Salary Negotiation. Pt. 1

Welcome to Leadership Sovereignty Podcast. I'm your host, Ralph Owens, along with Terry Beller. In today's episode, we'll touch on topics such as the importance of the need to negotiate salary, the power to negotiate, a career versus a job, negotiation preparation, and understanding the value of the seat. Enjoy the show. Alright.

Hello, world. We are back again. Back with another exciting episode.

Think this one's gonna be fun. I think it's gonna be fun. You know, I don't know if we really talk about this much. You know, most people say, man, don't play with my money. They don't even talk about it.

Yeah, it's definitely something that you learn how to do well over time through experience. Getting in there and having to negotiate a salary, you know, all the components that come with that. I think we got some really good information to share that'll help some people as it pertains to negotiating salary moving forward.

Sure. Sure. You know, it's funny, what kind of led us down this path is someone reached out and it was amazing to me. This person shared they had not negotiated a salary in probably, I don't know, ten or fifteen years because they were a part of a union. What is that?

Wow. It was. And so I just started sharing some things and I think Ralph, I bounced it off of you just saying, hey, this person came to me with this story and maybe we need to talk about this.

Yeah, it's a it's an important topic. It's an important topic because unless you're in the union space, which I don't I don't know much about, but typically you're going to have to be able to negotiate salary for the jobs that you have. And there's some fundamental pieces to that, that if you don't understand what you're doing, you only get one chance to negotiate that salary.

Correct. Correct. And and I can't wait to share anecdotally, about that experience because it goes into some of the things that you have in the notes that in terms of building out this show and sometimes we really don't know the power of what it means to negotiate. It's not yes. I'm just gonna say that.

That's right. That's right. You know, some people don't realize that they have the power to negotiate. Correct. They come in thinking that, oh, it's just whatever they say or whatever they offer.

You know,

I'm sorry, go ahead. Go ahead.

No, I was just gonna say it's there's more to that. You have more power than that. And we hope that this enables you, empowers you, right, to me to do more. You were gonna say, sure.

Yeah, I was gonna say, I think part of it is too, man. I remember when I first got into the workforce and just the messaging that I received from my parents. Because I mean, really, you know, we are, I guess, second generation, I guess maybe third generation, I'll say third generation. And my parents didn't have this experience. So it was simply, hey, you get a good job.

So when you have a job, I think even let's start there. I'm not interested in a job. I'm interested in a career. But when you get a job, you probably just accept what the job is paying. So that experience or reference point that our parents My mom just turned 90, man.

So, know, I mean, what God has done from her generation to my generation, there are a few in there, right? I got brothers who are baby boomers. Right. So I think they had the experience of going through a negotiation. But when I saw their work experience, it was more so are getting that job.

It was more so, man, let me just get my foot in the door. That's what I saw in their experience. College college graduates really trying to get their foot in the door doing labor jobs, hoping to get the white collar job.

Yeah.

Right. So I think we were fortunate. Right. We skipped the labor. We skipped the labor line.

I'll call it that. And that's good. I'm grateful that we have some folks serving that role, in that place, because then it allowed us to stand on their shoulders. Always said this, Ralph, that look, we are standing on the shoulders of giants. People who have paid wages that we just don't have to pay.

That's right. That's right. That's right. Yep. Yep.

Yep. One of the foundational people in my life who I've mentioned before, my grandfather, came out of high school with some technical experience in being an electrician. Went to technical school to get a certification. This is like in the forties. Wow.

Right? Got that. And one of the larger employers in the town that we grew up in, Terry, is an aerospace company. Yep. And he went to go get a job there and they told him the only job a black man can have is to be the janitor.

Wow. Right? Because he always wanted to be an electrician, but but he had a family. So he took that job and became the best they had at that time for, like, fifty years. So when when you say we standing on shoulders, the Giants, we are absolutely 100% doing that because if he had not done that, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today.

I wouldn't be here right now in this podcast today. So yeah, 100%.

Yeah, man. That is that. And I think, you know, just going back, you know, circling back around, right? You know. Can we consider that a career or is it a job?

