Message from the Morning Man: Who do You Work For?

Today's message will mean more to those of you starting out in the world, because I learnt it at the same stage in my life.

So I've been away for a couple of days because I had a tooth extracted. Yes, very painful. While I was waiting for the swelling to go down, I pottered around my apartment looking for something to do with my idle hands before the devil could beat me to it. Sorting out my books seemed like a good idea. They had been sitting in boxes since I moved in, and so I decided to unpack them and put them up on the shelves. I was about halfway through the third box when I saw it. Just one corner of it sticking out from beneath a dictionary, but I immediately knew which book it was. A thin yellow volume that immediately evoked a feeling of warm, pleasant recognition. One of the most important books I had ever read; The Richest Man In Babylon.

It was a gift from my dad, and it absolutely changed my life. Just seeing the faded yellow cover brought back memory after satisfying memory of the first time I read it and realised that the secret to wealth is far more simple than I ever thought. As I sat on the floor, flipping through it again, grinning at my handwritten notes in the margins, I thanked my stars that a book like this ever crossed my path.

I won't give away all of the treasures hidden in this book, but I will tell you the most important lesson I learnt from it. It's quite simple really. Three words that will change your life. Are you ready?

Pay Yourself First.

That's it. Told you it was simple. But I'm still going to break it down even further. Let me ask you: who do you work for? Did you mention your boss' name, or your company's name? Both answers are wrong. You work for yourself. You don't work to pay your boss' rent. You don't slave away every day to build a house for your company. No. You do all these things for yourself. So the first thing you need to understand is that even if you're an employee, you're still your own boss.

So my next question is this: how much do you pay yourself? Whenever your salary comes in, or whenever you do your business accounts at the end of the month, how much do you pay yourself? What most people do is that they pay their bills and debts first. Then they put aside money for food, electricity, transportation etc. Then whatever is left goes into savings. Does this sound familiar? Yeah, that's what most people do. Well, the lesson I learnt from The Richest Man In Babylon is Pay Yourself FIRST. Not pay yourself with whatever is left.

When your wages or profits come in, before you pay your bills, before you buy food or electricity or pay school fees or send money to your mother, take ten percent of that net income and put it in your savings. That is how you pay yourself first. You see, if you leave paying yourself until last, well, you don't know how much will be left to pay yourself with.

Plus, no matter how much is left, it's more than likely that something unexpected will come along and take it away. It happens all the time. Your car breaks down, someone falls sick, a friend needs a loan, something comes along to call on your excess resources. And since you can't compromise on your bills or your food, your savings get sacrificed.

So pay yourself first. If all of your pay check gets spent each month, and none of it goes to you, it's almost as if all the work you did to earn the pay check was for nothing. It’s as if you worked for free if none of it goes to you. So pay yourself first with at least 10% of your income. This is non-negotiable. If you can afford to pay yourself more, then do so, but never less than 10%.

The Government understands the concept of paying yourself first. That's why they take taxes from your income first, before it hits your account. The government doesn't do your work with you, but they take their cut of your wages first. Before you pay your rent or your debts or even your tithes, the Government pays itself first. So you need to get with the programme and pay the guy who does all the work. That's you, my friend.

We all know the expression, "Live within your means", well here's a new one: Live BENEATH your means. You're paying yourself 10% now. This means your budget for each month should be based on 90% of your income. Every obligation you have must be met out of this 90%. Be consistent with it. Don't start and stop. Keep putting away that 10%. It's your wealth. It's the reason why you work. Whatever your debts or obligations, never forget your obligation to yourself.

My name is Kojo Yankson, and I work really hard, so there's no way I'm doing it for free.