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Table of Contents
Chronology of My Income............................................................................................................................. 2 Why Should You Listen to Me Anyway? ................................................................................................... 3 The One and Only Principle That Rules The Universe................................................................................... 9 The Pareto Principle .................................................................................................................................. 9 My trick to reach a 6 figure income job ...................................................................................................... 15 How to Get a Better Job.......................................................................................................................... 21 How to get an income raise years after years ........................................................................................ 22
Welcome to My World
The very first thing that comes to my mind before I write anything about how to make a 6 figure income is Thank you for reading this eBook! The idea of creating this eBook actually came from one of my friend and colleague. He was amazed to see where I started my career (as an admin clerk making $30,000/year) and where I was standing right now (a successful banker).
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As he is slightly younger than me and just starting his career, he asked me for help. He wanted to know what I did to follow such a high speed career path while getting married, having 3 kids and finishing my MBA with honours. After telling him most of my secrets, Ive thought of writing this quick eBook and give it to my most important reader; YOU!
You wont find any shady shortcuts to achieve a high level of income. This eBook is simply the description of all the things I have done to make it happen in 6 years. Those tricks may or may not be all applicable to your situation. However, Im sure that after reading this eBook, you will get a few tricks to get, at least, a juicy raise!
Mike www.FabulouslyBroke.com
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Chronology of My Income
Why Should You Listen to Me Anyway?
I must admit that I have a pretty short work history (I only started working back in 2003 and this book has been written at the beginning of 2012). However, Ive been able to use this time to maximize my income progression to a 6 figure salary in only 6 years of work.
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Did I start to sell drugs in the process? Nope! Did I work over 60 hours a week for 5 years before hitting the jackpot? Nope! Did I have to be a brown-noser? No way Jose! So how the hell I was able to grow my income faster than a 15 year old footballer eats a double pepperoni medium pizza? Keep reading, youll get the answer
2004 $47,000
The start of 2004 was a great adventure as I started it by being in charge of a $25M RRSP loan campaign. I was in charge of making sure that everything ran
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smoothly and that all the loans were approved and disbursed on time. As I didnt have many employees under me, I did the whole job and was working 14 hour days with no breaks (literally, people were dropping food and coffee on my desk so I didnt die). I was looking like those Chinese zombies who play World of Warcraft non-stop. 2 months of work that gave me my first raise (from $37,000 to $42,000) along with a $5,000 bonus at the end of the year. Man, I was almost at $50K after only 2 years on the market.
2005: $55,000
I really liked where I was working back then so I continued to hustle hard. My biggest strength was that I was able to do my job and then find ways to improve our processes within my work week (which was 37.5hrs/week at that time). Therefore, I earned my first promotion (with another raise to a base salary of $48,000). My boss liked me a lot because all those improvements in his department were making him look good big time. He was a nice guy so he was sharing the wealth and gave me a lot of tricks to go higher. One of them was to get all my tuition fees paid my employer. This is how I got my stock trading license along with my financial planner courses paid.
2006: $61,000
Another year, another promotion. This time, I was promoted as the senior of my team. This came with a hefty salary raise (up to $52,000) along with a bigger bonus at the end of year ($9,000). I really like this year at work because I was adding a lot of responsibilities and I was invited to all kinds of important meetings with the big bosses. I was about to join the big guys one day. This is when I realized that my sacrifices and hard work started to pay off. I was now known by VPs and my name was getting around.
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2007: $63,000
A year later, I was starting to get bored. I realized that being the senior of my team wasnt only about its advantages. On the other hand, some people were getting jealous and I didnt have many friends there anymore. While work became another synonym for routine, I had the great opportunity to go on my first week long business trip. To date, this was one of the best professional experiences I have ever lived. I had the opportunity to go visit much of British Columbia speaking with many very interesting individuals. But when I came back from this trip, I got the bad news that our bank held a lot of commercial paper (also known as ABCP) and that our bonus was going to be cut big time. So even if I had a salary increase that year, my overall income almost stagnated for the first time. I was due for a change!
