What’s so wrong with hard work anyway? When did it become unnecessary to make enough money—no matter how hard you had to work—to keep the home fires burning? When we got our grubby little hands on credit and decided we could spend money we hadn’t yet earned instead of simply earning the money we needed now, that’s when.
There are lots of people who work hard and still have it tough: people who are dealing with unemployment or a significant change in the economy; people who have struggled through a divorce or widowhood and are finding it difficult to make ends meet; people who have become disabled or are living on a limited fixed income. I’m not talking about those people.
I’m talking to all the lazy doofuses out there who think that just because they put in their 7.5 hours today, they’ve done as much as should be expected. Really? You don’t have enough money to make sure your kids are safe, but you worked hard enough today? Sorry, I’m not buying it.
I live in a rural area where there’s no such thing as 9 to 5. Most of the people who live around me—regular working Joes and Janes—routinely put in a 12-hour day. That leaves six for family and six for sleep. Why do they do it? Because farmers don’t get to clock out. Because even those who have viable farming operations have at least one member of the family with a full-time job on top of the farming to make it all hang together. Because independence and self-sufficiency are still valued, and people do whatever they must to make the money they need to have the lives they want.
The same is true for people who rise to the top of the executive ladder or are successfully self-employed. Successful executives and entrepreneurs don’t get to work a half-week; their workweek is often 70 hours. If they’re going to make their businesses fly, they’ve got to bust their asses. Not everyone is cut out for the 70-hour workweek, but that means not everyone gets to play with the same toys.
There are ways to find balance. Everyone has to find their own path. Everyone has to do what works for them. But if you aren’t working hard enough to keep bread on the table without going into debt, you need to make more money. Get a second job. Get a third job. Get a better job. Find a way.
A very successful bank executive—the head of lending, as it happens—once told me that when she and her husband started out, they’d both do their day jobs and then they’d go clean bathrooms in a commercial building at night. Hey, man, whatever it takes.
GET A JOB!
When budgets don’t balance, it’s for one of two reasons:
1.Your expenses are totally out of whack.
2.You don’t make enough money.
It’s simple (but not necessarily easy) to solve the first problem: you cut back. However, if no matter how much you cut back, there still isn’t enough money, you’re suffering from Not Enough Money. This is sometimes tougher to deal with, although it’s been my experience that it just takes a little more effort.
When I work with families and uncover the fact that they just don’t make enough money, I make it a challenge for them to find a way to bring in a specific amount of dollars, net of taxes, which can be sustained consistently. People buck and rail at the idea of having to work harder. They think I’m totally insane. How could they possibly make more money? How could they make that much more money? How will they work harder and have a life too? You know what? They do it. Screaming and ripping their hair out, they find a way. And sometimes they surprise me by making way more money than I asked for.
While people like to wax poetic about all the reasons they work, when it comes down to the short strokes, most people work for money. Unless you are independently wealthy and working for the joy of it—in which case, I can’t imagine why you’re reading this book—money is more than a small factor in the decision to work. And when you don’t have enough money to keep body and soul together, you can either work smarter or work harder.
Of course, people’s desire for more money and the stuff it can bring sometimes comes into conflict with their belief system, their values, or their attitudes toward work. Take Michelle as an example.
Michelle wants to run her own business. She’s determined to be the master of her fate. She’s creative, focused, and determined. But she’s not making enough right now to keep body and soul together, and yet she has no problem booking a vacation with her girlfriends or eating out a couple of nights a week. She’s borrowing money from her parents, taking cash advances on her credit cards, and digging herself a helluva hole.
When I told Michelle that I loved her determination and focus, she glowed. When I told her she was doomed to failure, the light dimmed, and she looked at me askance. When I told her to find a way to consistently make $1,200 a month more net, you could practically see the steam coming out of her ears.
She yelled at me that if she took some McJob, she wouldn’t have the time to pursue her dream, her business wouldn’t work, and she’d be stuck in that McJob forever. She called me a witch who wanted her to fail. I was the demon who, like all the other people who have been telling her that her way wasn’t working, didn’t believe in her. Michelle was practically purple with rage.
And yet, when you look at the black and white of it, Michelle didn’t have an option. Her parents had said, “No more!” Her cards were maxed out. And she didn’t have the money to make rent. So what did she think I would say?
Michelle is no different than the couple who can’t make rent but have a big truck payment, the guy who won’t spend money on fresh veggies for his kids but gambles online, or the woman who wants to buy a very fancy car but hasn’t got a nickel set aside for her kids’ future education.
One of my mantras is: You can have it all; you just can’t have it all at the same time. You have to choose what you want right now. Once you accomplish that goal, you get to choose another.
Another of my mantras: It’s your life. Make of it what you will. So you can bitch and complain about what’s not working for you or you can figure out what’s not working, fix it, and have a great life. It’s all about what you want.
