6 Ways To Make More Money This Year

[00:00:00] Jessy: Hi everyone and welcome to the WIIM Podcast. Women in Influencer Marketing is a first of its kind exclusive networking group made up of inspirational women. This podcast is where we explore influencer marketing and get real about women in business. Find us wherever you download podcasts, and of course, you can always find us at iamwiim.com. That’s iamwiim.com. 

[00:00:23] Jessy: Hello. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Women in Influencer Marketing Podcast. My name is Jessy Grossman. I’m your host and I am super excited to be back today. So I was actually in Vegas. The majority of last week for the second time in one month, which is wild. 

[00:00:43] Jessy: I have fun in Vegas. People tend to like shit all over Vegas. I had a really nice time. I pretty much always do except for that one time when Paul got Covid. But, that’s definitely like an outlier. 

[00:00:56] Jessy: So this past week I was there for Creator Economy Live. I was moderating a panel and we also had our first booth, which was so exciting. The whole thing was pretty good.

[00:01:10] Jessy: My biggest gripe with them is that the location was like remote. But I can only imagine how expensive spaces are in Vegas to rent for a conference. So if that’s my biggest gripe, then they were doing pretty good. 

[00:01:30] Jessy: The space was beautiful. Like the actual main stage, it was great. It was a very beautiful, legit venue. And then right across the hall they had this expo hall, which is where we had our booth. And it was really nice to have that booth. I’m not gonna lie, it was our first time, but we had a steady stream of people coming up to our booth like the entire day of the conference. It was a one day thing. It was part of partnership week, but Creator Economy Live was just the one day. 

[00:02:03] Jessy: And we also hired this incredible photographer, whose name is Danielle, to take new professional headshots of everybody. So that seemed to be a hit. Everybody was really enthused about freshening up their head shots for LinkedIn, and the backdrop was pink.

[00:02:20] Jessy: So I have a feeling that we’re gonna see this really cool sea of pink on LinkedIn and it’s gonna be Wiimified. So very excited about that. For those of you that I met in person, thank you so much for stopping by. It was really lovely to see you. And the panelist sat I was on the panel with, so fun. 

[00:02:40] Jessy: I think everyone enjoyed our Fuck, Marry, Kill, question. It was like a very talked about question after people were like, wait, but would I TikTok Instagram or YouTube? Hmmm. It’s one that you should think about. Fuck Mary. Kill TikTok, Instagram, YouTube. 

[00:02:59] Jessy: I said, fuck TikTok cause it sounds like it would be fun and a good time. I would marry YouTube and I would kill Instagram. They’ve been bothering me lately, but I wonder if you ask me in, six months from now if I would say the same thing. I don’t know. But we’ll see. So what would you guys say? I’d be very curious.

[00:03:22] Jessy: This week’s episode, you’ve got me guys. I have a special solo episode for you coming up in just a sec. So let’s get into it.

[00:03:30] Jessy: All right guys. So this week’s episode, we’re gonna start the year strong and we are gonna start demystifying money right now. It starts in six ways to make more money this year. So of course this is like pseudo slanted as if the assumption is that you have a marketing job, but a lot of these tips could be implemented no matter what position you’re in.

[00:04:11] Jessy: So step one, very important. A lot of people would say track your output. To be able to make more money, to be able to say I did this, therefore I wanna get paid more. I disagree with that. I think you should be tracking your relationships. So when tracking your relationships, you’re prioritizing relationships, and that is pretty much always the way to make more money.

[00:04:38] Jessy: So I would track ’em, I would focus on building them up and the more valuable you are to a company, I can usually relate that to the relationships that you’ve brought in or cultivated or grown. Why is that so important? 

[00:04:55] Jessy: I mean relationships are like the backbone to all businesses for the most part. It’s It’s all about who you know, but I think it’s important to take it a step further. It’s not just who you know, it’s like who knows you and who do you have an actual significant relationship with?

[00:05:15] Jessy: So, going to conferences like the one I was at last week and just keeping in touch with people and just not being so transactional with them.

[00:05:23] Jessy: I think get to know them as human beings. have them get to know you. Take them out. We can do that now. Tracking your relationships, it’s a huge way to make more money this year, all right.

[00:05:37] Jessy: Also the second, way to make more money this year know your value. So that phrase is actually the title of a really good book that I got really into a few years ago, many years ago, I think at this point.

[00:05:51] Jessy: it’s by Mika Brazinski, who hosts Morning Joe, co-hosts Morning Joe on MSNBC in the mornings, and she wrote this book called Know Your Value. There was a whole. Conference component of it, and it was very like pro-women for the most part. It was very, Focused on women and just knowing what your value is.

[00:06:16] Jessy: So a lot of what she talks about is mindset, but I highly recommend reading the book and some practical ways to know your value, for the sake of this conversation, I always recommend setting up alerts, on LinkedIn. 

[00:06:33] Jessy: So if you’ve not done that yet and you’re like, what the heck are you talking about? I’m gonna tell you, go on LinkedIn, go as if you’re looking for jobs, but set up what your role is.

