Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel Matt and today
Speaker 1: we're telling you how to maximize your income. I like
Speaker 1: how you added three under the end of the title
Speaker 1: there want to be this year? Man. Well, okay, so
Speaker 1: what's crazy is I feel like this could be an
Speaker 1: episode that we would have or should have or could
Speaker 1: have done like five years ago. This is it's a
Speaker 1: more general type of episode, but honestly, it kind of
Speaker 1: demonstrates our tendencies, like our personal tendencies, like you and
Speaker 1: I were pretty frugal dudes, and because of that, I
Speaker 1: think we do tend to talk about topics that lean
Speaker 1: more and the cutting back side of the equation when
Speaker 1: it comes to your personal finances. Right, But this is
Speaker 1: a topic that we need to talk about more, and
Speaker 1: we are remedying that. Today. We're gonna talk about how
Speaker 1: you can maximize your income this year, how you can
Speaker 1: make more money. I'm excited to discuss this today. And
Speaker 1: I think, by the way, some of the things that
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about on today's episode, You're right, like,
Speaker 1: this is a topic we can talk about at any time.
Speaker 1: But I think three is a year where there are
Speaker 1: there's extremely low hanging fruit more so than than most times.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, we'll get into that too. That is true, man.
Speaker 1: All right. So I've got a little story for you.
Speaker 1: I was story time was my favorite. Pull up a chair,
Speaker 1: have a seat on the floor, criss cross apple sauce.
Speaker 1: So I was biking home yesterday, bikro home from work,
Speaker 1: and I am lucky then and that there's a path
Speaker 1: like a walker jogger bike path that goes all the
Speaker 1: way basically from our office from our little clubhouse here
Speaker 1: all the way home. And I was approaching an intersection
Speaker 1: like a you know, where a road crosses over the
Speaker 1: path when ahead started to bike across it, and I
Speaker 1: look up and and there's a car coming at me
Speaker 1: pretty quick, and I'm thinking, surely this guy's gonna stops
Speaker 1: right for you. Well, there's a stop sign there for
Speaker 1: him as well, so like, I mean, by law, he
Speaker 1: has to stop. But no, he did not, dude, And
Speaker 1: he got within maybe like two and a half feet.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was freaking close. I was pretty mad,
Speaker 1: pretty passed right in the moment um. And so I
Speaker 1: was like, all right, whatever, kind of got all grumpy,
Speaker 1: kept biking, and he had turned the direction that I
Speaker 1: happened to be going as well, and so I caught
Speaker 1: up to him at the stoplight and I decided, you
Speaker 1: know what, I'm gonna have a few words with this Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so I just I pulled up next to him
Speaker 1: on the passenger side of the car and knocked on
Speaker 1: the window, and I was just like, hey, I told
Speaker 1: him what's up. I mean in a in a kind way,
Speaker 1: but I just wanted to let him know that man,
Speaker 1: he he almost took me out, but I I guess
Speaker 1: what I wanted to ask you. This made me think
Speaker 1: of how we often do frugal or cheaps on the show.
Speaker 1: And do you feel that I was being um like
Speaker 1: a jerk bike commuter or was I just being a
Speaker 1: concerned biking advocate who was politely informing this guy that
Speaker 1: of of his actions, Like, I mean, what would you
Speaker 1: have done? Do you think in that really close to
Speaker 1: me in a car when I was on a bike
Speaker 1: like that, like and I felt endangered? Then yeah, I
Speaker 1: would hopefully I would take a moment to calm down
Speaker 1: like you did, and then knock on the I mean
Speaker 1: window and didn't have a conversation, But I think luckily
Speaker 1: I had a stretch of biking to where I think
Speaker 1: I was able to burn off a little bit because, like,
Speaker 1: had he stopped right in the moment, I think I
Speaker 1: would have been like, hey, man, did he how did
Speaker 1: he respond? When he talked so okay? It seemed he
Speaker 1: was genuinely shocked, And so what I asked him, I
Speaker 1: was like, hey, did you know that you got really
Speaker 1: close to me? Like I wasn't I was being kind,
Speaker 1: I wasn't looking for a fight. Again, I felt like
Speaker 1: I was kind of I was in my in my
Speaker 1: right mind at that point, Like when I knocked on
Speaker 1: his window and I knocked on it gently, you know, kindly,
Speaker 1: But I was just like, hey, do you realize that
Speaker 1: you got really close to me back there at the
Speaker 1: at the stop sign? And he looked at me just
Speaker 1: with shock, like horror on his face. He's like, no way,
Speaker 1: did I really? He's a teenage driver. Does not seem
Speaker 1: that he has been been driving me very long? Um,
Speaker 1: And so the lesson for him, and honestly, exactly, there
Speaker 1: are much worse ways to learn that lessons. Well, that's
Speaker 1: the thing. I just wanted to like educate him and
Speaker 1: to inform him that, like, man, there are other bikers
Speaker 1: out here, I'm not the only one, and he's not
Speaker 1: going to be able to learn and maybe pay a
Speaker 1: little more attention. I don't know how he didn't see
Speaker 1: me though, I mean literally, I we never locked eyes,
Speaker 1: but I was right there. Teenage drivers you never know
Speaker 1: and completely distract even non teenage sharpers. Just everyone looking
Speaker 1: at their phones more and more driving, even though it's
Speaker 1: illegal in many states. And but yeah, yeah, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to share that, I guess too, just to like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to scare folks. Um, this doesn't happen
Speaker 1: very often, but I do think it is important to
Speaker 1: watch out. Um. I think it's a reminder to me
Speaker 1: as well to consider even like turning all my blinky's
Speaker 1: like during the day, because I do think, okay, maybe
Speaker 1: if I had those flashing you know, on the front,
Speaker 1: they're switching it because during the daytime you can switch
Speaker 1: it to flashing at night and always keep it on
Speaker 1: solid to actually light up the road light up the path.
Speaker 1: But I'm like, you know what, I want to keep
Speaker 1: those blinky's on even during the day, just to make
Speaker 1: yourself a little more visible. It's even I mean it
Speaker 1: was during the day when I was riding home but
Speaker 1: it's still kind of in the winner where it's still
Speaker 1: it's a little darker by the time we get out
Speaker 1: of bike safety matters you keeping yourself safe, but then
Speaker 1: also hopefully kindly educating other people in the road. Okay,
Speaker 1: bikers exist, even up here to the Burbs where we live,
Speaker 1: there's bikers, and I like seeing bikers on the road,
Speaker 1: and I want to see more people feeling free to
Speaker 1: bike those roads because, like we actually talked about last week.
Speaker 1: At the end of last week, we talked about just
Speaker 1: how jammed jammed these roads are with congestion, and we
Speaker 1: need more bikes on the road to relieve some of
Speaker 1: that congestion. But drivers have to be courteous to make
Speaker 1: that our possibilities right, Well, all right, but I'm glad
Speaker 1: you're okay, uh, and thank you. Thanks for Matt storytime.
Speaker 1: Let's move on. Let's mention the beer we're having on
Speaker 1: this episode. This one is called Painting Dreams by Fighting's Brewing.
Speaker 1: Will give our thoughts on this one at the end
Speaker 1: of the episode is a West Coast IPM. So you
Speaker 1: know what I meant to do was since uh, the
Speaker 1: last episode to this episode, I was planning to look
Speaker 1: up how to actually pronounce the name of this burner,
Speaker 1: because I would feel so bad if we're not getting
Speaker 1: the name right, because, as we will share later on,
Speaker 1: this is a fantastic beer and I want to make
Speaker 1: sure they get all the props. I can't imagine there
Speaker 1: are too many possibilities for the pronunciation. Yeah, something like that,
Speaker 1: But it's I would think it'd be fittings if it
Speaker 1: was two days, but it's one, So you never know.
Speaker 1: God with a hearty, it's a proper name. They could say,
Speaker 1: you say it in a way that sounds good. They could,
Speaker 1: all right, but let's help every right, Let's talk about
Speaker 1: maxing income, Matt. That's the topic for today's episode, and
Speaker 1: and and in particular, there are specific ways that we
Speaker 1: think that people are going to have extra abilities to
Speaker 1: do this, and I'm sure there are at least a
Speaker 1: few how the Money listeners who have set out goals
Speaker 1: already this year, and maybe one of those for a
Speaker 1: lot of people is to lose weight. I think that's
Speaker 1: a common one. I mean, there are just a lot
Speaker 1: of folks out there who want to shed some pounds,
Speaker 1: and I hope that endeavors going well so far. If
Speaker 1: that's something you've you've you've chosen to do, you're working on.