Of course, nobody said it would be easy.
BUST YOUR BUTT
Whether you get a better job, a second job, or a third job, you’ve got to do whatever it takes. It’ll seem like a life of hell for a while, but you’ll get used to it. And it won’t be forever. Just until you find a way to lose the debt so you no longer have that drain on your cash flow. Or just until your partner is back to work. Or just until … whatever has put you behind the eight ball is gone. Of course, if you’ve been a chronic under-earner, then you’re going to have to do some thinking about what you want from your life so you can reposition yourself in a better place. Or you can just be miserable forever. You have choices. You choose.
Years ago when my family emigrated from Jamaica, the woman who helped to raise me wanted her own opportunity. So she went to the United States on a visitor’s visa and she stayed. With no education, no financial nest egg, no job, Daphne got busy creating a life.
Daphne worked a full-time day job in a factory and a full-time night job looking after an elderly woman who needed attendant care. Daphne learned to drive, bought herself a car, bought herself a house, paid for her legalization in the United States, brought her children to live with her, put her daughter through college. My lord, the woman had fortitude!
Our circumstances do not define us. We can achieve anything we put our minds to. We have the power to make life whatever we want. Some of us want more.
Daphne wanted more. And she busted her ass to make it so. She achieved a lot, moving from poor to not so poor to secure. She made a life. And you can too if you have the drive and the tenacity. So, what stuff are you made of?
SPEAK UP FOR YOURSELF
A quiet, hard-working employee who waits for salary increases is easy to overlook. If you haven’t had a raise in two years, this may be your problem. If you want to earn more money, you have to ask for a raise. If you assume your boss is eager to reward competence, you are going to be sorely disappointed. If you want something, you m
ake a case to get what you want. And if it’s more money you want, you’ll not only have to ask, you’ll have to put on quite the performance to get it.
Do you deserve a raise? While hard work and long hours are the fuel that drives raises, at least from most employees’ perspectives, if you’re the boss, these factors aren’t the be-all and end-all. Think about how willing you’ve been to accept new tasks and learn new things. Are you known as an employee who gets things done? Are you a self-starter and highly motivated? Have you increased your worth to the company by increasing your skills or knowledge? Show your boss the value you’ve added to the company’s bottom line. Track your achievements. Measure the before and after on projects you’ve completed.
Review your job description. It’s not unusual for people to take on new assignments without considering that their increased responsibilities might justify more money. If you’ve assumed new tasks, you may be performing at a more advanced level than your job description dictates, and you might have a ready-made case for an increase.
Track your accomplishments. Keep a folder with examples that demonstrate your worth to the company. Since you’re going to be talking about money, you’ll do well to put an actual dollar value on each of your achievements. If you found your company a lower cost supplier, landed new business with the proposal you prepared, or created a flexible work schedule that resulted in lower absenteeism, calculate your contribution in dollars and include it in your documentation. Highlight how you’ve made your boss shine.
Find out how much others make in comparable jobs. If your company follows a set pay scale, this can help you to see how much of a raise you can reasonably expect. Check with professional associations for surveys of members’ salaries. Look at recruitment ads to monitor pay ranges. Find out the salary ranges of co-workers, colleagues, and friends in similar positions, and create a chart to show where you currently sit in the pay range. If your manager has a salary band outside of which he or she cannot negotiate, you may have to change the department you’re working in or change employers to get what you’re worth.
Decide on a realistic amount. Don’t go marching in asking for the moon because you’re sick of being unappreciated. Remember, you’re trying to make a business case for your raise, so your request must have some boundaries. The upper limit should be aggressive, while the lower limit should be your breaking point, below which you would consider finding a new job. If you’re working in a hot job market where demand outstrips supply, you may be in a position to ask for a bigger raise, secure in the knowledge that other companies out there are ready to snap you up. If times are tough, you may have to wait until things improve economically.
Timing is important. Choose a time when your boss is relaxed, and try to strike when profits are up or just after you’ve finished a major project that made the department look good. It won’t be of much benefit to demand a raise if the company’s revenues are in the tank and your boss is in cost-cutting mode. And just because your employer reviews salaries annually at a specific time doesn’t mean you can’t toot your own horn when you’ve just completed a stellar job. Ask, don’t pester.
Have a good fallback position. If you asked and your boss said, “No,” you’ll have to figure out whether it is truly a case of no money available. If it is, suggest other forms of compensation such as extra vacation or free parking that will keep you happy until more money becomes available. Or suggest a tiered implementation of your increase—2% now, 4% in six months. You could also counter with, “Can we meet in three months to talk about this again?” Get an agreement and follow up with, “What can I do to maximize my chances then?” If your boss says, “I can’t think of anything,” suggest something. If that doesn’t work, dust off your resumé.
