High Earners - How did you continue growing your income?

[Guesl982374]

REMOVED

[onlykelsey]

This thread is for anyone who makes over $150K/year gross as an individual. I am really interested in how you continued to grow your income on an exponential curve. I am a firm believer that there are two parts to the personal finance equation INCOME - EXPENSES. This entire site is dedicated to reducing ones expenses and I completely agree with the overall MMM methodology. However, hopefully we all agree, increasing one's income makes is significantly easier to build wealth.

On a personal note, I am interested in acquiring significantly more wealth than I need for charity reasons, not for consumption, so please let's keep comments around "Who cares, it’s all about your savings rate" & "You need to figure out what enough is". I agree, but it isn't the point of this thread. Also, let's please keep discussion to a minimum increasing one's income from a very low range as MMM covered that one with his $50K/yr without a degree posts.

My background: 31 years old, Corporate America commercial job for a manufacturing company, salary & small bonus in the $125-150K/yr range. I know I am very blessed in many ways, both financial and non-financial so please note that I am not complaining / whining / humble bragging, just thinking through next steps on self-improvement. Any position that I investigate as a potential next step looks to be in the $150-175K range and unless I am willing to try politic my way to a c-suite role in my 50's (not interested, not that much time left before FIRE), I see compensation top out in the $150k-$200K range if I work for someone else.

So how did you 'break through' this income range? How did you manage to scale? 100% commission sales? Starting your own business? Real Estate? Books or websites that helped?

Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated as I can't be the only one interested in this topic.

I can't help much in terms of salary, as I am in a very lucrative field with lockstep salaries (Manhattan-based international law firm).  I'll make maybe 300K this year (~180 post-tax, I believe), but very little of that is discretionary.  It's sort of a binary salary set up.  Unless you're interested in going to law school and getting one of these jobs (I don't recommend it).

I do think that once you spend a couple years at this salary point, a lot of the successful folks begin really putting their savings to work for them beyond "index funds". I don't think I have the temperament or time for real estate investment or blogging or anything like that, but it seems to be a pretty popular choice.  I think the other popular choice is to move in to consulting a la axecleaver, who has great advice and stories on his journal and elsewhere.  Now that I think about, marriage/partnering off seems to be another popular choice here.  If you're a man, marrying and having kids both seem to have positive effects on employers' perception of your resume and their salary offers.  The inverse is true for women, though, so....

[iwasjustwondering]

I stayed at one company for nine years, during which time I had one promotion.  When it became clear that I could go no farther there, I started looking and took a risk.  I think staying at one place for a while establishes a lot of positive things about my character, which leaves me free to job hop a bit in the future in order to increase my income and put this working for a living thing to bed.

I also saved a lot of money, which gives me the freedom to speak up at work, change jobs if necessary, and take risks that could pay off financially (and already have paid off significantly, in terms of giving me interesting and challenging work).  Without the frugality, ironically, my income would be lower.

I also do things at work to establish myself as a member of the upper middle class.  When people think "single mother," they often think of a poor waitress struggling to make it.  So I dress well, I talk about my kids' soccer camp or whatever, to remind my peers that I am not struggling; I make as much as they do.  It's not fair, but it does make a difference.

[Guesl982374]

I can't help much in terms of salary, as I am in a very lucrative field with lockstep salaries (Manhattan-based international law firm).  I'll make maybe 300K this year (~180 post-tax, I believe), but very little of that is discretionary.  It's sort of a binary salary set up.  Unless you're interested in going to law school and getting one of these jobs (I don't recommend it).

I do think that once you spend a couple years at this salary point, a lot of the successful folks begin really putting their savings to work for them beyond "index funds". I don't think I have the temperament or time for real estate investment or blogging or anything like that, but it seems to be a pretty popular choice.  I think the other popular choice is to move in to consulting a la axecleaver, who has great advice and stories on his journal and elsewhere.  Now that I think about, marriage/partnering off seems to be another popular choice here.  If you're a man, marrying and having kids both seem to have positive effects on employers' perception of your resume and their salary offers.  The inverse is true for women, though, so....

-I agree that I am not interested in law however I think the bigger lesson here is to NOT 'follow your passion' but instead be in the right industry and provide significant value

-I'm not concerned with 'salary' but more with top line gross income. I am ok with it being less stable, that's part of the beauty of the 'stache :). Maybe its just me but I do feel that this is a topic that concerns most people in Corp. America, eventually salary tops out.