[00:06:45] Jessy: So you know, mid to senior level, let’s say, X amount of years of experience, this location or remote, whatever your situation is, and those job alerts will just, set it and forget it. Come to your inbox and you will have a sense of what similar roles to yours are yielding in terms of comp.

[00:07:07] Jessy: And I think it’s incredibly important for you to know that. Also, to know, of course, like who’s hiring, see if it’s something that might be interesting for you, but at the very least, it helps you, like really know your value.

[00:07:20] Jessy: A second way that you can know your value is watch out for our salary reveals on our Instagram account. So Iamwiim is what we are on Instagram, and every single week we’re revealing one of our anonymous salary comp packages that our members submitted. We have hundreds of them. If you haven’t submitted it, I’ll drop a link to that in the description so that you can share your comp package as well.

[00:07:50] Jessy: But they’re great, anonymous ways to not even only reveal what someone’s making, but also what benefits they’re getting, how many days off a year they get for vacation? How much of their insurance is paid for? All sorts of things are revealed in that and you guys seem to love them, so we’re gonna keep them going.

[00:08:10] Jessy: The next way to make more money this year, if you don’t hear any of the other ways. This is my personal favorite because it’s really helped me the most be vocal. So I had a job at a talent agency about 10 years ago here in the city. I started out making $26,500 a year, let me say that again, $26,500 a year in New York City, full-time job. That was how much they paid me. 

[00:08:48] Jessy: And probably is unfortunately fairly typical if you’re working as an assistant at some of the largest talent agencies in the country. It’s, disgusting, if I’m being honest.

[00:08:59] Jessy: But I remember sitting across the desk from one of my coworkers and her just being like salty this one day and saying things like, “oh, they haven’t given me a raise in so long.” ” oh, just be so mad cause I work so hard here.” et cetera, et cetera. “I haven’t gotten a race since Christmas,” and I was thinking to myself, I was like I’ve I’ve actually gotten like a couple little bumps since Christmas. 

[00:09:24] Jessy: Like I wonder what that is and I came to the conclusion it’s because I was vocal about it. I didn’t wait for them to come to me. I went to them, and if I’m honest, that’s been a theme of my entire life.

[00:09:40] Jessy: Some people, I don’t know who they are, that’s certainly not me. Some people are lucky, that they get things handed to them on a silver platter. That has literally never been my life. So if you can relate to that, raise your hand right now. I’m one of those people. And being vocal, it’s how I got anything.

[00:10:01] Jessy: If I just sit around, and waited for people to give me handouts, I wouldn’t have, anything that I have today. So be vocal, really take the time to figure out what you wanna say, how you wanna advocate for yourself. That’s a lot of it.

[00:10:18] Jessy: Really put some data behind what you’re saying to your boss, cause theoretically you’re telling them, I’d like to make more money. But don’t end it there. You gotta fill in the blanks. You’ve gotta say the why, but you have to be your biggest advocate.

[00:10:36] Jessy: And that takes practice, that takes time. It’s uncomfortable for so many people to even talk about money, nonetheless, ask for it. So if you don’t practice now, when are you gonna have a practice? 

[00:10:48] Jessy: So maybe that’ll help lessen your nerves a little bit and just say this is a practice run. I gotta practice these things. It’s a very specific skillset to advocate for yourself. So be vocal guys. All right. 

[00:11:01] Jessy: The next thing is set a goal. I don’t think you should arbitrarily go into, any of these salary negotiations or salary conversations without saying, I’m really looking to get a bump up to X amount of money or Y amount of money.

[00:11:17] Jessy: And it’s based on knowing your value, which we talked about before. So you have a sense of what the market is paying for similar rules to yourself, but I think that you should set a specific goal. And I also think it’s incredibly important to think about your comp package holistically. 

[00:11:34] Jessy: So some people are only focused on their salary where bonuses is very much money. In fact, I actually think bonus can sometimes be even more valuable than your salary because let’s say you make a hundred thousand dollars a year, you’re accumulating that over the course of 12 months, whereas a bonus, if your bonus is five grand, you’re getting that, in one day on one payment.

[00:11:59] Jessy: So you know, if something happens and you go to another, agency or another company and it’s halfway through the year, you’ve made 50,000. You haven’t made a hundred thousand. So just think about things like that. Don’t discount bonus money. Don’t discount time off. Paid time off. Don’t discount any other of these little benefits. 

[00:12:19] Jessy: Some companies are giving reimbursement these days. That I love, I love seeing educational stipends and things like that. A lot of people are using it for Wiim memberships, for example. A lot of people will use it for just like continuous education in some way.

[00:12:33] Jessy: Some people get cell phone reimbursement, Wi-fi reimbursement, considering so many people are working from home. So I wanna share these things with you so you can use them as leverage in the conversations.

