Summary: When’s the best time to ask for a pay raise? We were completely surprised by the answer. Listen to this post! Click a player to hear George & Mary-Lynn on The BIGG Success Show Podcast! (Duration 4:22) iPhone/iPad/Android/Mobile Podcast Player New research shows that, if the head of your company is a man, you’re likely to get a raise when his first daughter is born. And female workers benefit more than the males! Women’s pay rose over one percent, almost twice the rate as men’s. But if the baby’s a boy, you can actually expect to make less, no matter what sex you are. So here’s the BIGG spin on this research: If your boss has a girl, jump with Joy (or whatever the new girl’s name is). If it’s a boy, run and hide! Now is the time The good news is that you don’t have to wait for a birth. But you better hurry! Mark Di Vincenzo, author of Buy Shoes on Wednesday and Tweet at 4:00, says we’re in the best time of year to ask for a promotion, assuming your employer’s fiscal year is the calendar year. The fall is generally not a good time because companies are looking to save money. January brings the start of a new fiscal year and a fresh budget. He says 16% of all promotions occur in January. Now think about that – each month represents about 8% of the year (1 month divided by 12 months in the year). So January is double what you might expect. In other words, now’s the time to get your promotion. You have two weeks if you’re reading this on the day we released it. The BIGG spin Okay, so that’s what the research shows. Now it’s time for the BIGG spin: When is the best time to ask for a pay raise? After you’ve earned it! We say that somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but we are serious. BIGG success is about entrepreneuring your life. Your career is part of that life. Therefore, think like an entrepreneur to be a BIGG success in your career! But it begs the question: How do you think like an entrepreneur in your career? It comes down to one thing: results. When you make a pay raise request or ask for a promotion, talk about results. For example: How much have you impacted the bottom line? Have you spearheaded an initiative that increased sales? Can you point to cost-savings you’ve been able to achieve for your company? You’ll be in the strongest position if you can show quantifiable results. How much did your efforts impact the bottom line? You can expect a raise in proportion to that impact. But if you can’t do that, can you tell a good story? For instance: How did you make customers happier? Do you have letters or notes or any other evidence to show with your request? But so far we’ve only discussed the past. Make sure you show you’re also thinking about the future: What ideas do you have now to improve the bottom line going forward? Show your boss: you’re not a one-trick pony you’re still looking for ways to increase sales you’re still trying to wring unnecessary costs out of the system you are still thinking like an entrepreneurial employee It leads to BIGG success! What are your tips for asking for a pay raise or a promotion? Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast: http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00845-011713.mp3 Image in this post from stock.xchng
