Summer of 1997. I was nine years old riding a skid loader through a field with my cousins. The mission for the day was to clear the field of all the rocks. Starting at sunrise, pausing for lunch, and finishing around sunset, I began to understand the value of a dollar - time in exchange for money. Time is unique in the fact that you cannot earn time or exchange money for it.
So it was that summer job and many others like it (labor intensive) that really got me thinking, “How much do I value my time?” I began to wonder, “Is my time worth ten, twenty, fifty dollars an hour?” I soon found I was asking the wrong question.
Settling on a number I thought was high but attainable I went to college in pursuit of a career that would deliver that number. My career choice was dental laboratory technology. I graduated and got a job in a lab soon after. Working there for 3 years I had earned $13.75 an hour. The only problem was $13.75 wasn’t the number I was working towards and, oh yeah, I absolutely dreaded my job. I was grateful to be working, but the place was like a vacuum that sucked the joy from your soul.
It’s 2012 and I made friends with a guy who was starting a new company with another guy. They were both full of excitement and passion. Building something new to show the world. I was ready to take a pay cut if I could just work there.
I found that even more than I wanted to be compensated for my time I wanted to enjoy my time, enjoy my work. Seven years later I’m still enjoying my time at Carved :) ... and I never had to take a pay cut!
