• Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • NEWS
  • PRODUCTS
  • CONTRACTORS
  • ENGINEERS
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
  • INSIGHTS
  • MEDIA
  • RESOURCES
  • EMAGAZINE
  • SIGN UP!
cart
facebook instagram twitter linkedin youtube
  • CONTRACTORS
  • BATH & KITCHEN PRO
  • BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
  • HIGH EFFICIENCY HOMES
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • WATER TREATMENT
  • PMC COLUMNS
  • PMC COLUMNS
  • Dave Yates: Contractor’s Corner
  • John Siegenthaler: Hydronics Workshop
  • Kenny Chapman: The Blue Collar Coach
  • Matt Michel: Service Plumbing Pros
  • Scott Secor: Heating Perceptions
  • ENGINEERS
  • CONTINUING EDUCATION
  • DECARBONIZATION | ELECTRIFICATION
  • FIRE PROTECTION
  • GEOTHERMAL | SOLAR THERMAL
  • PIPING | PLUMBING | PVF
  • PME COLUMNS
  • PME COLUMNS
  • Christoph Lohr: Strategic Plumbing Insights
  • David Dexter: Plumbing Talking Points
  • James Dipping: Engineer Viewpoints
  • John Seigenthaler: Renewable Heating Design
  • Lowell Manalo: Plumbing Essentials
  • Misty Guard: Guard on Compliance
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
  • RADIANT COMFORT REPORT
  • THE GLITCH & THE FIX
  • INSIGHTS
  • CODES
  • GREEN PLUMBING & MECHANICAL
  • PROJECT PROFILES
  • COLUMNS
  • SPONSOR INSIGHTS
  • COLUMNS
  • Codes Corner
  • Natalie Forster: Editorial Opinion
  • Guest Editorial
  • MEDIA
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WEBINARS
  • RESOURCES
  • INDUSTRY CALENDAR
  • DIRECTORIES
  • EBOOKS
  • PM BOOKSTORE
  • CE CENTER
  • MARKET RESEARCH
  • CLASSIFIEDS
  • EMAGAZINE
  • EMAGAZINE
  • ARCHIVE ISSUES
  • CONTACT
  • ADVERTISE
  • PME EMAGAZINE ARCHIVES
search
cart
facebook instagram twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • NEWS
  • PRODUCTS
  • CONTRACTORS
    • BATH & KITCHEN PRO
    • BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
    • HIGH EFFICIENCY HOMES
    • TECHNOLOGY
    • WATER TREATMENT
    • PMC COLUMNS
      • Dave Yates: Contractor’s Corner
      • John Siegenthaler: Hydronics Workshop
      • Kenny Chapman: The Blue Collar Coach
      • Matt Michel: Service Plumbing Pros
      • Scott Secor: Heating Perceptions
  • ENGINEERS
    • CONTINUING EDUCATION
    • DECARBONIZATION | ELECTRIFICATION
    • FIRE PROTECTION
    • GEOTHERMAL | SOLAR THERMAL
    • PIPING | PLUMBING | PVF
    • PME COLUMNS
      • Christoph Lohr: Strategic Plumbing Insights
      • David Dexter: Plumbing Talking Points
      • James Dipping: Engineer Viewpoints
      • John Seigenthaler: Renewable Heating Design
      • Lowell Manalo: Plumbing Essentials
      • Misty Guard: Guard on Compliance
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
    • RADIANT COMFORT REPORT
    • THE GLITCH & THE FIX
  • INSIGHTS
    • CODES
    • GREEN PLUMBING & MECHANICAL
    • PROJECT PROFILES
    • COLUMNS
      • Codes Corner
      • Natalie Forster: Editorial Opinion
      • Guest Editorial
    • SPONSOR INSIGHTS
  • MEDIA
    • PODCASTS
    • VIDEOS
    • WEBINARS
  • RESOURCES
    • INDUSTRY CALENDAR
    • DIRECTORIES
    • EBOOKS
    • PM BOOKSTORE
    • CE CENTER
    • MARKET RESEARCH
    • CLASSIFIEDS
  • EMAGAZINE
    • EMAGAZINE
    • ARCHIVE ISSUES
    • CONTACT
    • ADVERTISE
    • PME EMAGAZINE ARCHIVES
  • SIGN UP!
Columns

Paycheck Mentality Vs. Payroll Perspective
Randall Hilton

By Randall Hilton
July 9, 2007
Should you work hard to make money, or should you make money work hard for you?



It’s no secret that I enjoy my Harley Electroglide. I love the wind in my face, the camaraderie of fellow bikers, and the ability to set off car alarms as I cruise by. I enjoy the challenge of packing for a trip, outsmarting the four wheelers and beating the weather. But make no mistake: This toy is not even remotely practical.

It’s pointless to whine about high Harley prices because the salesperson knows that if I were really trying to be practical, I could get that six-disc CD changer and a roomier trunk for less money when bundled with an air conditioner and seating for five. In other words, a car would be cheaper and would probably get better fuel mileage to boot.

My scooter is an irrational, emotional bauble that I have because I want it and I would be silly to try and justify it in any other fashion.

Before you start wagging your finger at me about my vice, let’s have a peek inside your enterprise to see if you also have irrational expenses. But before we start prying, let’s consider an expensive mindset that you may have carried from your employee life to your business life.

The ‘Paycheck Mentality’

What provoked you to enter the business world in the first place? One of the more common motivators I have seen is the “paycheck mentality.” Your thoughts may sound like this: “I do all the work around here while my boss gets all the money. It’s high time I get my share.” If that’s you, welcome to the ranks of the self-employed.

The paycheck mindset may also apply if you grew weary of layoffs or found yourself at the top of the career ladder with no other place to go. Self-employment has its advantages, no doubt, but if “being your own boss” describes your goal, you’re likely to be running your business with a paycheck mentality.

The paycheck mentality is the very fiber of the U.S. consumer-driven economy. To get ahead in life, we start with education, then add experience. To experience we add endurance. If you want a bigger house or a nicer car, you work longer hours, get raises and, of course, use that money to make payments on the bigger, better bauble. The bigger, better bauble costs more money to maintain, plus there’s the payment that comes due with lunar regularity.

This is a self-perpetuating treadmill: earn money - spend money - work more to earn more money - spend more money. It never stops. When you carry this type of mentality into your business, you get the benefit of a few tax breaks but the paycheck mentality continues to shackle your business.

Your lifestyle in the paycheck days was to work hard and earn money. If you needed more money, just work harder and bring in some of that lucrative overtime money. If you’re self-employed with a paycheck mindset, you will still have a goal to do more work. Do you do your own bookkeeping in order to save the expense of a bookkeeper? How about vehicle maintenance - do you do your own oil changes to save a few bucks? Instead of hiring an apprentice, do you just work a few more hours every week?

In other words, to get more, you work more.

Here’s a more complicated version of a paycheck mindset at work. Let’s say you’ve been renting a backhoe on a fairly regular basis. You may be thinking, “I spend nearly as much on monthly equipment rental as I would on backhoe payments, so instead of paying all that money to the rental place, I can be purchasing my very own piece of equipment.” Then, to inject a little emotion into the equation, “If I just had my own backhoe, I would be able to get more dig jobs and everybody knows that dig jobs are big money!”

Congratulations, you have just joined the rat race. That backhoe requires a truck, maybe even a dump truck, a trailer, insurance and maintenance but it sure will help you stay busy. That loan payment will continue to pop around every month, just like normal, regardless of the type of work you’re doing (or not doing). When things get a bit slow, you can always offer a price cut, just to keep busy.

And whom do you call when it breaks on the job? Doesn’t it look nice, sitting there with your company logo on the boom while you chase down a new hose? Oh, and now that your tractor is broken, it’s keeping you from tackling the other work that you need to be doing. Suddenly, you find yourself working for the tractor instead of it working for you. But you sure are busy!

