Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 6k+ votes
Hi there, I'm looking to hear from some folks that might have gone from making a median salary ($40,000 - $60,000) and was able to double or triple that salary (W2 workers, no real estate entrepreneurs please).
If this is you, I'd love to hear your story. I'm trying to see how folks might go about rapidly increasing their income while still working a full-time job, and without building a side hustle.
You might consider relocating. I was making in the 40s as a software engineer in Pensacola, FL. I found a consulting job as a business analyst for a software development project in Houston making 80k. That was a big jump. Continuing in consulting, I grew my income at a rate of 10% every 2 years. Of course this was during a time of 0-1% corporate annual raises. Then going independent a few years later blew my income through the roof. So it's possible. It's not as hard as winning the lottery, but if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
@Scott Trench - I see this happening in 1 of 2 ways for a regular job.
1 - If you're on a fixed salary or hourly rate, I'd say go the Jim Rohn route and bring 2-3X the value to the same amount of time. Someone working as a Walmart cashier vs a store manager may both work 8Hrs/day, but the store manager is adding a lot more value in terms of increasing store revenue, driving sales, inventory tracking, etc. and will then be compensated accordingly. I see this as being achievable by finding what your company or department values most, and finding ways to improve upon that by increasing your skillset, knowledge, etc so that you can contribute more. I'm on a salary for my W2 job, so this is the approach I take (constantly improve in ways that will add massive value), in addition to our real estate side hustle.
2 - A sales job or one that has a commission, while these may not be technically a W2, they're still considered traditional 'day jobs' - I can't speak directly for this, but I have friends in medical sales, or of course real estate agents, and income is directly related to how knowledgeable and skilled that they are in the market or what they're selling. It also depends on the amount that they network and hustle. These people tend to spend a significant amount of time in mastering their negotiating skills, people skills, product knowledge, etc. If you increase all of these, I imagine your sales/income will likely increase substantially.
Im new here however I did this a few years back. I left my then company and took what was supposed to be a temp contracting position. Basically the company wanted to try me out and so they hired me through local contracting agency which paid me hourly. I didnt have any benefits but it resulted in a salary increase of 40k/year. After a year the company wanted to hire me permanently however their offer was literally 2% over what my previous pay was. I said thanks i'll just remain a contractor, which they had no problem with, and I began looking for a new job. My old boss contacted me and wanted me back. I ended up going back again as a contract employee with a higher position and secured another 10k raise with the new contracting agency. Ive been here 3 years. Health insurance is carried by my wife which makes things much easier. Im also at the lowest rate for my position and I think I'll end up getting another 20-25/hr here pretty quick. The downside is that I am a contractor and they get rid of us first when budgets get squeezed which can be stressful.
Basically the gist is you need to move companies every two years, or move to higher and higher positions. Companies dont care about employee retention and will gladly let you go and then hire you back at 25% pay a year or two later. Its just how it is.
You might consider relocating. I was making in the 40s as a software engineer in Pensacola, FL. I found a consulting job as a business analyst for a software development project in Houston making 80k. That was a big jump. Continuing in consulting, I grew my income at a rate of 10% every 2 years. Of course this was during a time of 0-1% corporate annual raises. Then going independent a few years later blew my income through the roof. So it's possible. It's not as hard as winning the lottery, but if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
I doubled my salary in two years. As others have mentioned it's about offering extreme value and I would also recommend Ramit Sethi's blog on interviewing skills. Easiest way to earn 5 figures in an hour is during an interview.
