Earners,

The objective of this newsletter is to maximize and grow your career earnings. Plain and simple. We are going to do everything we can to provide actionable tips and takeaways that you can apply to your career or use to prepare for future opportunities. We have a special one for you to kick off the first issue...

Cut the crap... here's why you are really working:

I'm going to tell you something that you will probably disagree with. You may think I am being too cynical or harsh, but here it goes: you're probably staying at your job for the wrong reasons. What's “wrong”? Well, there is no specific definition as it depends on the person. But the point is that they are the wrong reasons for YOU. They are not aligned with what you truly want. Let me give you a shortcut to what most of us desire…

An extra zero beside our pay check.

EVERYTHING is downstream of that sweet, sweet extra digit that you long for.

Maybe you haven't reached six figures a year yet. It goes without saying - that is the gold standard, or at least that what society tells us. Life is so expensive today - the best way to influence your personal finance equation is to just flat out earn more. Once you're earning six digits a year, you're onto something. It doesn’t happen by chance. You need to have some exceptional qualities. Your first $100k is often discussed in the career media; it seems like reaching that milestone is a point in your financial journey that is admired and respected by all, and yet still very much attainable.

Or maybe you've crossed the $100k mark and you want to be a multiple earner. A big cheese type. You want to earn a few hundred thousand a year so you can truly start calling the shots. So, it's not an extra zero, but certainly the next level up. To achieve this kind of role or income, you either need to have connections with high-level individuals and be a smooth talker, or, more likely, you need to be a competent badass who has achieved great success throughout their career.

And then, there are the outliers. The true freaks. These are the people who are approaching seven figures a year. Just typing that feels good... 7 figures a YEAR. These are the lawyers who have made partner, private equity VPs, management consultant big wigs, c-suite executives at Fortune 500 companies, or maybe even niche industry sales executives (yes, sales professionals can earn a lot depending on the industry).

And then, there are levels beyond that - but let's not get into that right now (although I'm sure we will discuss the whole FAT Fire concept as this newsletter progresses, but for now, those are the three aspirational levels). All that being said, if you're as ambitious as I think you are, you're probably wondering what that next level up for you looks like. If you work corporate, the truth is that if you want a shot at the next level, or even the level after that, you have to jump around companies. That's how you make the big bucks in a reasonable amount of time.

Go Out To Get Up

HR experts, recruiters, executives, and others will tell you the same thing. It is incredibly difficult to keep pace with your optimal career earnings if you stay with the same employer long-term. The median year-over-year increase in earnings for job switchers in the U.S. outpaced those who stayed put by nearly 10% in 2022. That trend has shrunk as of recent due to a tighter labour market, but generally the trend holds strong and compounds significantly over a 10+ year period, which is what we are talking about here.

Hypothetically, let’s say you start working at 25 at $50,000 / year and every year, you make 5% more on average. You would make $6.04 million over your lifetime if you worked until you are 65. If you however opted to job hop and increased your average annual earnings just 3% to a total of 8% on average (which I would argue is conservative), you’d earn more than double that at $12.9 million throughout your life. Save to say, that is one hell of a difference.

Now, I'm also not talking about startups, as the equity equation can surpass anything I'm saying if you join a future elite-level company in its early stages. However, those opportunities are hard to come by. Generally, having career mobility and not being tied to one company is incredibly financially rewarding.

But dude… I don’t want to go anywhere?

Maybe you tell yourself that your current company is a great fit. You love your co-workers, and the proximity of your job to your home is a significant benefit. Maybe you have family obligations, real passions outside of work that require a lot of your time, and you finally have a good work-life balance. Stability may be important to you, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. But let me tell you this:

A lot of the time, we tell ourselves stories about why we do things. The reasons I mentioned earlier may apply to you, or they may not. You might be telling yourself a convenient narrative to distract yourself from the fact that you don't want to leave because change is hard. Scary. Uncertain. Your job may not be perfect, but damn it it's good enough - the devil you know is better than the one you don’t, and you’d rather stick to your rhythm and keep on keepin’ on.

And that might be the right thing for you. Honestly. But I want you to be open to the fact that someday, an amazing opportunity might come up for you. Hmm… actually, it will come up for you. It might be out of town, inconvenient, or intimidating. But wow, does it ever seem like a big break... and deep down, you know it’s what you want. I’d like you to consider taking that offer in the future because the career earnings of people who take those risks are much higher than those who stay in their comfort zone and cling to the convenient narrative they've crafted for themselves.

Being open-minded pays well

Maybe it's not even an external role - maybe they offer to relocate you to the UK for a year if you currently work in New York. Man, what an experience that could be for your career. The kind of experience that will not only help you climb the ladder in your current company but also position you for better opportunities when you hit the market again.

But there are many reasons why you might not take it. Distance, culture, pay, economy, family, and so on. You're not a bad person if you don't take it. You're not less competent if you don't take it. The role may simply not make sense for you.

But if you know you should take it, and yet feel like you’re about to decline it, that's when you know you need to be courageous if you want to reach that next level we talked about. That's when I want you to be honest with yourself and start being in your job for the right reasons - the reasons that matter most to you. You'll earn a lot more that way.

Earn more,

Nate