"I deserve more money"

What’s up,

Last week, right before our busiest Q4 stretch...

An employee walked into my office asking about a raise.

The initial goal was getting through Q4 chaos without any major fires (obviously).

But then the guy drops this:

"I think I deserve more money for everything I've been doing."

Now, this is where most bosses would give some generic response about "budgets" or "performance reviews."

But I gave him the dead, hard, a*s-spanking truth instead…

"Raises are earned through consistency, not requests."

For weeks, I'd been chasing down missing assets from this guy.

Getting blindsided on client calls because work wasn't ready.

And having to double-check everything instead of trusting it was handled.

Sure, three years ago I would have made excuses for him.

"Maybe he's overwhelmed. Maybe I need to communicate better. Maybe he just needs more time."

The new Jackson started onboarding someone new that same week instead.

And guess what my friend… Within days, the contrast was obvious.

One person was asking for more money while delivering inconsistent work…

While another person quietly handled everything without me having to babysit.

And the realization hit me hard as a frickin’ rock…

“Reliability is the only currency that matters in business.”

Time served means nothing.

Requests mean nothing.

Results and consistency mean everything.

If I can't trust you with the basics during normal times, how can I trust you when the pressure's on and everything's going to hell?

That's how raises actually work in the real world.

You earn it through reliability, and not through asking for it in conversations.

Now, if you feel like you’re struggling with hiring the right people who actually deliver without constant hand-holding…

I'm doing FREE 30-minute consultation calls this week to help you do that.

Jackson

P.S. The best employees never ask for raises…

They just become too valuable to lose.