This post is excerpted from the book How to “How to increase your income by $10,000, $20,000, or even $30,000 per year” which goes through in exact detail how anyone can dramatically increase their income, no matter their personal situation. You can download it for free here, or on Amazon here.
Change jobs
Yep, it’s that simple. There are two examples when this is easy. The first is if you are making minimum wage. If you are making minimum wage right now you are getting ripped off by society. Don’t be mad at your boss, company or anyone else. Don’t be mad at all. Just make a change.
Here are some motivating factors for you. One, your company is only paying you minimum wage because of the law; they actually want to pay you LESS. How insulting is that? But it’s not their fault; you applied for the job, you took the job, you work at the job. The good news is that you have the ability to make a change right now and this book will explain how. The second motivating factor is that you should know that you are at the bottom of the economic ladder. 85% of Americans make more money than you.
This is fine if you are 16 to 25, going to school, just moved to this country, or only want to work part time and have a flexible schedule. It’s not fine if this is your permanent full time plan. Working for minimum wage is a bad career strategy. Capitalism is a big fat money machine and you are barely in it. Get in it.
All you have to do is try
What to do? Start applying for a new job while you are working. Here’s the secret: only apply for jobs that pay more. Remember that old saying? “You find what you are looking for.” If you only apply for jobs that pay more, you will only get a job that pays more. Why not do something similar to what you are doing for $5 more per hour? It will really add up. If you are making minimum wage right you are probably making $15,000 to $20,000 per year. Nobody can live on that.
A $10,000 raise will increase your income by 50% and all you have to do is start looking. If you need more hours, start looking for a job where everyone works full time and the boss is always asking who wants some overtime hours. That’s a growth industry! Somebody is doing something right in that company. Don’t try to convince your current boss to give you more hours; the company can’t for whatever reason. Move to a dynamic, growing company. You’ll be happy that you did.
Another way to easily increase your income
Another situation where you can easily increase your income by $10,000 with very little effort is when you are employed in a regular job that you more or less like, and you look for a similar job in your field. It’s kind of weird but there is a good chance you can find a similar job for more money. It’s unlikely that two companies pay exactly the same amount for exactly the same job. For whatever reason one company will pay more (or less). If there are seven companies that all have your job description you can be sure that they will all pay differently. That’s just how life is.
What do you have to lose? You are employed, you are looking for a job, you will only take a new job if it is for more money. There is no downside to this plan. Who knows? You might find a much better job. Or you might not. Go find out.