[00:12:44] Jessy: Let’s say you asked for a hundred thousand, you land at 95,000, and you’re like, okay, could we do 95,000? But you could reimburse my cell phone bill, and they might agree to that. You might get on a group, well probably wouldn’t get on a group plan with ’em, of course, but, they could possibly reimburse it or pay for a little bit more of your insurance or, money is money.

[00:13:05] Jessy: So I just, don’t want you guys to get so fixated on the number of your base salary. So set a goal and have it be the number of your entire comp package, the number that you’re hoping to get to. 

[00:13:20] Jessy: All right. The last two things are pretty interesting. Let’s start with the next one, which is get a side hustle. So some people might disagree with this, some people might say, I don’t wanna have to get a side hustle. I want my main job to, bring me the money that I need.

[00:13:38] Jessy: Well, I think that it’s important to recognize that side hustles or additional streams of revenue, can be garnered in a many different ways.

[00:13:50] Jessy: So it doesn’t have to necessarily deplete your energy because you’re practically doing another part or full-time job on the side, cause I can imagine that could be really be distracting from, your main job. 

[00:14:03] Jessy: But for example, for years I had an Airbnb, I made, upwards of 50,000 plus dollars on it a year and it wasn’t quite passive income. I can’t lie and say it was completely passive, but it was certainly, side income and I established some sort of a routine that got me, more comfortable in it and it took less and less time. I did have to outsource a lot of things like hiring a cleaner and hiring a manager of the property and stuff like that.

[00:14:33] Jessy: But it was nice side income and, that is in my mind, a perfect example of a side hustle. Another thing that I see a lot of women members get into these days is, consulting on the side.

[00:14:46] Jessy: So one caveat to that, that I will say a disclaimer is do make sure that if you’re consulting on something related to influencer marketing and you have a job in marketing, do make sure that you’re above board about that and that you’ve gotten it approved, because I don’t wanna see you get in trouble of sorts, and they feel like it’s a conflict of interest. Maybe you’re taking business away from the company that you’re working for. So I don’t want it to get you in trouble. I want it to be additive.

[00:15:14] Jessy: So I love the women that I see who are consulting on the side, and they’re also like exploring, their creativity a little bit more. I’ve seen that a bunch. So maybe in their day-to-day like agency job, let’s say, it’s like pretty routine. Maybe they work only with one brand or two brands and it’s just the same thing day on, day out.

[00:15:34] Jessy: Well, I love when I see some of the women that are in those positions, especially who consult on the side, and now they get a client where, it’s much more creative and they’re coming up with a strategy altogether, or they’re, coming up with decks and they’re putting these beautiful presentations together and they’re getting paid significantly, good money to do it in a lot of cases.

[00:15:57] Jessy: But I think that what like about that the most is that, if it’s done right, then additive to your life. Financially, and creatively and even professionally because now you can add all of these skills and additional relationships to your resume. I love it.

[00:16:18] Jessy: And the last, way to make more money this year, girl, cause I want you to make all the money, is to be honest. So what do I mean by that? I mean that you should have come to Jesus moment with your current company.

[00:16:37] Jessy: And if you have done all the steps that I’ve mentioned earlier where you know you’ve tracked your relationships, you’ve come to know your value, you’re vocal, you’ve set goals. And your company is just not providing it for you, they are not giving you more money. They’re not even entertaining, giving you more money, and something in your gut tells you that this is not the company to give you what you need, then I want you guys to be honest with yourselves about that and stop fitting a square peg, in a round hole, cause I see so many people doing that, or they’re like, I don’t wanna jump too quickly from company to company. Or what will they think? Or oh, like I don’t wanna put them in a bind.

[00:17:25] Jessy: Like I really wanna be loyal to them. They’ve done so much for me and of course it is easier said than done, it’s easier for me to say too as somebody not in your position, but as the beautiful Janet Jackson once said, what have they done for me lately?

[00:17:43] Jessy: Have they really earned that loyalty? Have they really earned all of these sacrifices that you’re making? This is a job. This is your career. This isn’t something that you’re doing out of generosity and the warmth of your heart. This is business and so I want everyone who’s listening and watching this podcast to, go home at the end of the day and feel as if the work output that you are putting into your job, you’re being fairly compensated for it.

[00:18:15] Jessy: And in fact, I want all of you to say damn, I’m making good money, because that opens up so many pathways for you in your life, and I really want that for you.

[00:18:26] Jessy: So I want you to be honest after doing all of these steps, If at the end of the day you feel in your gut like you are just not gonna get what you want from this specific company, then I think it’s important to explore their options if your needs aren’t being met. This is in the case of a job, a relationship like life.

[00:18:50] Jessy: So with all that being said, guys, thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed these six ways to make more money this year and go get that money, girl, and let me know when you all get raises. Ugh, it’s like a beautiful thing. 

[00:19:05] Jessy: If you enjoyed this episode, we gotta have you back. Check out our website for more ways to get involved, including all the information you need about joining our collective. You can check out all the information at iamwiim.com. Leave us a review, a rating, but the most important thing that we can ask you to do is to share this podcast. 

[00:19:25] Jessy: Thanks for listening. Tune in next week.