Speaker 1: But Matt, let's say, you know, just imagine if some
Speaker 1: of those folks they were only focusing on eating less,
Speaker 1: if they were just intent on cutting their calorie intake,
Speaker 1: if that's the only way they were trying to achieve
Speaker 1: that goal. Is that going to help him out? Sure? Right,
Speaker 1: that's gonna make some some of the difference in helping
Speaker 1: you lose some weight. But focusing solely on that one
Speaker 1: route to weight loss is also going to have some
Speaker 1: massive shortcomings. Right, there's this whole other realm that you're
Speaker 1: leaving untouched, namely exercise. Cutting calories is great. You know,
Speaker 1: my wife, she says weight Watchers is super helpful when
Speaker 1: she's trying to lose a few pounds. She she likes
Speaker 1: to go there and kind of type in what she's
Speaker 1: eating on the app. It helps her kind of hit
Speaker 1: her diet on all cylinders so that she's to attract
Speaker 1: that data. Yeah, for sure, I get it. But she's
Speaker 1: also hitting up the gym four times a week, right,
Speaker 1: So she's taken the both and approach, which is what
Speaker 1: what's gonna help you get there a whole lot faster.
Speaker 1: And I think similarly, frugality, like you've talked about, like
Speaker 1: we that's something that we talked about a lot on
Speaker 1: the show, but it can only get you so far.
Speaker 1: At some point, you can't cut expenses anymore, or you're
Speaker 1: eating just rice and beans. You're you've you've boiled it down,
Speaker 1: You've reduced your budget to such an extent that you're
Speaker 1: completely unhappy, right, and so you've got to grow your
Speaker 1: income in order to make more progress on your financial goals.
Speaker 1: And so we're gonna give a slew of thoughts on
Speaker 1: how you can maximize your earning potential in the year
Speaker 1: ahead on today's episode. That's right, And you know, like
Speaker 1: I said earlier, I think you and I both leaned
Speaker 1: towards frugality. But whether or not that's your tendency, it
Speaker 1: just comes down to your own finality. But like you said, frugality,
Speaker 1: it won't pay the bills. Uh. And if you can't
Speaker 1: get a handle on your spending, it's also going to
Speaker 1: be impossible to out earn that crappy habit. So both
Speaker 1: of those are important. And another problem for a lot
Speaker 1: of folks is that they want to make more money,
Speaker 1: but they just don't know how to make more money? Right,
Speaker 1: And so many of the ideas that come up when
Speaker 1: you you know, when you google this, like how do
Speaker 1: I make more money? The results are oftentimes going to
Speaker 1: be crap drop shipping on Amazon. It's like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: earn uh more per year by staying home. And they
Speaker 1: almost all involved like trading your time for money, right,
Speaker 1: which is something that we all have to do to
Speaker 1: a certain extent. But time is a limited resource. It's
Speaker 1: it's one of the few limited resources that we have
Speaker 1: in our lives, and we can't do that in perpetuity.
Speaker 1: And so today we're gonna offer some of the most
Speaker 1: practical advice that we have for increasing your income. You know,
Speaker 1: again cutting back it feels like something that is accessible
Speaker 1: for everybody. I think oftentimes folks, including us, tend to
Speaker 1: lean towards that because it just seems very redoable. And
Speaker 1: I don't think everyone feels that way when it comes
Speaker 1: to increasing their income. To them, it feels like one
Speaker 1: hole too far or I don't know, one more hurdle
Speaker 1: that they have to jump. It doesn't seem like it's
Speaker 1: nearly as accessible. But we are here to say that
Speaker 1: we think it is. And that's why we're dedicating an
Speaker 1: entire episode towards increasing your income, and well, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of the advice that we give about frugality
Speaker 1: is applicable to nearly of the people listening, right, And
Speaker 1: when it comes to earning more, well, so much depends
Speaker 1: on the industry you're in and how long you've been
Speaker 1: in it, and uh, there's just so many other factors.
Speaker 1: But so we're gonna try to give them most broad
Speaker 1: based advice so we can on on today's episode when
Speaker 1: it comes to how to earn more. You probably won't
Speaker 1: be able to take every single one of these tips
Speaker 1: and implemented into your life. But if you can just take,
Speaker 1: you know, a few of these and try them out
Speaker 1: at your place of employments or as you're shopping the
Speaker 1: open job market, you can find that it will lead
Speaker 1: to meaningful increases in income. And this might be intuitive map,
Speaker 1: but I feel like it's worth saying out loud. We
Speaker 1: talked about investing a lot too in regards in addition
Speaker 1: to frugality, but it's a lot harder to invest when
Speaker 1: you've got a major income when you're not making enough,
Speaker 1: and some folks are just way overthinking, like their asset allocation.
Speaker 1: When they're only investing let's say a few hundred dollars
Speaker 1: or maybe a thousand dollars a year, they're hoping to
Speaker 1: to coax outside returns out of the dollars that they're
Speaker 1: putting into their investments. And and these folks and a
Speaker 1: whole lot of others would truly be much better served
Speaker 1: by working towards increasing their investable cash flow by making
Speaker 1: more money than by optimizing their investments or finding yet
Speaker 1: another way to cut back on their expenses so that
Speaker 1: they could invest a touch more. Exactly. Yeah, it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: i'd say, tendcects on Netflix, when what you're leaving on
Speaker 1: the table oftentimes is the potential to earn thousands of
Speaker 1: dollars more a re single year, way more than that
Speaker 1: Netflix spell. And so instead of spending hours investing obsessed
Speaker 1: over which which streaming service to cut, or you know,
Speaker 1: obsessing over which funds to stick your dollars into an
Speaker 1: attempt to choice those returns, the payback is going to
Speaker 1: be higher if you instead look to increase your income
Speaker 1: and you just stick to the boring investments that we
Speaker 1: always talk about. You're not going to get rich via
Speaker 1: the investment decisions you make. You're gonna get rich via
Speaker 1: your work and your income by increasing that income and
Speaker 1: the ability then to invest more of it. That's right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is an instance where you want to make sure
Speaker 1: that you're asking the right questions. You want to make
Speaker 1: sure that you're asking the thirty thousand dollar question, not
Speaker 1: the thirty dollar question. Sometimes we can get so preoccupied
Speaker 1: with the details that we we missed the bigger thing
Speaker 1: that's lying there in front of us um. And you know,
Speaker 1: the good news is that the job market right now
Speaker 1: is pretty hot. If you're someone looking for new work,
Speaker 1: you're in a strong position. The job market is like
Speaker 1: Hansel and zooland so high right now. Last year was
Speaker 1: the second best year for job growth in U S history.
Speaker 1: Despite many predictions of a souring job market, they haven't
Speaker 1: really materialized. There have been some layoffs happening that we
Speaker 1: hear about that that get all the headline attention um,
Speaker 1: specifically from a few specific tech companies, but they've been
Speaker 1: fairly minimal um. And there are still one point seven
Speaker 1: jobs available per job seeker. So that means that if
Speaker 1: you if you're out there looking, you have your pick
Speaker 1: of the litter. To a certain degree. Um, I mean
Speaker 1: we joel like, we took a trip recently and we
Speaker 1: were still passing bonuses being written on you know, pieces
Speaker 1: of paper in fast food windows that are still windows
Speaker 1: McDonald's are still saying, hey, look extra five hundred bucks
Speaker 1: or a thousand bucks just for coming to work here.
Speaker 1: That's in addition to higher normal hourly wages too, exactly.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of employers who are still looking
Speaker 1: to fill empty positions. And you know what, while many
Speaker 1: of the things that will discuss Intudy's episode will be
Speaker 1: applicable uh next year and the year after that as well,
Speaker 1: you do have more ability in the current market to
Speaker 1: increase your your income because of how hot the job
Speaker 1: market is. Um, it's not quite as nice as it
Speaker 1: was seven to eight months ago, but workers still have
Speaker 1: massive leverage to get paid more today for sure. All Right,
Speaker 1: So that does make me think, like, how do you
Speaker 1: know if you're being underpaid? Because that's probably a really
Speaker 1: important thing to ask question. You might be at the
Speaker 1: top of your profession right now. You might be the
Speaker 1: equivalent of the air and judge for the New York Yankees,
Speaker 1: and you just you're you're hitting like he's not gonna
Speaker 1: be able to make more money than when he got
Speaker 1: this past offseason in that labor market, and like, no,
Speaker 1: nobody's gonna be able to say, well, actually double your pay,
Speaker 1: come on over here. He's at the top of his profession.
Speaker 1: But how would you even find out if you're not well.
