Posted by Michael Donelly

Read this: if you are overworked, or if everyone comes to you to solve their problems.

Save: Your sanity. Work less and earn the same or more.

Cost: A little discomfort and perhaps your social conscience.

I work out with a personal trainer (let’s call him Vincent) 2 or 3 times a week and during my breaks between sets we discuss the life, the universe and everything. The last few weeks he’s been telling me he’s very tired. When I asked why he said he has 50 clients a week and he’s finding it hard to fit them all in. When he goes home he walks the dogs and crashes in front of the television for 45 minutes and it’s time for bed. He has a wife and a daughter to fit into that busy schedule too.

He’s some kind of a hybrid between being an employee and being self employed. He earns money from each client but his boss also takes a share. The reason he is so busy is obviously customer satisfaction. I told him he should put the price up and his quality of life would improve. He said his boss might do that. What is wrong with this picture?

If I were his boss, then nothing would be wrong, but if I were the Vincent then I would be putting up my price toward the boss. The boss would probably pass that on to the customers anyway, but if poor old Vince waits too long, the boss will raise the price toward the customers and Vince will get less busy, and have nothing to show for it: In fact he will earn less, whilst the boss earns more.

Speaking from personal experience as both an employee and a company owner I can say with some certainty that it is rare for effort to be rewarded through the generosity of the company. The sad fact is that in this life, if we do not ask, we often will not get. The trick is knowing when to ask. In my life as an employee I never asked. My way of earning more was to look for a new job with higher pay. Whilst this is also a good way of moving on up in life there are significant costs associated with it such as relocation, the need to learn new technology, the need to start at the bottom again in the social network of the new company, and so on.

If my mother had not taught me to be so polite I would have been able to ask for a raise. Asking and getting are not the same, however, and timing is everything. Here are some signs that the time might be right.

• You are swamped with work and your colleagues are not. The reason you are swamped is that you are better at your job than the others and the bosses like to load you up with tasks.
• If you agreed to start on a lower rate to prove yourself or to train and you have now proved your worth.
• You earn less than everyone else and you do the same job, and just as well.
• If you are freelance or self employed and you just want some more free time and could take a drop in income for a bigger drop in hours than you lose in pay.

Perhaps you are worried that raising your rate will drive customers away. If you work for many clients you can test the water by raising your price toward some but not others. The chances are you will lose some clients, but others will just agree without a second thought, and remember you’ll never know how high the price can go until you ask!

Resources:

I just couldn’t help dropping a link to this amazing book, nearly 30 years old now, but just as applicable today as when it was written. If you need help negotiating anything in life then Herb is your man. The book is just a bunch of funny stories in his life but each story has a take away point on how to get what you want. I found it in my friend’s toilet and started reading. You will probably not be so lucky and will have to pay for it: