The main reason I have written this post is to get people to understand the difference between WORK and VALUE. This is because I see lots of job ads posted in bidding sites and on classified sites that ask for somebody to jump through hoops while having their eyes closed and singing the National Anthem… and only offering to pay them $17 for the “privilege.” I find it ridiculous and am hoping some of my subscribers may read this and consider this difference when next placing a job ad.
I want to look at something that’s far more important than just work. It’s the value of the work and what it can do for you. I’ll start with resumes because it’s a field in which I have a great deal of expertise.
If you have a decent resume and a template cover letter, you can apply for ANY job you want that you are suited to. If your resume is 10 pages long, makes no sense, is difficult to read, doesn’t have all the accurate information and/or is laid out badly, then you won’t even get a foot in the door to be interviewed.
I have had lots of people inquire about the prices I charge for doing or redoing their resumes. I don’t charge a flat rate because people have varying amounts of information at the start.
So what’s the difference between the work and the value of that work in this case? The work isn’t difficult. I follow my own specific guideline for most resumes because I know it works. Now if you said you only wanted to pay $X because the job should only take an hour, you’re just looking at the words on the page, and anybody can do that.
Instead, you need to consider that once you have your resume done properly, you can then add to it as you get more jobs because you simply follow the same basic format. Also, the right resume can mean the difference between getting an interview and possibly even a job OR having your resume deleted without being read because it’s too messy and doesn’t contain the relevant information.
What’s a good full-time job worth to you? I honestly could charge $500 or $200 for a resume and it would still be cheap because it’s such a high value piece of work. However, I don’t charge anywhere near that.
Writing articles and eBooks or proofreading written material is also something that has to be looked at more than simply “work.” If you have an eBook proofread and then it’s published and you sell lots of copies of it, you have more than made up for the fee I charged you. That’s VALUE. It’s more than simply taking the time to do the WORK.
If you want articles or ebooks, you either want to build more traffic on your site, sell the material again or for some other reason that greatly benefits you. That benefit has far greater value than the actual work itself.
I hope that this post has given you all some food for thought and if anybody has any comments or questions, please feel free to post them or email me.