books and many manuscripts waiting to be published. I had wanted for about a year to put the book on eBay but couldn’t afford the charges of the expert who was to help out. A few days ago I decided to Google ‘how to turn physical books to e-books. And I found a very easy DIY (Do it yourself). I am already on it and on my way to earning extra Dollars; I only wish I did the search earlier.
2. False Contentment; the Bible says godliness with contentment is great gain. However people readily mistake complacency to contentment. Complacency gives you a feeling of doing all that can be done in the situation, more of a resignation to fate. People who are complacent often say “whatever will be will be” irrespective of what you do. To overcome these seek to achieve more. If you make enough to keep you and your family happy, go a step further to earn more so you can lend a helping hand to the poor and needy around you. Get a second job where possible, start a business on the side, invest in other people’s ideas, just do something legal and make more money.
3. Living in the past; many people still live in their past. They believe something in there is inhibiting them from making progress or earning more money. This mindset is commonplace in Africa. Rather than look into the future, they are held back by both good and bad experiences of the past.
4. Level of career education in chosen professions; the last time some read anything about their profession was when they applied for their job years back. They are caught in the race and they soon forget that professional development is one of the keys to success, hence their career path is stagnant and soon they become unproductive and not-deserving of promotion. Make a habit of attending and networking with the members of your profession outside of your office. This will help broaden your knowledge and open you up to opportunities to do some extras that can earn you money without infringing on the time of your employers
5. Afraid to take a risk; someone once said it is risky not to take risks. Many are comfortable in their comfort zone. Any idea about business is rebuffed by them. They are quick to tell you more reasons why a venture will fail than why it will succeed. I heard the story of a man who works in a firm about 40kilomerter away from his house. He leaves home early and get back late, who doesn’t especially if you work in a metropolitan city. However there is a snag, he spends the bulk of the money on transportation and ends up borrowing money from the wife who sells petty things in front of the house. It was obvious that he is depleting the little resources available to the family, so the financial counsellor advised him to quit his job and join the wife to grow the business. His answer…. Can you guess? Was no. He will rather continue to ‘be a man’ in his comfort zone than take the risk of building a family business that he is currently milking with his long distant job. Take that risk, and build your finances, use all the assets available to you to create a better future for your family
I am sure there are many other reasons, feel free to add more but more importantly, I would rather you add more avenues for making money to your income stream. In the next part of this article I will be talking more about several ways of boosting your income so be on the lookout and don’t forget to live your dreams.
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