How to Maximize Your Income

Unfortunately, personal finance is not a subject taught at school. It means that it’s absolutely normal to struggle with money issues as an adult. When it comes to your career development, not being able to properly manage your personal finance can actually be the ultimate block that is preventing you from progressing in your career. 

If you are climbing the corporate ladder right now, it’s very likely that your income is coming from your salary. If you’re more advanced, it means that you may have also some investments, probably thinking forward about your retirement or emergency funds.

But let’s assume that your one and only source of income is your corporate salary. And how to maximize your income?

I will introduce you to another financial concept before addressing this question. You must understand the meaning of earnings. Earnings are the result of income minus expenditure. This is not rocket science, this is a very basic Mathematic calculation. Things can get a little complicated when you’re willing to learn more about debts, interest, return on investment, and other financial concepts that you’ll need to understand throughout life.

Now apply some logic to this very simple equation:

Earnings = Income - Expenditure

There are only 2 factors there: income and expenditure. Maximizing your income, if your only source is your salary means that you must earn more. I’m not trying to challenge your intelligence, but I’ve lost count of how many people I met that never realized the importance of setting salary goals throughout their careers.

Earning a higher salary is possible, especially if you’re not terrified of losing your job. I say that because those who can’t figure out the big picture, tend to focus on paying bills rather than multiplying wealth. If you are able to focus on prosperity and eventually keeping your mind open to changing jobs that meet your financial expectations, go for my suggested actions.

5 Strategies to Maximize Your Salary:

1 Negotiate your salary. Ask for a pay raise. It seems so obvious, but still, only a few people ask for a raise based on the value they add to their employers, not by their personal needs. Understand from your employer what their strategy is. Work towards the same flow, deliver work that can be measured, and add value to them. The worst strategy for asking for a pay raise is starting by saying you need more money to pay debts, your mortgage, or any other personal commitment.

2. Set up clear salary targets for the next 5 years. Draw your salary ladder based on the amount you earn now and where you want to be in 5 years. Add some intermediate steps there. Add also the roles and functions you’re designing for yourself, regardless of the company you work for. Having a clear picture of your target will make it easier for you when to change jobs or go for a promotion.

3. Be really great in your field. Learn to implement processes and delegate more. You can delegate work to a person, yet this is the most expensive way to do it from the corporate perspective, or you can set up processes and distribute tasks across teams and automated tools. Those actions will make your productivity rise and free your time from operational duties. Remember: work overload and overtime are the worst enemies of salary maximization. The idea that you are irreplaceable and should be doing it all must vanish from your mind right now. No one is.

4. Invest in yourself. Keep on learning is the best strategy for remaining employable. Learning new skills and knowing more about a topic of your interest is key to surviving. This is putting together a lifelong learning plan and blowing the idea that a college degree was enough to build a great career.

5. Use your professional network. If you realize your current job or role is totally out of your perspective for the future, activating your network is the best approach to landing a new job. Go for people that know you and are willing to help your development.

My Personal Story, From Where I Took Those Strategies: 

One of my biggest career dreams was to take an international MBA. I wanted to be an exchange student somewhere. I thought that experience would add value to my CV and also fulfill my personal wishes for adventure. One of the companies I worked for sponsored my studies and also my ideas to be away from work for at least 5 months to concentrate on my learning experience. I remember the day I walked into the office of our VP of Sales to ask him for these 5 months. I gave him 3 options: terminate my contract, offer me a paid-leave or an unpaid leave. He told me that contract termination was nowhere in his mind and he’d be more comfortable if I took unpaid leave. That was ok for me since I had all set when it comes to my personal finance. 

The next challenge I had to face was to whom I was delegating my work. I had been working alone for years and had no one to delegate. I asked my manager if I could “steal” the department intern and delegate her 100% of my tasks. He immediately agreed, since that didn’t mean increased costs to the company, and so I made that happen.

During the 5 months of my absence, the intern got a full-time employment contract. A combination of her amazing results and one headcount slot opened were timely perfect.

By having someone else doing my job, I was able to move to my desired function as a Controller after 2 months I came back from my international MBA experience. I got a pay raise, realized my career goals and the intern got her contract. A win-win based on clear goals, negotiation, big picture strategies, and contribution.

A new year is coming. It’s the perfect time to start doing something new that can benefit your career while maximizing your salary and earnings.

If you’ve been through something similar, let me know in the comments. It would be awesome to know more about your experience and thoughts!