The wording of this law, 'Compensation,' has certain overtones. The dictionary definition of the word is 'reward for service' or 'something given or received as an equivalent for services, debt, loss, injury, suffering, lack, etc'
The Law of Compensation differs from these definitions, which explains why people get confused.
It can best be summed up in the biblical phrase:
'Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.' (Galatians 6:7)
In contrast to the Law of Increase (Law #5), it works both ways - if you act positively you will be rewarded positively. If you act negatively you will be rewarded negatively.
It's important to understand that if you want to be compensated more - for example get a higher pay or make more money - there are three factors that will determine your level of compensation.
- The need for what you do
- Your ability to do it
- The difficulty there is in replacing you.
So if you are a tradesman - say a carpenter - going into an area where there are a lot of carpenters, you have a lot of competitors and thus you will have to price yourself very low in order to get any business.
The second factor depends on your level of competence - if you do shoddy work, people will soon wake up to this and not patronise your services. But if you do an excellent job, you will get repeat sales and referrals.
Finally, the third factor describe how unique you are: if you do not specialise to a certain degree, then you will not get repeat work or new customers.
The above also applies to the 'professions' - for example medicine and law. Being a doctor is a highly skilled occupation (2 and 3) and there is always a demand for services (1).
But for some doctors that's not enough and they then specialise into such areas as Dermatology (skin doctors) or Radiology (a doctor who can read an X-Ray).
In short those in areas that are highly specialised, and thus the supply of them is short, tend to be paid higher than in those where there is an abundance of providers.
This leads us to a few questions about your attitude and whether you are succeeding or not at what you're doing.
- Are you expecting something for nothing? If so, you'll get nothing for nothing.
- Are you always wanting a bargain? Often cheap thoughts result in cheap results!
- Do you hate spending money (even if you have it)? Sometimes you need to spend money to make money!
It's only in very rare cases that the contrary to the above appears to happen. You may receive a gift and think 'what did I do for this?' The answer is that you probably did something exceptional in the past that the giver felt obliged to return in some way.
Similarly, if you go to the supermarket and look for things 'on special,' you will surely find them - and some of them may be bargains as the store owner is clearing out stock.
Often, though, the store may be getting rid of stock that is a liability, such as faulty or out of use by date merchandise. In that case you get what you pay for!
But note here that the store is also playing the game of compensation. By discounting a product, they generate 'good will' in their client base, which ensures repeat sales by their patrons.
The upshot of all of this is: if you want to increase your compensation, you need to be able to supply a need well and uniquely.
A way of doing this is 'going the extra mile.' In other words, provide value over and above your client's expectation and you will be rewarded accordingly.
So in summary I end with a few questions:
- How good are you at what you're doing?
- How could you get better at what you do?
- Who does a better job than you at what you're doing?
Study them! Study their beliefs, their values, their practices.
Then take action!
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