Two Types of Employee Leverage
[*]Employees that duplicate you, enabling you to do more of what you already do. Dien talked about this in his lawn mowing example.
[*]Employees that do what you cannot, enabling you to accomplish bigger tasks than you otherwise would be capable of. Such as a builder who uses qualified electricians, carpenters, plumbers, etc., to build something. Donald Trump is a great example of this. Henry Ford is another example (using mechanics, welders, etc., to make cars).


Of course, there's also leveraging your money, which has already been discussed.

How about leveraging your leverage? (MLL - multi level leverage)

Leveraging your money to create something that leverages your time by using employees to do tasks you're unable to do.

Interesting. Like one of those Chinese Dolls.

And something else... someone, somewhere in this thread, I believe, asked about income... and fast methods.

On this point I'd have to agree with Roger Dawson (http://www.rdawson.com/) and say that the easiest money you can make in the quickest amount of time is by Negotiating. A single sentence can make or save you hundreds or thousands of dollars. Time taken... about 2 seconds, if that.

But all this raises an interesting point...

How Much Effort Are YOU Willing To Do For An Income of $X?

And

How Much Time Are YOU Willing To Put In For An Income of $X?

Regardless of leverage.

Let me run through a hypothetical so you can see how these questions relate...

Joe Worker works a job and makes $26,000 a year ($500 a week - $12.50 an hour for 40 hours work). He dreams of breaking free of the binding shackles of his job, he dreams of financial wealth, he dreams of being his own boss, he dreams his dreams.

And so, with dreams flittering around his head, he begins to research various ways he can make money for himself.

He researches Mailorder. He likes the idea of information products and their mark-up (and the leverage they provide), and he also likes the idea of drop-shipping (and the no-stock ability it provides even though its mark-up is less).

He researches Real-Estate. He likes the idea of No Money Down, Quick Flip Fixer Uppers, Leveraged Buys, Options, Liens and positive cash flows.

He researches "Teaching". He likes the idea of a lot of people paying to attend a class or workshop he puts on. And he likes the idea of then, or instead, of leveraging that and having someone else present a class he promotes.

He researches "Consumables". He likes the idea of selling products which are consumed and thus need to be bought again. He also likes the idea of services which are consumed and need to be bought again (such as lawn mowing).

He researches Import/Export. He likes the idea of being a middleman and skimming a profit off the top as the goods pass through him, if even on paper.

He researches Vending. He likes the idea of a machine which takes the money and provides the product.

He researches Rack Jobbing. He likes the idea of having racks in many stores all selling products he gets a slice of.

He researches Chattel. He likes the idea of buying low and selling high.

He researches Auctions. He likes the idea of selling his chattel through an auction.

He researches Consignment. He likes the idea of selling his chattel through a store on consignment.

He researches "Finding". He likes the idea of finding buyers for sellers and sellers for buyers, for a cut.

He researches Hiring. He likes the idea of getting money over and over again for the same product.

He does an extremely large amount of research. He wants to have as many options available to him before he decides which one he'll pursue. To make sure he can pick the one he feels more drawn to.

Having completed his research he settles on "Finding" as the way he's going to make his fortune. After all, all it takes to make money as a Finder is research - research to find buyers for sellers and sellers for buyers - right?

And so, with the information he's got about Finding, he begins. He begins to track down a buyer for something he's seen offered for sale with finder's fees.

He writes letters and makes a few phone calls and discovers that the "fee" offered for finding this thing is $100.

He thinks about the amount he'd get if he found the item and decides it's too little, or not worth the effort, and goes looking for something else which offers a bigger fee. Like maybe $1,000, or $10,000.

STOP.

Lets look at what Joe is doing here.

Joe is willing to work for someone else for $12.50 an hour. Using that as a starting point, he SHOULD be willing to put in 8 hours of effort to find the item with the $100 finder's fee attached. But he not willing.

Based on what Joe is willing to do, as far as his job goes, he should be willing to put in 2080 hours to find something with a $26,000 finder's fee (the amount of hours he works in his job for the amount of money he gets from his job). But, in all reality, Joe would give up on finding that item if he couldn't find it in a couple of weeks after only putting in maybe 8 hours.

So Joe decides finding isn't what he thought it was and opts for Mailorder. And because he wants to spend as little of his own money and time as possible, he chooses the drop-shipping route.

He gets his "kit" from the drop-shipper and begins. He places his ads and sends out his sales material to those who respond.

After one month he's only made $100. He's not happy. He begins to see his dreams slipping away. He's not making the Big Bucks like he thought. And so he tosses aside the idea of drop-shipping.

STOP.

It took him 10 minutes to place the ad, 5 minutes to send the sales material to each of those who enquired, and 5 minutes to send the name and address of each buyer to the drop-shipper. He made ten $40 sales, of which he got to keep $20. His costs were $100 leaving him with a profit of $100. His total time was the initial 10 minutes, plus 50 minutes to send the buyers' details to the shipper (60 minutes so far), plus 250 minutes to send the sales material to all those who enquired (310 minutes all up).

His hourly rate works out to be $19.38 an hour -$6.88 more than he'd get in his job for the same amount of money.

But he's not willing to go ahead with it. Even though he is willing to continue to work for someone else for $12.50 an hour.

What is Joe's problem???

Joe's problem is that he is WILLING to put in more time for less money for someone else than for himself.

He "happily" works 40 hours a week for $12.50 an hour for someone else, but will not work that many hours for the same amount of money, pursuing his own things.

Joe's like the unemployed person who want to go from welfare straight to middle management. The graduate with a basic degree who wants to be placed at the top of the corporate pile.

Joe doesn't realise that the "small" amount he gets working for himself, initially, is so "small" because he's learning the ropes. He wants the big bucks that come with experience even though he has none. Yet, the Money God/Force won't allow that to happen.

The Money God/Force wants him to serve his apprenticeship first. To Learn By Doing first. To gain experience First. Only then, and only when IT sees he knows what he's doing and can handle it, will IT bestow upon him the rewards he seeks.

While Joe could certainly do with the ability to FOCUS, he can't focus until he gets rid of the double-standard he operates under.

Joe First needs to be willing to work for himself for the same amount, or even less, as he's willing to work for someone else.

Joe First needs to be willing to put in the same amount of time for himself, or even more, as he's willing to put in for someone else.

Joe First needs to honestly answer the two question...

How Much Effort Are YOU Willing To Do For An Income of $X?

And

How Much Time Are YOU Willing To Put In For An Income of $X?

If Joe isn't willing to put in at least the same amount of time and effort for himself, as he's willing to put in for someone else, Joe won't get very far.

Your thoughts?

Michael Ross.