Speaker 1: It helps to know what's going on in the market
Speaker 1: in order to be able to maximize the utility of
Speaker 1: our time and our skills. Like, for instance, a lot
Speaker 1: of truck drivers and folks in the service industry, like
Speaker 1: you're talking about math, they've seen rate pay rates rise
Speaker 1: significantly over the past year. Part of it is though
Speaker 1: sign up bonuses. Part of it is just more robust
Speaker 1: starting salaries. But it's massively helpful to pay attention to
Speaker 1: the current trends when shifts are happening in your industry.
Speaker 1: That way you can know whether or not you are
Speaker 1: getting paid appropriately. And so if you're looking for resources
Speaker 1: that can be continually helpful, we'd say sites like glass
Speaker 1: door or even just producing job postings on the web
Speaker 1: that include salary ranges, they can help you see what
Speaker 1: the pay ranges for some more positions to yours. Those
Speaker 1: are good ways to kind of figure out what's going
Speaker 1: on in the market and where am I at in
Speaker 1: relation to it. That can help you just assess where
Speaker 1: you fall on the scale and how much potential there
Speaker 1: is for you to increase your income, even if in
Speaker 1: the end you opted not to make any changes based
Speaker 1: on some of the recommendations were about to give. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and also I think just talking about money, hopefully that
Speaker 1: is something that you've done with your friends, that's something
Speaker 1: maybe that you've done with your coworkers. And if that's uh,
Speaker 1: if those are discussions that you're having, then I think
Speaker 1: it's going to be easier for you to determine whether
Speaker 1: or not you're getting paid well compared to your your coworkers. So,
Speaker 1: for instance, if there's a you're at a company and
Speaker 1: that you know there are some new hires and if
Speaker 1: you're if you realize that they're getting paid more than
Speaker 1: what what you're getting paid, and you've been there for
Speaker 1: six months, maybe a year, year and a half, well
Speaker 1: I think that's maybe it's time for you for there
Speaker 1: to be a discussion. You know, like if if you
Speaker 1: haven't talked to your boss, if you haven't gotten um
Speaker 1: like a performance review, that's a bad sign. That's Okay, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it seems like your your pay has been
Speaker 1: been stagnant, and this is beyond maybe just even just
Speaker 1: the standard cost of living basic percentage increases that most
Speaker 1: folks oftentimes yet and that's just what we'll talk specifically
Speaker 1: about negotiating at your current job or and how to
Speaker 1: go about effectively increasing your pay if you find yourself
Speaker 1: in a position like that. But what you're talking about
Speaker 1: kind of still is is just the market research portion
Speaker 1: of this. Yeah, market research, and just I mean, and
Speaker 1: I think a part of that market research is just
Speaker 1: talking about it with other folks that's not only relying
Speaker 1: on glass door indeed linked in different job sites, which
Speaker 1: are all very important. You want a bunch of data
Speaker 1: points really exactly like you want the Internet, but you
Speaker 1: also want real life, real life data as well. Dude.
Speaker 1: One thing that's worth considering is how to use the
Speaker 1: new pay transparency laws to your advantage as well when
Speaker 1: it comes to making more money. A few of those
Speaker 1: went on the books in early three including in California,
Speaker 1: and that's in addition to two others I think New
Speaker 1: York as well, that have been passed by other states
Speaker 1: prior years. But when California gets into something because just
Speaker 1: of this the sheer size of the state. It's got
Speaker 1: a tenth of all Americans like live in the state
Speaker 1: of California. I think it's like the fifth or sixth
Speaker 1: largest economy in the world if it was its own country.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's massive influence. Yeah, it's got all these
Speaker 1: ripple effects on everywhere else, on all the other states.
Speaker 1: Um So this year, you're going to see a lot
Speaker 1: more pay ranges listed on Internet job boards and listings. Granted,
Speaker 1: some of those pay ranges they're not always gonna be
Speaker 1: helpful because the spread it's so ridiculously between Like, I
Speaker 1: don't know what that means, but I do think that
Speaker 1: they'll function sort of as a backstop, maybe some back
Speaker 1: of the napkin math to help you to to see
Speaker 1: where you're pay stacks up against others within your industry. Yeah,
Speaker 1: those pay transparency laws, they're not necessarily some sort of
Speaker 1: bulletproof thing that's going to aid you in this negotiation,
Speaker 1: but you are. The more you produce those boards, the
Speaker 1: more you see those pay ranges listed. It is again,
Speaker 1: it's one of those other data points, and you want
Speaker 1: as many as you can to help you understand what
Speaker 1: the market is paying for people in position similar to
Speaker 1: yours or the position that you want to have. That
Speaker 1: can be just another arrow in your quiver so that
Speaker 1: you are able to negotiate for higher pay for yourself.
Speaker 1: And and because of some of these new laws, Matt,
Speaker 1: unlisted jobs are actually starting to become more common. I
Speaker 1: think some people are trying to avoid having to post
Speaker 1: the pay. Some employers are trying to avoid having to
Speaker 1: spell it out, Hey, this is what we pay for
Speaker 1: these these jobs. But a lot of the unlisted jobs
Speaker 1: are actually six figure jobs. There are actually jobs that
Speaker 1: pay really well. How do you get one of these
Speaker 1: jobs if they're unlisted? Then a little more word of mouth,
Speaker 1: isn't it? Yeah? Exactly. A lot of how you actually
Speaker 1: go about getting one of those is having a good
Speaker 1: network in place so that you're notified when an awesome
Speaker 1: job comes along that you're a good fit for. We're
Speaker 1: going to talk more about how to do that, along
Speaker 1: with a bunch of other tips for how to maximize
Speaker 1: your income this year. We'll get to all that right
Speaker 1: after this. A right, man, we are back from the break,
Speaker 1: and let's talk about how you can ensure that you're
Speaker 1: gonna make more money this year at your place of
Speaker 1: employer a mint and if you don't, you could sue Matt.
Speaker 1: There's no guarantee this episode. We can give your email
Speaker 1: at the end of this episode. But we just talked
Speaker 1: about how it's really important to know the market. It's
Speaker 1: important to know the pay ranges that are out there,
Speaker 1: to to know the salaries of similar jobs as yours
Speaker 1: given the degree of experience that you have. That's sort
Speaker 1: of like an external factor to keep in mind. But
Speaker 1: it's also important to pay attention to the internal factors
Speaker 1: as well. It's important to make yourself more valuable in
Speaker 1: the market. And by that I mean is it's not
Speaker 1: necessarily about getting an expensive advanced degree or learning new skills, right,
Speaker 1: although those can be smart approaches depending on what industry
Speaker 1: you're in, what job it is that you're looking for.
Speaker 1: But I'm kind of talking about first of all, like
Speaker 1: your mindset, your work ethic, and what you add to
Speaker 1: the company is what is going to make you promotable. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, you may not be gunning for like a
Speaker 1: like the position of CEO, but many of the top
Speaker 1: companies have leaders that moved that slowly moved up the
Speaker 1: ranks in the company over the course of years and decades.
Speaker 1: And so it's important to keep in mind that it
Speaker 1: comes down to the value that you're able to provide
Speaker 1: the company. But also it's important to develop an owner's mentality,
Speaker 1: like JACKO. Willing calls extreme ownership right, which I think
Speaker 1: is just a good way to live in general, but
Speaker 1: very very helpful if you're trying to make more money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what is going to get you recognized
Speaker 1: by your your manager, by your boss, because it often
Speaker 1: it's gonna make them look better as well, and so
Speaker 1: they're gonna want to keep They're gonna want more people
Speaker 1: like you working under them, working on their team, and
Speaker 1: just finding ways to make yourself indispensable by by going
Speaker 1: above and beyond, is going to make your current job
Speaker 1: not only more secure, but it's gonna put you in
Speaker 1: line for better positions as they become available. Um you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, shoot, they may even create a new job,
Speaker 1: a new position for you, if you're good enough. I
Speaker 1: say all that the small caveat there's a fine balance
Speaker 1: there because going above and beyond that also sounds like
Speaker 1: working more. And so it's not necessarily that we want
Speaker 1: you to only work more hours, but work additional time
Speaker 1: or put extra effort in in a way that's going
Speaker 1: to reap you the greatest room. Don't want to like
Speaker 1: give sweat, blood and tears in perpetuity for no return
Speaker 1: on your effort to an employer, because that's like the
Speaker 1: old model, right, and I think like the new model
Speaker 1: is quite quitting. But there's a balance of like, when
Speaker 1: you're working, you're working hard, right, and you're doing good,
Speaker 1: and you're doing your best what cal Newport he says,
Speaker 1: be so good they can't ignore you. And I think
Speaker 1: the better you are at your job, the more results
Speaker 1: you're able to provide that has tangible rewards. And I
Speaker 1: think maybe, uh that that's gotten a little lost in
Speaker 1: a shuffle as we talk about how to increase pay.
Speaker 1: Oftentimes it is just the external find out how much
Speaker 1: your worth and go get it somewhere else. But sometimes
Speaker 1: it is just being better and improving yourself and what
Speaker 1: you're able to provide to your card employer in the
Speaker 1: here and now. That makes a difference to Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think there's a degree of discipline that you can bring
Speaker 1: to your job. I think, I mean, we know some
Speaker 1: folks and they will readily admit there, and they say
Speaker 1: they're like, I don't really work hard, Like my my
Speaker 1: job is kind of a joke. It's it's a non
Speaker 1: factor in the joy and the satisfaction that it brings me.
Speaker 1: I do the work and I get paid. But it's
Speaker 1: very clear that there's either not a path for those
Speaker 1: folks to advance or you're just not interested. You're you're
Speaker 1: happy with the status quo. Maybe you make enough to
Speaker 1: live a comfortable life. Um, but it's just it's so
Speaker 1: important to keep in mind that may not always be
Speaker 1: the case. Uh. Things might change. Maybe your partner is
Speaker 1: no longer able to work after uh for for various reasons.
Speaker 1: But basically, I do think that there is a level
Speaker 1: of intensity and discipline that you can bring to your job.
Speaker 1: But depending on what you want your career to look like,
Speaker 1: I think developing more hard skills might be necessary. I mean,
Speaker 1: like the ninja skills I just acquired. Absolutely I'm gonna
Speaker 1: pay raise for those, right. Yeah, Okay, you took a
Speaker 1: class in order to learn those skills, but that that
Speaker 1: is what we're talking about. We're talking about taking like
Speaker 1: courses or getting certifications. I think those can go a
Speaker 1: long way depending on your industry. But before you go
Speaker 1: out there and apply to get an m b A,
Speaker 1: which by the way, it can cost a ton of
Speaker 1: stinking money, it's important to weigh the pros and the
Speaker 1: cons and to determine to see if there's gonna be
Speaker 1: a way that you can get that training, uh for free,
Speaker 1: or at least maybe you can get it on the cheap.
Speaker 1: For instance, maybe your employer will help pay for the
Speaker 1: skills that you're looking to acquire. If so, obviously take
Speaker 1: them up on that. That's a fantastic benefit that your
Speaker 1: employer can offer. But just be careful before taking on debts,
Speaker 1: specifically not to mention the time that you're spending as well,
Speaker 1: but just the cost associated with getting that degree. Um
Speaker 1: thinking that you know, the hope of these skills might
Speaker 1: someday come in handy, I think that can be a
Speaker 1: massive gamble. We were were always for self improvement in
Speaker 1: finding ways to make ourselves better folks, but we're also
Speaker 1: looking to make sure that we can do that on
Speaker 1: the cheap. We want you to to have more certainty
Speaker 1: about how these hard skills that you're requiring, how they
Speaker 1: will impact your future before you go out there and
Speaker 1: show out some big bucks. Yeah. Like so Emily, I've
Speaker 1: talked about this before. She my wife. She is in
Speaker 1: school grad school to become a licensed therapist, and there's
Speaker 1: like additional training that she can take that is given
Speaker 1: to her a massive discount to become certified in this
Speaker 1: extra special niche right, and she has chosen to pursue
Speaker 1: it one because it's inexpensive, and too because she can
Speaker 1: see that people that get this certification get paid more
Speaker 1: in the future, and so it's the perfect time to
Speaker 1: do it. If she were to wait until after she graduated,
Speaker 1: she pays full freight for that, And so, yeah, there
Speaker 1: are all sorts of little ways. Makes me think I
Speaker 1: had friends who worked at Starbucks, Matt. They were they
Speaker 1: were baristas, or they were even working their way up
Speaker 1: in Starbucks, and they had access to free education. They
Speaker 1: didn't take it up at the time. Now they're paying
Speaker 1: for it themselves out of pocket. And so when you
Speaker 1: have something like this that's offered from an employer, don't
Speaker 1: look at gift horse in the mouth, and you you
Speaker 1: might want to reconsider whether or not the education you
Speaker 1: can procure for for free or for cheap is is
Speaker 1: in your best interest. In that case, I think they're
Speaker 1: just not looking at the gift horse at all. Inside
Speaker 1: playing Nintendo. That's right for getting the gift horse exists altogether. Well.
Speaker 1: And another thing too. You're talking about hard skills, but
Speaker 1: soft skills are important too, And it's not something that
Speaker 1: we talked about enough, but emotional intelligence goes a long
Speaker 1: way when it comes to getting paid more or moving
Speaker 1: up the ladder in your career. Just that I Q
Speaker 1: is that EQ as well? Yeah, And and something as
Speaker 1: simple as knowing how to effectively participate in a team meeting.
Speaker 1: Like meetings are overrated, I get it, but they exist
Speaker 1: and a lot of workplaces, and so if you know
Speaker 1: how to do it right like that can help. But
Speaker 1: getting along well with your team members, having the ability
Speaker 1: to manage those relationships to inspire creativity and others to
Speaker 1: be I call it me. And the John Stockton who
Speaker 1: was like a point guard for the Utah Jazz wasn't
Speaker 1: necessarily so much a scorer himself, but man, he disched
Speaker 1: a ball well to everybody like he was the best passer,
Speaker 1: and so like the people that do that, he's still
Speaker 1: memorable because he was so good at that. And if
Speaker 1: you can be kind of the John Stockton of your
Speaker 1: team at work. I think that goes a long way.
Speaker 1: In addition, like taking and managing feedback from your superior
Speaker 1: as well, that's a crucial skill to making faster career
Speaker 1: progress too. We actually did a deep dive about some
Speaker 1: of these like unspoken rules to to work place success
Speaker 1: with Gorik ng back in episode four fifteen. So if
Speaker 1: you want to kind of hear more about that and
Speaker 1: how to increase your to level up your abilities there,
Speaker 1: that's episode four fifteen. Yeah, I believe those software skills
Speaker 1: are one of the things that suffered the most during
Speaker 1: the pandemic. Obviously, a lot of folks, well a lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of the laptop class was able to
Speaker 1: work from home. That was necessary in order to continue
Speaker 1: our economy and businesses to continue functioning back when we
Speaker 1: especially back when we didn't know the severity of the
Speaker 1: virus and what that meant for us, if whether or
Speaker 1: not we should be disinfecting our mail, you know, like
Speaker 1: these are these are all things that freaked us out
Speaker 1: early on. But what that meant was that we weren't
Speaker 1: hanging out in person, in real life with our coworkers,
Speaker 1: And I think there's a degree, there's an element of
Speaker 1: like humanity that was lost, and now as more employers
Speaker 1: are calling folks back into the office, I think a
Speaker 1: bet a result of that is going. I think we're
Speaker 1: gonna see productivity skyrocket because I think folks are going
Speaker 1: to realize, Oh, I like you, like you know what.
Speaker 1: We've been working together for years now, but I forgot
Speaker 1: how great it was to work together in person, to
Speaker 1: collaborate in a way that not only makes the business
Speaker 1: more profitable, but but that's also fun. And so I
Speaker 1: think there's sort of like a self gratifying, like a
Speaker 1: self off aspect of honing those softer skills as well aside,
Speaker 1: like completely aside from just like the business and the
Speaker 1: profitability side of things. But let's let's talk about networking
Speaker 1: sort of like uh like real estate, right location, location, location, Um,
Speaker 1: so you've you've heard the saying is it's not what
Speaker 1: you know, but it's who you know. And of course
Speaker 1: this you know it's not gonna be accurate, but we
Speaker 1: do think this is as close to the truth is
Speaker 1: you're gonna get in a pithy little phrase like this.
Speaker 1: And the great thing about growing your network, about meeting
Speaker 1: other folks in the industry. Is that anybody can do
Speaker 1: this right, Like, it is not off limits to to anyone.
Speaker 1: It just takes a bit of intentionality, It takes some
Speaker 1: focused effort, and by doing those things, it's gonna put
Speaker 1: you on the path to growing your network. Um and
Speaker 1: it's it's not just building up and growing your network too,
Speaker 1: but also maintaining that network and then committing to you know,
Speaker 1: something like regular checkens with folks in your space within
Speaker 1: your industry. That is going to be crucial as well.
