The other day someone mentioned to me that “you’ll never get rich selling your time, you’ll only get rich selling your results.”
This has sat with me since that time, and as I was watching MLB Network last night, I began to realize that this notion is true more and more, especially in the context of baseball.
I’ve been back-and-forth when it comes to my thoughts about free agency — I like that players have the ability (after six years however) to negotiate with any team they want for their services. After decades of the reserve clause, it’s only fair that they get to test their abilities on the open market and make the most they can, and that the market will bear.
However, as a fan, and as a member of the group that foots a lot of the bill for Major League Baseball, I don’t like how free agency has driven up the end cost of going to games. Tickets cost more, hats cost more, concessions cost more – you get the point. A team has to find a way to pay Superstar X for his services, and fans are often the ones they turn to, because for many years they were seen as a group who could be held hostage for their dollars. “Don’t miss out on all the action!” the team would say, or “don’t risk losing your great season tickets by not renewing, even though we stink and haven’t sniffed the playoffs in over a decade!” It’s classic scare tactics, preying on our fear of missing out on something great, complimented by the dangling of schwag or tchotchkes, along with coupons and ‘experiences’ all designed to get us to buy, and to buy more and more.
Nevertheless – this isn’t an argument for or against free agency or the marketing practices of baseball teams, but rather a time to look at our own lives and see if we’re getting the compensation we deserve. Look around a baseball stadium, and figure out who is getting paid by the hour, and who is getting paid based on their performance, and then figure out which one you’d want to be.
The usher who checked your ticket as you walked to your seat? Hourly. The beer vendor? My guess is by performance. The photographer in the first-base camera well? Could be either, but I’m guessing by performance, especially if she’s a freelancer. The first baseman? By performance.
Being paid based on performance is a scary proposition for some people, because it’s a mirror back on how much work you’ve put in up to that point. It’s when your decision to stay late and solve the problem gets rewarded, while your decision to have that extra scoop of ice cream and go the gym gets punished. It’s a marker on how much you believe in yourself to not just take on a challenge, but to be victorious.
For most of my life, I haven’t been one to sign up for pay-for-performance, but as I experience new things and develop new outlooks on life, it has become more appealing, because it gives me the opportunity to be rewarded for when I succeed, and to have instantaneous feedback when I fail. Certainly it doesn’t make sense in every circumstance, but it’s beginning to make sense in more and more of them.