2008: $64,000
I didnt tell most people in my entourage but the real reason why I quit my job at the bank to become a financial planner in 2008 was because I didnt win a contest at the end of 2007! I know, I can be a big baby sometimes, but I really deserved to win that darned contest. This is why I decided to change jobs in the middle of my MBA. It was a really hard year for me; I had to adapt to new colleagues, new systems and a new job while finishing my MBA. On top of that, it had to be the worst year on the stock market for the past 50 years! Anyways, this job change didnt bring me much in terms of income and I didnt perform well enough (I had only 6 months to add assets to my book). This is why I finished the 2008 year with the smallest bonus I have ever had: $2,300!
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2009: $103,000
While 2008 was really rough, 2009 was life changing for me. I was performing like there was no tomorrow and I finished the year at almost 200% of my objectives. In the meantime, I finished my MBA and asked for a sizeable raise due to my performance and my new degree. I was becoming a pillar employee in my branch and the manager wanted to keep me on his side. This is the first year where I started to combine my online income to my day job in order to break the 6 figure income for the first time in my life (at the age of 28!). While my online income wasnt that much at the time, it was just enough for me to bump up my total income in the major leagues. The biggest change in 2009 was not about my income; it was about how many hours I had to work to make it. In 2009, I started working 4 days a week, so 30 hours a week at my day job. It gave me more time to spend with my family and to work on my online company.
2010: $135,000
2010 was literally a continuation of the past 2 years as I completed a second year in a row with 200% of my objectives. The bonus was similar (roughly 33K) but I was able to negotiate another income raise based on my past performance. In addition to that, the benefits earned from my online company started to increase at that time. My partner and I decided to pay me for my full day of blogging at the same rate I was earning at my day job (bonus excluded obviously!). This was one of the best decisions we ever took as the business has grown way faster since then. With less than 10 hours/week, we were able to make it grow significantly.
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2011: $176,000
There is not much difference between 2010 and 2011 while the income is larger. In fact, 2011 is definitely the sum of all the good decisions I have made over the past 8 years: - Getting my CFP title - Completing my MBA with honours - Moving towards a job where the bonus is linked to my performance - Working 4 days a week to become more productive at work - Giving awesome service to my clients - Concentrating on my online business to generate a steady flow of income - Focusing on value added actions instead of doing what I had to do 2011 is my ultimate proof that when you have a solid plan and work on it for several years, the sum of your actions generates exponential results.
Whats next???
In 2012, Im not expecting to make as much as 2011. I think this will be my record year for a few years to come. As I mentioned in my 2012 financial goals, my objective will be to pay off debts and take care of myself. Ive reached very high level of income quite fast without having to work numerous hours (remember, I worked 30hrs/week at my day job in 2011). I think that the most important part is to do things that you love. This is how you can make money and crush it like I did. My ultimate goal is to stick to the 6 figures without having to work much. I am not aiming for a 250K or 300K salary even though I now know that I could eventually get there. I would rather have a low 6 figure income and enjoy life now instead of waiting desperately until retirement to enjoy it! Keep reading this book and youll how I was able to manage a high quality of life while managing a high income.
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www.FabulouslyBroke.com
die in there. But he will work like crazy to get out though. As you may know, some horses even die du ring a race because they couldnt stop running and they ran until they die. The problem is that he wont be working on what is important. Workhorses at school will study for hours and hours until they master every single word of every single page of their books. Most of them will obviously succeed and have awesome marks. But Im asking you: at what price do they succeed? Even worst: if they were to study 80% less, they would probably end -up with a reasonable mark. So tell me: why should you spend 50 hou rs to get 95% when you can spend 10 hours and get 80%? The key is to know where to put your 20% of effort. So at first, you might want to consider working 40% or 30% in order to get your 80% results. Overtime, you will master the rule and how you should ap ply it and reach almost a perfect 20 -80 balance. In order to apply this rule in your life, you should ask yourself a simple question when you are about to do something: Am I creating value right now or am I just doing something because it has to be done?
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Heres an example
Cutting my lawn: I spend some time and effort to do something that has to be done. However, I am not creating any value; the grass will grow again and Ill have to be back behind my lawnmower in 4 days. Im wasting my time and I am n ot productive. What if I pay the kid next door $10 and save an hour? This would make sense as long as I would use this hour to work on my business and generate more than $10 during the same time.