Throughout your discussion, focus on your creativity and commitment, and describe how those qualities have added value to the company. Be confident and convincing in your request. And don’t forget to listen for the objections your boss may have to increasing your salary so you can work on them right then and there. Ultimately, if you’re not happy with the reasons given for why your request for an increase was denied, it may be that you’ll have to move companies to get the financial recognition you’re seeking.
HAVE A CAREER PATH
If you don’t know what you want from your career, it’ll be pretty tough to make things happen. Sit down and think about what it is you want. Talk to your manager about your career aspirations. Get him to agree to help with your career growth. Set some goals. Companies love employees who have a plan for how they will increase their contribution to the bottom line. If you don’t have a manager who knows how, or wants to help, find yourself a mentor.
Successful people often have a mentor who sees their potential and offers to guide them through the political and corporate quagmire so they can move from one level to the next within an organization. You’re looking for a Yoda to your Luke Skywalker.
Your employer, your university or college, or an organization with which you or your family is associated may have a formal mentoring program in place that you can take advantage of. Or you may be able to identify someone you admire and respect at work, or through your personal connections, who could help you grow.
You’re looking for someone to help you assess your strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately you want to develop skills for success as well as create a long-range career plan. You need someone with whom you can work through career and workplace problems, someone who can provide a fresh perspective, someone who helps you make decisions more by suggesting alternatives rather than telling you what to do.
SHOP YOURSELF AROUND
If you take a job with an employer, and stay with that employer forever, you may not maximize your income potential simply because you’re taken for granted. If you’re in a rut, it may be time to look around. Most people earn more money when they change jobs. The key is to present yourself to a new employer in a way that will not only get you the job, but get you more money. From your cover letter to your resumé, from your interview to your follow-up, you need to send a strong positive message. You’re the product. But you’re also the marketing department and the salesperson. If you’re no good at either of those roles, get help.
And for heaven’s sake, don’t quit your job before you get another one. I don’t care how ticked off you are. People like to hire people who are already working. So if you’re in a job you hate, make a plan for getting out, but don’t just up and quit.
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX
You don’t have to be a lawyer or a doctor or a teacher. There are as many different jobs as there are kinds of people. Good mechanics are hard to find. So are good plumbers, electricians, and painters. Being good at what you do is far more important than what you do.
I’m a good writer. There are hundreds of people who purport to be writers, and there are dozens of editors who know differently. When I write a story for a magazine, there are very few changes needed. I figure out what my editors want and then I give it to them. So easy. Other people spend loads more time writing only to have the story returned with gobs of edits and hours of work attached. Doing something and doing something well are completely different things. If you’re really good at what you do, after paying your dues you can pretty well rule the world.
Don’t get caught up in what other people think you should do for a living. You have to decide what will make you happy. Since you’re going to spend between 8 and 12 hours a day doing it, you should like it at least a little.
When I was married to Husband #2, I got to see how a career choice can truly screw up a person. He was a dentist. His mother wanted him to have a profession so he would be his own boss. He followed her dreams and went into dentistry. And he was a damn fine dentist. But he was miserable. Did you know that dentists have one of the highest suicide rates going? Me neither. But I saw the stress first-hand.
Every Sunday night, while he slept he would scratch at his face. We tried putting socks over his hands, t
rimming his nails as short as possible, all sorts of stuff. He kept scratching. Ultimately the pressure got to him and he developed through-the-roof high blood pressure.
I can’t believe the money was worth it.
BEYOND “THE JOB”
Some people have jobs that have no future. If you work retail and know you’ll never be a store manager, buyer, or corporate executive, you may feel there’s nowhere to go. If you’re a server who barely puts together enough money every month to keep a roof over your head, you may believe you have no options. That’s sad. If you have no options, you’re doomed to the life you’re currently living. If you can’t find a way to increase your skills, maybe you can turn something you love to do into more money.
Exceptional people turn ordinary situations into phenomenal opportunities. Mrs. Fields baked her way to becoming a cookie maven. Mrs. B—who has a candy store in my small town—found a way to make money making candy. It’s a matter of seeing an opportunity and then busting your butt to turn that opportunity into a money-making proposition.
People who are passionate about personal fitness become fitness instructors or personal trainers. People who are passionate about gardening learn to landscape. People who are passionate about design, cooking, photography, sewing, animals can all find a way to turn what they love into an employment opportunity or business.
Think about it for a minute. Could you offer a service related to your expertise? If you like to write, you could help people with business plans, brochures, or by ghostwriting articles. Or you could start a blog and build your traffic until you were generating enough views that advertisers would want to be on your site. Could you use your programming skills to create a software program or a game? Could you build a website with collections of e-photos? Are you a craftsperson? Could you build furniture, fix small engines, or do household repairs? Could you become a personal shopper? A driver? A companion for shut-ins? How about baby-proofing homes for new parents, teaching music, custom-making greeting cards? The options are endless. The only limits: your imagination, your willingness to work hard, and guts.
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