And maybe that's a whole nother topic that we get into. Right? Because careers allow and I love how Ralph in previous episodes you had talked about, gosh, is her name Carla? I keep forgetting her name. Harrison, Carla

Harris.

Yeah, Carla Harris. And I believe when you have a career, it will afford you opportunities for that lateral movement, which is increased influence, increased ability to impact multiple areas within industry that you're working in. And so maybe that's a whole nother topic. We get into careers and jobs. And I feel like our parents and grandparents, we're going to give you this job and then this is the only thing you can do.

Right. That's right. That's right. I think it's a great topic for a different episode because we definitely want to talk about that. But, so let's jump into part one then for the negotiating of the salary.

Yes, sir. The preparation for the negotiation itself. Terry you want to kind of start us off with that?

Alrighty, let's see here. Yes sir. So here's the deal right? What we want to do is understand that articulate that the goal of negotiating your salary is that we have to be clear about it. We have to understand what for this role, right, I'm applying for.

Right. What is what I mean, as simple as this, what is the high and the low for this? Right. You know how how, you know, in the in the city that I'm in, what you know, here's a whole nother aspect of that. What does this salary go for in the city that I'm in?

Right,

right. There's there's there's there's so many frameworks around that. And so we want to again, we want to discuss the importance of clear and assertive communication around that. Right. So if you are going into a negotiation, these are some of the things that you want have the employer know that you are abreast of.

If you're in the Midwest, it's going to be a different salary than if you're on the West Coast, simply because of the cost of living. These are some of the things that we need to know.

So what are you saying? There's a research in the market. So that we understand what the salaries are for the seat. Let's just take a moment to talk about the seat. So sometimes when people negotiate salary, they go into the conversation framing everything they're saying about themselves and what they think their worth is.

And sometimes you have to separate your worth first from the worth of the seat. The seat demands a certain salary. Right? So this seat if this this position and I and I and all credit goes to Carla Harris because I got that that, that way of articulating it from her. You have to understand the value of the seat first.

Right? So if this seat is worth this in the marketplace, then don't ever downplay yourself to say that you're only worth less than that. Right? But this is where researching the market, and understanding the average salaries for this position pays you dividends before you even get into the salary negotiation. Right?

And then and then knowing your self worth in that in that seat. So if if there's a job that pays typically, a $100,000 a year for a a role that you're applying for and you have the experience, you have the talent, you have the expertise to get into that seat and you understand that seat is worth $100,000, then never say go in saying, oh, I was looking for 80,000 because you will discount yourself because it is there's there's an interesting dynamic that happens in a salary negotiation. They're trying to get you for as low as they can get you. You're trying to get them for as high as you can get them.

And that's how it is. You cannot avoid that game. Right? I heard someone say this, as a matter of fact, my wife sent this to me. I love it.

I love She said, you have to understand that business is a game. Yes. And the score, you keep in score by the money.

Oh, that's good. Tell sister Paylazza, that's a good one.

Oh, man, she messed me up with that. That's Byron Allen, right? Who owns the weather channel. He said that he said, look, look, understand this. Business is a game.

It is.

And the score Yes.

Is you you you you

keep the score by how much money is being either made or lost.

You are you are so right. You are so right. You are so right. So doing your research, doing your market research, understanding the value of the seat, understanding the value that you bring to the seat helps you to create your case, right, that you want to bring to that hiring manager who's sitting on the other side of the tape from you. You want to talk about what the industry's standard is or average is for that seat.

Right? And then you want to talk about how well you fill that seat. And even if you fill that seat and bring even more value to it where you may be, looking to ask for more. Right? But you're to come in with a strong business case that comprises those components.

You don't want to just come in right off the top, you know, with no game plan if that makes sense. Thank you for listening to the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast. We hope that you not only enjoyed the content but gained something to help you on your personal leadership journey. Feel free to reach out to us on X and Instagram under the handles Leadership Sovereignty. Until next time, stay safe, peace, and blessings.