I have learned a massive arbitrage when it comes to compensation: There are a lot of different ways that you can pay someone. The most obvious method is salary and bonuses. In our modern world, our salary gets processed digitally and deposited directly into our bank account. Although it is helpful to the employee, it is intangible. They will never physically see the money, and it is hard for them to tie that money to a specific future purchase. Basically, this make salary and bonuses table steaks for compensation. We need to be looking for other concrete ways to financially compensate employees. Some examples include: Buying their lunch A gift card to their favorite store Providing a laptop that can be used for work & personal A budget for decorating their office I've found that these forms of compensation deliver MUCH higher happiness per dollar spent. If I pay $10 for an employee's lunch, that is much more concrete than their digital bank deposit being $7 higher after taxes. Compensating people in ways other than salary requires creativity and thinking outside the box, but it is worth the effort. And the ultimate skill is learning to compensate people in ways that don't cost money. Some examples: +Publicly recognizing a team member for excellence. +Writing thank you notes. +Investing time in the personal development of people who you manage/lead. +Creating an environment where employees are empowered to make decisions. +Cultivating a culture that people will enjoy being immersed in for 40 hours a week. You should strive to pay your employees well, but a paycheck is the most basic form of compensation. Business gets much easier when you master the many other ways of rewarding your employees.

The Cowboys cheerleaders got a 400% raise last year. Now they’ve unionized. To appreciate how we got here: a former cheerleader sued in 2018 alleging she made $8 an hour while the guy in the mascot suit made $65,000 a year. Apparently she picked the wrong costume. This is the most valuable sports franchise in the world. And we’re talking about some of its most recognizable people. If your employees need a lawsuit and a Netflix documentary to get a decent raise, you probably let that conversation go a little too long.

Every comp plan at my agency now has a monthly retention bonus built in. Service is what keeps clients around, so I pay my team on it

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I’m 32. Hopefully I have 40+ years left to build businesses. That makes me much less interested in forcing 70% growth every year. Grow at a healthy rate. Stay profitable. Don’t let the business die. Time can handle a lot of the rest.

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