Why I’m open about money
A lesson in expanding our realm of possibility, are marketers scared to spend and interesting reads from January.
When it comes to talking about money I find there are two types of people: those who don’t mind talking about it, and those who do. Of course, this is also on a spectrum.
At one end there are inevitably people who will brag and tell you what they paid for every new item. That group I firmly do not fall into.
However, I’m definitely someone who isn’t horrified by talking about money. I think it partly comes from having a working class background (those who come from money are usually the most tight lipped I’ve found), but also because I know what a difference talking about money can sometimes have.
Some context:
A few years back now I was putting myself forward for a fulltime role that didn’t exist. By that I mean I had approached said company and asked them to hire me in a role I was defining they needed.
As a result I knew a salary question was going to come up, and that it would be up to me to set the amount. I had in my head about £40k. Last time I’d been in the corporate world I’d earned about £26k so this felt like a reasonable jump and in line with my additional experience. It was however, going to be quite a drop from what I had been earning as a freelancer and I knew I’d have to scale back my lifestyle to make it work. But I really wanted the role.
Then I had a conversation that changed my realm of possibility completely.
In a chance encounter I was talking to a (male - I’ll come back to why this is important later) friend about the role. He knew a few people who worked there and when I said I’d be taking a bit of a drop in salary to go in house (without naming figures) he said “Really? I’d imagine you’d be on at least a £55k basic salary there.”
It was very casual and to him clearly, no big deal.
But to me it was a huge perception shift. In my reality alone, to go in and ask for £55k would have felt ludicrous. Like I’d be laughed out the door. To him, it seemed standard.
The next week when the inevitable salary question came up, I looked confidently at my would-be boss and asked for something between £50-55k.
Reader: the company offered me £57k.
Had that friend not made one casual comment to me about money I could have left £17k on the table.
Knowing that company they were very fair and had a good pay scheme so would likely have offered me more than £40k anyway, but many companies wouldn’t. Seeing it instead as a way to cut their overheads and get “a deal” on a new employee.
I often wonder if women’s late entry to the world of work makes us less confident in our abilities and therefore what we are worth. Men are often our best allies in overcoming this and the few friends/mentors I have who are comfortable talking figures are always a great sounding board.
This is why I think it can be a good thing to talk about money.
It opens up our realm of possibility, something I’ve seen a lot of TikTokers referring to as “neuroplasticity”.
Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity, or brain plasticity, is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. It is when the brain is rewired to function in some way that differs from how it previously functioned. - Wikipedia
Having that conversation with a friend honestly rewired a belief about myself, the role, and what a person might be worth to a company. With his words in my ear I didn’t only feel like I could ask for that salary, but I felt confident in doing so.
This experience also made me far more open about salaries, day rates and figures. It led me to release this presentation explaining the type and fee of work I did to reach a £100k year in my freelance business.
The one exception is discussing salary with colleagues when you work at the same company. Sometimes this can be helpful in terms of addressing a gender or ethnicity pay gap, however it’s rare that you will have exactly the same role, experience level and responsibilities. This can make sharing salaries cause more harm than good.
However I have a small cohort of trusted friends and peers that I can check in with openly on figures. Knowing what others are charging as a day rate helps you to stay up to date with industry. Asking for advice on a salary could help you to earn another £17k.
Oh and if in doubt? Always add another £10k.
Yours,
Beth
Marketing in a downturn
For perhaps the first time ever in my career (which has now spanned one official recession, a pandemic and now an almost recession) I am finding that people are hesitant about spending on marketing.
When I think about working in the post-2008 world I think there was a key difference. Back then when Twitter hadn’t been around that long and most of us still had a data cap that kept us off the internet 100% of the time, we just weren’t surrounded by the news that times were hard every moment of the day.
Today, it’s everywhere we look. TV ads telling us their best money-saving deals, Martin Lewis on every breakfast TV channel, Instagram accounts pushing frugality.
While there definitely are industries who seem to be investing again (events, retail and hospitality to name a few) I’m definitely seeing more hesitancy in the tech industry. I imagine many of these companies expanded quickly during covid. Only to find, like Google and Meta who have recently made well-publicised mass lay-offs, that actually people were far keener to return to a more normal, offline world than expected.
It’s well known in marketing land that those who increase spend, or at least maintain it, during a downturn are the ones who usually win. I’ll be interested to see what the rest of the year brings to see if this is proved right again.
60% of brands that increased media spend in the last recession saw greater ROI - source
Are you finding business slower than usual right now? Hit reply and let me know - I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Interesting reads & links 🧐
This is a good read on the fundamentals, issues and questions surrounded the much hyped ChatGPT
LinkedIn have named 25 job roles growing in demand. Includes Sustainability Manager, Customer Success Consultant and more
Just for fun - Netflix original series’ returning in 2023
If you missed it you can now purchase the Keyword Research Masterclass I ran in January including the full process of how I do this for clients, my slides and keyword research Google Sheets template
Thanks for reading ❤️
Hi I’m Beth 👋 I create content and SEO strategies that help companies to grow organically. I’ve ran marketing and teams for startup and scaling companies like ScreenCloud, Growyze, Twilert, Countfire and Eventbrite. I’m also a mentor to marketers looking to grow and have fulfilling, financially rewarding careers.
You can find out more about what I do on My website or Built by Content.