Real Raise

Define Your Raise

Kathy:

Hi, and welcome back to RealRaise101. I’m Kathy Dailey, producer of Real Raise, here again with David Hubbard.

In today’s lesson, we’re going to help you define the raise you want. We’ll look at what you do and don’t like about your current and past positions, as well as what you think would be an ‘ideal’ job. We’ll also discover just why you want the raise you want.

So, let’s get started. David, what do we need to do to get a real raise?

David:

Well, one of the first things that needs to be done to get a real raise is determine what your raise is going to be.

In other words, how much money? What kind of benefits do you want? Which are the things you have to have and which are the ones that would be nice to have?

If we don’t do this, your boss could walk up to you tomorrow and tell you she is giving you a raise.

Is this good? It it good enough? Well, you won’t know because you haven’t figured out what you want. You don’t have any criteria.

Today we’re going to help you define exactly what you want. We’ll help you determine the “nice - to - have’s”, as well as your bottom line. As we go through the process of defining your raise, you will notice that we may be going about it a little differently than you may have heard in the past.

I hear a lot of raise getting advise that has you researching ‘What’s reasonable to expect’, looking at salary surveys, and finding out what company policies are, etc.

We’re not going to do that. That’s all about the raise other people want you to have. We want you to have the raise you want to have.

If you follow the real raise method you will get what you want. So please think in terms of the raise you want, not what others would suggest for you.

Kathy:

We’re going to create a standard that your employers will have to meet from here on out. I’m sure you have standards in your life perhaps for safety, nutrition and the like. Now you will have standards for jobs. If you’re unclear on exactly what you want, that’s completely normal. Most people don’t know what they want, and those who think they do know, can’t articulate it.

Today’s lesson will help clarify and pin down exactly what it is that you want. Now, since most people have a much easier time with what they don’t want, let’s start there.

But first, there are some handouts that we want you to print out. They’re available on our web site at

realraise.com/studyguides.

Print out the pdf file called Define Your Raise. Again, that’s realraise.com/studyguides, no spaces, and print out the Define Your Raise pdf.

If you’re in your car, or jogging, or otherwise away from your printer, follow us in your mind for now. Then when you get a chance, go back and print it out. It’s a very important part of your raise.

On the first sheet you’re making a list of what you don’t like and what you don’t want in terms of your job situations. Include what you didn’t like at various jobs in the past, as well as things you don’t like or don’t want at your current job.

Include everything - big things, little things, anything and everything that you don’t like or don’t want. A big thing could be that you are expected to work 60 hours a week. A small thing would be a simple annoyance. Maybe you’re not allowed to have food at your desk. Include anything in between. Write it all down, and don’t leave anything out.

Kathy:

In the next section of the handout, we’re taking these negatives and turning them into positives. For example, perhaps you don’t like the fixed hours, inflexible schedule that you have at your job. We can turn it into a positive by writing down its opposite: “flex time”. Or maybe you have a boss who’s always hanging over your shoulder - he likes to micromanage everything, but you know you’d do better work if he would just let you do your job.

Put down that you’d prefer a boss who trusts his employees. Or perhaps you don’t like that there are no advancement possibilities.

Write down “open advancement”. Now, on the 3rd page, we want you to list what you like about your present jobs.

Again, include everything, big, small, and in between. Maybe it’s as simple as liking your co-workers.

Write it down.

Maybe you like the fact that you’re the most experienced person there, or that there’s little or no pressure in your current position; maybe your manager trusts you, and is essentially absent.

Or maybe you have a very nice office.

Write all the things you like about your job on the handout. Use more paper if you like.

David:

Remember, it’s ok to be vague and incomplete.

Be hasty!

Write quickly and put down everything that comes to mind. Just get it down on paper!

Why are we doing this?

There are a number of very important reasons why we’re doing this.

• Because clear goals are achievable.
• If we don’t know where we’re going, how are we going to get there?
• Having our goals on paper allows us to review them and remind ourselves of why we’re doing what we’re doing.
• Clarifying our goals will allow us to make decisions, which in turn allow actions.
• Clarifying our goals also creates boundaries and helps us identify the minimum criteria that we’re willing to accept.
• Once our goals are clear and on paper, we can better communicate them to others.
• Written goals can be edited and improved. We can prioritize them.
• And just as importantly, we will recognize when we have achieved the goal.

Kathy:

That’s right, David, and when we write down our goal, it fixes that goal in our subconscious. Our minds try to continue to try to achieve that goal, even when we aren’t consciously working on it. Unless you write your goals down, goals remain hardly more than wishes. And we rarely get wishes. Well, now we have a list of what we want. Now it’s time to look at why we want these things. So, why should we ask why? Let’s look at some of the advantages of asking why.

