I’m seeing more and more rallies in the streets by people demanding $15/hour minimum wage.
You know how they’d make more money? By actually working instead of protesting in the streets.
I remember my first job at McDonald’s. I flipped burgers. I scrubbed dishes. I mopped floors. I cleaned toilets. I had to shave this sexiness off my face because beards weren’t allowed. And I made barely enough money to pay my car insurance and gas … much less live on my own.
But that was sort of the point. It was my first job. I wanted more. So I hustled. Got promotions. Then got a better job.
I didn’t demand anything. I put down my head and I hustled like a champion.
You think the guy who started at McDonald’s is going to fight that? HECK no. My agency has helped clients to actively work TOWARDS that.
Want to know why? The free market determines everything.
Come on, guys. Think with your heads.
A recent study commissioned by Seattle found that boosting the minimum wage has cost jobs for the lowest-wage employees.
It’s simple math. The money comes from somewhere. Many small businesses don’t have the margins to eat a substantial hike in minimum wage – we’re talking about, in many cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
So what do they do? Drastically increase the cost of goods or services? The free market determines what they can charge … and they need to remain competitive, or sales drop off and they have to lay employees off. So they slow down or stop hiring new employees and consider laying off the lowest-wage employees that they have.
Consider this: you’ve been in a position for three years. You’ve worked your way up from $10/hour to $12/hour. Now a new employee comes in at $15/hour – and you get boosted to the same wage of $15/hour. Talk about a blow. Business is a meritocracy – the hardest working deserve the raises. If we remove the motivation to outwork and outperform … business suffers.
Let’s also keep in mind that naturally low minimum wage keeps you HUNGRY to outperform everyone else. You want to earn that raise. You want to grow into that next position. And so you outhustle everyone to gain more skills and to showcase your own abilities. We remove the need to do that … and suddenly employees aren’t concerned about personal development.
Of course, I see clowns like Governor Dannel Malloy in Connecticut demanding that $15/hour minimum wage. The same guy who is seemingly leading the charge among Democrats to chase businesses OUT of Connecticut and ensuring that there are FEWER jobs for the poor saps who voted for these morons.
Come on, guys – you want more money? Start by getting off the streets and getting a job. If you have time to protest, you have time to pick up another shift. Enough already.
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Kyle S. Reyes is co-host of The Whiskey Patriots and the Chief Executive Officer of The Silent Partner Marketing. Reyes is also an acclaimed keynote speaker on entrepreneurship, leadership, marketing and social media. You can follow him on Facebook.
