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There's valuable experience in all jobs.
- Michael Taylor is the cofounder and COO at Ladder.io, a growth technology and services company. As a technical marketer with $25 million spent across channels, Michael has experienced an adtech exit to Adobe, acquired one million emails at Travelzoo, survived two Google algorithm updates at ShopStyle, and scaled paid ads 30 times at AppSumo.
- Throughout his career, he's worked at a variety of jobs - finally landing in his dream position of startup founder and COO. To get there, he made himself valuable at past jobs, learning things no one else did - and fought for his good ideas.
- He found valuable experience in every position he held, and made his ambitions consistently clear to his managers.
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Here's something that's always bothered me: Knowing that many people obsess, like I once did, over the money they make. Some even get so worked up by perceived unfairness that they burn out from their jobs, putting any chance of promotion at risk. It's counterintuitive -and, by obsessing over salary, you kill your chances at earning more over time.
But it doesn't have to be that way.
Courtesy of Michael Taylor
Michael Taylor.
At my company, we value transparency, so the solution I found to avoid salary obsessions and burnout was obvious, but difficult: Share my own personal salary diary! If people could see my own nonstandard, haphazard career path toward being a reasonably compensated startup founder, perhaps it would help them find contentment in where they are now.
Of course, I was concerned about sharing something so personal. My team, family, and friends might read it and have a bad reaction. But that's precisely why it's valuable to share - salary is such a taboo topic that nobody puts any reliable information out there. Therefore, we all make worse decisions than we would if we had real data to benchmark against.
Here's my salary diary, starting from the beginning of my career until now:
Courtesy of Michael Taylor
While my career path may not be traditional (or even relevant) to everybody, the lessons I've learned are useful when it comes to growing my compensation and moving closer to my dream job. They allow me to not get hung up on money, no matter the role or industry. Here are five tips to keep in mind as you work toward the salary you want: