When you are your own lowest paid employee

When you are the lowest paid person in your business…

When the national living wage went up earlier this year, if your first thought was - yep, people should definitely be paid a fair wage for what they do. And that thought was swiftly followed by - I wish that same thing applied to me, you’re not alone.

Back to the topic of being your own lowest paid employee. There are lots of pluses to being your own boss. Captain of your own ship, you get to make your own decisions and set your own course. You also get to earn less than you could ever legally pay anyone else. Fun times.

This situation has the obvious downside of you not being able to afford the things you need or the bills you have to pay, but it can also kind of chip away at your soul. If you’re the kind of person that takes the time to read this newsletter, you’re probably the kind of person that wants to be a decent employer. You probably started out with dreams of looking after your staff, of creating a positive working atmosphere, of a kitchen or bakery that people wanted to be in. The problem with continually under earning, is that over time, resentment starts to set in. You watch your employees go about their lives apparently untroubled by the cost of repairing the dishwasher or the national insurance increase and you think ‘well, that’s why I get paid the big bucks; to worry about those things’ and then you remember, you don’t get paid the big bucks. Some days your team seems to actively enjoy it when it’s quiet, it makes for an easier shift. Whilst you quietly die of anxiety inside thinking about how you’re going to pay them for all the standing around they’re doing. And when your barista complains that you need more cups because it’s impossible for them to do their job properly, and you know those cups are effectively coming out of the paltry amount that constitutes your wages, it can be tough not explode with rage.

If you have ever experienced simmering resentment you’ll know that it rarely brings out our best qualities. It probably doesn’t make you the boss/partner/parent/person you want to be. If I asked you to write a list of words for how you want to feel in your business ‘angry’ or ‘quietly suffocating’ probably wouldn’t be on there. You don’t want simmering resentment, you want calm, feeling in control and probably above all else you want to feel that yes, you put a lot into your business, but you also get a lot back. In the warm glow of providing decent jobs for nice people, in appreciation from your customers, in the satisfaction of having created this business that actually does something good, and in the money that reflects all that you’ve built.

Don’t be your own worst paid employee. It is time to draw a line in the sand and say 'no more'. If you need some help drawing that line, I’d love to help. If you'd like useful insights straight into your inbox, why not sign up to my weekly newsletter.