The Accomplished Me

Pillar 01

Where does the money actually come from?

Almost none of it comes from working harder in the job you are already in.

In progress

• The four ways pay goes up, and how much each one is worth over five years
• What the band is, where you sit in it, and how people find that out
• What to say when they ask for your number first
• Equity on paper, equity when you leave, and the gap between them
• The raise conversation: when to have it, and who has already decided before you walk in

Pillar 02

Why good work does not get you promoted

The work has to be attributed to you in a room you are not standing in.

In progress

• Who has to say your name when you are not there, and how they end up knowing it
• Busy and visible are not the same thing, and only one of them is counted
• What a promotion case is actually judged on, months before it is written
• Which projects build a case and which ones only build workload
• New manager or new company: which one moves you faster

Pillar 03

Taking the career across a border

The same title is a different job, a different number and a different set of rights depending on where it sits.

In progress

• Which countries actually hire from abroad in your field, and which only say they do
• Who pays for sponsorship, how long it takes, and what it ties you to afterwards
• What the same title is worth once tax, rent and healthcare are taken out
• Applying from outside, or transferring inside the company you already have
• What your degree and your years are worth after the border, and what quietly gets discounted
• The window: the ages, levels and seasons when the move is easiest, and when it closes

Pillar 04

Money that does not come from a salary

The first amount you earn outside payroll is small. What it changes is not.

Next

• What the first thousand outside payroll actually takes, counted in months
• Which kinds of side income survive a full-time job, and which quietly need all of you
• Charging for what you already do at work, without walking into a conflict
• Pricing the first time, when you have nothing to compare against
• The number that means stop, decided before you are emotionally invested

Pillar 05

How do you become the one deciding?

Authority is budget, headcount and the right to say no. Titles come after.

Next

• Owning a budget or owning people: which one is actually power
• Where decisions are really made, and why it is almost never the meeting
• Turning work down and surviving it
• What to ask for that is not money and is worth more than money
• The point where enough money buys the right to choose, and what that number depends on