-I completely agree with the marriage aspect. My wife is also a high earner and it gets really run/interesting when both partners are working towards the same goal. Marrying the wrong person has horrific implications financially and non-financially

-I'll take a look at axecleaver's journal, thanks

[LAL]

curious to see.  DH just choose to switch fields.  Seems more lucrative and he wasn't doing badly before.

[bobechs]

Exponential increase from ~$150K/yr base income? What exponent did you have in mind? 2? 3?

Looks like big law, high-profile medicine, huge inheritance or billionaire gf/bf are off the table for now, anyway.  Maybe some kind of celebrity multiplier is in order: televangelist, reality TV superstar, all-time Jeopardy! champion...

And there is always the powerball lottery.

[dandarc]

Maybe not quite qualified on income yet (I get 148K if I work 2080 hours this year - not happening this fiscal year, but 2016-17 has a $2/hour bump for me and hopefully more time available for work), but for me, the big jump was switching from employee to contractor.  Since college:

W-2 employee -> Contractor, but W-2 with contract firm -> Contractor, W-2 with no benefits -> Contractor 1099

Each big shift had a pretty significant pay bump as well, net of benefits and taxes.  Now, we're getting modest bumps each year, but $2/hour every year adds up quick enough for me.  To do substantially better, I'd either have to move to a likely higher-cost area, switch from applications-development to more of a systems-programmer or DBA type of role (which I hated when I tried it - this is what prompted me to start looking for a job back before that first jump to contractor-W2 - wanted to get back to the applications side, and couldn't at my company) or start my own business.

Seems to me, the more variability you can put up with, the more you make in total - guarantees usually come with a price.

[BoonDogle]

My path was to try to be the best at what I did.  When my peers complained or didn't want to do something, I volunteered.  I made an attempt to be the guy that could be counted on when others couldn't.  I tried to make my value higher than my peers so that when it came time for promotions, I would stand out.  I also made an effort to get to know and be well-liked by our clients so they would ask for me.  Over time they promoted me and made me a partner.

I would also say that if it is obvious that you aren't going anywhere with your company, it is time to look elsewhere.  Many companies will pay you the least amount that they have to pay you to keep you there.  You have to figure out how to make yourself more marketable to as many companies as possible to increase your value so that either your company will pay you what you are worth or you can go somewhere where they will.

[onlykelsey]

Exponential increase from ~$150K/yr base income? What exponent did you have in mind? 2? 3?

Looks like big law, high-profile medicine, huge inheritance or billionaire gf/bf are off the table for now, anyway.  Maybe some kind of celebrity multiplier is in order: televangelist, reality TV superstar, all-time Jeopardy! champion...

And there is always the powerball lottery.

Well, to be fair, x^1.1 is still exponential.  I now sort of want to figure out what my salary increase has been in life and it's been exponential...

[Guesl982374]

Maybe not quite qualified on income yet (I get 148K if I work 2080 hours this year - not happening this fiscal year, but 2016-17 has a $2/hour bump for me and hopefully more time available for work), but for me, the big jump was switching from employee to contractor.  Since college:

W-2 employee -> Contractor, but W-2 with contract firm -> Contractor, W-2 with no benefits -> Contractor 1099

Each big shift had a pretty significant pay bump as well, net of benefits and taxes.  Now, we're getting modest bumps each year, but $2/hour every year adds up quick enough for me.  To do substantially better, I'd either have to move to a likely higher-cost area, switch from applications-development to more of a systems-programmer or DBA type of role (which I hated when I tried it - this is what prompted me to start looking for a job back before that first jump to contractor-W2 - wanted to get back to the applications side, and couldn't at my company) or start my own business.

Seems to me, the more variability you can put up with, the more you make in total - guarantees usually come with a price.

dandrc - What industry? Did you contract with your former employer(s) or was it a 'new' client each time you made the jump?

My path was to try to be the best at what I did.  When my peers complained or didn't want to do something, I volunteered.  I made an attempt to be the guy that could be counted on when others couldn't.  I tried to make my value higher than my peers so that when it came time for promotions, I would stand out.  I also made an effort to get to know and be well-liked by our clients so they would ask for me.  Over time they promoted me and made me a partner.

I would also say that if it is obvious that you aren't going anywhere with your company, it is time to look elsewhere.  Many companies will pay you the least amount that they have to pay you to keep you there.  You have to figure out how to make yourself more marketable to as many companies as possible to increase your value so that either your company will pay you what you are worth or you can go somewhere where they will.