Speaker 1: Look up some different conferences, uh, like where you can
Speaker 1: get to know folks in your space, like send them
Speaker 1: an email, see how some when you hit it off
Speaker 1: with at the conference, see how they're doing. Maybe you
Speaker 1: knew about a project that they're going to be on
Speaker 1: or a new position that they're taking on. And as
Speaker 1: you do that, make sure to seek to provide value
Speaker 1: however it is that you can. Because I think that
Speaker 1: the more that the folks within your network feel that
Speaker 1: you're seeking to be helpful, that you're trying to find
Speaker 1: different ways to put them in better positions, the more
Speaker 1: keen that they're actually gonna be to help you out
Speaker 1: in a pinch, The more likely they're gonna be to
Speaker 1: keep you in mind when that new six figure position
Speaker 1: is coming on, is about to be available, and they're
Speaker 1: not going to post it officially, but they're just you know,
Speaker 1: they start putting the tentacles, they start putting the feelers
Speaker 1: out for folks like you, who is a nice guy
Speaker 1: or a nice lady and you're caring and you're empathetic,
Speaker 1: and you you check in on folks. Yea, yeah, No,
Speaker 1: I think that that's huge, and I think we underestimate
Speaker 1: the importance and the value of building a good network.
Speaker 1: I just had a friend text me the other day, Matt,
Speaker 1: and he was like, he sent me a position that
Speaker 1: I didn't know was available. And he was like, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, I know you hate Matt now,
Speaker 1: so you might be interested in this. I was like, no,
Speaker 1: no, no no, I still love man. We love what we do,
Speaker 1: so I'm not. But it was kind of where you
Speaker 1: get your info. But it was just it was kind
Speaker 1: of a goofy thing because it was like the Braves
Speaker 1: p a announcer and I've always liked baseball, and he
Speaker 1: was like, you're you were in radio, this would be perfect.
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, wait, Like at the during the games. Yeah,
Speaker 1: during the games. The cool job. But you said that
Speaker 1: was like your dream job. I mean, well, it used
Speaker 1: to be the actual announcer for like the radio broadcast,
Speaker 1: a announcer like in the stadium. Not as much and
Speaker 1: still got it. Not gonna happen. Not not interested anymore.
Speaker 1: That was a dream from long ago. That's kind of
Speaker 1: that was single, Jol before I had kids, Jole exactly, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: But it's funny how people just think of you for
Speaker 1: certain things. I had a former boss reach out again
Speaker 1: recently and he's like, hey, we've got I've got there's
Speaker 1: maybe some work I'd like you to do if you're interested. Again,
Speaker 1: I'm not terribly interested right now, but the fact that
Speaker 1: people think of you because you have, like you've maintained
Speaker 1: those relationships matters. And so here's what we would say
Speaker 1: to growing your network is also important, not just maintaining
Speaker 1: the one that You've got a couple of tips for that.
Speaker 1: You can literally proactively introduce yourself to others in your
Speaker 1: field who are doing work that interests you. There's no
Speaker 1: harm and there's no harm in that sending a brief
Speaker 1: linked in message or an email to offer a kind
Speaker 1: word or introduce yourself to even say hey, do you
Speaker 1: have time for a quick coffee if you guys live
Speaker 1: in the same town. But we would also say don't
Speaker 1: exclusively network with peers in your field, because a bunch
Speaker 1: of folks could stand to benefit from actually responding to
Speaker 1: maybe the kind of annoying messages they get from recruiters
Speaker 1: or headhunters in their field. You might say, listen, I'm
Speaker 1: not interested. To leave me alone, but you know, the
Speaker 1: the current job even that they're reaching out to you
Speaker 1: about to tell you about or to see if you're
Speaker 1: interested in it might not be right for you. But
Speaker 1: having a brief cordial combo with that person, letting them
Speaker 1: know what you're looking for job wise, will make you
Speaker 1: top of mind for them in the future. So they
Speaker 1: might already know about another position that you're perfect for
Speaker 1: even at that moment. But a robust network is really
Speaker 1: what's likely to get you unlisted opportunities that we were
Speaker 1: talking about before. It's likely to get you thought of
Speaker 1: for other things, other positions you might not have noticed
Speaker 1: or you might not even have known existed. But that network,
Speaker 1: like you said, Matt, it's just like real estate, location, location, location, network, network, network.
Speaker 1: If that's if you boil it down to one thing
Speaker 1: that's most likely to move the needle over a number
Speaker 1: of years to help repel your career, I think it's
Speaker 1: that that's right, man. Yeah, And as your network grows,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have more opportunities to to take your talents elsewhere, uh,
Speaker 1: changing jobs that gives you the highest probability for making
Speaker 1: more money. I will say, the increased leverage that workers
Speaker 1: have right now, it's kind of shown up in the
Speaker 1: form of some like more goofy stunding movements over the
Speaker 1: past twelve months. Uh. For like, there was quiet quitting
Speaker 1: right which was like workers refusing to go above and
Speaker 1: beyond whatever their job title or description asked of them.
Speaker 1: But then there's something called rage applying, uh. And that's
Speaker 1: where you get so fed up with your boss. You
Speaker 1: get so fed up with your job that you start
Speaker 1: applying like crazy, two dozens, multiple dozens of positions, which
Speaker 1: I will say the last have to do it with
Speaker 1: a scale in your face. I believe otherwise you're not
Speaker 1: actually you're just applying, applying um. And I do think
Speaker 1: that's a better option, uh in my opinion. But if
Speaker 1: you don't like what you're doing. Don't just check out,
Speaker 1: don't just quiet quit, look for something better, like be
Speaker 1: more proactive about it, take your your future into your
Speaker 1: own hands, and let's make sure that you know this
Speaker 1: something better like that additional position that it pays more
Speaker 1: to that it's going to be something that is going
Speaker 1: to financially reward you as well. Yeah, it's it's kind
Speaker 1: of a goofy name to something people are doing. Of course,
Speaker 1: this started as a TikTok trend, like everything does now.
Speaker 1: Does any any trend not start on TikTok these days?
Speaker 1: Not that I know of, But yeah, this rage applying
Speaker 1: is we kind of kind of become the hit thing.
Speaker 1: But the truth is, even though you're doing it maybe
Speaker 1: out of kind of the wrong emotional space, you're doing
Speaker 1: the right thing by applying, by seeing what options are open.
Speaker 1: Your motives are wrong, you're doing it with the wrong heart. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but the end result might actually be good exactly. Well. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think too, it's important to mention that don't
Speaker 1: just look for jobs in the current industry you work
Speaker 1: in because as yet, like, there were some actual news
Speaker 1: stats recently to Matt that said that pay rates for
Speaker 1: people who stay put at, their current jobs have gone
Speaker 1: up more than at any other time in the past
Speaker 1: twenty five years since we've started keeping records on this data.
Speaker 1: But even still, moving jobs is almost always gonna let
Speaker 1: you more on the income front. But uh, it's it's
Speaker 1: worth mentioning that looking into a different industry completely could
Speaker 1: produce even higher results on the income front for you
Speaker 1: as well. There's just nothing forcing you to stay in
Speaker 1: the current industry that you're in. If your skills translate well,
Speaker 1: not just the different employers, but the different lines of work,
Speaker 1: starts scouring those opportunities as well. I mean, there were
Speaker 1: headlines in newspapers across the country about how in demand
Speaker 1: teachers are, about how they can quit their job and
Speaker 1: go get paid more because of the innate talents that
Speaker 1: they have that translate well to other industries. So it's
Speaker 1: not just that that teacher has other potential jobs lined
Speaker 1: up in the education sector. There are a bunch of
Speaker 1: other sectors that would welcome teachers with open arms because
Speaker 1: of the various talents they possess. So just to plug
Speaker 1: to widen your search parameters a little more than they
Speaker 1: currently are. Yeah, and plus it's just fun to consider
Speaker 1: doing something completely different than maybe what you've done for
Speaker 1: the past ten years. Like it makes me think, like
Speaker 1: I came to podcasting from being a photographer. That is
Speaker 1: not something that I thought in a thousand years that
Speaker 1: I would ever do, but dang it, it' sure is
Speaker 1: fun to have like gone from something that was. I
Speaker 1: don't know, I I feel like I'm at two opposite ends
Speaker 1: of the spectrum. We're still creative, but they're very different. Yes,
Speaker 1: I love the creativity that was that I've been able
Speaker 1: to find and uh, you know, and what we do
Speaker 1: obviously was able to find that in photography as well.
