To achieve financial freedom requires increasing your savings rate and investing a large part of your income. The majority of people in the developed world are employed full time in a 9-5 job. You will need a strategy to increase salary for a high paying job to achieve financial freedom. There are many people around the world who are achieving this. You can maximise your success as an employee and increase your income if you know how.
Firstly you need to have the goal of achieving financial freedom and then have a plan and strategy to achieve it. This will help you to focus on your job, what you need to do, how you need to behave and how to approach it. Always remember that you have other options including self employment and you are pursuing the best and most lucrative options. In my last post I covered the comparison between employed vs self employed.
The ultimate goal is to maximise your earning potential as fast as possible. You can work hard and longer to achieve this but that is not sustaineable. If you work smarter and strategically to create opportunities for growth you can increase salary and have a high paying job.
I have learned and experienced these proven tips. They have worked for me even though it took me a while to learn. The sooner you implement these the quicker you can benefit.
If you don’t believe me check Steves story, he played it by the book and retired by 35. Another person doing unashamed 9-5 financial freedom without side hustles is Contrarian Saver.
Understand your role in a company.
When you work as an employee for a company you need to understand that it is a business relationship. It’s a commercial transaction, your time and skills for their money, nothing more nothing less. If you can have fun it is a bonus. The company needs you to be efficient and effective to add value to help it to be successful.
The company owes you nothing and can and will replace you if necessary. The problem is that people get too attached to a company or the people in it and they lose this perspective. Allowing these emotions to control your decisions and actions leads to resentment and unhappiness.
The biggest lever that you have as an employee is your time and skills. If you do not think these are being valued then you must leave and take them elsewhere. If you stay and allow yourself to be taken for granted or worse abused it is no one else but your fault. Don’t blame your boss or your company if you choose to stay and tolerate this. The longer you stay the longer you devalue yourself.
You need to balance self confidence and self awareness. You should be confident in your ability and your skills. Without this confidence you will undersell your self, miss opportunities or be taken advantage of. Don’t be overconfident or unaware of your short commings though. Not being self aware will make you think you are better than you are or hide your blind spots.
See yourself as a business inside a business and not an employee. Treat yourself as your own business or an entrepreneur inside of your own company. You will have a different view and experience being employed. Maintain your focus to increase salary and for a high paying job.
Personal qualities for success
Positive attitude
Once you are employed in a full time job it is easy to become complacent and just go through the flow. Don’t fall into the trap becoming the lazy victim employee who goes to work every day, does the bare minimum, keeps a low profile and fits in with the crowd.
You need to think like an entrepreneur. Look at your job as an opportunity for you to grow and to add value to your company. You need a positive can do attitude, show leadership, intelligence and vision. Be adaptable.
No employer likes a negative employee who always has problems. Negative employees just bring more problems and create a toxic culture. All companies are full of problems and challenges, don’t be alarmed by it. You need to have a positive attitude and be looking for solutions to these problems. Being someone who is proactive and solving problems is guaranteed to make you successful.
Leadership and vision
Leadership is always lacking in businesses and anyone who displays this increases their value. This does not mean that you have to be a manager. It means that in your job and field of experience you must take a leadership role by being supportive and showing the way. If you display intelligence and vision that adds value to a business you will find paths opening up for you.
Adaptability
Adaptability is a huge quality that is needed in todays businesses. This is where many people fall short because they have a fixed view of what they can or are willing to do. Being adaptable does not mean that you should be taken for granted or abused. It means that you are be flexible in how you can add value to a business and not be limited by your past experience. Doing different types of jobs and working outside your comfortzone is required in today’s dynamic employment environment.
Employment strategies for success
Good Education
A good education is normally the best starting point for a successful carreer. By good education I mean a university degree or other tertiary qualification that provides you with attractive market skills in a high paying sector. A good education is not a guarantee for success but it will give you a head start. Your attitude, ability and willingness to learn will make the biggest difference. Without and education it will be harder and take longer.
Choosing a career path is difficult and often what you start with is not what you end with. Once you have started working you can still refine or change your direction. As soon as possible you need to workout a career path and a plan for yourself. Know where you want to go, what is needed to get there and think about how you can achieve it.
Build a network
Networking in the early part of your career is critical. When you are younger you will be meeting lots of people and many of them will be similar to you just starting out. As you get older and into your working life these people just like you will progress up the ladder of success. They will be your contacts and links for future opportunities and growth in business. Build this up, it will be your most valuable asset in your employed life.
Keep on learning
Just because you have a qualification doesn’t mean you don’t have to study more. Remember adaptability? Well, you need to make yourself more marketable. Start looking for more study and self-improvement opportunities to compliment your skills. This can help you to move into an area that you have identified as part of your plan. Expand your knowledge and experience outside of your discipline, especially if the scope for growth inside your discipline is limited.
Get involved
Get involved in your place of work. Participate actively in meetings by contributing. Work well in teams by helping and working towards success. Put personal differences aside and steer clear of office politics. Focus on your work, remember you are a business inside a business, no time for distractions and gossip.
Ambition vs patience
Ambition vs patience is a delicate balance employed in a full time job. Without ambition you will not progress and will be at the mercy of the company you work for. Without patience you will land up irritating people and even worse failing because you have not gathered the necessary skills or experience.
Ambition for the sake of ambition is not good. Ambition supported by a willingness to work, getting involved, growing and learning will definitely work. So work hard with focus but exercise some patience especially in the early years as you figure out what is what and who is who.
How to maximise your Salary
Achieving financial freedom employed in a full time job will obviously need you to maximise your salary. This is the part that some think is not possible as an employee unless you are the CEO or self employed. Well it is completely possible to increase salary for a high paying job.
Always try to understand your employers point of view. A business is there to make money, they are not there for your welfare or charity. They need to get as much value as possible at the lowest cost. When you ask for more money you are not helping their objective. The only way they can pay you more money is if you can add more value to them. You need to make more money for them.
As a full time employed person your salary is your single biggest opportunity to earn an income. You need to focus on and take full advantage of this opportunity. This does not mean that you should or can just rush in and demand a higher salary. Maiximising your salary comes after you show value to the business. Expecting higher pay before that would probably be unachievable and unreasonable.
Believe in yourself and sell yourself
You have to build up your self belief and then you need to be able to sell yourself. Do this initially with good qualifications and positive cooperative attitude. Further into your working life you need to be able to demonstrate your value. This you will do with tangible results and a solid track record that shows your achievements and value that you bring.
Be proud of your achievements and be confident in explaining how and why you add value. Never be too humble to promote this especially when you are looking for increased salary.
Within an organisation use your network and support from collegues and management. Your work should speak for itself but you must use all opportunities to make sure that you are recognised. You don’t have to do this in a boastful way, but don’t let it go unnoticed.
The worst disservice you can do to yourself is to be doing great work but you shy away from credit or exposing your success. Don’t let other people who are doing inferior work overshadow you just because they do a better selling job.
Always look for opportunities to broaden your scope or further your experience. If you don’t do this you will land up being boxed in and seen as having limited value. When you put your hand up to prove yourself you have an opportunity to change that fixed view that people may have of you.
Negotiate higher salary
The best opportunity that you have to negotiate a higher salary is when you start a new job. At this point you are in the strongest position to negotiate. This is especially true if you have good experience and demonstrated value.
Companies are desperate for good quality people. If you have made it through interviews and are at salary negotiation point then they clearly see value in you. You may be keen to get this job but don’t forget that they are just as keen to employ you.
At this point you have the most leverage that you will ever have and you need to use this opportunity. It is always easier for a company to motivate a higher salary for a new hire or new job than for a normal increase or promotion. This does not mean that you can be unreasonable but it does mean that you should go for the maximum that is possible.
A big part of negotiation is knowing and understanding what the other party needs. The more you can understand what they want the more you can package and position yourself to fit their requirements. You want to give them what they want on your terms.
So find out what skills are the most important to them, how urgently do they need you and what is it about you that they value. Find out what is the going salary for this type of position, what do others at this level earn. Try to understand what their limit is. If necessary and if possible get creative about additional bonuses. Suggest an agreed salary review after a few months of proving yourself or extra benefits etc.
Keep your options open
If you have more than one option then it will also give you more negotiating power. The reason is that you have more than one view and you can compare offers. This makes it easier to know if what you are considering is good or bad.
If you only have one offer then you don’t always know if it is that good or bad. It is also useful because you can use one to play the other. So even if you have a clear favourite you can use the less favourite one to maximise your favourite one.
If you are already employed then another offer is one of the best ways to negotiate a higher salary with your existing employer. This gives you an opportunity to have a salary discussion. In addition will you get a better idea of what you can earn. But be aware if you do this then you need to be prepared to leave if you don’t get what you want. If you don’t you may lose your negotiating power to increase salary and a high paying job.
Take on more responsibility
If you are trying to increase your salary in an existing job look at taking on more responsibility. By doing this you could add more value to your company or solve some problems that they have. You can either do this proactively or accept it if it comes your way. When you are discussing an increase put this forward as an option.
It is up to you to increase salary for a high paying job.
Ultimately it comes back to you thinking about yourself as a consultant or a business, not as an employee. With this attitude, you will see yourself wanting to be employed and work for it. With the positive attitude you will do everything possible to be successful and make an impact on the business. You are not a passanger but an active member and contributor in a team. If you don’t feel valued or positive then you need to leave and go somewhere else.
The otherside of the coin is that you need to be rewarded properly and you need to fight for that. Don’t expect the company to run after you and offer you more money.
Learn to play the game, give them what they want in time and skills but then demand what you want in remuneration. This is a business remember. You cannot work for free if you are chasing financial freedom. Increase your salary for a high paying job to fast track your financial independence.
How is your career going are you maxing out your opportunities or just cruzing along? Let me know in the comments.