The Educated CEO Podcast
#56: Why Your Salary Will Never Keep Up With What You're Actually Worth
Have you ever received a raise, looked at your paycheck, and thought… "That's it?" Especially when you know how much value you bring to your organization. You're solving problems. You're training people. You're the person coworkers come to when they need help. You've developed years of knowledge, skills, and experience but yet somehow, your paycheck doesn't seem to reflect all of it. There's a reason for that. In this episode, I'm breaking down why your salary was never designed to measure your worth — and why understanding the difference between what your employer pays you for and the value of your expertise can completely change the way you think about income. In this episode, we cover: Why your salary is not a measurement of your value The difference between your worth and the value of the position you were hired to fill My experience receiving a 14-cent raise after taking on additional responsibilities at work How being passed over for a promotion changed the way I thought about my career Why employers pay you for a specific role — not everything you know how to do The skills your employer may benefit from without specifically compensating you for them Why educated professionals often connect salary, promotions, and job titles to personal value The three levels of The Income Ceiling: Level 1: Time Level 2: Knowledge Level 3: Transformation Why exchanging time for money will always create an income ceiling How packaging your knowledge allows you to expand beyond being paid only for your time Why people ultimately pay for outcomes and transformation — not just information How my own relationship with work, business, and income changed between 2016 and 2024 Why I stopped thinking only about making enough money to quit my job and started thinking about creating value outside of my employer The difference between increasing your income vertically and expanding your income Why promotions, raises, and new titles are only one way to increase your earning potential Why building a business does not mean you have to abandon your career How your education, experience, and problem-solving ability remain yours regardless of where you work Why your worth is not waiting on someone else's budget Key takeaway from this episode: Your employer doesn't determine your worth. They determine the value of the position they hired you to fill. Those are two completely different things. Your salary only tells one story about what you can do. It will never tell the entire story of what you're capable of creating. Resources mentioned: The Expertise Audit Assessment Questions from this episode to help you think differently about your income: What skills do I have that my employer benefits from but does not specifically pay me to use? If my employer disappeared tomorrow, what expertise would still belong to me? What am I currently paid to do? What do people consistently come to me for help with? Where is the gap between those two lists? How could I create value outside of my current role using the expertise I already have? Rate, Review, and Follow on Apple Podcasts + Spotify! If this episode helped you separate your salary from the value of your expertise, I'd love for you to leave a 5-star review. Your reviews help more educated women discover the show and realize that their earning potential does not have to stop at what an employer is willing to pay them. To leave a review: Open The Educated CEO Podcast in Apple Podcasts Scroll to the bottom Tap five stars Select "Write a Review" and share your biggest takeaway Connect with me: Instagram: @symoneredmond Website: www.symoneredmond.com
