3 Practical Methods I Used to Escape the Curse of “Pay-Per-Hour” in My 9–6
They allowed me to earn more over time
I used to flip burgers at MacDonald’s. Then, I earned $5.80 per hour.
Times have changed. Today, that same job pays $7 — $8 per hour.
However, that income model remains intact. Tagging a dollar amount to one unit of time is affectionately known as Pay-Per-Hour.
It never left me. Today, in the professional world, I am still compensated by $X per hour. It is a curse I am dying to lift.
Why so?
Because it does not allow me to accumulate earnings fast enough to get richer. Or to escape cubicle life during my prime. I cannot work 24 hours non-stop. There must be better ways to break the curse of Pay-Per-Hour.
And fortunately, I found 3.
Look Within Your 9–6 Before Starting Other Ventures, Investments, and Opportunities
People come in different shapes and sizes.
Not everyone is interested in entrepreneurship or becoming a 1-Man consultant after working hours. It is also dangerous to assume the person in front of you is willing to bet their entire life savings to become a Bitcoin millionaire.
Some people I know have a very low-risk tolerance profile. They do better in life functioning as a cog in the corporate flywheel. Hey, that is respectable too.
If that happens to you — Let me say something.
You are not destined to be a Pay-Per-Hour minion forever.
There are 3 practical ways to supercharge your earnings within the perimeters of your chosen 9–6.
Method 1: Accept an Overseas Assignment
It works, especially when you are from the headquarters.
Businesses with scale are always looking to penetrate new markets. And they are willing to pay more to willing candidates from within to go and open new frontiers.
I had this opportunity during 2017–2018. The Chief Operating Officer of the consulting firm asked if I was interested in leading the small team of 5 in the Hong Kong office.
This is the additional compensation offered over and above my salary.
- Relocation allowance of SGD 1,200 per month
- All meals and transport costs are reimbursable
- Cost for fortnightly home travel covered
I stayed with the Hong Kong office for 15 months. Then, I saved 95% of my salary as all necessary expenditures were covered.
It helps that I don’t spend a lot as well.
Take on an overseas posting if the opportunity is presented to you. You earn way more.
Method 2: Ask for a Contributor’s Licensing Royalty
I was in the software integration consulting business during the 1st 7 years of my professional career.
Then, getting information to flow from one software to another is hot. Makes sense. No consulting clients want to perform data entry more than once.
But building that communication tunnel between software is difficult. It takes months of conception, coding, and user testing.
I had a colleague who managed to crack the code. He has built a repository of source codes that allowed him to finish building that communication tunnel 40% faster.
I asked if it was proprietary and whether it would be utilized in all technology projects sold by the firm. My colleague said yes.
The both of us went to speak to the Managing Director. This was the deal we brokered.
- 0.5% contract value attribution to my colleague each time his work is utilized
- 0.2% contract value attribution to me each time a project I sold uses his creation
It was a cool deal (then) because multi-year, multi-million projects were commonplace. It took us 9 months to secure this internal deal.
Needless to say, we were over the moon.
Of course, this arrangement went away once we left the consulting firm.
But for a brief 2 years… I was happy with the money rolling in.
Method 3: Accept a Role Transition to Your Company’s Subsidiary
This is my mentor’s story.
He was a well-known consultant and the top revenue driver in our consulting firm.
In 2016, he was asked by the Managing Director of our firm to head our subsidiary as a Chief Technology Officer. He took up the role and left.
He shared with me many years later (after leaving the subsidiary) that he was given a 50% pay increment plus share options plus annual profit sharing as a managing partner.
My jaws crashed to the ocean floor.
And I remembered thinking that is how we can (really) escape the tyranny of a Pay-Per-Hour income model.
Parting Keynotes
You can break the curse of Pay-Per-Hour in your 9–6.
You must be attentive to opportunities within your organization. They disappear fast.
And this is the thing. Your earning prowess increases (exponentially) once you grab hold of any one of them.
They pay you more and cover almost all your daily and working expenses. Of course, these high-earning opportunities come with an expiry date.
But I say this.
Such opportunities trump flipping burgers for a living wage anytime.
Grab them. Enjoy them while they last.
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure. Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
Get full access to Medium using this link and read gazillion exciting articles.