I agree that it takes hard work and the willingness to do what others won't. You hit a major point that has been a contributor to my past success, you can't avoid hard work. I've written about it before, but I spent 3+ years being underpaid to get the experience that allowed a significant jump when I switched companies (40%). I've taken on a number of roles / tasks that others wouldn't and have gotten recognized/paid after the fact.

Exponential increase from ~$150K/yr base income? What exponent did you have in mind? 2? 3?

Looks like big law, high-profile medicine, huge inheritance or billionaire gf/bf are off the table for now, anyway.  Maybe some kind of celebrity multiplier is in order: televangelist, reality TV superstar, all-time Jeopardy! champion...

And there is always the powerball lottery.

Well, to be fair, x^1.1 is still exponential.  I now sort of want to figure out what my salary increase has been in life and it's been exponential...

Exactly, how does one go about working SMARTER while still working extremely hard and obtain 10-20-30% year over year gross income increases. Most information out there is get-rich-quick garbage but there plenty of people who achieve these kinds of growth numbers. Getting the standard 2-3% raise year over year keeps up with inflation and is NOT exponential in my opinion.

[Guesl982374]

Exponential increase from ~$150K/yr base income? What exponent did you have in mind? 2? 3?

Looks like big law, high-profile medicine, huge inheritance or billionaire gf/bf are off the table for now, anyway.  Maybe some kind of celebrity multiplier is in order: televangelist, reality TV superstar, all-time Jeopardy! champion...

And there is always the powerball lottery.

Good ideas. I'll give each one a try. Maybe even combine a few: Televangelist brain surgeon who got his start after winning the lottery while winning Jeopardy.

[Aloysius_Poutine]

Following to pick up some of that high-earner/high-value mindset y'all are flinging around in here. :)

I'm not even close to that income level yet, but I'm a climber in my company and I will get there inside of 10 years.

[Guesl982374]

I did this, going from ~10k in 2012 to ~500k in 2015 with one of my side hustles that turned into my full time job. I don't know how easy it is with a salary. You're going to have to take on some more risk to get that kind of reward, and generally that's through self-employment of some kind. The people I know who are making that much all started their own businesses and capitalized on new markets, and the income isn't stable at all (I'll probably make half this year what I made last year). Stuff like: starting a landscape company, writing mobile gaming apps, self-publishing, starting an escape room, gambling at skill games like poker.

What do they say, "a hard way to make an easy living"? You have to constantly be improving your skills and reinventing yourself, willing to change things up if you're failing. And while the returns are great, I wouldn't want to sustain this kind of effort forever. Thank goodness this year will be my last working, I feel quite burned out from the past few years.

MrsWhipple - Great advice. Does your side gig require your direct labor or does it involve managing others and/or a process?

[Secretly Saving]

I think a big one is continuously improving and learning.  That keeps you marketable for future jobs and let's your employer know that you are committed.

We also constantly look for side hustles that would work for our family. 

[JoJo]

I've had steady increases throughout the years to go from 35K about 20 years ago to 250K today in the corporate world.    Just took increasing roles of management to now Director level.  Based on my personality, this is as far as I want to go (and will be as far as I go because I'm planning ER next year). 

I'm in a profession where director level means only a few people, not dozens so it's manageable to me.  I can't imagine the people management if it were alot more.  The key is to have people who work below you that complement your strengths.

I do feel a bit of an outcast in my career level - seems everyone else is married, has kids, more consumers.  I'm always single, no kids, frugal, make sure I take all of my 6 weeks vacation every year (always somewhere exotic).  Also, have taken 2 sabbaticals in my career (20 months at age 30 and 3 months at age 40) which didn't seem to get in the way of my advancement (in fact, I got my promotion to director less then a year from coming back from the second sabbatical). 

[Tyson]

Job hopping.  Your current job pays you at the level of skill you were at when you joined them.  You might get incremental raises based on your initial salary, but if you want pay jumps that are larger, you have to go elsewhere.  When you jump, the new company will pay you a lot more $$ because you have a lot more skill now than 8 years ago. 

When you get an offer, you can try to leverage that offer for more money where you are at, but that's tricky and might burn some bridges.  My view is that people are professional and they get that you have to take care of your own career first.  If they don't understand that, then maybe you shouldn't be working for them anyway....

[big_slacker]

I'm just under $200k with bonus this year. I had no actual career or career strategy, was a snowboard bum till 30. Smart and lazy is a good description, but I wanted to see where my potential could take me.

In my field (tech infrastructure) skills, planning and a cool head trump everything. I didn't really go about building skills in a planned fashion for a while. I just took a job where there was an opportunity based on talent and enthusiasm. Applied what I knew, used my 'superpower' of taking concepts to application quickly and once I'd gotten to 80% at that job popped my head up and looked for greater opportunities.

Along the way I worked with people and kept up with the good ones. Many times either I jumped the next rung up and pulled them along or vice versa. This is REAL networking, not the leech kind but the good people helping good people kind.

At some point I started being more selective with the opportunities because I could be. I took ones that were challenging and progressed my skills and abilities.

So far so good, I haven't topped out yet.

[dandarc]

dandrc - What industry? Did you contract with your former employer(s) or was it a 'new' client each time you made the jump?

I'm in IT.  First job was at an insurance company.  I then jumped ship to a contract position with the State of Florida.  Same customer since then across the various arrangements, although the middle-man changed once.  Many angry phone calls in that move, but it had become clear that the company would not go to bat to get us more money, so we felt the risk was worth it at the time.  Has worked out fantastically so far.

[Giro]

Switch jobs frequently, learn to speak the speak (it's worth more than actually DOING), network, learn enough about every area of your company that you can speak intelligently on it, build business for your company, use those sales to get a more lucrative job with another company. 

Marry someone who makes as much as you do.  One of the deciding factors when I met my husband was his income.  It's not shallow, it's necessary.  It turned my 150k salary into 300k. 

[KMB]

I did this, going from ~10k in 2012 to ~500k in 2015 with one of my side hustles that turned into my full time job

...

Thank goodness this year will be my last working, I feel quite burned out from the past few years.

Not sure what you're up to, but you should consider selling your business ... to someone on this forum :)

[StockBeard]

4 Things helped me multiply my income by 5 over the past 10 years (bear in mind, I started very low compared to what lots of people make on this forum), bringing me into the "high earners category" at least temporarily:

1) Switched companies for a better offer in my late 20's. It was easy, my first job was dramatically underpaid, I didn't even question my decision a single second. Future decisions turned out to be more difficult (I've stayed in the same job for 8 years now, despite looking at many other offers)
2) Started and grew a side business (a website) which today represents 20% of my income
3) Accepted a relocation offer into another country. This was a big jump in salary with no change in my job position or responsibility.
4) Luck. My company's stock has been doing pretty well over the past 6 years, and it's a part of my compensation package.

Note that I never got a promotion in my company. This could have helped too, but not exponentially.

As over have stated, a side hustle is probably one of the best ways, but it's not guaranteed at all, and it's lots of work. I believe mine has now reached its peak, and I have to work hard just to maintain it at its current level.

[mr_orange]

I have a real estate side business where I make 3X or so what I make at my full-time W2.  I work all the time though so be prepared to work a lot.  Finding a flexible W2 that allows for a side business is a good option in general, but you risk getting low ratings at work by dividing your time.  As long as you can stomach some layoff time using this strategy and have marketable skills to land somewhere with equal or greater salary it may make sense for your situation. 

As I get closer to FIRE I find that I really care less about what the W2 employer thinks and am willing/able to take more risk with my W2 job situation. 

[spud1987]

Others have good suggestions in this thread.

But I will add that it is difficult for salaried jobs to go much above 250k/year. Off the top of my head I can only think of a few (biglaw sr. associate/partner, medical doctor, consulting/big 4 partner, I-banking associate and above, fortune 500 executive).

To truly earn the "big bucks" you need to do something entrepreneurial, which obviously comes with a high amount of risk.

For example, I'm an in-house attorney making about 225k in salary plus bonus. But my job tops out at around 300k unless I become general counsel. If I wanted to increase my salary I would have to do something entrepreneurial or take a risk and join an early stage startup. Neither one is guaranteed to increase my salary in the near term. 

[ysette9]

I can only speak to what I know, which is being an engineer (and subsequently an engineering manager) in a big company full of engineers.

Early on in my career I plotted my salary progression and then used that linear curve fit (R^2 value of 0.98, for what it's worth) to predict what my future salary would be if I stayed pace. 11+ years into my career I am holding steady though it feels like it will drop off at some point. I started out as a level 1 engineer, got a master's degree on my company's dime, and moved into management.