The inevitable equipment surprise factor veils the more insidious problem with paycheck thinking: Who is running the tractor? If it is you, then how productive is the tractor when you’re not on it? You see, paycheck thinking doesn’t stop with just one “toy.” Before you know it, you can have an impressive stable of equipment that allows you to take on just about any type of job. While equipment sits idle, waiting for its turn to be productive, it’s more of a liability than an asset.

This is doubly true if you’re in debt for the equipment. This isn’t necessarily bad, if you view your duct-cleaning rig the same way I view my Harley: I don’t expect my Harley to earn a profit.

Debt adds another layer of expense into the equation. In addition to warehousing, insurance and deterioration, your equipment now has a monthly payment. How much work do you have to do to keep up with all those expenses? This is the paycheck mentality in full blossom. Work more, get more stuff, and then work more to take care of the stuff. Every moment you spend with your hands on a tool is a moment you can’t spend developing your business. You are still on the paycheck treadmill.

The ‘Payroll Perspective’

Have you ever wondered how wealthy people find time to take more vacations, take part in politics and community service, or just spend time at the golf course? It isn’t because they’re good at finding things to do. It’s because they’re good at finding ways to get things done.

They don’t have a paycheck mentality; they have a ‘payroll perspective.’ Why should they do the job themselves when they can have money do it instead?

Money lets the businessperson be in more than one place at the same time. Go ahead and sell three or four dig jobs, then find a couple of excavation contractors to handle the dirt work while you focus on finding people to do the installation. With two jobs going on at once, you’ve doubled your revenue stream (without getting grease on your polo shirt).

As you increase the number of revenue streams (producers) that you manage, you’ll find more time for improving your business and your life. It’s very likely that you’ll end up with backhoes, duct cleaners and a host of other equipment, but it’s not because you seek ways to do more. It will be because you have more for your people to do. You’ll begin to understand why so many organizations view their employees as assets; it’s because they produce the wealth.

If you want to stay busy, buy more equipment. If you want to build wealth, equip more people. That’s the difference between a paycheck mentality and a payroll perspective.



Links

  • Contact Plumbing & Mechanical

Share This Story

Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!

Visit Randall's Web site at www.UpFrontPrice.com or e-mail him at Randall@upfrontprice.com.

Recommended Content

JOIN TODAY
to unlock your recommendations.

Already have an account? Sign In

  • Worker using the Milwaukee Tool SWITCH PACK drain cleaner

    Pipeline profits: Drain cleaning, pipe inspection create opportunities

    Drain cleaning and inspection services offer lucrative...
    Green Plumbing and Mechanical
    By: Nicole Krawcke
  • Uponor employee, Arturo Moreno

    The reinvestment in American manufacturing and training

    Plumbing & Mechanical Chief Editor Nicole Krawcke and...
    Plumbing News
    By: Nicole Krawcke and Natalie Forster
  • March 2024 Women in Plumbing hero image of woman engineer overlayed by circle of hexagon shapes with numbers from 1 to 10

    Celebrating 10 Influential Women in the Plumbing Industry

    Celebrating Women's History Month and Women in...
    Plumbing News
    By: Nicole Krawcke
close

1 COMPLIMENTARY ARTICLE(S) LEFT

Loader

Already a Registered User? Sign in now.

Subscribe For Free!
  • eNewsletters
  • Online Registration
  • Subscription Customer Service
  • eMagazine
  • Manage My Preferences

IPEX celebrates grand opening of new Florida distribution center

IPEX celebrates grand opening of new Florida distribution center

NIBCO Press Solutions

NIBCO Press Solutions

AI can boost efficiency and profitability for plumbing, HVAC contractors

AI can boost efficiency and profitability for plumbing, HVAC contractors

Bell & Gossett Illustrates Path to Net-zero at AHR Expo

Bell & Gossett Illustrates Path to Net-zero at AHR Expo

More Videos

Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content is a special paid section where industry companies provide high quality, objective, non-commercial content around topics of interest to the Plumbing & Mechanical audience. All Sponsored Content is supplied by the advertising company and any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily reflect the views of Plumbing & Mechanical or its parent company, BNP Media. Interested in participating in our Sponsored Content section? Contact your local rep!

close
  • J.J. Keller CMV vehicles on road
    Sponsored byJ. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.

