Have you ever found yourself wondering, just where the heck the money is? Oh, I don’t mean like the gold in Ft. Knox, or even that stuff down in the vault of your local bank. Nope; I’m talking about where the money is to be made. You know, as in “I’ll do X, if you’ll pay me Y.”

I discovered the truth about this many moons ago, back when I worked as a contract Piping Designer. Take my word for it; it was quite a well-paying occupation (although it did require considerable travel – the main reason we’ve lived so very many places).

Admittedly, this type of thing isn’t for everybody. I mean, you never knew; we might end up working just about anywhere in the country. Big cities like Atlanta, or small ones like Lower PoDunk – even other parts of the world, too; it was always a surprise. Like a trouper, though, Mrs. MZM came with me when she could (which luckily was most of the time), so it’s not at bad as it sounds. (Nothing like having your favorite person with you at all times, I always say!)

When I first started in the business, though, it was always puzzling (sound of me, scratching my head) why client companies were willing to pay so much for people like yours truly to do something they could accomplish for half the cost – if they only hired locally. (Not that I was complaining, mind you; I benefited handily; I was just wondering, er, out loud.)

Hey, it’s not a trivial question! Under what circumstances are people (or organizations, for that matter) sometimes willing to pay far more than they need to for an item or service? Don’t you think that knowledge just might be something worth tapping into?

In due course, an assignment in the exciting, bustling metropolis of Robinson, Illinois (population: 6,000 3,000 er, something) linked me up with an old hand who finally supplied the answer to this age-old question. His name was Jerry Arledge, and he was quite a character, lemme tell ya! (Hey, you think I have an accent! If Jerry were blogging today, if you imagine the slow-talkin’, down-home, well-weathered voice of an old farmer who’s “seen it all” – well, you wouldn’t be too far off.)

Yep; ol’ Jerry was somethin’, all right. (Alas for the contract piping community, Jerry’s taken a permanent position at that great drafting board in the sky; he will be missed!) I’ll tell ya what, though – he knew how things worked. One day I brought up this very question (trust me; sooner or later, somebody will bring it up at some point during any assignment) and Jerry gave us some interesting insights I’d like to share with you here.

5 Reasons They Need You

• Skill – One thing I learned early about being a contract employee: if you don’t tend towards excellence, the system tends to weed you out pretty fast. If not from fellow contract workers (who don’t like it when someone incompetent represents them), then the placement agencies or the companies themselves eventually get the word. It’s an great illustration of an old west Texas truth: it’ll all come out in the wash. Yep; sooner or later, the truth will come out.

• Time – Sometimes, the client just doesn’t have enough people available to do it in the time frame required (which in these cases is usually immediately or sooner!) So they bring on extra, temporary help to accomplish the task. In the engineering business it’s what we used to call the “Brown & Root method” of project management: For any given 10,000 manhour job, you hire 10,000 men for one hour! (Surely you’re familiar with the practice? And yes, I know; don’t call you Shirley.) But the inevitable consequence is they must be willing to pay big bucks for the help.

• Vision – On occasion, the client firm doesn’t have the experience to see what needed to be done. That’s when we had the opportunity to really shine. Our goal was to do such a fantastic job that when they needed to do it again, they’d immediately think of us!

• Resources – Smaller firms (and nowadays, some larger firms too) simply don’t have the resources to keep specific skills on hand all the time, either from a lack of funds, or due to intermittent needs. We functioned as an outsourced engineering and drafting force, on call whenever they needed us, but not a drain on resources when they didn’t. In fact, many large operating companies are doing this very thing today in the form of alliance agreements. It’s a win for both parties.

• Uncertainty – I’ll tell ya; I’ve lost track of the times I’ve been on projects where the final design is, well, let’s just say it wasn’t quite there yet. And in these cases, it’s been my observation that the organization’s regular employees, had they been subject to the vagaries we’d be subject to, would have run screaming into the night long before! It’s not that we were necessarily any better or worse than they were, mind you; it’s just that we were used to the inherent uncertainties of fast-paced work. (Even to the point of knowing that, when the job was finished, the best we’d hear was something along the lines of, “Thank you very much – now good bye!”)

The Key: Make Yourself Invaluable

As you look these over, think about what it is you do. Are you an independent worker, basically operating on your own (although I still say that’s a huge misnomer – you’re actually now working for everybody, instead of just one or two bosses). Even if you’re a regular, salaried employee, the fact is these things can still apply to you.

Are you looking for the money? Well, the fact is, it doesn’t matter what you do for a living. Take a look at what you’re doing – and what you’re capable of – and identify the above five elements. Then, focus your efforts on being your client’s best solution to every one of them!

Ironically, of those five items, that last one was Jerry’s favorite. And to this day, I can still hear him sum it up in that typically down-home way of his:

“Where there is confusion,” he’d smile, “there is money to be made.”