Speaker 1: But I think folks should be more open minded too,
Speaker 1: and like it almost sounds counterintuitive, but to almost hit
Speaker 1: resets a little bit on their career and kind of
Speaker 1: start over from scratch if you're looking for a way
Speaker 1: to kind of shake things up, maybe if you feel
Speaker 1: like you've either hit the ceiling or if you see
Speaker 1: better potential elsewhere. Um, but as you're weighing those different options,
Speaker 1: as you're thinking about about moving, obviously folks are gonna
Speaker 1: look at what it is that they might be able
Speaker 1: to get paid. But something to keep in mind, Uh,
Speaker 1: don't just look at the salary alone, how your job
Speaker 1: impacts your life, the hours that you're supposed to work,
Speaker 1: and the job flexibility uh that you're going to be
Speaker 1: able to realize. These are all important to think through
Speaker 1: as well as you're considering a new position. Um Basically,
Speaker 1: we want you to think through like the total package
Speaker 1: of what a job entails, right, including the total compensation package,
Speaker 1: but also the lifestyle aspects of a job as well.
Speaker 1: But the Beer of Labor Statistics found that of the
Speaker 1: average employees, compensation comes via the form of benefits. It
Speaker 1: comes via things that aren't listed out on those job listings,
Speaker 1: you know with the job title, twoline description, and a salary.
Speaker 1: Reminds me of how like when we drive cars and
Speaker 1: we think about how expensive they are. Oftentimes one of
Speaker 1: the first things people think about our gas prices, but
Speaker 1: those are actually such a small percentage of where you're
Speaker 1: But like these these benefits that you can all these
Speaker 1: other things that you need to take a depreciation maintenance
Speaker 1: to the headline salary number. But some of those other
Speaker 1: things buried a little bit deeper down about when it
Speaker 1: comes to the four one K match or when it
Speaker 1: comes to healthcare benefits, those things can be massive. It
Speaker 1: could be it could make a big difference, right like
Speaker 1: like a new job it might pay more, right, which
Speaker 1: sounds pretty awesome. But if they don't offer a four
Speaker 1: one K match, right like, if you have to work
Speaker 1: longer days, so your lifestyle now sucks. The flexibility is
Speaker 1: now gone. If the healthcare premiums, if they're gonna cost you,
Speaker 1: you know, substantially more, well, it might be more of
Speaker 1: a wash, right from from an overall compensation perspective, and
Speaker 1: it might not be worth the salary increase in may
Speaker 1: not be worth a squeeze um. And so a bigger
Speaker 1: headline salary number is of course massively helpful, kind of
Speaker 1: helps you get pointed in the right direction. But before
Speaker 1: you switch jobs based on that alone, make sure that
Speaker 1: you you do your dilaons, make sure that you've done
Speaker 1: some research, that you figured out how this shift, how
Speaker 1: this change is going to impact you on all those
Speaker 1: different fronts in life, not just the amount that's going
Speaker 1: to be in your paycheck every two weeks. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: Well let's let's keep talking about this man, like we
Speaker 1: want to talk about negotiation. I think negotiation is a
Speaker 1: really really important part of how you get paid more
Speaker 1: especially if you want to stay put where you are.
Speaker 1: You're not looking necessarily to pull Lebron James and take
Speaker 1: your talents to South Beach or something like that. You
Speaker 1: you just want to get paid what you're worth where
Speaker 1: you are. We'll talk about that, but we'll also talk
Speaker 1: about striking it on your own. Or if you're a freelancer,
Speaker 1: how do you get paid more for doing the work
Speaker 1: you're already doing. Well, we'll get to that right after this.
Speaker 1: All right, we are still talking about different ways that
Speaker 1: you can make sure that you're gonna earn more money
Speaker 1: this year, And regardless if you are going to stay
Speaker 1: with your current employer or if you're looking to take
Speaker 1: your talents elsewhere. Regardless, a tactic that you're gonna want
Speaker 1: to employ is negotiating. So having a you know, like
Speaker 1: a competing offer, that's one of the best negotiating tactics
Speaker 1: that you have at your disposal if you're looking to move,
Speaker 1: and honestly, even if you're wanting to stay put, if
Speaker 1: you have some interest from another employer where you're gonna
Speaker 1: be far more likely to coax a raise out of
Speaker 1: your current employer. It makes you kind of the hot
Speaker 1: commodity right where they're like, wait, huh, other people you
Speaker 1: get an offers from down the street. No, no, no no, no,
Speaker 1: we definitely want to keep you. We're going to figure
Speaker 1: out away. Yeah, kind of instill some like some of
Speaker 1: that sense of scarcity. Yeah, you may no longer be there.
Speaker 1: But I think some listeners might hear the word negotiate
Speaker 1: and they might shudder. They may have heard my story
Speaker 1: earlier and they're like, I would never knock on the
Speaker 1: window of a car that almost just hit me, But
Speaker 1: I that that doesn't make me shudder. I'm definitely less
Speaker 1: fearful of doing that. But they see confrontation on the horizon.
Speaker 1: But negotiation, it doesn't have to be that way. I
Speaker 1: think it's important to keep in mind that this is
Speaker 1: a normal feature for for many of the cultures out there,
Speaker 1: and I think we should all just maybe become a
Speaker 1: little bit more comfortable on this frontum negotiating more. In general,
Speaker 1: I think it's a good habit to get into, and
Speaker 1: when it comes to getting paid more, I think it'll
Speaker 1: often make the biggest difference on the salary front. The
Speaker 1: ability to push back a little bit, to ask questions.
Speaker 1: Those are some of the characteristics that we want you
Speaker 1: to embody as you're looking to either stay put or
Speaker 1: with a new potential employer if you're looking to move. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's always I feel like every time I talked to
Speaker 1: somebody about this and I can see look in their
Speaker 1: eyes like, yeah, that's one step too far. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to do that, and there's like they start sweating
Speaker 1: a little bit. There's like an emotional hesitancy right to
Speaker 1: even think about the concept of negotiation. And and I
Speaker 1: mean I remember I've had multiple people that I worked
Speaker 1: with kind of trying to talk them through the ropes
Speaker 1: of how to do this, and there's just a lot
Speaker 1: of fear, a lot of pushback. Well I can't ask
Speaker 1: that question. Well I can't go in there and and
Speaker 1: and approach this conversation with my boss like that's that's
Speaker 1: gonna like put me, made me look bad, or they're
Speaker 1: gonna want to get rid of me after that, right
Speaker 1: after asking for more money. But no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: I think we often overstate the negative effects that having
Speaker 1: this kind of conversation opening up the negotiation process with
Speaker 1: our boss can have, And we also underestimate our ability
Speaker 1: to get what we want or deserve. And of course
Speaker 1: you're gonna want to detail some of your accomplishments that
Speaker 1: are particularly flattering alongside some of the awesome stuff you
Speaker 1: plan to achieve in the coming year. I think that's
Speaker 1: really important, not just saying here's what I've done in
Speaker 1: the past, but saying here's what I'm gonna bring to
Speaker 1: the table moving forward. I'm gonna keep being awesome for you.
Speaker 1: And it's easier to ask for and then get a
Speaker 1: significant pay bump if you have some of those killer
Speaker 1: contributions to highlight, right, And and like we talked about earlier,
Speaker 1: knowing what you're worth by shopping those similar positions in
Speaker 1: the market is going to give you the data to
Speaker 1: ask for a raise as well. So you want to
Speaker 1: kind of combine all those things into a pot along
Speaker 1: with a really kind presentation, essentially asking your boss to
Speaker 1: pay what pay you what's fair given your contributions and
Speaker 1: what you can command elsewhere. And I think that term
Speaker 1: fair is really important because your boss likely wants to
Speaker 1: be seen as a fair person. And if you, based
Speaker 1: on your accomplishments and based on what you could earn
Speaker 1: somewhere else, are saying, hey, my what I'm getting paid
Speaker 1: isn't quite fair. Right now, you're not accusing them, but
Speaker 1: you're saying, hey, i'd like to get paid with fair.
Speaker 1: I think that actually is one of the best ways
Speaker 1: to present your argument. And I think there's an assumption
Speaker 1: that if you don't see anything, then the your boss
Speaker 1: is going to assume that what they are paying you
Speaker 1: is fair sure because they haven't heard from you. Another step,
Speaker 1: or another route you could take too is just skip
Speaker 1: the boss altogether. Go work for yourself. We're talking about
Speaker 1: entrepreneurship here, and it's not often going to be you know,
Speaker 1: done overnight, but building something on the side. If you're
Speaker 1: so inclined, I think that's the best way to get
Speaker 1: to the point where you can fully work for yourself. Unfortunately, freelancing,
Speaker 1: it's becoming more normalized of American workers did at least
Speaker 1: some freelance work last year back in and you know,
Speaker 1: when we see freelance, we're not talking about gig work.
Speaker 1: That's different. It's important to make this distinction because you know,
Speaker 1: you might make more money initially if you're looking to
Speaker 1: take on some additional gigs via some different apps. But
Speaker 1: this is a losing proposition because what you're doing here
Speaker 1: is your only trading time for money on an ongoing basis. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's okay to do that if you're in a pinch
Speaker 1: and if you need cash fast, but we don't want
Speaker 1: this to be something that you pursue long term. Um.
