My 11-year-old son wants a Nintendo 3DS for Christmas. We have said it's too expensive as a one-off present but offered to go halves with him. He has eagerly accepted the challenge and there has been an immediate and radical transformation of financial behaviour as a result. He is no longer frittering away his weekly pocket money on packs of Pokemon cards, and is focused on his accumulating bank account balance.
Secondly, he is very keen to do extra jobs to augment his savings. Rather than dictate the terms of trade, we invited him to think about a problem he could solve, with an outcome that someone would value sufficiently to pay for. After some reflection, he suggested that our front garden is pretty over run with weeds and he could remove them. He is correct, and weeding our garden is a big job, so our stipulation was that we would pay for a garden without weeds, not the time it took him to do it. We are more than happy for him to spend a Saturday afternoon in the sunshine talking to his friends over the fence and playing with the dog as a distraction from the hard work of weeding. However, we have no interest in policing whether he is working during the appointed weeding hours nor in paying for a job half done.
![Ridding the garden of weeds was the desired outcome, not policing the hours worked.](/web/20161111043349im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/h/5/p/a/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gsh5gv.png/1478143725927.jpg)
There is a lesson in this for all of us. If we want something, we can either reduce expenditure, or increase our income. The best way to increase income, is to think about how we can make ourselves of value by solving someone's problem. I love commentator Rabbi Daniel Lapin's description of money as a "certificate of performance". This might mean starting a side business or enhancing what you do for your customers if you already own a business. But it is equally applicable to employees. If you want to progress and earn more in your chosen field, start thinking of your employer not as your boss, but as your customer. Don't wait for them to tell you what to do, think about what problems you can solve and how much value you can create for your "customers". Most importantly, stay focused on the fact that business is about serving others, and if you do that well, with generosity, intelligence and care, money will result. This change of mindset allows you to be a business owner in whatever circumstance you find yourself and releases you from the tyranny of micro-management and the daily grind.
The other aspect that is quite clear to an 11-year-old, but lost on many professional services businesses, is that the customer cares about an outcome, not how long it takes you to achieve it. Just like my son, paying professionals by the hour rewards inefficiency and misaligns the interests of the customer and service provider. However, that is not to say that all customers should be charged the same, as their needs, and what they value, will be different. At my financial planning firm, we use a wonderfully innovative law firm for our clients' estate planning. View Legal provides a package of wills and power of attorney documents for a fixed cost, depending on complexity and the desired client experience. For example, if the client, or us as their adviser, is willing to collect and input all the relevant information into View Legal's web portal and have an online, rather than face to face, meeting with the drafting solicitor, the cost is radically reduced. Importantly, the problem we want solved, the accurate and compliant recording of our clients' testamentary wishes, is the focus, not how long it takes the lawyers to achieve it.
In a world of rapid change and digital disruption, many question what the jobs of the future will look like for our children. Observing my very grubby, but satisfied 11-year-old at the completion of his task last Saturday highlighted that there will always be problems that people need solved. If we think creatively on how we can serve others, avoid feeling entitled and equate value with customer outcomes rather than hours worked, there will always be jobs for humans.
Catherine Robson is a financial planner with Affinity Private. Twitter: @CatherineAtAff.
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