    The dash cam game-changer for small business safety

Popular Stories

Figure 1 is a sketch of the flow problems of the current plumbing system.

Hydronic heating glitch solved: Why adding a circulator won't fix primary loop flow issue

The interior of a government building.

President Trump signs executive order promoting skilled trades and apprenticeships

Underfloor heating installation with drain sewer hole in bathroom close up on water floor heating.

Using hydronics to leverage time-of-use electrical rates

PM BEMIS June 25 Free Webinar: Optimizing Plumbing Solutions for Single-Family, Multi-Family & Public Spaces

Events

November 13, 2024

Future Proofing MEP: Navigating the 2026 High Efficiency Water Heating Standards

Join our deep dive into DOE’s new standards so you can future-proof your MEP practice.

EARN: 0.1 ASPE CEU; 1 AIA LU/HSW; 0.1 IACET CEU*; 1 PDH

View All Submit An Event

Poll

Will business be up or down in 2025?

Do you anticipate business in 2025 to be up or down in comparison to 2024?
View Results Poll Archive

Products

The Water Came To A Stop

The Water Came To A Stop

See More Products

Download the FREE Water Conservation, Quality & Safety eBook: Plumbing Trends Increasing Safe Water Availability

×

Keep your content unclogged with our newsletters!

Stay in the know on the latest plumbing & piping industry trends.

JOIN TODAY!
  • RESOURCES
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
    • Directories
    • Store
    • Want More
    • Supply House Times
  • SIGN UP TODAY
    • Create Account
    • eMagazine
    • eNewsletter
    • Customer Service
    • Manage Preferences
  • SERVICES
    • Marketing Services
    • Reprints
    • Market Research
    • List Rental
    • Survey/Respondent Access
  • STAY CONNECTED
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • X (Twitter)
  • PRIVACY
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • TERMS & CONDITIONS
    • DO NOT SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION
    • PRIVACY REQUEST
    • ACCESSIBILITY

Copyright ©2025. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing

search
cart
facebook instagram twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
  • NEWS
  • PRODUCTS
  • CONTRACTORS
    • BATH & KITCHEN PRO
    • BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
    • HIGH EFFICIENCY HOMES
    • TECHNOLOGY
    • WATER TREATMENT
    • PMC COLUMNS
      • Dave Yates: Contractor’s Corner
      • John Siegenthaler: Hydronics Workshop
      • Kenny Chapman: The Blue Collar Coach
      • Matt Michel: Service Plumbing Pros
      • Scott Secor: Heating Perceptions
  • ENGINEERS
    • CONTINUING EDUCATION
    • DECARBONIZATION | ELECTRIFICATION
    • FIRE PROTECTION
    • GEOTHERMAL | SOLAR THERMAL
    • PIPING | PLUMBING | PVF
    • PME COLUMNS
      • Christoph Lohr: Strategic Plumbing Insights
      • David Dexter: Plumbing Talking Points
      • James Dipping: Engineer Viewpoints
      • John Seigenthaler: Renewable Heating Design
      • Lowell Manalo: Plumbing Essentials
      • Misty Guard: Guard on Compliance
  • RADIANT & HYDRONICS
    • RADIANT COMFORT REPORT
    • THE GLITCH & THE FIX
  • INSIGHTS
    • CODES
    • GREEN PLUMBING & MECHANICAL
    • PROJECT PROFILES
    • COLUMNS
      • Codes Corner
      • Natalie Forster: Editorial Opinion
      • Guest Editorial
    • SPONSOR INSIGHTS
  • MEDIA
    • PODCASTS
    • VIDEOS
    • WEBINARS
  • RESOURCES
    • INDUSTRY CALENDAR
    • DIRECTORIES
    • EBOOKS
    • PM BOOKSTORE
    • CE CENTER
    • MARKET RESEARCH
    • CLASSIFIEDS
  • EMAGAZINE
    • EMAGAZINE
    • ARCHIVE ISSUES
    • CONTACT
    • ADVERTISE
    • PME EMAGAZINE ARCHIVES
  • SIGN UP!