Speaker 1: And also, we just don't want you to be dependent
Speaker 1: on a platform or a specific marketplace. And so that's
Speaker 1: that's kind of how we view gigs as maybe more
Speaker 1: of a negative, it's more of a choice of words,
Speaker 1: but we feel that a side hustle is something that
Speaker 1: is scalable. It has the ability to turn into a
Speaker 1: legit business over time. It might not make you money
Speaker 1: in the here and now, like maybe media as much money,
Speaker 1: but it's got more that long term potential for sure. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: And and so one of the things Matt too, if
Speaker 1: somebody if out there listing says, yeah, I want to
Speaker 1: get to that point, but boy, I'm scared to do
Speaker 1: that too. I'm scared to negotiate with my boss. We're
Speaker 1: HOPEFU hopefully we give you some some helpful tips on
Speaker 1: how to do that and how important it is. But
Speaker 1: let's say you do want to strike it out on
Speaker 1: your own, but you're like, I don't know that I
Speaker 1: can do that. I don't hope that I'm ready for that. Well,
Speaker 1: first you might not be yet. You might need to
Speaker 1: get that side hustle up and running a little bit further.
Speaker 1: You might need to have proof of concept right that
Speaker 1: you can make the income that you need but going
Speaker 1: it alone. But the other thing that you need to
Speaker 1: have is I think the more money you have saved up,
Speaker 1: the easier it becomes to take more risk. And so
Speaker 1: if you have some financial margin here exactly, if you
Speaker 1: have three weeks worth the savings on hand versus six
Speaker 1: months worth of savings on hand, yeah, no, wonder you're
Speaker 1: scared if you've only got three weeks to cash it
Speaker 1: in the bank, to quit your job, to h and
Speaker 1: to move on and go do your own thing. But
Speaker 1: if you have six months, you're like, man, I I
Speaker 1: have a lot of wiggle room here. I have a
Speaker 1: lot of runway to kind of get this business rolling.
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily need it to be spitting out as
Speaker 1: much as I was making before. At least right now,
Speaker 1: I've got the financial margin, the financial backstop in case
Speaker 1: like I'm not making as much money as I've projected
Speaker 1: to make or as I think I'm going to make
Speaker 1: and I think that that matters a lot. That gives
Speaker 1: you the ability that money in the bank, it's we've
Speaker 1: called a piece out money before, Matt. If you have
Speaker 1: that amount of money, enough of a stash sitting there,
Speaker 1: that's gonna help vide the comfort level for you to
Speaker 1: be able to go strike it on your own, which
Speaker 1: you know, you're not guaranteed to make more money, but
Speaker 1: a lot of entrepreneurs find that they are able to
Speaker 1: because in the in the course of running their own business,
Speaker 1: they're able to make more than they ever were under
Speaker 1: the roof of someone else. Totally. Yeah, I mean, and
Speaker 1: this is why we have the show, right Not only
Speaker 1: is it important to and why we talk about having
Speaker 1: financial margin and an emergency fund. Not only do we
Speaker 1: want you to avoid the stress of living paycheck to paycheck.
Speaker 1: That's like escaping the negative aspects of uh handling your
Speaker 1: finances poorly, um, but we also want you to experience
Speaker 1: the positive things, right like, not only we want to
Speaker 1: remove the negative and and we want you to inherit
Speaker 1: the positive outcomes. And often times that's having more options,
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to the type of work you're doing.
Speaker 1: You don't have to say yes to everything that gets
Speaker 1: thrust in front of you. You can say maybe I
Speaker 1: want to do that, or actually I don't want to
Speaker 1: do that. I'm gonna start my own thing when I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do this instead. You have more choice, the more
Speaker 1: financial backs, the more choice you have over what you
Speaker 1: do or choice when your options. Yeah, and the more
Speaker 1: you can hold out for more money too. You can
Speaker 1: be like, actually, no, this job sounds great, but you
Speaker 1: know I'm gonna keep I'm gonna keep looking because the
Speaker 1: salary is not quite a standards And you can say
Speaker 1: that with confidence when you have more more cash than
Speaker 1: exactly yeah. And it's it's not about making all these
Speaker 1: smart financial moves in order to get filthy rich, right,
Speaker 1: Like we don't want all the how the money listeners
Speaker 1: out there to be millionaires and to retire and for
Speaker 1: your your life to look a certain way now like
Speaker 1: we want you. It's what those funds, what that retirement,
Speaker 1: what that nesting can allow you to then do all
Speaker 1: the cool things that it's gonna afford you, right, like
Speaker 1: the ability to give tons of money away, or the
Speaker 1: ability to say yes to a different job that you
Speaker 1: never thought that you would consider doing. But also like
Speaker 1: if you have money on hand and you want to
Speaker 1: buy something cool that costs that costs a little bit extra,
Speaker 1: or go on a vacation or something like that. It's
Speaker 1: it comes it comes down to you and what it
Speaker 1: is that you want to spend your money on business.
Speaker 1: It's not again, it's not the accumulation of just massive
Speaker 1: amounts of money and seeing your net worth grow. It's
Speaker 1: all of the different options that that is then going
Speaker 1: to afford you. That's that's the goal. That's why we
Speaker 1: have how the money and that's what that's Those are
Speaker 1: the big lessons that we want to make sure that
Speaker 1: you're able to live with. And I think fear is
Speaker 1: what holds people back, one from negotiating like you talked about,
Speaker 1: but also from pursuing entrepreneurship, from pursuing a career in freelancing,
Speaker 1: maybe in something like that. And that money. It's not
Speaker 1: that the money makes you not fearful, but it can
Speaker 1: help you overcome some of those fears. I think it
Speaker 1: can allow you to push past them because at least
Speaker 1: that's one less thing holding you back, right, and then
Speaker 1: it's just you holding yourself better. But I think that's
Speaker 1: one excuse we make sometimes and so if you do
Speaker 1: have more money saved up, it can allow you to
Speaker 1: feel like you can take the risk to go out
Speaker 1: there and pursue something that's your own, to build your
Speaker 1: own thing. Well, what if you are already a freelance
Speaker 1: freelancer though, Matt, We've got a lot of people on
Speaker 1: the how the Money community who who do have their
Speaker 1: own business already, who work for themselves. Can you just
Speaker 1: raise your rates on a dot like? Just is it
Speaker 1: that simple? You could like kind of, but not necessarily right,
Speaker 1: That's not the best way to go about it. So
Speaker 1: we would say this, if you're if you're trying to
Speaker 1: increase your rates this year, would you should probably be
Speaker 1: trying to do especially right now given inflation and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. I think it's understandable people almost expect price
Speaker 1: increases right now, but make sure you give your clients
Speaker 1: time to adjust. Don't just send them an invoice for
Speaker 1: more money one day and be like, surprise, I'm charging.
Speaker 1: That's not the way to do it. It makes me
Speaker 1: think of kind of how Sam's Club just recently did
Speaker 1: their rate increase at at the Warehouse club there, Matt.
Speaker 1: They basically said, hey, it's going up this next year,
Speaker 1: but we're gonna give you a gift card. Right, the
Speaker 1: covers the price difference of the membership from last year
Speaker 1: to this year. It kind of ease the pain, right
Speaker 1: as am used to paying the new dollar amount. But
Speaker 1: in reality, look at the math. See we got you covered,
Speaker 1: making that transition just a little little slight of hand,
Speaker 1: a little less painful for people. And so I would say, like,
Speaker 1: if you're a freelancer out there, your rate increases, is
Speaker 1: they're gonna go over better if you send a note
Speaker 1: telling your clients why that rating is going up, you know,
Speaker 1: and even as you raise your rates, be cognizant of
Speaker 1: how you go about it in order to make more
Speaker 1: from current clients and to lose future none in the process.
Speaker 1: So yeah, make sure you're being you're communicating about why,
Speaker 1: talking about economic conditions and maybe even highlighting improvements in
Speaker 1: service and what you offer. That's kind of a good
Speaker 1: way to raise rates. But just saying hey, sorry, buck
Speaker 1: stops here more, that's not a good way to do it.
