The Invisible Marketplace Number
These are hard times for everyone – except people who have managed their opportunities in alignment with their greatest strengths. The more challenging it is for others, the more they seem to succeed. Why do opportunities continually flow toward them and feel as if they may be passing you by in the process? What do the most successful know that you don’t know? Most likely nothing. They are not necessarily smarter than you, but they are probably more strategic. They know how to leverage professional growth in such a way to position themselves for greater worth in the marketplace.
If this concept is new to you, consider there is a dollar sign that invisibly floats above your head. It communicates to employers what you are worth, not in the personal sense, but more related to their organization or business. For some, it only shows an unskilled number that reflects minimum wage opportunities at entry level positions. For others, it may show a six-figure income of proven corporate leadership. Here is the catch: everyone has that invisible number, but only a few have done anything to make it more prominent.
A friend recently asked me my thoughts on why she did not get a promotion during her annual review. She believed her employer was biased against her status as an older female worker. I told her it was something else entirely. The employer was not against her age or gender; rather, the employer was against paying more simply because of more years at the same job. Your salary is not based on what you think you are worth; your salary is based on what the marketplace thinks you are worth.
In the few minutes I spent with my friend, we discussed how to move from feeling disappointed and resentful after the review, to leveraging feelings she was experiencing and making herself more valuable.
Taking Action to Increase Your Number
How to change your invisible marketplace number is in your control, not your employers. The fastest way to ramp up the value is by building your professional skills. Improving your skills is an intentional choice. Instead of waiting on someone to notice your “gifting,” you must be willing to take action to grow. You begin to practice what author Seth Godin challenges others to do: “Pick Yourself.”
There are skills you can incorporate to increase your salary, opportunities, and value to employers. If you want to bring home a larger paycheck and build the respect that comes from greater professional influence, mentally answer these questions: Which accomplishments would our competitors be impressed by? What have I done to be the most skilled person in this organization?
Top Strategies to Build Your Career
Here are top strategies and industry markers to help boost income as the logical consequence from strategically building your career. Assess your value by asking if any of the following pertain to you:
- Gained advanced education
- Gained specialized industry certification
- Attended industry events to strengthen your skill set
- Hired a coach to leverage gifting and maximize potential
- Stepped into community leadership roles
- Involved in trade or industry associations as a volunteer or committee member
- Involved in trade or industry associations as a trainer or panel member
- Asked to speak for local organizations as a recognized expert
- Mentored younger leaders inside the industry or another industry
- Quoted by other media or OTT media
- Become recognized by YouTube, LinkedIn, or another social media as an influencer
- Creating content on a personal blog, podcast, webcast, or YouTube channel
- Given a TEDx or Pecha Kucha presentation to show industry knowledge
- Written or co-authored a book to share your expertise
- Written or co-authored an article in a national publication
- Editor on Wikipedia or other web-based industry platforms
- Quoted as an “expert” by podcasters, webcasters, or local and national media
- Created or deepened income streams for your organization
- Created strategic partnerships for your organization
- Created strong brand awareness for your organization
- Bilingual? Trilingual?
- Years of industry experience as a trusted team member or team leader
- Well established or well networked with strategic leaders across the seven “streams of influence” (Education, Government, Media, Religion, Business, Arts, or Family)
Here’s the good news: The more these factors have been built into your career and integrated within digital and other portfolios, the more the marketplace will compensate you and seek you out because you have actively created value. When you pick you, others will see your confidence and are more likely to pick you as well.
If you have not done anything to create greater value, however, don’t automatically expect a raise. During times of recession, companies assess their employees from most to least valuable, and if you are not viewed as highly skilled, you can expect to be more vulnerable to being let go.
Get Started!
Does this make sense? Good…then get started! You can have great ideas that go nowhere if you wait until everything is perfect. Here is the Strategic Change Principle: When you add more value, the marketplace rewards you with more value to share.
Dwight Bain, MA, is the Founder of the LifeWorks Group in Winter Park, Florida. He helps people rewrite their stories through strategic change and is dedicated to helping people achieve greater results. Since 1984, Dwight has helped thousands of people across America as a Keynote Speaker, Certified Leadership Coach, Nationally Certified Counselor, and a Critical Incident Stress Management expert. He is a trusted media resource on managing major change and has been interviewed on hundreds of radio and television stations, has been quoted in over 100 publications, and is the author of Destination Success: A Map for Living Out Your Dreams. For more, see www.dwightbain.com
