Asking for a Raise

Ready to claim what you're worth in a world where the cost of living is soaring? Today you'll be armed with the tactics to secure that well-deserved raise you've longed for. We delve into the nitty-gritty of adjusting your salary expectations in line with inflation's relentless march and pinpoint the sweet spot where your financial needs intersect with your workplace value. 

I'll share my own trials and triumphs, underscoring the unique hurdles women often face in the workplace, and dissect the difference between asking for more and stepping up the career ladder while offering guidance on embracing the discomfort that comes with advocating for your economic empowerment. Tune in for practical advice that inspires assertiveness and the courage needed to champion your financial future.

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Chapters

• 0:01 Asking for a Raise
• 9:05 Navigating Financial Advancement Through Job Changes
• 12:36 Springtime Strategy for a Raise

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to the Cash Confident Podcast. I'm Brie Sedano, your fearless host, personal finance expert and the visionary behind the revolutionary Cash Confident community. Get ready to embark on an electrifying journey where we redefine the rules of money and empower women to harness the immense power to craft the life they truly, truly desire. This podcast is the ultimate resource, meticulously crafted, for women who are ready to unleash their financial prowess and embrace a life of abundant success. We leave no stone unturned as we delve into the depths of money management, mindset mastery and the undeniable influence of emotions on your financial decisions. Prepare to rise above the societal limitations and break free from the chains that have held you back, as we equip you with the tools and knowledge to make bold, confident choices with your cash. We believe that true financial power begins with knowledge, and that is exactly what we deliver. So buckle up, my fierce and ambitious friends, as we embark on this transformative journey to becoming cash confident together. Oh hello, hello.

Speaker 1: 1:18

Bruce Adeno here for the Cash Confident Podcast with you today, and we are talking about asking for a raise, so that's what we're going to get into. So, as you all are fully aware, inflation has been really driving up costs on everything. I can say. For me personally, my grocery bill has gone up substantially. Also, my kids are teenagers, and so they're the hungriest people that ever walked the face of the planet. My electricity bill has gone up, my car insurance, my homeowner's insurance just all of my bills have been really going up 10 and 20 percent, right, and I'm obviously not the only person experiencing this. We can see that our interest rates are going up, and so, basically, this is a situation where trying to save, trying to cut back, starts to become, like, really fruitless. Like, sometimes we just have to ask for the raise, right, and so I'm going to give you some tips today about asking for a raise, all right. So the first thing that we want to do is I want you to calculate how much it is that you really want and need, right, and so this number is not about your, necessarily, it's not about your job. This number is about you and what you want. Now, from there, we're going to go and we're going to look at the reasonable for the for the work that I do. So, listen, when we're being paid by somebody else, we don't necessarily have an unlimited income ceiling. Somebody else's business has to be able to provide that, and so when you're thinking about your employer, they still have to be able to make money on your employment. That's the way that it goes. So then I want you to look and see all right, is this current position at this current employer? Is this going to be the place that I stay? And I want to be really frank and honest with this. Is not all employers businesses are able to provide raises. Like it's just the way that it is.

Speaker 1: 3:00

Sometimes you have to maybe be willing to switch employers or to go for a promotion and not just a raise, and the difference there I'm going to just point out in case you're not sure. A raise is just asking for more money for, essentially, the work that you're doing. Asking for raises and that may be some shift in responsibility Asking for a promotion is asking for a different level of responsibility. It's asking for a different level of responsibility. It's asking for a different job title, right, and so they're a little bit different. But there's both ways, you know. You can ask for a raise to make more money, or you could go for a promotion to make more money, or you could potentially look for a promotion outside of the company that you're in, or look for a raise at the same level for something that you're not in right Now.

Speaker 1: 3:42

Some other things to consider when you're in this stage is is there anything else that you might be willing to negotiate on, and not just more money, for example, like flex time or more vacation time or I don't know things like that. What more? A better title? Right? There's those sorts of things that sometimes we can put into our negotiations, that sometimes sweeten the deal for one of us. That makes something feasible, right? So we want to start to get clear on what it is that you even want, right? Do you want a promotion? Do you want to raise how much? What's the difference? What's the difference that you're looking for?