David:

Ok, Kathy. Let’s say, you’ve decided you want to earn an extra $10,000 a year. Things go well, because you wrote down your $10,000 raise goal. You acted on the Real Raise ideas, followed the suggestions, and you got the $10,000 raise.

But what happens?

Perhaps there are some unexpected medical expenses, or maybe you come across a once in a lifetime chance to buy the house of your dreams.

Of course, your mortgage expenses go up, but everyone agrees it was truly a blessing that you took the Real Raise course and wrote down your goals and achieved them.

But somewhere in the back of your mind, something may not be right. You got that raise you wanted, but these unexpected events have taken it all away.

Negative thoughts like “this doesn’t work”, or, “money isn’t the answer”, and “I’m not getting anywhere” may creep in.

That’s bad! We don’t want that disappointment! In asking ourselves why, we can find out exactly what we really want. Perhaps an extra $10,000 a year would enable you to afford a really nice beach vacation every year for you and your wife. You’d like two weeks of nothing but sand, sun, umbrella drinks, and trashy novels on the beach.

So the goal is $10,000 more each year, but the why behind it is the beach vacation. You may have additional reasons why you’d like an extra $10K, but because you’ve made a list and determined the ‘whys’ behind it, you can communicate your intents, prioritize them, and avoid conflicts.

Let’s look at another scenario. Let’s say you write down the $10,000 figure and focus on that. Through the techniques and new skills you have acquired as a result of real raise, you get two job offers. One offer pays $12,000 more than you currently make, and meets your basic criteria. The other pays $9,000 more, but offers bonus vacation trips as performance incentives.

These trips might fulfill part of your need to get away and recharge.

If you haven’t taken the time to ask yourself why you wanted the raise, the obvious job choice would be the higher-paying one. But you might miss out on a non-financial solution to achieving your vacation goal if you haven’t discovered why you wanted the raise.

Kathy:

So in order to fix this, we need to get real familiar and clear with the ‘whys’.

Unfortunately, most people avoid this step.

One reason that we don’t want to list out all of our whys is that we have a fear (and rightly so) that if we added up all the whys, it might cost more than what we have available in the dollar amount we set as our goal. Or sometimes we may feel guilty about our why list. Is it greedy? Should I really want this just for myself?

So we say to ourselves, “I’ll get the $10,000 raise, and then I can afford my whole, huge vague list of wants, including new car, new house, retirement savings, kids education, nice vacation, sporting equipment, and donations to all my favorite charities.”

But what do you think will happen?

Well, I could get the raise, but only end up with one thing on my vague list. And that would be the raise.

David:

If the whys are written down, they can be prioritized - how important is each one? They can be clarified - what do I mean by that and how do I know when I have it? If you write them down, you won’t lose track of progress and you can edit and make changes for the better. Written down goals can be systematically changed or removed. You can also determine a schedule - When is this goal needed? You are also better able to communicate your goals to others. And a goal that’s been written down is a goal more likely to be achieved. Am I promising you’ll get what you write down? Well, I don’t know what kind of consistent action you’ll produce. But I do know that you will achieve more if you write it down than if you write nothing down.

Kathy:

So, on the next sheet, write down all the whys you can think of. They may even be future whys, like kids you don’t even have yet. You may consider the whys impossible, or you may believe that they’ll be easy to achieve. Just write them all down.

David:

Please keep an open mind! Remember that you will be achieving things over time. You don’t need all of the things that you may be asking for tomorrow. Raises accumulate like compound interest, so this year’s raise may be $10K over today’s salary, and two years from now you could be earning $20K more than you are today.

Kathy:

So now we’ve reached the last section of the handouts. On this sheet, we want you to determine your minimum goal. This will be your bottom line. If you haven’t followed along and filled out the preceding pages, that’s ok for now. But please be sure that whatever you do, you fill out your minimum raise on the last page. Otherwise, this course is next to worthless for you. David:Now we have your raise defined. It’s on paper. And we know ‘why’. Change it as needed, revise it up or down, but be sure that you think it’s better after the change. Don’t be influenced by us or anyone else or by what you think someone else wants to hear. This is your raise, your definition. Your raise is your new standard. Your present job may or may not be able to meet your standard. You may need a new job or a new title within your company, or you may need to seek something different altogether. That may be a different title, different work, contract work, entrepreneurial efforts, etc. Be open to bonuses, profit-sharing, stock options, and the like. Real raise 102 goes into more depth in getting clarity on our goals. We have a systematic process that assures that everything you want will be included. Notice that we haven’t asked you to consider whether what you want is practical, attainable, realistic, and whether it considers your background, education, geographic location, profession, or whatever it says on some salary survey. What you want is what you want. Our job is to help you get it. Today, we figured out what you want. Next, we will create a plan selecting among the infinite number of ways to get there. Then, we will follow that plan. Thank you for allowing us to be your guides today!