Time and Money

When I was in college and nearing graduation there were career fairs held throughout the Spring.  Some were local, here in New York.  Others were in DC or neighboring cities just outside the metropolitan area.  One Spring afternoon, I found myself on the Chinatown bus to DC, headed to such an event.

The typical lay of the land for one of these things is you walk around a large hall filled with tables of potential employers, as they try to entice you to talk to their recruiters. They beckon with displays of candy, branded post its, and free pens.  As I walked from table to table I found myself in conversation with a recruiter from a small nonprofit organization looking for someone who fit my work and volunteer background nearly perfectly.  We spoke excitedly about helping underserved youth and providing mentoring services.  Finally I got around to asking the question: What's the pay?

What happened next defined the trajectory of my career.

$22,000

Holy cow.  And I would have to move to DC. And I would have to buy a car, and get insurance and find a place to live.  $22,000.  That works out to about $600 every two weeks.

But the job was perfect.  Helping people was something I believed in.  But, did I believe in it enough to trade all of my time for very little money?  Could I live on that?  Was that fair?  I mean, I was graduating from NYU a full year early with a Bachelor's in English.  I had great grades and a bevy of clubs and volunteer activities under my belt.  I was a catch.  Was I only worth $22,000?  And what about all those kids who slaved away in the business school instead of reading Chaucer and Melville for the last 3 years like I did?  Was their education worth more than mine?  Was their time worth more than mine?  I didn't want to believe it.  I had to decide, what was I after?  Did I go to school to make money or did I go to school to make the most use of my time?  And what was the difference?

I took that job.  I bought a car.  I moved to DC.  I worked 60-70 hour work weeks. And I collected $600/week.  I bought gas and groceries on a credit card.  I picked up a part time job.  I prayed not to have to go to the auto mechanic.  Not having money, meant I didn't have any time. "Free time"? No such thing.  I had traded all of my time for very little money.

Everyone knows the phrase that time is money.  What I discovered very quickly is that the reverse is also true: money is time.  Picking a career is not about how much you are worth.  It's about what you are willing to trade for your time. If I had taken a cushy corporate job, making $40,000 straight out of school, working a traditional 9-5, I would have had a little bit more money yes, but I would have had a lot more time. And the time, is way more valuable than the cash. By getting the money out of the way, I eliminated the need for working overtime and a part time job, the hours spent manipulating a bare bones checking register, the hours talking to American Express.  I would have been taking dance classes and going to church, and meeting new friends and reading new books.  You can't put a price tag on your time.  Yet, that's how most new jobseekers conceptualize salary requirements.

Everyday I sit down with people who go to work because they have to not because they want to.  I guarantee if you ask someone "If money were no object, where would you be at 3 pm on Tuesday?" they aren't going to say "at work".  We trade our time for money everyday.  But the most valuable thing in the transaction is not the money.  It's the time.  What we are all really after is the time.

I'm not a securities broker.  I'm a time dealer.  I trade in the one commodity that is truly universal regardless of age, creed, ethnicity, or nationality.  24 hours a day/7 days a week/365 days a year is the same ration for every man, women and child on the planet. You can always make more money, but you will never be able to make more time.

Work for 30 years,  and retire for 40 years.  Work for 5 hours a day, and be with family 19 hours a day. Spend 8 months a year on your business and 4 months a year on vacation.  My job is to negotiate those ratios. It's not about where and how you are earning your money.  True job satisfaction is about where and how you are spending your time.

Day 9s reason my business is interesting:  I'm a time dealer.