For what it is worth, here are my observations. I think my progress is not unheard of but not the norm in my company. Due to a combination of good luck, hard work, good education, and a bit a je-ne-sais-quoi, I have gotten a lot of opportunities to advance. Leadership development program, being flagged by HR as a "high potential", worked at multiple sites (large company), program management development program, extra training, involved in extracuriculars and special projects, etc. In participating in all of that I end up seeing the same smallish subset of people involved and getting visibility. A lot of people don't have the desire to move up like that. Some people do and just don't have the appropriate mix of technical and people skills to do it.

The point being is that most people are clustered somewhere in the middle of the bell curve and the people I see who really advance their career/salary are on the right-hand tail of that curve. They are smart, driven, well-educated, have excellent interpersonal skills, and most of all just get shit done. When you have a reputation for taking care of problems then people keep coming back to you with more opportunities. It's a positive feedback loop.

[tonysemail]

given your constraints:
- not vying for c-suite role
- last few years before FIRE
- 10-30% annual raises desired on a base of 125-150k
- boatloads of money for charity

I would think stock options and RSUs. 
A good signing bonus or two would probably satisfy the 1.3x salary growth target.
How feasible is it to move into high tech?

Another random thought is to optimize the heck out of your taxes.
a CRUT is not for the faint of heart.
But it allows you to divide real estate interests, such that you keep steady income, but the remainder interest in the asset is donated to charity after you pass.

finally, maybe a full case study would give you better feedback.

[2Birds1Stone]

I got into sales.

My first full fiscal year my total gross comp was $184k with no degree. OTE was $97k

This is a 2-3 year gig before moving to the next level (outside sales) where the average income at my company is $225-250k/yr

After that you can move into an Account Director Role where the top 50% make $300-400k/yr

After that it gets tricky, you have to move into either a highly competitive management role for an entire region/BU.....or go to another company with your own book of business and negotiate an uncapped comp structure that will allow you to make more.

I have a great friend who sells windows for a living.

His pay is as follows

$65k/yr base salary
6% of gross revenue growth year over year. This year he will make something along the lines of $700-800k.......selling windows.........

[big_slacker]

Another thing I should mention as other have. You can do the same thing you do now as an entrepreneur if the opportunity is there. A friend of mine does the same thing as me at just about the same level. He does it as his own business though and gross last year IIRC was $400k, so twice my gross. But he works ALL THE TIME between the actual work and the work of the business, landing clients and so on.

[dandarc]

$65k/yr base salary
6% of gross revenue growth year over year. This year he will make something along the lines of $700-800k.......selling windows.........

So he sells $11-12M worth of windows this year.  Next year he sells $10M worth - he only gets $65K under this setup because there was no revenue growth?

[2Birds1Stone]

$65k/yr base salary
6% of gross revenue growth year over year. This year he will make something along the lines of $700-800k.......selling windows.........

So he sells $11-12M worth of windows this year.  Next year he sells $10M worth - he only gets $65K under this setup because there was no revenue growth?

This is just a monster year. He has produced growth 11 or 12 years in a row for this company. He covers the entire USA sales territory and there is a ton of growth potential even after a year like this.

I believe this year his sales revenue will be to the tune of $25M. Last year was ~$15M....who knows next year could be anything....that's the beauty/curse of a sales job.

[squatman]

I've worked for 3 companies (2 consulting/research firms and a pharma company), and all three had clear paths to 200k+ comp. In consulting you needed to be an engagement manager so you were bringing in work, and in pharma the restricted stock units put plenty of people over 200k once you get to a reasonable (not c-suite) level. That said, I wouldn't want the life of an engagement manager.

As for how you can increase your compensation, based on my n of 1, changing jobs/companies every 18-36 months is probably the way to go. I've gone from ~70k in 2012 to ~130k+40% in bonus/stocks now (2 new jobs + a promotion). Had I stayed at my first company, even though there was a very clear promotion track, I wouldn't be close to where I am now in terms of compensation.

[Last Night]

This thread is for anyone who makes over $150K/year gross as an individual. I am really interested in how you continued to grow your income on an exponential curve. I am a firm believer that there are two parts to the personal finance equation INCOME - EXPENSES. This entire site is dedicated to reducing ones expenses and I completely agree with the overall MMM methodology. However, hopefully we all agree, increasing one's income (not just salary) makes is significantly easier to build wealth.

On a personal note, I am interested in acquiring significantly more wealth than I need for charity reasons, not for consumption, so please let's keep comments around "Who cares, it’s all about your savings rate" & "You need to figure out what enough is". I agree, but it isn't the point of this thread. Also, let's please keep discussion to a minimum increasing one's income from a very low range as MMM covered that one with his $50K/yr without a degree posts.

