Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
Sometimes I ask my audiences, “How many people here are self-
employed?” Usually, about 10 to 15 percent of the audience will
raise their hands. I then stop the seminar and ask them again, “How
many people here are 
really
self-employed?” And then I wait.
It doesn’t take them very long. People look at each other and
then back at me and then at each other again. Soon, one hand after
another begins to go up. Eventually, everyone has his or her hands
raised. Everyone realizes that they are 
all
self-employed.
The biggest mistake that you can make is to think that you ever
work for anyone else but yourself.
The fact is that you are always self-
employed, from the time you take your first job until the time you
retire. No matter who signs your paycheck, you are working for
yourself
. You are the president of an entrepreneurial personal ser-
vices company with one employee—
yourself
. In the long run, as a re-
sult of the things that you do or fail to do, you determine how much
you earn. If you want an increase in pay, you can go to the nearest
mirror and negotiate with your “boss.”
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