over the years I've learned that no
matter how hard you work
working hard has little correlation to
how much you earn or more importantly
what others around you believe you're
worse
earning potentials related to one thing
and one thing only the value of what it
is you do let me give you a few business
examples what is the value of someone
who can scrub toilets what is the value
of someone who can neatly organize an
office what is the value of someone who
can get people to sign up for your
service what is the value of someone who
can provide assistance in the medical
emergency in society we place dollar
amounts on everyday tasks and then offer
payment one another based on who can
achieve the desired outcome related back
of course to supply and demand lots of
people can scrub toilets not many can
perform emergency surgery so what does
this mean for your own earning potential
how do you know if you're being paid too
little and more importantly how can you
increase your value to the point where
you are earning more than it's
considered normal for your
responsibilities here's how number 1 do
your research and learn what is most
valuable about your role every industry
has fairly established roles and every
role has its own list of
responsibilities if you want to earn
more for yourself do your homework and
learn what it is about your role in
particular that is valuable and then
look for all the different parties that
are willing to pay for that role and in
what context let me give you an example
i studied creative writing in college do
you know how many people told me
studying creative writing would
fast-track me to a minimum-wage job not
very many people make a decent living
writing
so I did my homework I asked myself who
needs a good writer
what would my value potentially be to
them
turns out CEOs with powerful messages
often struggle to tackle a blank page
I've built a company off my ability to
write and tell personal stories but that
wouldn't have happened had I not done my
homework to give up short-term raises
for long term jackpots for four years I
didn't make a cent off my writing I did
everything for free if someone
well-known needed a writer I jumped at
the opportunity
if a startup needed a copywriter I took
on the challenge I wrote every day on
Quora
for free I wrote guest blogs for free
and then once I had proven myself and my
abilities once I had 50,000 followers
once I had thousands of people on my
email list once I had republished in
every major publication on the Internet
it all happened on its own this is the
biggest piece of advice I have for
anyone who wants to increase their
earning potential forget to small raises
forget the hey I'm so going to need you
to pay me for the extra hour I spent on
this project forget it all instead of
asking for that hour paid ask for an
introduction to someone else ladder up
your success to the next project and the
next project work with bigger and bigger
people for free master for craft and
before you know it you will be at the
top of the pyramid 3 don't just tell
people why they should pay you more show
them I am a huge advocate for personal
branding and what I mean when I say
personal branding is representing
yourself on the Internet in a way that
speaks volumes about who you are and
what you do if you google my name my
website is the number one search result
the second search result is my about
page in fact the entire first three
pages on Google
I own with my website my columns podcast
features and my social media accounts my
social headers I had designed my photos
I update regularly I write a new
articles somewhere every single day all
of these things make it very very easy
for someone to look me up sit back and
think hmm I should work with this guy I
get about 20 inbound leads per day via
email solely because of my personal
brand no ads no PR nothing else which is
why balk at the people who talk and talk
and talk about how great they are
meanwhile they're practically invisible
on the Internet everything they do is
outdated they don't share any content
that proves they walk the walk from all
the way over here in front of my laptop
how am I supposed to know there's
someone worth working with stop telling
start showing and I don't mean
entrepreneurs if you're an employee of a
company you will get paid more if you
have a strong personal brand for you
can't rationalize with the customer this
is something I heard a mentor of mine
say over and over again and it continues
to play in my head constantly the moment
you start trying to justify what it is
you do and the value you provide by
focusing on all the nitty-gritty things
you've lost sure you might win their
business in the end but it's not the win
you're going to want rationalizing with
people only devalues what it is you do
you have to show them the vision you
have to get them to see emotional impact
this is what people do when I tell them
what I charge as a writer
they say that's absurd I could hire a
copywriter for $25 an hour on Craigslist
I pay someone five cents per word yes
you absolutely could and what would you
get back is a bunch of words on a page
fulfilling your rationalize expectation
what you won't get is the conviction the
voice the tone you want representing you
and everything you do what you won't get
is someone emailing you after saying I
was extremely impressed with the piece
you just published today
rationalizing what the customer would be
in this example focusing on how much
they are paying per word or per piece
I don't rationalize I showed them the
real value in providing which always
focuses on a desired outcome five asked
it's amazing to me how many people
complain about their current situation
but never ask for a different result
it's a very very rare thing for an
employer or a client to wake up one
morning call you up or bring you into
their office sit you down and say you
know what I'm going to pay you more it
just doesn't happen that way like I said
people don't earn what they deserve they
earn what they negotiate if you feel you
deserve to be paid more in whatever
context you are working in it's your
responsibility to ask you have to bring
it up with your employer you have to
bring it to the attention of your client
and most importantly you have to be
prepared for them to say no and then to
explain what value provided that
warrants an increase in your earnings
that's all for now thanks for watching
this information was written and shared
by nicholas cole who is a writer and
founder of digital press