Income growth is a common goal of almost everyone I come into contact with, personally or professionally.
What I find fascinating is how little thought people put into how they will accomplish this objective.
Today, I would like to share a story to demonstrate how simple it can be to double your income.
One day a few years ago, I interviewed a young woman who wanted to come work for our firm.
She was a small business owner with her own “Sleep Coaching” practice. A few minutes into the interview, I could tell she was not the right fit for our organization; so I decided I would use the conversation as an opportunity to do some laser coaching with her.
I asked her a series of questions about her business, and why she wanted to leave.
She gave me the same two reasons that everyone offers as to why they hate their present job — too many hours for too little pay. I was baffled because she was running her own business and so she set her own hours and determined her own pay. Intrigued, I decided to do a little test. I asked her what she was charging per session and how many clients she was serving. Then, I inquired if she wanted to double her income over night. Now, she was intrigued.
The instructions I gave her were as follows:
Go home tonight and send an email to your clients and let them know the date in the near future that your rates are doubling due to increased demand.
“What if my clients leave?” she asked. “Well, I said, “if half of your clients leave and half of your clients stay; you cut your work week in half and keep the same income. But, they won’t leave. If even a few agree to continue, you just made a hefty increase, and if they all stay you double your income.” She agreed to send the email.
I made her a deal. I said, “If you don’t double your income tonight, give me a call tomorrow, and we can talk about the job.” Needless to say, I never heard from her again…
There are many, many ways to increase your income now!
Just make a commitment to spend a few minutes a day thinking about it and I am sure you can come up with an abundance of ideas. Yes, even if you work for another company.
Here are five Quick Start tips:
- Solve a crisis
- Step up and take on more
- Get better at your craft
- Improve your performance-get your bonus/commission
- ASK for a raise
If there is no way to increase your income in the company you work for then it’s time to package your expertise and launch a second stream of income.
