Give Yourself a Raise
Many people don’t realize they don’t have to wait on their boss to get a pay raise. You can give yourself a raise by following three steps. Brought to you by FinancialFreedomTool.com.
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We discussed pay raises on The BIGG Success Show today. You can do things which may increase your ability to get a pay raise, but you can’t control whether or not your boss gives you one. But you don’t have to rely on him or her. You can give yourself a raise. Here’s a summary of that discussion.
This show was inspired by an article on Thrive Global by Angela Hall. She says you can set yourself free by expecting less.
As humans, we judge our conditions by our expectations. If your conditions don’t live up to your expectations, one option is to lower your expectations.
Another way of thinking about this margin. Margin simply means “a space between”. Give yourself more margin to feel a greater sense of freedom. For example, picture a growing space between your income and your income expenses. Can you feel the stress release as the gap widens?
But the problem is, your boss may not have the ability and / or the inclination to increase your pay. Why not give yourself a raise?
Get a pay raise or give yourself a raise
Let’s say you get an X% pay raise. Further, let’s make two simplifying assumptions:
1) You pay no additional taxes on this money. (Yeah, we know – good luck with that! But it helps keep the example simple so we’ll run with it.)
2) You keep a lid on expenses (i.e. you don’t spend any more than you were before).
What does all this mean? You save the whole X%.
NOW, let’s say that doesn’t happen – you don’t get a raise. So, give yourself a X% raise.
How you ask? Great question! By reducing your expenses by X%. To do that, just take three steps
Step #1) Remind yourself it’s “for now”
This is what really inspired the discussion we’re having today. In the article referenced earlier, Angela says these two words – “for now” – really help you be able to be happy now.
It doesn’t have to be forever. Maybe it’s only necessary until you get your next pay raise. But it is fine…for now. Here are some more examples:
“I’m going to cut my costs…for now.”
“It’s good enough…for now.”
“It’s all I need…for now.”
“I can get by…for now.”
For us, spiritually, we look at it this way: If we can’t thank God for what we have, how can we expect Him to give us more?
Step #2) Ask: What costs are easy to eliminate?
If you’re like us, you have gotten tired of a cable provider’s prices. So we switch providers. They have a much more affordable pricing package. But in a few years, we’re paying way more than when we first signed up.
We just went through a review of our expenses. We don’t live extravagantly. But we still found a fair amount of money we were wasting.
The fact is: Costs drift up. (They don’t ever seem to drift down, do they?)
So you probably already have a sense – or can quickly get one – about costs you can eliminate.
Step #3) Ask: What’s the norm?
What are people like you spending? By “like you”, we mean people who make about what you make.
This is called benchmarking. How do you compare to this benchmark?
How do you find this kind of information?
Here’s what you don’t want to do: Compare vacations, cars, houses, and other symbols of the perfect life pictured in your social media streams?
You’re only getting part of the story. You know what they bought. You don’t know how they paid for it.
You need to compare real data. And we admit: It’s nearly impossible to find reliable information which shows you how your spending compares to people in your income category.
That’s why we developed the Financial Freedom Tool. It arms you with the information you need to make the most of the money you already make. You’ll be able to quickly pinpoint opportunities to you can give yourself a raise. Learn more
Here’s to your BIGG success!
George “The Professor” & Mary-Lynn
Co-Founders, BIGG Success
Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00982-071119.mp3
