People Have a Price Tag

How much do you think you are worth?

As much as you would love your income stream to be coming from your vlogging activities, it just isn't going to happen for you until you purchase yourself. That's right, purchase yourself.

The world is brimming with teenagers vowing to be the next YouTube, Twitch, and Tiktok entrepreneur. I should know, I have a couple of them. We've all been young and naive about where money comes from and how it multiplies, so I'm targeting this article to those guys, and girls... let's be politically correct, it is 2020.

Aren't we, as adults, really doing the same thing with our blogging, coaching, painting, writing, and other free-lance activities? If we've learned our lesson, the answer is no.

When my son or daughter says to me that they will be the next millionaire, it makes me proud. At least I know they have self-worth. But, putting such a hefty price tag on yourself, as a kid, might make you feel a little demeaned when working your first part-time job.

Currently, I'm worth about thirty dollars per hour. It doesn't mean I make that much; far from it, as a matter of fact. What it does mean is that if I could make 30 dollars per hour without lifting a finger, then I would be free to pursue my passions unhinged. How did I come up with this price tag? Let's break it down.

Let's just say you are a single person (we're gender neutral now, or did you miss the memo?) at eighteen years of age and are starting out on your own for the first time. You've decided to enter the workforce, rather than go to college or trade-school, and live with a friend in a two-bedroom apartment until you can save enough to get your own place. (Your parents were nice and co-signed for you;)

You currently make seven dollars and fifty cents per hour as a cashier at Winn-dixie. Working forty hours a week, you bring home roughly two hundred and twenty bucks weekly. So you are collecting around a thousand a month and spending half of that on rent and utilities. At best you have four hundred dollars to spend on necessities before you save any of it away for your big move to your own place. You have a passion for vlogging. You love to live stream yourself as you brush your teeth and put on make-up each morning before work (still gender neutral... It is 2020), you have ten followers.

How much are you worth?

Well, seven fifty per hour.

As much as you would love your income stream to be coming from your vlogging activities, it just isn't going to happen for you until you purchase yourself. That's right, purchase yourself. The only problem is, you don't have enough money to pay yourself seven fifty or you wouldn't be working at Winn-dixie. That's were investing comes in.

All of your life people have told you to invest. Your parents tell you to invest in an education, your grandparents tell you to save some of that birthday money, you coach tells you to invest in exercise. Investing means to take care of yourself. Literally, in the old days it meant 'to clothe.'

All the way back to Babylon and it still holds true, the number one rule about money is, 'pay yourself first.' This doesn't mean buy yourself something nice. It means to pay the person who is doing all of the work for you, first and foremost. Right now, that person is you, so before you can even begin to pay your worker, you have to first buy one. People aren't cheap, even at seven fifty per hour. So, you are going to have to start saving up now.

In our breakdown we said we were making roughly one thousand a month. We know we are going to need a worker that can make that much for us if we want to have a chance at our dreams.

To make things simple, I am going to take all of the math out of the equation here. To make one thousand dollars per month off a worker that gives you five percent of their wages you would have to purchase said worker for two hundred thousand dollars cash. A hefty price tag, I know. But the good news is, you can buy this worker on a payment plan, and the plan builds value over time.

If you were to somehow squirrel away half of your left over cash into a five percent investment account; that's two hundred dollars a month. By the end of the year you would have two thousand five hundred and twenty dollars toward this purchase. That's great news! If you do that one hundred more times, even without interest, you will surpass your goal. But who's going to live past one hundred, right? What, with all the medical advances, I guess we don't know for sure.

In a nutshell, you'll be sixty seven years old before you can purchase one of you and just collect your one thousand a month. If you saved the entire four hundred dollars, you would be sixty four. If you lived with mom and dad and saved your whole paycheck you would be forty seven. If you worked sixty hours a week instead of forty, and saved all of your money at mom's house you would be thirty (but that's with 10% interest). You see there are nuances.

Can you make more per hour? Can you work more hours? Can you get a better rate of return on your investment? All of these variables affect how long it will take you to purchase yourself a worker that can stand up to your financial needs.

I like to refer to our retirement income as a worker, because that is essentially what it is. Our money will be working for us and we will be living off of the interest it brings in. Realistically, it is the first ten thousand dollars that is the hardest. It requires discipline and sacrifice. But, know that most of the millionaires on the planet didn't become so by hitting it big with the next big app. They did it through saving. Once you pass ten thousand, the savings start to snowball.

If you are one of those people who align with the positive thinking of 'The Secret' and 'The Power of Now', then it will come as no surprise to you that happiness breeds riches. A feeling of success, attracts more success. Many have tried abandoning their day jobs in pursuit of a fifty hour work week doing what they love. Be it vlogging, knitting, or dog walking. But, often times they end up putting in more hours to make ends meet, and the love of what they do, ends up becoming a rigorous activity that they have no choice in. When you get into that trap, the love of your art or hobby falls away, and your potential customers notice.

In reality, you and all of your dreams are priceless. But, it is worth taking the time to ask what your future is worth and invest in it early.

Sacrifice while you are young. Enjoy your dreams in your little free time; for absence makes the heart grow fonder. Once you have purchased a hard working clone. Go to your happy-passion unbridled and see the ultimate riches that manifest alongside your joyful-creativity.

-Jay M Horne

Jay Horne is an author and publisher out of Bradenton, Florida who has shared a genuine interest in philosophy and writing since early childhood. He is a husband and father of four. Jay enjoys writing fiction, humor, horror, and teen & young adult.

View all of his professional and philosophical works of literature on his Amazon author page where you will find blogs, videos, and free excerpts:

Jay M Horne