Increasing my income by 2.5x in one year without a side business

Looking outside the box…

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Recently, I read this article by Jacqueline Dacres.

She asked us to share what our limiting belief was. That was easy. I shared:

My limiting belief was believing that PhD graduates in ecology had to stay in academia, overworked and underpaid, and that getting out of that system was failing. I now make 2.5x what I made a year ago, I feel like I’m having a bigger impact than I have ever had, and I don’t work a single extra minute beyond my well established schedule.

This got me thinking…

That was a truly crippling belief.

First, I thought that anything that didn’t look like a Tenure Track Position in an R1 university was failing.

It didn’t matter that my potential salary if I was to make it to that point, was going to be half of what I make now.

Second, believing that my experience didn’t prepare me to do anything else.

When in fact, and as you can read in my new book, academia had prepared me for a number of well-paid and fulfilling job roles. Not an academic? It doesn’t matter, YOUR experience has prepared you for a lot more roles than you can imagine.

Finally, and not included in my comment, I believed that the only way to increase your income was by having a side business.

A year ago I transitioned out of academia. I started making about 60% more than what I made as a Visiting Assistant professor from the get-go. But to my surprise, that didn’t pay all the bills associated with having two children in an expensive city.

So I started looking at side business ideas to develop after the kids went to bed. Nothing would make profits fast enough.

Then it hit me. What if I just increased my salary?

But to do that, I had to get a job up the ladder from where I was.

Did I have the experience?

Would they hire me?

I had nothing to lose, so I ran an experiment. I started sending applications for positions that, although I had the experience for them, sounded too intimidating, salary and title-wise.

I told to myself: worst-case scenario, they’ll reject me.

And you know what happened?

I got interviews, lots of them. For highly competitive job positions. I also got rejections (especially for jobs that were canceled, so nobody was hired). But also regular rejections. That’s ok.

At that point, I realized I wasn’t aiming “too high”. It was going to be competitive, but I needed to establish what my minimum salary requirements were and reject any less.

And just like that, I now make 260% of what I made a year ago. In a job that aims to have a positive impact on the planet. Way better and more stable than a side business, for sure!

I’ll talk more about some mindset shifts that can help you overcome your fears and aim for higher-paying positions. But for now, why don’t you try sending an application for that intimidating job that requires most of your skills? Worst-case scenario, you’ll have a learning experience with an interview!

Or you can check my FREE eBook with tips on how to land a job in the non-profit sector after Academia.