My background: 31 years old man, married, Corporate America commercial job for a manufacturing company, salary & small bonus in the $125-150K/yr range. I know I am very blessed in many ways, both financial and non-financial so please note that I am not complaining / whining / humble bragging, just thinking through next steps on self-improvement. Any position that I investigate as a potential next step looks to be in the $150-175K range and unless I am willing to try politic my way to a c-suite role in my 50's (not interested, not that much time left before FIRE), I see compensation top out in the $150k-$200K range if I work for someone else.

So how did you 'break through' this income range? How did you manage to scale? 100% commission sales? Starting your own business? Real Estate? Books or websites that helped?

Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated as I can't be the only one interested in this topic.

Interesting question.

I am 33 and grossing 175k in Finance.

It has been easy so far to grow my income based on working smart/hard and managing my network to create opportunities.  I haven't done anything special in my eyes, but my goal has always been income growth. 

I feel I've reached a point of diminishing returns though:

1. Any job above and beyond my current pay will require more travel and/or long hours.
2. Stress/accountability for the actions of others becomes your main role.
3. Imposter syndrome, I've always felt I might be too young/inexperienced to sit on the big boy table with the C level so those are additional demons that can come and haunt you.  Great learning curve, but is the rush really worth it?


If you are already making 150k at 31 I would advise you to focus on a job with work/life balance opposed to cracking to 175 or 200, it honestly doesn't matter, your accounts should be well lined now as is.

Food for though, I am personally taking a break from chasing that next paycheque as the next step for me is VP Finance/CFO.  I could downsize to a smaller firm and take 200k-250k pay as a CFO of a small organization (less than 250M in revenue) or stay the course where I am at (multi billion dollar corp) and possibly take a stab at the C level in a decade's time for a return of 500k+/annually.  I don't feel I am ready for that type of responsibility anyway nor am I even a potential candidate in anyone's eyes.

[dude]

I'm just a government hack, so I wouldn't know personally, but from observations of the friends I have who've gone this route -- STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS is pretty much the way.  But it requires a hell of a lot of work and sacrifice.  One friend, an engineer, left his firm and invested his entire fortune at the time (@$25k IIRC) into starting his own business (they specialize in taking over and managing municipal water supplies). He was fully broke after the first year, but persisted, and now runs a multi-million dollar business with 600+ employees.  He is filthy, filthy rich.  But he's had some travails along the way, especially with respect to his kids, for whom he wasn't around much due to his work.  Things are better now though, but he will never retire despite having vast sums of money, acres and acres of real estate and other toys, because he simply loves what he does.

A couple other friends started their own law firms, and have done very well.

Another started his own executive head hunting firm after working in that business for a while, and is now fabulously wealthy.

Being a business owner, i.e., working for yourself, is really the best way to become stinking rich, but it requires a mindset and commitment that few of us have or are willing to make.

[ETBen]

In 6 years I went from 55k to 185k (includes a 30k bonus).

- I've changed companies every 2-3 years. You have to in order to get your worth in many cases. 
- I aggressively market myself towards their needs
- I never move for less than a 25% raise. In fact, it's was 60%, 25%, 35% respectively. Not including bonuses. My bonuses have always 20% the past 2 roles.

I'm in healthcare. Insurance specifically, but not sales. I leverage every bit of my experience. Nursing, relationship mgmt, my first adult job in service, and my college internship even. I make them seem exciting and important. Im on message at all times and present well. (I think it also helps that I'm reasonably attractive and ridiculously tall). People mock the corporate game but I think they also need to be honest with themselves. Their options. What they want. What it will take to get their given the paths available to you.  I make it work, put in normal hours, nothing crazy, then go home to my family.

[eyerishgold]

I started a small logistics company about 6 years ago. The first year or 2 were rough. I only made around 20k USD year 1 and just over 40k USD year 2. However, last year my gross profit was just north of $175k USD and this year I should easily break $250k. I owe most of my success to a combination of hard work and luck. I was lucky to fall into this industry after spending 8 or so years in banking. The hard work part was starting off cold calling customers and building up a good customer list. Right now, I'm fortunate that most of our new customers come from referrals.

Transportation and logistics is a great industry to be in. I have a handful of employees and hopefully we'll continue to grow so I can keep stashing away money. I didn't go to college so there's no way I'd be making this kind of money if I didn't start a business.