7 Ways of Increasing Your Earnings Potential

The single most effective step to better your personal finances is to increase your earning potential. Be it getting increment at current job, or getting a higher paying new job or doing something extra for your business to generate more profit.

No one likes feeling undervalued at work. If you don’t think that you are earning as much as you deserve, here are 7 things you can do to improve your earnings potential and make employers take notice.

Ask for A Raise

Sometimes, the best way of getting something is to just ask. When it comes to your salary, if you feel as if you are being undervalued, try making the case to your boss.

If you are a valuable employee who consistently and reliably produces good work and results, they should see the value in keeping you happy.

They will make sure that you continue to want to work for them and not their competitors.

Of course, simply asking for a raise for the sake of it won’t elicit the same response.

If you are going to ask to be paid more money, you should be able to articulate exactly why it is that you think you deserve the extra consideration.

If you are regularly producing more or better work than your colleagues, then don’t be afraid to draw your boss’s attention to this fact.

There is nothing worse than feeling that all your hard work is going unappreciated by your employer.

Look for New Opportunities

Changing to a new career or even looking for a new job within your existing field can be very daunting. Most of us look to establish a solid career trajectory and then stick to it as far as we can.

There are several reasons for this, not least of which being that sustainable and long-term career progression is often dependent upon knowing the right people and establishing relationships with them.

If you are constantly moving from business to business, looking for opportunities but never stopping to nurture them, you will struggle to develop the kind of rapport that you need.

However, if you feel you are stuck in a dead-end job and aren’t sure how to improve your situation, looking for new opportunities can sometimes provide the impetus that you need.

Your employer might learn that you are looking elsewhere and redouble their efforts to retain you at their business.

Alternatively, you might be able to secure a more favorable offer from a rival business and use this to parlay a raise.

Find a Mentor

Having someone who you respect and know you can turn to in your times of need can be invaluable in helping you reach your maximum potential.

A mentor can be just about anybody as long as they are someone you can easily communicate with and who can provide you with guidance and direction relevant to your current career.

Sometimes, it pays to just have another set of eyes to look over things with you and provide an alternative viewpoint.

In other cases, a mentor might be someone who can draw upon decades of first-hand experience in the same or similar role to the one you currently occupy.

No amount of studying can equate to real-world experience, so if you have access to such a valuable resource, then you should aim to take advantage of it.

Earn A Degree

Earning a university degree can sometimes radically change the dynamic between you and your employer.

If a degree is required in order for you to advance through the ranks of your job, you may well have been waiting for your employer to offer the training to you.

However, if you can complete it on your own steam, then not only will you learn new skills, but you will also demonstrate initiative.

For example, if you have been working in engineering for many years but feel your career has hit a dead end, you could look into an MBA1, which will position you to launch or administer your own engineering business or apply for a management role in an existing one.

Open Additional Income Streams

Sometimes, circumstances can make it difficult or impractical for your main employer to pay you more. Sure, you might have the option of just walking away from that job and into a better-paying one elsewhere.

However, for many of us, things are never quite this simple.

Leaving an existing job can be a very big decision and have potential consequences for the rest of your professional life.

You don’t want to create bad blood between you and your last employer.

If leaving an underwhelming job isn’t practical, consider whether there is any way that you can open up an additional revenue stream.

For example, if your current job calls upon a specialist skill, ask yourself if this is something you could sell to clients independently of your existing employer.

If so, you might be able to take control of your earnings without relying on anybody else.

Become a Model Employee

If you have worked for your current employer for quite some time, then you can guarantee they already see value in you. Workers who have been with the same employer for many years demonstrate both loyalty and aptitude.

Employers like having people around who they can count on and who have a proven track record of serving the business they work for to the best of their ability.

However, far too many people spend years being model employees but are too timid to ever ask for this to be formally recognized.

If you genuinely add value to a business that you work for, then there is nothing wrong with asking to be compensated in a way that reflects the time and effort you have already invested in your employer.

If you know that you are valuable to employers in your field, don’t be afraid to get this message across by having a meeting with your boss or sending out resumes to see if anyone is interested in hiring you.

Don’t settle for being valued less than you are worth. If you can demonstrate your value, then you should always do so.

Any employer worth their salt will prioritize a worker who is eager to prove themselves over one who is passive.