Do you want to increase your income in 2023? While many people are being laid off and let go, YOU can take advantage of this economy and set yourself on a path to financial wealth.
Whether you’re running your own business or you’re part of another’s business, YOU can take control over your income.
Taking control over your income and cashflow in life is one of the most important things you can do.
While earning a high income is not necessarily required to become wealthy, it can absolutely speed up your journey.
I talk a lot about delayed gratification and “working to learn instead of working to earn.”
At some point there’s a reality that sets in though. You can’t delay your financial needs forever.
In this letter, we’ll discuss the steps you can take to win in this economy and earn that higher income for yourself.
Step 1: Get Real About Your Opportunity
Are you in a company where you actually have an opportunity to increase your income?
While every industry has opportunity in it, the same can’t necessarily be said for every company.
If something isn’t growing, then it’s dying. And if your company has a complacency mindset in it then your opportunity there is likely very limited.
You ideally want to get promoted into roles where the current owner of that role is replacing themselves and moving up and/or out, not down and/or out.
Working to learn is great for a while. But in most industries when you’ve been in a role for 2-3 years, you should be looking to start shifting from learning to earning.
To be clear here, the learning never ends, although you eventually need to start getting compensated for your knowledge, skills and results you’ve earned in your “learning years.”
Step 2: Consider Who Your Replacement Will Be
The same rule applies here whether you’re an entrepreneur growing your own business, or if you’re working in someone else’s business.
If you can’t be replaced, then you can’t be promoted.
The best companies I’ve witnessed have the fewest “employee mindsets” in them.
Sure, the world may refer to you as an employee or a sub-contractor due to your agreement with your employer. But now more than ever, you need to be thinking like an intrapreneur/entrepreneur.
The difference between and entrepreneur and an intrapreneur is…
An entrepreneur founds their own company.
An intrapreneur works at a company that someone else founded.
The opportunities available are not that different for either person.
Intrapreneurs can earn all sorts of freedom and money inside a company that someone else founded. They can even earn into owning part or all of the company.
Most people by the way are far better suited to be intrapreneurs.
Entrepreneurs are usually crazy and borderline delusional. My wife tells me I’m delusional all the time and she’s not often wrong 😉
Regardless if you’re an entrepreneur or intrapreneur, the path to being promoted and earning more money is to replace yourself.
You could earn marginal increases in salaries and benefits based on the growth of the company as a whole. But the only way to give the company no choice but to up your compensation is to deliver results and then replace yourself.
The best time to ask for a promotion is when you have found your replacement, trained them, lead them and motivated them to take over your current role.
People with more of a traditional “employee mindset” think that tenure-ship and results alone should earn them a promotion. They may do that, but all it does is put the organization in a tough spot now to fill your past role.
Usually this means you’ll end up stuck with part of your old role still and have to work longer or harder. More money should not have to come with longer, harder work.
Great intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs think differently. They think about replacing themselves constantly. And they are compensated highly for doing so.
Step 3: Evaluate Your Current Role
Before you can start the process of replacing yourself, you need to evaluate your current role. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What are my primary responsibilities
- What skills and knowledge do I need to perform my job?
- What tasks could be automated or delegated to others?
- What tasks do I enjoy doing and what tasks do I dislike?
By answering these questions, you can identify which tasks you can delegate to others and which tasks you should keep doing. This will also help you create a job description for the person who will replace you.
Step 4: Train, Lead, Motivate Your Replacement
Once you have identified the tasks that can be delegated to others, you need to train your replacement.
Start by documenting your processes and procedures, so that your replacement can easily understand how to do your job.
Provide them with any training materials, software, or tools that they will need to be successful.
Next, give your replacement the opportunity to shadow you and observe your daily tasks. This will help them understand the job responsibilities and get a feel for what it takes to be successful in your role.
Additionally, you should provide ongoing feedback and coaching to ensure that your replacement is performing at the level that you expect.
Serve them, don’t ask them to serve you.
When you serve them they will become motivated to help you, rather than demotivated by feeling like they’re the help.
Step 5: Automate Tasks
In addition to delegating tasks, you can also automate certain tasks to save time and increase efficiency.
For example, if you spend a lot of time answering emails, you can set up automated email responses or use a virtual assistant to manage your inbox.
Similarly, if you spend a lot of time scheduling meetings, you can use scheduling software to automate the process. This will free up your time to focus on more important tasks and allow you to be more productive.
Step 6: Build Your Personal Brand
As you begin to replace yourself in your current role, it’s important to start building your personal brand.
This could include creating a professional website, establishing a social media presence, or creating valuable content that showcases your skills and expertise.
LinkedIn is still drastically underutilized for this. If you’re serious about your career, then you have to show some sort of interest in LinkedIn. Without it, you’re telling the world that your business contacts are not that important to you. Therefore, your business career must not be that important to you.
By growing your personal brand, you can increase your visibility and credibility, which can lead to more opportunities for advancement and higher income potential.
Step 7: Look for Opportunities to Add Value
As you start to delegate tasks and automate processes, you should also look for opportunities to add value to your organization.
This could include taking on new projects, identifying areas where the company can improve, or developing new skills that can benefit the organization.
By adding value, you can position yourself as a valuable asset to the company and increase your income potential.
Step 8: Negotiate Your Salary/Benefits
Finally, once you have successfully replaced yourself in your current role and added value to the company, it’s time to renegotiate your salary/benefits.
Schedule a meeting with your supervisor to discuss your performance and the value that you have added to the company. Use your results to support your salary negotiation and be prepared to make a strong case for why you deserve a higher salary.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, an intrapreneur, or you still think of yourself as an employee, replacing yourself in your current role is the best strategy for increasing your income and advancing your career.
If you do this multiple times over then you’ll eventually earn your way into the executive club.
The executive club is not for everybody, and it’s certainly not easy. But if a higher income is your goal, then that is where the money’s at.
Until next Month! ✌🏻
– Sandy Mackay
P.S. The best way to give me feedback is on LinkedIn. Want me to write about something specific? Have suggestions? Send a message to me and use the hashtag #ThrivingMillionaires so I can find it.