Springraise Video Series - 35% raise!

Here's a sneak peek at how I negotiated my salary to get a 35% raise while switching jobs!




Want to see more? Just go to the Springraise Video Series and sign up to see all 9 videos.

Join a Startup? When To Keep Your Day Job

Many people ask me when should they leave their corporate jobs. I respond, "if you have to ask, then you need to stay." Becoming an entrepreneur is incredibly rewarding, but you have to be ready. The pressure is immense, and the accountability stares you right in the face everyday.

There are two levels of readiness:

1. Commitment

2. Experience

Commitment

Commitment is the utter will of wanting to be an entrepreneur, having a passion-driven mission that no one, not even your mother, can talk you out of. You know what you want. You know it will work. You know it HAS to be done. Bill Gates had that commitment. How many people do you know who would drop out of Harvard? That kind of motivation can overcome any lack in #2.

Experience

Experience counts for quite a bit. It builds confidence, a track record of success that you can always lean on in lean times. Knowing that you've been stretched beyond your limits and still succeeded makes the approach to entrepreneurship real. It's not the kind of experience of telling others what to do without getting your hands dirty. It's the kind of experience that comes with having to be accountable for results when you have no help. When the task is so daunting that you have absolutely no idea how you'll complete it at the outset. But you come through. You know you can. You've done it before. That's experience.

So when should you stay at your corporate job? When you don't have the above two items. Some people believe in getting a job in an entrepreneurial organization to get exposure. If that's your transition step, then fine, but it's not necessary. You can get the experience you need at your corporate job.

When you have both experience and commitment, jump ship. Don't wait. Don't over think it. You'll save yourself the aggravation of regret later in life. Ask yourself this question: what's the bigger risk, depending on yourself, or some dim-witted supervisor whose whim drives your day? Know when--then take that leap of faith. You'll find, win or lose, it's worth it.

Negotiate a Higher Salary: 3 Ways to Make More Money

Let's face it. We all want to get paid the highest amount possible for doing our jobs. The jobs we do help our companies make a lot of money and without employees many of the great products wouldn't come to market. How many of you feel like you're adequately paid for the value you provide to your company? I didn't think so. How then can you earn more money for doing what you're doing?

1. Get in a hot industry - easier said than done right? Well you know what the hot industries are , and if you don't there are websites than can tell you. How do you get into that industry? We all have transferable skills. Map out your experience in what I call an "experience matrix". Want a surefire way to know if you're in a slow industry? Figure out if your raise was lower than the national rate of inflation. If you're an above average employee and your raise was that low, then you're in a slow industry.

2. Work smarter AND harder -when you work smarter at your job you become highly productive at doing what you have to do....but this frees up time...for pet projects that are risk free and may actually bring value. Doing things differently is what makes you stand out above your peers and bring more value to the company. Most companies actually do reward creativity and dedication.

3. Know your market value - keeping an eye on what your peers make can let you know if you're underpaid for your job. The best way to do this is to ask your peers (or use springraise.com, of course!). True, most managers don't like their employees comparing salary notes, but that's self serving. It's a manager's job to keep payroll as low as possible. It's your job to get paid as much as possible, and knowing how much people make around you can help you. At my first job out of college after I'd been there a year, I learned that newly hired undergrads were getting paid more than I was-and that's with the promotion I had just received! I used that knowledge to go to my manager to request more money. And I got it-a 16% raise.

These methods not only work separately, but also in combination. Think about if you're in a hot industry, you're outperforming your peers, and you know you could get paid more, then all of those things can work for you to get extraordinary salary increases. I was a management consultant in the mid 90s heyday and had worked smarter and harder than my peers. I also knew that I joined my company making slightly less than the average person at my level. Therefore, I got an 18% raise since I was seen as a top performer. Those kinds of raises only occur in hot industries where profits are strong and companies have to reward top talent in order to keep them happy and not look to jump ship.

To get those high raises, follow these techniques, and combine them when possible. You'll find your compensation will explode and you'll attain all of your career goals.

IndieStartups Blog Features Springraise

On May 15, IndieStartups featured Springraise in its blog prior to its launch on May 21. We appreciate their finding us as an interesting self-funded startup as is their focus.

IndieStartups is a blog that covers ambitious self-funded or smaller scale startups. We're not all about venture funding and million dollar investments. We're about how others have done it and how to do it yourself.

The author notes that he "can't wait to see [springraise] in action." Well you can see it now! Check us out at Springraise.com!

Springraise Video Series on YouTube!

Hey everyone,

Due to great demand to see the Springraise Video Series, we have launched our channel on YouTube!

All eight videos, plus the summary and comprehensive demo are loaded up on the Springraise Channel. That's right, nine short videos full of content on how you can increase your salary at your job or while switching jobs.

These techniques aren't theoretical. They're actual cases that illustrate directly how you can "springraise" your career.

Once you see these videos, you'll know why membership on Springraise.com has exploded in the first weeks since launch. We have to keep telling people we're in beta and getting some kinks out, but people have been impressed and happy thus far!