Speaker 1: You're gonna lose people in the process. How you talk
Speaker 1: about it matters honestly for me, and maybe I'm different
Speaker 1: than other people, but like to me, like In my mind,
Speaker 1: it matters less about why it is that prices are changing,
Speaker 1: and it has more to do with the fact that
Speaker 1: it's just even being talked about altogether, because that tells
Speaker 1: me that they're being upfront about it. There's some there's
Speaker 1: like a level of transparency there, and to that extent,
Speaker 1: like I feel like it would even engender like more
Speaker 1: loyalty on my part because it's just like, okay, cool,
Speaker 1: it's something that they're being straightforward and honest with as
Speaker 1: almost like the product or the service or whatever. I
Speaker 1: don't even care why I'm down with that, Like I'm
Speaker 1: happy to support that individual in particular as we're talking
Speaker 1: about freelancers, but some people and depending on how long
Speaker 1: you've had that relationship with your client or whatever, like
Speaker 1: it could demand a different kind of fitness. Are they
Speaker 1: your main client who who takes up half, you know,
Speaker 1: half your time and three quarters of you know your
Speaker 1: revenue comes from them. You're gonna want to make sure
Speaker 1: you handle that in a specific way. You're right, Like
Speaker 1: it's gonna vary across the board exactly. Yeah, It's it's
Speaker 1: worth bringing up non competes as well. We talked about
Speaker 1: this a few weeks ago. Uh. But noncompetes might currently
Speaker 1: be preventing you from going down the street to make
Speaker 1: more money, but those might not be around much longer.
Speaker 1: Things to the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, there's actually
Speaker 1: a massive number of Americans, especially ones who make less
Speaker 1: than twenty dollars an hour, who are just limited, you know,
Speaker 1: by their ability to seek employment elsewhere. Uh, and therefore
Speaker 1: more money within the same industry because of these threatening
Speaker 1: legal documents. Uh. And so if the FTC moves forward
Speaker 1: with its proposal, I think it's still in like the
Speaker 1: comment period until March or something like that, but that
Speaker 1: could be a massive policy step that would allow millions
Speaker 1: to earn more money without the fear of retribution from
Speaker 1: their employers, without there being some sort of lawsuit against you. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's important to note, And that's a in
Speaker 1: we're talking about maximizing your income in three If this
Speaker 1: does come into effect, it's going to impact something close
Speaker 1: to thirty million people and their ability to make more
Speaker 1: in the industry they currently work in by going down
Speaker 1: the street and seeking to get paid more elsewhere. So,
Speaker 1: but that's one of those things that we'll continue to
Speaker 1: talk about on Friday flights. As we get more updates,
Speaker 1: and I think, Matt, when it when we boil it down,
Speaker 1: like our our listeners, most people out there, they've seen
Speaker 1: some of the stories or a TikTok video of someone
Speaker 1: saying I doubled my pay overnight by switching jobs. I
Speaker 1: think you're going to be hard pressed to double your
Speaker 1: pay like that in one fell swoop. But it's also
Speaker 1: to say that's not impossible, right, some people have done it.
Speaker 1: It's you can do it. But growing your income in
Speaker 1: a meaningful way by the end of this year, I
Speaker 1: think it's a good goal and it's possible for a
Speaker 1: whole lot of us. And money isn't everything, of course, Matt,
Speaker 1: you alluded to that just a second ago. If you
Speaker 1: love your job and it doesn't pay a ton, but
Speaker 1: it lights you up inside, more power to you. But
Speaker 1: if you're working for a nonprofit getting paid thirty five
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year, but you're like the mission you love,
Speaker 1: cause that's awesome, there's a lot to be said for that.
Speaker 1: There's a lot to be said for that. And we're
Speaker 1: not cold hearted capitalists who would throw away purpose and
Speaker 1: mission just for more dollars. In our bank accounts, Like,
Speaker 1: that's not our style and that's not what we want
Speaker 1: you to do. And I think if you can live
Speaker 1: a frugal life and and do the job that you
Speaker 1: love makes me think of the listener question we had
Speaker 1: from a librarian recently. She loved her job. She's not
Speaker 1: looking to necessarily like double her income and quit a
Speaker 1: profession that she held, dear, And I think that a
Speaker 1: lot of people feel that way, and rightly so. But
Speaker 1: I think still like most of us can make three
Speaker 1: the year of making more money. That's what we wanted
Speaker 1: to be for you. Uh, it's but it's not just
Speaker 1: going to happen to us right as we sit here
Speaker 1: doing our normal thing. We've got to go out there
Speaker 1: and make it a reality. So hopefully you've learned enough
Speaker 1: from this episode to do that very thing, and can't
Speaker 1: wait to hear the stories of your success this year
Speaker 1: in making more based on Yeah, the moves that you make,
Speaker 1: the questions you ask, the negotiating tactics that you implement.
Speaker 1: So right, man, you can't be passive about earning more money.
Speaker 1: That is something you have to go out there and get.
Speaker 1: You gotta like hunt it down like a lion on
Speaker 1: the savannah, stalking its prey, stalking the gazelle. Let's go
Speaker 1: back to the beer you and I enjoyed a painting dreams.
Speaker 1: This is a single hop West Coast style I p
Speaker 1: a by Finden's Brewing. What what would you say at
Speaker 1: the beginning? I don't know what. Did I call it
Speaker 1: findings or fittings? I can't remember. No, you called it finns.
Speaker 1: I called it findings? Were you saying finings? I was
Speaker 1: just one too shirt. I said, if it was two
Speaker 1: d's it might be it would make sense. Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: it's fighting's for sure. We looked it up while you're talking.
Speaker 1: I got distracted to the phone real quick, as you
Speaker 1: are prone to do, which I'm not gonna say it's
Speaker 1: a little offensive. It's a little offensive. But this was
Speaker 1: a fantastic beer. Man Um. The last year we had
Speaker 1: by them, they had like a new fantacy hot that
Speaker 1: we've never had before, and so pizzerin, pizzerin Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I thought, you know, there's a maybe there's there's a
Speaker 1: slight chance that this beer is so good because there's
Speaker 1: a hot here that we've never had. But this is
Speaker 1: a single hot beer which means it's only got one type, Mosaic, which,
Speaker 1: other than like Citra, is probably one of the most
Speaker 1: base widely used hop in my opinion, I feel like
Speaker 1: I've I've had many a beer, probably mosaic and Centennial
Speaker 1: or Centennial that's another one as well. Yeah, but what
Speaker 1: that tells me is that it's not the ingredients, it's
Speaker 1: how it is that they're making this beer. It's the technique.
Speaker 1: Those guys up there in the up in the northeast, man,
Speaker 1: they I like how they do it up there, the
Speaker 1: way that they are brewing their I p a S
Speaker 1: in particular, it's just so stinking good. This is just, honestly,
Speaker 1: like we were talking about how this is like the
Speaker 1: best West Coast ipa we've ever had, and it's partly
Speaker 1: because it doesn't really taste like a normal West Coast
Speaker 1: ip a. It tastes like like a New England style
Speaker 1: I p A masked disguised as a West Coast Yeah,
Speaker 1: it definitely was more bitter than the one that we
Speaker 1: had on Monday, but it still wasn't nearly as bitter
Speaker 1: as a lot of the West Coast styles were used
Speaker 1: to drinking. Didn't have like that great fruit pith or
Speaker 1: pine resin action going on. So to me, this was
Speaker 1: like the West Coast sister of the Monday beer and
Speaker 1: not quite as delicious because I was obsessed with the
Speaker 1: one on Monday, but still really really good, super good.
Speaker 1: It honestly reminds me of um. I think I can't
Speaker 1: remember those Bisis Brothers or Trillium, but I remember having
Speaker 1: a session I p a by them, and this kind
Speaker 1: of reminded me of that. It's still it was like
Speaker 1: chock full of flavor, had that hop sharpness, but just
Speaker 1: a lot lighter, didn't have nearly as much of that
Speaker 1: complex mouth feel that the one on Monday had. Well
Speaker 1: that's high praise too. To compare this beer to Bissells
Speaker 1: Brothers or two Trillium, which are two of the best
Speaker 1: breweries in the country. Yeah, oh, absolutely well. The first
Speaker 1: result that when I was doing my phone searching while
Speaker 1: you're talking earlier, the first result that came up was
Speaker 1: that this is and this is some like you know,
Speaker 1: uber beer nerd website, but they were saying that this
Speaker 1: is the best craft brewery that you haven't heard of
Speaker 1: under the radar. It's completely under the radar. I love
Speaker 1: it now. I'm gonna start looking for excuses to take
Speaker 1: a trip to New England, kind of check some of
Speaker 1: these guys out. Big thanks to listener Michael and Emily
Speaker 1: for sending this beer away. I really appreciate it. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. Awesome. All right, that's gonna do it
Speaker 1: for this episode. Matt for want the show notes and
Speaker 1: links to stuff that we mentioned, you can find those
Speaker 1: up on our website at how to money dot com.
Speaker 1: That's right, Joel. So, until next time, best friends Out,
Speaker 1: Best Friends Out.