I got some interesting feedback from my last post, “The Lure of Easy Money”.
Here’s what my client Steve said,
“One thing I might say (from my perspective) is that the money AIN’T easy… (If this is easy, I hate to think what hard money would be like :-0 ) and it’s not that I dislike the work itself — I quite like it. It’s the people and the politics that make me insane. But your point is definitely well taken. “
When I used the term “Easy Money” I did not intend to infer that actually earning the money was EASY!
Let me be crystal clear! “Easy Money” is often the hardest, riskiest money to earn. It’s not “Easy Money” because of the ease with which it’s earned! It’s “Easy Money” because it’s so damn easy to continue to obtain work/employment with the same client or in the same occupational area.
In the interests of client confidentiality, let’s use my example again, my contract work as a “Change Management” Resource, to explore what I mean.
By the Spring of 2006, I’d been employed on a contract basis for 3 years. And, I worked damn hard for the money I earned — try doing 200+ Privacy Impact Assessments some time and see how good you are at making privacy policies interesting and important to Physicians and Clinic Managers who just want to do their jobs.
I was ‘easy’ to just keep renewing my contract. I was ‘easy’ to sit back and wait for my Change Management Advisor to parcel out assignments (no marketing, no selling). I was ‘easy’ to just keep on keeping on.
Ah! But what wasn’t ‘easy’.
The dis-ease being created by doing work that did not feed my soul, in a toxic work environment.
And, that IS so often the situation I find my clients in.
YES, in their case (as it is with Steve) the work itself may be rewarding, fulfilling, engaging, and nurturing BUT — and this IS important — there is something about the work environment that is TOXIC and ultimately destructive to their body, mind, soul, and spirit!
And, that is why we need to be careful about “Easy Money”!