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telling you to outsource what someone else can do for you while you can use this free time to create more money. For example, you can easily ask your manager to give some reports you have to generate to a junior or a stagier w hile you are doing something that creates value (e.g. generate more income or save time for the department). If you can prove to your manager that you will generate more money for the firm while doing another task than reporting, then you will be free from this boring task and climb in your boss esteem. What if you dont have enough resources to outsource your reporting to someone else? Why dont you ask a friend in the computer department about how to streamline your report process? When I was working at my first job, we used to do a lot of reports through Excel. I knew that there were some ways to automate a part of it through operating macros, but I had no clue how to do it. I decided to take some time with Excel wizards in the department so they coul d help me build those macros. At the end, Ive spent a few extra hours of my time to build a new Excel spreadsheet but then, I have saved 4-5 hours or work per week to this department forever. This frees me up for doing more projects while improving my cha nces of earning a promotion. Most people just follow processes without asking questions. So if you only take 15 minutes out of your lunch hour to think about your processes, you will definitely find where and how you can improve them to make your life easier. This is how you will use 20% of your efforts to generate 80% of your results!
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Doing reports
Most reports can be completely or partially automated through Excel macros or other software. It is important to take some time to figure out a way how you can run reports automatically. This will save you a lot of time and, if you require a few hundred bucks to manage this project; your employer is most likely to approve it if you can prove that you can save 30 minutes per day (30 minutes at $20/hour is $50 saved per week forever it definit ely worth the investment!).
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Dont complain
Another important point is to avoid complaints. You can argue, you can debate your point of view (this is another good way to shine) but not in a negative, whining fashion, (want some cheese with t hat?). People dont like whiners in general, they like winners . Complaining
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is against any corporate view. If you want to climb the corporate ladder, you better walk the walk!
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an entry point. Because most of the good jobs in big firms are given to existing employees As an admin clerk, I was balancing trades all day long. The first 4 months were very interesting as I was learning about the stock market and how stock options work (I was in the deriva tive products department). However, after a while, you get tired of opening the same Excel spreadsheets and solving the same issues over and over again. This is when I quit my first job. 2 weeks after, I was hired by the same company but in a different department. This is where the real story started
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Act like a real soldier and get yourself a raise this year! I have given you enough hindsight that you now know how to approach your manager and get what you want. Dont be rude, dont be cocky; just be confident and apply the rules mentioned above. Youll definitely be able to pull out your card and get a winning hand! If you are too shy to ask just think of how slow your salary will grow if you sit on your chair and wait/hope for your yearly annual increase. This increase is usually pretty low and you know why? Because someone else asked for a bigger raise and got it. You, poor rat, get what is left from the big envelope. I think its time for you to get your share, dont yo u think?
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leave everything behind and make the jump. I believe you are like me; you want a better financial future but you are too afr aid to jeopardize what you have already. Gurus will tell you that fear only restrain you from acting and that you have almost nothing to fear. Well sorry, I dont drink that Koolaid and I will reach financial independence one step at a time. So in the meantime, I have spent my time at work doing something way more interesting than only working: I have spent my time trying to get salary raises and promotions. The following part can be found somewhere on my blog but I thought this topic was well covered and that you need to read those articles.
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and you like the company and you want to stay with them. Then, you ask him to help you stay and still be a key employee in the department.
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We all want more money (all the time!) and a raise will keep you happy for only so long. However, at one point, it is important to avoid pushing your luck. I was able to get 3 increases in the same year and they are now looking at the option of giving the downtown premium to our branch (which would become my 4 t h raise in a span of 12 months!). However, now that I have pushed the HR machine to the max, Ill just watch it run and see what comes next. I wont ask for anything or apply more pressure. It is actually time to pull my chips off the table and start working to show them they were right to give me this raise. In 2010, I didnt say much about my small income raise because I had so many in 2009. However, because I kept hustling, I got a significant raise in 2011. At one point, your employer will realize your value and income raises will come easier and more naturally.
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If you want to continue your learning, be sure to go back each Friday on www.FabulouslyBroke.com where I will continue to give my career tips and money management strategies. Make sure to pass by and drop me a comment!
Now its your turn to shine and get that raise you deserve!
Mike www.FabulouslyBroke.com
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