Underpaid by $20,000 — and what to do about it

To view this email as a web page, click here

Hi Reader,

What if you discovered you were underpaid by $5,000?

How about $10,000?

Or what if you discovered that you go into work, do a good job, and you’re still underpaid by $15,000 every year?

I showed some readers how to find out what they should actually be paid. A large percentage of them realized they’re being underpaid — sometimes A LOT less — and they had no idea.

Look, I’ll show you.

"Underpaid by $7,000"

Click to enlarge

"Underpaid by $20,000"

Click to enlarge

"Underpaid by $40-$50K per year"

Click to enlarge

Can you imagine discovering that you’re going to work, putting in time, and helping your company grow...and the person sitting next to you is making $10,000 more doing the same job?

I would feel nauseated if I learned that, too.

Imagine being shortchanged every day, day after day, regardless of how good a job you do. That's more depressing than Taco Bell canceling the Mexican Pizza (which I never got to taste).

Q: Are any of these true for you?

You told yourself that if you worked hard, your boss would recognize you and give you a raise. It didn’t happen.

You didn’t negotiate when you got the job. You thought about it at performance reviews, but it hasn’t worked out the way you imagined.

You know you should be paid more, but you can’t figure out exactly how. Can it happen at this job? A different job? What job?

All bad signs for being paid what you're worth. (There are also gender differences at play. Note: Women are less likely to negotiate than men.)

The good news is it's not too late to start getting paid more.

To begin, I want to show you the startling numbers behind how much you SHOULD be paid. It only takes a few minutes. Use these 3 sites to get average salary ranges for your job title:

Go ahead — look up your job title and how much you should be paid for your performance. I guarantee that when you look this number up, you will be surprised. Watch what happens.

A couple tips: Try different variations of your job title/industry. And use your performance level and years of experience to estimate where you fit in that range.

Check it out and tell me what you find. Just reply to this email and let me know how much you’re currently being paid — and how much you’re actually worth.

P.S. One of my direct reports was a “Community Manager,” a position that didn’t show up on any of these sites. So she gathered the nearest examples, highlighted the differences & similarities, and made the case for why she should be paid more. She negotiated a $10,000 raise — USING MY OWN TECHNIQUES AGAINST ME. That is how powerful these techniques are. I'll show you how to do this in an upcoming email.

P.P.S. I talked about this on CNBC Make It: