How Do I Make More Money, At My Current Job or on the Side - (W3:D3) Debt Free Millionaire Podcast

HOW DO I INCREASE MY PAY?

Do you want to be paid more, faster? You have two ways of doing so: 1) ask for a raise, 2) get a second job, 3) start a business 4) invest and take the risk, or 5) stop spending money (not increasing your pay but keeping more money. But wait, you probably were just asking about #1. How do I get a raise from work? This is simple as well. Ask for a raise.

When you are asking for an increase in pay, you need to be educated with information that is available:

1. What is the median pay for someone in your position? Median wage is what half of people holding that position are paid this amount or you could say the wage in the middle. Look up the median pays for your position here at debt-free-millionaire.com/medianpay.
2. Know how much the median pay is for someone with your education. You can’t compare yourself to anyone when they spent time and money to get additional education that you don’t have. The median weekly pay for a full-time employee, 25 years and older is $909. $515 without a high school diploma, $718 for high school graduates and no college, $836 with an associate’s degree, $1,189 for those with a bachelor’s degree, $1,404 with a master’s degree, and $1,743 with a doctoral degree. It’s worth to get that degree. The median pay if you went to a vocational school is $9,80 - $1,568. Find out more at debt-free-millionaire.com/degreespay
3. What your history is and highlights you can share since you came to work? You want to show how valuable you are, what you have done to increase productivity and/or revenues. Are you worth the money you want to ask for?
4. You should never snoop but if you overhear your employee mentioning how much they are paid, you should know that as well, but don’t use it as a weapon instead use it for knowledge.
5. Put out your feelers of other positions that are open and hiring. If there is another company that is paying more then set up an interview and see how much they are willing to pay you. You want to show how valuable you are, find out how much your companies own competitor is paying. Again, this is not a weapon but use this as knowledge to present to your manager. If you get a job offer, bring it but don’t use that as a weapon, us it as a bargaining tool, any businessman should appreciate the effort of opposition research.

When you go in to see your manager, make sure they are having a good day. You may want to work your way into it. Here are a few things you may want to do to butter them up or prepare them for your ask:

1. This is the most important, work hard before going to see them. Let them see how valuable you are at work a few days before you ask.
2. Set up a meeting with your manager. Do not jump in at what seems like the right moment. Let them expect you are coming. This gives them time to anticipate why you want to meet and to start looking at you. Remember, days before you have that meeting you should be more productive than you have ever been. You want them to see this.
3. When you meet, be early sitting outside their office only 5-10 minutes beforehand, but don’t come emptyhanded. Come with your current work and continue your work while you wait and bring the information that proves you should be paid more.
4. Go into the meeting very upbeat. Present the information you have found as if stating that you love the position and company and that you are very loyal but these are the facts of why you deserve better pay and then here is the clencher.
5. Ask your manager, that in the next 2-4 months how can you prove that you deserve a raise? You are not asking for it right away but you want to know how to get it and then how much that would be paid. This is a lot more digestible for your manager to accept. If you are in a union, you can’t do this because your pay is set at your position and not how hard you work, so ask for step 6, ask for a promotion. Whether you just want a raise or a promotion, you should be ready to take one of them. A promotion comes with more responsibilities, but also a higher position.
6. The best way to get a raise is to ask for more responsibilities in a promotion. Do not accept more responsibilities without a higher pay. If you do, you are basically accepting lower pay or same pay for more work. You deserve a pay increase with a responsibility increase. Again, if you work under a union, you can’t get a raise unless you take a higher position and if there is no higher position, you will not receive a higher pay.
7. Again, the company does not owe you higher pay unless you are valuable or if you are offering to work harder or take on more responsibilities.
8. Make sure you follow it up with an email, thanking them for the meeting and then double checking that you remember that if you do X then you will be paid Y.

One of the greatest examples of not being paid what you are worth if you are a