How to ask for a raise

Just talked to a headhunter. She said that a couple of years ago, there were some attorneys that were looking to add a CPA to their estate planning practice, but they never did it, because that’s about the time oil prices started to crash.

Don’t know anything other than that. It could be an opportunity to start my own gig.

Do Eeeeet. You should make an exit from that place like Jerry Maguire.

greenie - you seem so CPA focused, with a side dish of CFA

why not try to jump into more of a CFA role or do you love CPA stuff?

If you really want to branch out and do investment business, don’t hope on getting that opportunity at a big firm, where you do only your one job. If you think you can get a 30% pay boost or more though… that is something to consider…

It’s 24 hours later and I’m sitting thousands of miles away from the crime scene, yet I’m starting to think that I’m more pi$$ed about how Greenie was treated and lied to than Greenie himself. That tells me all I need to know on why he keeps underachieving. If you don’t take matters in your own hands, someone else will shape your destiny for you.

^Fly to Texas and light a fire under his ass!

not particularly. I just figure that while investment advisory, estate planning, and small business appraisals are a passion, you still have to have a “lead-in”.

Think about it. There are a lot of brokers in town. The incumbents are very powerful, regardless of how shoddy their work is (and I have seen them all). Why would anybody come see Green Man, a relative nobody with a b-d you’ve never heard of, when they can go with one of Midland’s good ole boys?

I think the best way to separate myself from the lack is to try and pitch the tax alpha and the “and the stop shop” advantage. Better that your broker and tax guy are one person rather than two.

You could start your own Accounting firm, preparing tax returns for small business owners and then some of the investment business would start to develop as you build on the relationships and refine your service offering. This would at least generate some revenue in the short term until you build up some AUM. Did you happen to save your client list from previous roles (you don’t have to answer but you see where I’m going with this)?

Greenie, you need a serious boost in confidence.

^I have an idea.

You pay my mortgage and student loan payment, and any other bills that might come due. That would give me a serious boost in confidence!!!

Put together a bare bones budget assuming just your wife’s income. If you can stomach that for a couple years and you have some savings for seed capital then you can do it. The good thing about your business is you can bootstrap it so every dollar you make will only help your situation.

If you’re not there yet, come up with a savings goal and a budget and take steps to get where you need to be over the next year or two.

I went through a severe lifestyle shift in order to go out on my own and I couldn’t be happier. Every day I get to build something that directly benefits me…not necessarily immediately but down the road. My only focus is making good decisions every day and moving the ball down the field a little bit. Meanwhile we’ve yet to have to dip into savings to survive, which we were expecting. Biggest thing is to get out of debt. Luckily our school loans were paid off and we had no car debt. Also we have family very close by and they’ve helped immensely on occasion with the little things like buying the kids winter jackets.

^I like listening to Turd’s advice. He seems to be about the only one here who’s actually hung out his own shingle. (Maybe bchad and S2000 too, but they don’t talk about it much.)

^ Does Mrs. Turd have a solid job that pays a good wage? That is where I screwed up, should have found a sugar mama.

There was another guy on here that successfully raised his own fund. Who was that again? I think he called his venture Platinum Something?

its interesting. She was the earner back in the day but she took an almost minimum wage job when we moved back home. Now she’s doing pretty well (above the household median in our area) but at the time of my decision we thought we’d be burning about $1k per month on just her income. I honestly haven’t figured out how i managed to spend so much of my income on superfluous shit.

The wife has has big upside, which also definitely helped me make the decision. So I wouldn’t claim I have huge brass ones.

It takes balls to go out on your own especially with no easy fall back. With mouths to feed and a sink or swim mindset that might be enough motivation. Buddy of mine was working for a firm, think Edward Jones, Merrill Lynch, or something and they were squeezing him for 2/3 of his take just for the office, assistant, and the name above the door. He built his entire book of clients cold calling, door knocking, making connections at the local chamber. He left, opened an office across the street. All he did was tell his clients he was going out on his own. About 80% of them moved over. This guy put in the work though. If you have clients that come in because of the relationship they have with Mr. Greenman and how he takes care of business then you might be surprised how many would be willing to follow you out the door.

If everyone thought like this, there wouldn’t be entrepreneurs.

I have a better idea. Continue opening mail, sorting statements, scanning files and mopping the floor with your MBA, CPA, CFA & CFP.

Greenie, I hope it all works out for you buddy. While Midland is certainly a small place, I sometimes think you use it as an excuse for yourself. While the good ol’ boy club is definitely a hurdle, I wonder if you actually believe it or use it as a socially acceptable excuse for not taking a chance. Situations like yours are why I’m terrified of working for small companies. I think you need to decide what is really important to you (pay, work, short sleeve shirts, etc) and then honestly and vigorously pursue those priorities. Perhaps this is the perfect job for you based on those priorities, or perhaps this is the absolute worse. I don’t get the sense you have a firm belief on this one way or the other

^FT as long as there’s a plan behind it, I think it’s fine. The big thing is to develop a plan to get you where you want to go and get started on implementing it. If you can do a bunch of little positive things and avoid big downside risks, you’re on the right path.

Maybe start by offering some small services to your church group in your spare time. You’d be amazed how much brand equity you build for yourself just by doing a really good job for a couple people, especially if they are the type of people who can help you grow down the line. It’s amazing how opportunities present themselves when you start looking for them and work to build relationships with people you run into. Identify ways to help them (in relatively painless ways) with no expectation of compensation and things will start opening up. That’s a really beautiful thing about local economies. When people in town find out that you have a valuable skill, it gets around and the opportunities open up.

Bitter truth: You need to be friendly with your boss and appreciate the opportunity. You really can’t mess with him now because you don’t have any other job offer.

Plan: Network the hell out of this system, Greenie, you are a smart dude, try to find an offer from a large company. This might help to not only make more bucks but also for your career.

When an Indian kid like me can do it, why not you? everyone told me that I can’t find a job offer in Canada with my experience and hacksaw MBA but I did with networking. I work for one of the largest bank (Commercial) here. Network the hell out of the system. And also read how to win friends and influence people. Believe me, you have to smile and be nice to assholes because that’s how it works sometime.