Money has motivated me for the best part of my life.
In fact, I have spent the last 15 years getting multiple degrees in economics. And then, working in the financial services sector for over a decade.
And here's one thing that I have learned about money that impacts your financial situation disproportionately: EARNING MORE MONEY
In fact, you don't need me to tell you that, the more you earn, the more you can save and invest and also spend.
Just think about it.
If you are on a 50 k salary and saved 50% of it, (just to keep the numbers simple), you would be spending 25 K and saving and investing 25 K. As opposed to if you are earning a 100 K and saved exactly 50% like before you would be spending 50 K and saving 50 k.
Of course, this is being really simplistic without considering taxes, without considering lifestyle inflation, or for that matter, the lack of lifestyle inflation.
But looking at it in such simplistic terms makes it absolutely clear that the higher you earn, the better lifestyle you will have, and also the more financial abundance you'll find later on in your life through savings and investing.
So, if there's one thing that I could focus on, and in fact, the one thing that I focused on till about two, three years back was: HOW DO I EARN MORE MONEY?
In that process, I have discovered the differences between the average earner and the high earners, meaning the five figure earners versus the six figure earners.
And, in this post, we are discussing the differences between average and high income earners and what you can do to increase your income.
For the purposes of this video, I'm going to consider people who have at least five years of work experience, because without that, actually commanding a higher income in the market is quite difficult.
However, I have had students in The Abundance Psyche, who have actually had two to three years of work experience and still been able to command a six figure salary.
The first difference between average and high income earners is that average income earners often feel like they are stuck in a job.
They can't really go find another job. They have tried it, but they have failed miserably. They can't really navigate the politics of that situation, and therefore they end up feeling overwhelmed, burned out, overworked and exhausted.
However, six figure earners are respected experts in their industry who know that they can go out in the market and they'll find a job waiting for them, probably multiple jobs waiting for them. That's the confidence that they come across with.
The second difference is that the average employee is extremely hardworking. However, that work doesn't really get compensated through pay or through appreciation.
They work through the day. Sometimes they work weekends. But, their work is not appreciated neither in terms of monetary benefits, nor in terms of verbal or written appreciation.
So, when I asked in a survey how these people were feeling, they repeatedly told me that they were
underappreciated,
underpaid,
overworked,
under-resourced, and frankly
exhausted.
All of these feelings are bottled up inside an average earner, even after working really hard, putting in an enormous amount of extra hours.
However, when it comes to the six figure earners or high income earners, they focus their time on the high value activities. They focus on how they can improve the value of their work in the hours that they put in.
So, if the average employee is outputting $20/hour worth of work, the high income earner is outputting over a 100, 200, maybe $1000/hour.
The next difference between the average and the high income earner is that the average income earner, are sending out hundreds and hundreds of applications.
When the average earners are looking for jobs, they are applying on job boards, on LinkedIn, on different careers websites, and they are sending out hundreds and hundreds of applications, without hearing back from the recruiters at all. And, they are not sure what they're doing wrong. They're even tweaking their CVS to the specific job description.
What more could you be doing?
All the gurus have told you that you need to tweak your CV to a particular job. All of them have given you five tips on how to interview better. And if you are an average earner, you probably also have done a tremendous amount of research on YouTube to interview better, and yet you hear crickets when you apply to a job. You probably even have tried cold messaging and networking.
When we come to six figure earners, the story completely different.
They are networking with the right people. They are sending out their resume through the back door. They are not wasting their times in lengthy assessment center processes unless they know that they are going to get that job. Because assessment centers, let's be honest, are extremely long and laborious.
I am completely in favor of them because I believe that assessment centers help the companies find the right candidates. However, from a candidate's perspective, sitting through 50 assessment centers is just not gonna work because you will be overwhelmed. Finding a job will end up being your full-time job. And more. So, you cannot be sitting through every assessment center on the planet.
Six figure earners are not sitting through every assessment center. They are picking up the right ones and being extremely strategic.
Which brings me to the next difference that the average employee will settle for any job they get out of that application process.
However, six figure earners are playing a completely different game. They know that they are in demand in the market, so they'll not settle for any job that do not align with their values.
In fact, this happened to me.
One of the companies that I was interviewing with almost a year back now, when I was in the process of changing jobs myself, asked me, very personal and discriminatory questions. They sent me through to the next round of interviews. However, the very fact that they had asked me discriminatory questions meant that their values did not align with mine. And after having a really hard think about my values against the company's values and how the values were communicated to me, I decided to not go on with the application process because I knew that I would have competing offers in the market.
That is the confidence that a six figure earner will have because they know that they can command the higher salaries in the market without having to compromise on their values.
Which brings me to the next point, which is, the average employee will rarely negotiate because they don't even know what they're negotiating for.
They don't know their value in the market, and therefore, whatever salary comes up, they say yes to it.
Not the high income earn because they know their value in the market. They will fight tooth and nail. They will get a bidding war started on the companies that want to hire them. In fact, most of my students end up setting bidding wars of 5, 6, 7 Dream employers.
I'll tell you about, one of my favorite students. She went from was getting rejected over and over and over again looking for a job change for over five years. After working together with me, she had seven dream jobs lined up and she was literally asking me, how do I say no to my dream jobs?
That was such a powerful place for her to be in. That the conversation had completely shifted from how do I get a dream job or any job, all the way through to, how do I say no to my dream employer because I still want to work for them. I still respect them. Because they are not ready to pay me what the market values me at.
And that's a fundamentally different place to be in, in your career, in your mind, in your confidence. It's in fact a completely different personality type.
Here's what one of my survey respondents told me, what they feared the most about the job search-
the waiting,
the uncertainty, and
the depleting savings.
But here's the truth.
Ultimately earning a high salary depends on you knowing a few critical pieces of the puzzle. You being able to piece that together and you being able to stand in your confidence, in your truth while asking for a raise, getting a higher paying job, looking for a higher paying job.
And if that feels like you, I'll be hosting a free job search webinar. Come and join me on the 1st of September.
In this webinar,
I'll go over the critical mistakes that average candidates make while going through the job search process.
I'll also talk about the three critical pieces of the puzzle that will help you earn a higher salary.
And we'll talk about how we can make you the go-to expert in your industry.
If you want to learn any of that, come join my free webinar. I'll leave a link below. And, if you have noticed any other differences between average and high income earners, leave me a comment below.
