11. The Law of Service

Under the Laws of Success

Your rewards in life will be in direct proportion to the value of your service to others.

We all make our livings and add meaning to our lives by serving other people in some way. We are all dependent upon thousands and millions of other people for the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the homes we live in, and the various elements that make our lives enjoyable and worthwhile. Our primary job as members of society is to find the best way to incorporate ourselves into the fabric of society by serving as many others as well as we possibly can.

The first corollary of this law is
All fortunes begin with the sale of personal services.

There are almost five million self-made millionaires in America, including many people from the most difficult backgrounds imaginable. In addition, there are countless immigrants who have become financially independent who arrived in the United States with no money, no language skills, limited education, and no friends or contacts. Each of these people passed the magic million-dollar mark in personal worth by finding a way to serve others more effectively. And so can you.

The second corollary of the Law of Service is
If you wish to increase the quantity of your rewards, you must first increase the quality and quantity of your service.

The more you put in, the more you will get out. According to every study, the highest paid Americans-entrepreneurs, executives, professionals, salespeople-work an average of fifty-nine hours per week, for many years, to become successful. They become increasingly more productive and valuable to their customers until they finally make it. Then everyone tells them how "lucky" they are.

The third corollary of the Law of Service is
Everyone works on commission.

Everyone is paid "a piece of the action," a share of the income or profit from the economic activity of the organization. No matter how your compensation is structured or how it is described, it is ultimately based on the value of your service, the size of your contribution.

To put it another way, you are ultimately paid for results. The good news is that you can increase your value, and ultimately the amount you earn, by increasing the quality and quantity of your results. And in the long run, there is no other way.

This focus on results, on pleasing customers better than your competitors, is the guiding force of successful businesses. The top managers in the leading companies all seem to have an "obsession with customer service."

The most successful men and women in our society are those who are able to "lose themselves" in serving the people who depend upon them, their customers, their employers and others, for what
they do.

When you combine the Law of Compensation with the Law of Service, you have the keys to obtaining anything that you really want in life. You get out exactly what you put in, and wonderfully enough, you have complete control over what you put in. No one can ever stop you from putting in more every single day. No one can ever stop you from going the extra mile, from always doing more than you’re paid for.

When you devote yourself completely to serving your customers-your boss, your staff, the people who purchase or use your products and services-you start to enjoy a wonderful feeling of meaning and purpose. You feel that you are really making a difference in the world. When you know that you are putting in more than you are taking out, that you are making a real contribution, you feel terrific about yourself.

When you throw your whole heart into making your customers happy and serving them better than anyone else, you take complete control over your future. You put your career and your financial life onto the fast track.

How you can apply this law immediately:

1. Become crystal clear about who your customers really are. Your customers include everyone whom you depend upon for any of the things you want in your business and personal life. Your customers also include all those who are dependent on you for their success or satisfaction.

Your internal customers at work are your boss, your co-workers, and your staff. These people are dependent on you in many ways. What do they need from you to perform at their best? How could you become more valuable to them?

2. Determine your most important external customers, the people outside your organization whom you must satisfy if you want them to continue doing business with you. Who are your most important customers, both the customers of today and the customers of the future? What could you do to increase the value of your service to the people who are instrumental to the survival of your business?

Who are the people in your personal life who depend on you in some way: your family, your friends, the people in your community? How could you serve them better? What could you do to enhance or enrich their lives?

Whatever your answers to these questions, write them down, make a plan, and then take action. Your whole future depends upon it.

Source: Brian Tracy, The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc, (San Francisco, 2000).