6 Steps to build your VALUE

I was at a Boston Celtics game last week and I overheard an interesting conversation by the two gentlemen sitting behind me. One guy was telling his friend how he had strategically saved up a bunch of sick/vacation time and he managed it so that he was going to be taking off (6) consecutive weeks in the spring time. He was over the moon about it. He was going to take (6) weeks off and not do a “damn thing” as he put it.

Most people would say that’s awesome right? Six whole weeks off and no one bothering you. But it got me to thinking. If you can take six weeks off and not one person is trying to get in touch with you, what does that say about your value to your employer or business? How can you be valuable if you can leave and no one even cares? Well unless you have some unbelievable business systems in place it’s probably because you are not a valuable player to your respective business.

If you want to be successful you need to put yourself in a position where your partners or employers are begging you NOT to go on vacation.

So how do you make yourself valuable? Well, each career path you choose requires different skill sets in order to make yourself valuable to that industry. But, there are many things you can focus on that will make you valuable in any industry. If you focus on these universal principals you will make yourself valuable to anyone and anywhere.

Be GREAT at ONE thing: If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m from the Boston area and I love my Boston sports teams (cue the sports analogy). David Ortiz is a hall of fame baseball player and made over 150 million dollars because he was GREAT at one thing, hitting. He can’t throw, field, pitch or run but he was a world class hitter. If you are great at one thing, people will pay you a lot of money. Maybe you’re great at customer development, maybe its sales, maybe its managing internal employees. Whatever your greatest strength is, nurture that gift and make it your biggest asset.

Be easy to do business with: No one wants to work with a pain in the butt or someone they can’t count on. Keep your promises, follow up, be efficient, be responsive, don’t complain, be positive, earn trust and you will build life-long profitable relationships. You want people to look forward to their interactions with you, not roll their eyes every time they see you show up on the phone screen. Everyone I have ever had work for me for long periods of time have one thing in common, they were all easy to work with. Most importantly, be accessible. Pick up the phone, return emails and don’t cancel meetings. What good are you to someone if they can’t even reach you half the time? I’m not saying to write emails on Christmas morning but be responsive during business hours. It goes a long way.

Figure it out: I’m a huge team guy. I think being a part of and building a great team is the best possible way to be successful. With that being said, there are some responsibilities that will always fall solely on you, that’s just the way it is. Whether it’s a new item you are tasked with, a new company goal or a big project you are about to lead, it’s important that YOU figure out how to do it successfully. If you have to go to your boss to ask him/her every single little question then they are just going to assume they do it themselves since they have to spoon feed it to you anyways (which means they won’t need you). Once you have a task, take it, own it and crush it. Employers don’t want to hear “can you help me with this” or I don’t understand this.” They want to hear “I’m on it”, “I took care of that we are all set” and “no worries I’ll figure it out and follow up when it’s completed.” Once someone knows you are the guy/gal that can get things done you will be presented with many more opportunities. Additionally, you will always learn more and be better off after you have done something yourself rather than depend on someone else.

Be innovative: Companies and business can always improve. Don’t just take a job, go with a flow and do only the minimum of what is required of you. Help improve systems, pitch ideas on how to make things run more efficiently, strategize how to cut cost and generate more revenue. Think outside the box and show some initiative. Who wouldn’t want a guy that does all of those things on their team?

Set priorities and stay productive: One of my favorite quotes is “if you have more than 3 priorities you none.” There are only so many hours in a day and it’s vital to prioritize. Once, you prioritize, attack them aggressively. Completing priorities consistently will help you stay productive and not just busy. Productivity = Value.

Be consistent: Last but certainly not least is consistency. Consistency is the biggest key to success. If you do all of these things we just discussed consistently, success will be the only possible outcome.

Now, go out there and build your value!