Speaker 1: 4:19

Ok, next, we want to look at the value that we're bringing to the organization, and so this this is is where we start to look at what we're bringing to the table, the amount of work that we're doing, the quality of the work that we're doing, how that work essentially makes money or doesn't lose money or helps the organization run much more smoothly. Now, depending on what kind of employer you work for like this let's just say you're a teacher Chances are you might just have to switch a district. A lot of times there's not really room for negotiations or raises unless you're just on the step you do this the step ladder. We want to be clear about the value that we bring to the organization. We want to start to really think about that. I want you to look specifically at responsibilities that you take on that are not in your job description. I want you to be thinking about ways that whatever you do has increased efficiency for the organization, or increased the ability to make money, or increased the ability to save money or spend less money Things that have made a really big difference to your clients or your customers. So I want you to start to think about those sorts of things and start to total that up so that way, when you go in to ask for this raise, you're not going to be wobbly. You're going to be like I'm asking for more money and I'm definitely like it's the work that I'm providing is definitely worth that.

Speaker 1: 5:38

So where we don't want to go in our mindset is it's not about you, right? This isn't about you getting paid. It's not about your worth as a person. It's about the value that you bring to the table. Right, that's really what your employer is paying you for they're not paying you for your personal worth and they truly, like it's none of their business about your expenses, right? So you, when you're coming in to ask for a raise, you want to be really clear on the value that you bring to the table in your work, right? And that's a little bit of a difference, because sometimes people get really personal about it and they're like, personally, I can't afford this or I can't afford that, or I want this or I want that, and it's OK, great, but they're not. That's not your employer's concern, really, it's the job that you're doing. Make that appointment, all right, oh, sorry. So get really clear on that. So that way, when you make the appointment to ask for the things that you want, you feel stable, you feel solid, you feel like this is reasonable, what you're asking for is reasonable, because if you're wobbly and if you feel unsure, you're just not going to do as well, right, like you're probably going to step back or bumble on the negotiation, right? And so you need to be able to stand firm, all right.

Speaker 1: 6:46

So then you make the appointment and then you want to clearly ask for what you want in very plain language and I would, honestly, if it was me, and everybody's negotiation style is a little bit different, but I would ask for what I want up front. Give them a minute to answer and if there's a need to bring up the value that I bring to the table, I would be really well prepared with that. Hey, I'm doing X, y and Z work that's actually outside of my job description, it's above. This is really above and beyond what I'm currently being paid for. I've done this. I've done that. I've accomplished this. I've accomplished that.

Speaker 1: 7:20

Like, you want to make the case that like one that you're worth keeping, because this is the kind of thing that it's like if your boss says no to you, you could potentially go work for somebody else, and it costs a lot of money to train employees, it's and you have to hire and there's paperwork to do, and so, in general, employers like to keep their employees ramp. So you want to be able to make that case clearly if necessary. But I would start by just asking for what you want. Just ask for it. Hey, listen, I'm asking for a raise. I want this. I want my salary to be this. I want my hourly rate to be this If there's responsibilities that you want to shift out.

Speaker 1: 7:54

I want to shift into these kind of responsibilities and put these responsibilities onto somebody else, Depending on the size of the company that you work at and the level of corporate. Sometimes that's a really great conversation to have with your boss If you're like, hey, these things are, let's get somebody in that's a little bit less expensive and let me do some higher responsibility type stuff. So you want to ask clearly for what you want and give them a minute to answer, right, and so sit in the uncomfortable silence for a second and then, if you need to make your case and one tip is to not really make this about you like personally, like this isn't about. Like I wouldn't come at asking for a raise, hey, the prices of everything have gone up, I'm not able to afford my life because anybody that's listening to that is okay. That's just really a you problem. Like you really want to be coming at this. Like I'm bringing this much value to the table and I want to be paid for what I'm bringing to the table. My work is worth this much and I want to be paid this much for that work. So just make sure that you keep it really clear about that, because sometimes people are like, oh my, when I talk to a lot of people about their money, and it's okay, if you're going to ask for a raise, it's not really going to work out so great.

