Like it was mentioned before elsewhere in my blog here, value is what makes people pay the price you quote for whatever it is that that you claim to do or produce. Value is what others perceive to be what they might get when they pay for it. Value is what will differentiate you from all others and give you the head-start you will need to keep your chin up and be better than the best. The value you provide to the soicety will define your riches; will set the pace for your journey towards the land of the rich.

Most people are. however, lost on how to ensure that value is reflected on everything you do. Here are a few pointers that will help in enhancing your value :

1. Innovation — going where no man dared to : I wasn’t talking about  the ability to produce new things out of the blue. I was talking about your propensity to do seemingly common things differently. You must have the knack to see things in a very different manner compared to how the world sees it and still make sense. You ought to have the guts to carry on thinking this way. Each time you dared to do something different, you are going to be standing at the threshold of a new door looking at an opportunity no one else has seen before — even if they did, they wouldn’t have acted on it.

2. Problem-solving : I heard this a million times when I was doing sales for a major multinational bank — Don’t bring problems to the table, bring solutions. In a way, they were right. No one wants trouble makers, everyone wants to see a problem solver. Someone who can turn tables around and introduce simple solutions to problems — be they simple or complex.  Look around the richest of the rich — what have they done? They took a problem and came up with a solution. This single ability alone is a million dollar one.

3. Resilience and the Spring-back factor : Your value is up now because of the fact that you don’t waver. You are rock solid no matter what happens and you have the ability to see things clearly. You are very discerning and even if you were to be disturbed about something — you just spring back to normalcy and go about doing what you ought to do. People who whine about things lost, rarely boast about being able to have any value about them. They are worth nothing.

4.  Leadership Abilities : Followers can’t be rich, ever. Followers do have a value to provide, though. It is not to be construed that they don’t have anything to contribute, they do. But then, we are talking about a value that people can put their hard earned money on. They need to come tearing to you and give you their cash. Leaders can do that. You must be able to influence people with your ideas and make them do what you want them to do and still make them feel that they are either doing it for their good or for the common good. How do you get these skills? Two steps — be a good follower and then start leading by example.

 5.  Knowledge : They do say knowledge is power, don’t they? In effect, they mean that knowledge arms you with value. when you are able to give people information, you provide them value. When you do problem-solving ( which is so easy for you because you have the wherewithal and the know-how), you give them value. This is only possible to achieve if you have your eyes and ears open; read like crazy; ask questions; learn from everything that is happening around you. Keep your ego at home and don’t ever think that you know it all.