If you believe raising the minimum wage will create a higher standard of living and help rise people out of poverty, think again.

Yes, we all share the common desire for people to be lifted out of poverty and to have a higher standard of living. But the way people are going about it is all wrong.

Waiting for someone else—government—to do something about the situation is as slow and ineffective as it gets.

The harsh truth is that everyone has unlimited earning potential – the opportunity to make as much money as they want – but the reality is that a lot of people won’t because they won’t do what it takes.

The amount of money you make is a direct reflection of the value that you bring to the marketplace. It’s that simple!

Simply putting up your hands and demanding that you get more money is just saying ‘pay me more because I exist’. There is absolutely no value proposition in that.

You’re not offering anything for that which you’re demanding for more money. Life just doesn’t work like that.

Increasing production costs by raising the minimum wage for jobs that don’t require any particular skill or offer any value to the marketplace will result in the higher cost being passed on to the consumer.

As the price of consumer goods increase, the ‘higher’ minimum wage will no longer be enough. And soon enough, people will be demanding another increase in wage, creating a perpetual cycle of increasing costs.

There are two types of people in this world: those that take ownership for the results they get and those with a victim mentality who think others are responsible for their results.

Your earning potential and the speed at which you create the change in your life is in direct correlation with the amount of ownership you take for the results you get.

Rather than waiting for some disengaged politician who doesn’t care about you to do something about it, be the change you want to see.

The magic formula here is simple – if you want to improve your standard of living, improve the amount of value you bring to the marketplace.

That's how you maximize your potential. That’s how you rise people out of poverty. And that’s the way we create opportunity.

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