My first job was working in a grocery store bagging groceries and stocking shelves. The atmosphere was really positive, the managers were hard workers who loved to have fun and we as a bunch of teenagers were taught to be polite and do as much as we could to help the customers. It was a happy place to work.
Today I go to the grocery stores and the workers aren’t happy. It is the same at the fast food joints, and restaurants. Everyone is putting in time, but they aren’t enjoying working anymore.
I have been wondering why that is.
The reason is obvious to me. They aren’t making a lot of money and there is a social element that has creeped into society which seems to look down on people in the service industry.
The wealthy are idolized in our society as being something of a super hero and when people don’t succeed at that level there is a general disdain for “normal” wage earners. They are often treated as second class citizens and not so much mistreated as they are ignored.
One of my principle character trait flaws that I see in people is a lack of a good attitude. Attitude towards life is everything. But, it is difficult to have a good attitude when you are being treated poorly AND paid poorly.
Society needs the “normal” wage earner to do the real work of society. Society needs garbage workers, janitors, maids, maintenance workers, street cleaners, construction workers, waiters/esses, cooks, and the thousands of other types of workers that actually move our life forward. Without them, we’d all be living in a filthy slum.
They deserve to be rewarded, not only monetarily, but also with due respect. Today, it seems that because of all the “Success” and “Wealth” gurus praising those who do well financially that the “normal” wage earners are looked upon as failures. The fact is, without the “normal” wage earners these “Successful People” and “Wealthy People” could not succeed.
The effect this has on the work force is palpable. The people in these jobs are not happy, they aren’t having fun, and they are basically depressed, not only because they can barely make ends meet, but also because they aren’t valued and respected as they should be.
What can we do to remedy this situation?
First off, “normal wage” or “minimum wage” jobs aren’t meant to be “careers”. Like I said before, we were all teens working in grocery stores, fast food stores and restaurants. Today, these jobs are held by grownups who have families and don’t have any marketable skills to get a better job.
It is next to impossible to support yourself, much less, raise a family on the money these jobs pay. In addition, how are they supposed to build a nest egg, make investments, save for a house down payment, and finance their children’s education if they barely earn enough to pay the rent?
They have no plan, they see no bright future, and the light of their eyes go dim. They are depressed.
Once you become depressed you spiral down and down until the hole you are in is so deep that you can no longer see that there is a world out there at all, much less have the idea that you could ever climb out of it. So, you just go through the motions everyday and hope to make it until evening to watch TV and escape life for awhile.
As hard as that sounds, this is where millions of people are stuck in a wildly wealthy country.
What happens next?
People look for someone who can come and change the game for them. A “President” who, like a Messiah, can be elected and miraculously solve all of our problems. Someone to come in and make it all right again and they follow anyone who says they are the Messiah without question. They are looking for someone who speaks their language and thinks on their level. They are actually more selfish than those with a lot of money, because they can’t afford to lose anymore money.
With a great financial plan, you can do well even if your salary isn’t great. But, without a plan and the discipline to stick to it, you can’t.
The millions of people who work in the real jobs of our society are exhausted. They are exhausted physically, mentally, and spiritually. Their finances are hand to mouth, day to day, week to week, month to month, their financial health is exhausted.
How do we return dignity to the workforce? How can we help them become “successful” and “wealthy”? What can we do to promote entrepreneurship?
We can show them that they are valuable to us. We can teach them that there is a pathway available to them. We can lift them up and encourage them to lift others up.
In affiliate marketing, anyone can show someone how to fill out a form. That is really the job for affiliate marketers.
In a healthy organization of affiliate marketers, you find happiness of attitude, hope for the future, skills that you can learn, and leaders who are servant leaders and value you for who you are right now.
In a healthy organization of affiliate companies, you find products that pay generous commissions, and teach you real skills and can give you finanical planning guidance.
But, most of all, as an affiliate of a healthy affiliate organization, you have something of great value to sell, that you didn’t have to build yourself.
Education and systems at the very basic level can make all of the difference in the life of working people. However, people who are working jobs, should continue to work those jobs, until they are really secure financially. They must keep their health, vision, and dental insurance going. They need a consistent retirement savings and investment program, and they need to be able to build on that with their affiliate program to increase their income, and become more secure and happy in their life.
When I look at the faces of those who seem tired, and hopeless, I think that they are really looking for a path in the future, a way to get ahead that helps others as well as themselves.
We can stop the downward spiral by sharing with them the golden opportunity that affiliate marketing can give them.
Today, there is no reason for anyone to struggle financially. There are systems in place to provide a simple path to earning more money, yet, if you say the words, “lead capture page”, they have no idea what you are talking about.
It is time to show them a way out.