Speaker 1: 9:05

If you're just like, oh, I can't afford certain things, it's like, all right, how are you? It's just keep it on the work. I guess is probably the best way to say it. Just keep it on the work that you're doing. And then the last thing that I want to say is sometimes we need to be prepared to switch, like. Sometimes we need to be able to be like I will leave this job. There are some places where there's just not room for that much financial advancement right, I've worked with many, let's just say, municipal employees, right, and there's just not really room for advancement. There's just not. And typically those people are going to be a little bit underpaid If the benefits are worth it. To consider that before. Consider that as you're thinking about switching, but but really be prepared to start to look around, because that's one of the things that really helps to stay on the up and up financially is.

Speaker 1: 9:53

A lot of times we get a little pigeonholed in a position there may be a lot of other people, there may be certain things like that happened a while ago, where somebody made you like, somebody got the impression that you weren't promotable, for whatever reason. I'll give you an example. This is my tea. I'll give you an example. This is my tea. Right, I'll spill my own tea.

Speaker 1: 10:12

I worked at a local nonprofit for years before I got into finance, and the week that I got back from having a baby was the same week that they asked me to take over as the interim executive director. I'd been writing grants and doing administrative work for the organization before that, and I remember I told one of the board members like I don't want that job. And it was the literal week that I'd gotten back from maternity leave. Like my literal boobs were full of breast milk, like I was like I'm not there yet. And then, as a year went on, they started to look for somebody and I was like, hey, I'd actually like to be considered for this, but it was like too late. Actually like to be considered for this, but it was like too late, like they'd already they'd already put me in the bucket of not promotable in that way, and so I had to leave, I had to move, I had to go, move on, and so that's just one of the examples.

Speaker 1: 11:00

But I've seen, I've even seen, like teachers and nurses, in places where the the pay scale is pretty out there Right, like the pay scale is not super negotiable Right. And places like where the pay scale is pretty out there right, like the pay scale is not super negotiable right. In places like where the pay scale is not super negotiable, sometimes you have to just be willing to move, take it as a stepping stone. So anyways, I'm just going to put that out there, because sometimes that's the case. At one point I was talking to a woman who asked for a raise and her employer was like no, you can't have a raise. And it wasn't because the work she was doing wasn't worth it, it was just because whatever was going on for that employer, they couldn't do it. And that's the thing in businesses. Not all businesses are run with super flush cash flow. There's not always the resources available to be able to do that and that's not on you. That's why I'm saying sometimes we just have to be willing to move on when that time is right.

Speaker 1: 11:45

But anyways, every year you want to be asking for a raise or applying for a promotion and ask if you want to keep growing financially. These are things that we want to get into our regular and it's uncomfortable. Like our regular routine not like a daily routine, but like an annual routine and a lot of women don't do this because it's uncomfortable, because a lot of women don't even like to ask for anything and I'm crap, man, I was definitely one of them. So you may want to practice this with a friend. You may want to practice with your spouse. You may want to practice with somebody who's even going to give you a little bit of pushback or going to be annoyed with you while you're practicing, so that way, you could learn to hold your own in that negotiation and just be able to stand in the discomfort of yeah, you're annoyed with me and I want what I want. So these are some of the things that you could do while you're asking for a raise.

Speaker 1: 12:35

So I just wanted to put this out there.

Speaker 1: 12:36

It's springtime. It's a good time to ask for a raise right before the summer. Usually, the gas prices go up in the summer, so now's the time to get that in. All right, I love you, I appreciate you, thank you for hanging out with me and I will talk to you next week. It was my pleasure and joy to talk with you today. Thank you for listening.

Speaker 1: 13:00

If you found value in our conversation, I kindly ask you to share the show with a friend who deserves to unleash her financial power. Your feedback is so, so valuable to me, so please take a moment to leave a review. Together, we can amplify the message and bring more money into the hands of good women For ongoing guidance and unwavering support on your financial journey. I invite you to join the Cash Confident community Visit wwwcashconfidentcom to become part of our powerful community of women, where we uplift and inspire one another to reach new heights of financial success. Remember, you possess the power to shape your financial destiny and, with the Cash Confident podcast and the support of our remarkable community, you are unstoppable. Embrace your financial power, create the life you desire and let's ignite a movement of cash confident women who are transforming the world. $1, one decision at a time.