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The Art of Getting Noticed and Paid What You’re Worth

Author

Lex Gonzales
September 07, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Did you know which young cartoonist was fired from his newspaper job for “lacking imagination”… and ended up creating an entire empire built on imagination?

[ Answer at the bottom ]

In This Issue

  • Today’s Ladder: Stand out without selling out.

  • Takeaway: Grow your career, keep your soul.

  • Resources: I dug through the web so you can skip the rabbit hole.

  • ICYMI: These gems flew under the radar; don’t sleep on them.

  • Career Ladder Intel: What’s hot in careers and how to stay ahead.

"Visibility without values is noise. Values without visibility are missed opportunities."

Today’s Ladder:

Stand Out Without Selling Out

24% salary increase. In one review cycle.

No hustle culture needed.

No extra hours. No begging for recognition.
Just one strategic framework: READY

I didn’t reinvent everything.
I simply learned how to position my impact differently.

Then, leadership acknowledged.

This kind of leap isn’t luck.

It comes from understanding how to market your value internally.

Just like how great brands do externally.

And once you learn how, it’s repeatable.

If you’re tired of…

Doing more and you’re still being overlooked…

This might be your moment to change your story.

Your Career, Your Terms

Step 1: Clarify Your Value
You can’t expect others to see your worth if you’re not clear on it yourself.

Example: List three skills you excel at, two big wins you’re proud of, and one personal quality that makes you different. Use them as your “go-to” talking points in meetings or interviews.

Step 2: Show Up Where It Counts
Visibility matters. But it’s about quality, not quantity.

Example: Instead of trying to be everywhere, focus on high-impact moments - leading a project update, sharing a win with leadership, or contributing a solution in a key meeting.

Step 3: Build Influence Through Trust
Titles and raises go to people leaders can count on.

Example: Deliver on your promises, own your mistakes, and give credit to others. Over time, trust becomes your strongest currency.

Every day you wait, you’ll look back wishing you’d made the move sooner.

Money Working GIF

Gif by adsteam on Giphy

Takeaway:

Grow Your Career, Keep Your Soul

I woke up choking on my own breath.

The room was dark.
My chest was tight.
My mind was racing through a single, terrifying thought:

What if nothing changes?

What if next year looked exactly like this year?

Or, the year before that?

  • Same pay.

  • Same position.

  • Same invisible grind.

I stared at the ceiling, counting the hours until my alarm.

But there was no going back to sleep.
Not with the weight of that reality pressing on me.

By sunrise, I made a decision.

If I wanted more…

I had to make myself impossible to overlook.

✅ I started tracking every win, every result, every impact I created.

✅ I learned how to bring those numbers into conversations that mattered.

✅ I positioned myself as someone the company couldn’t afford to lose.

In one review cycle, my paycheck increased by 24%.

Not 0.5%, not 1%, not 3%, not 5%.

24%

It wasn’t luck. It wasn’t magic.

It was positioning.

I share the positioning framework I used in this mini-workshop.

If you’re ready for your next level, check it out.

Resources:

  • Why Visibility is Key to Career Advancement - this short Youtube video discusses how developing a strategy for visibility and positioning within your organization leads to greater career opportunities

  • Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind - you can adopt this classic marketing book to highlight the value of differentiating yourself professionally, emphasizing memorable positioning not just for businesses but also for personal career paths and advancement.

💥 Career Commandment #2: You Are the Asset

💌 Mentors vs Sponsors: And Why You Need Both

💱 Office Politics Decoded: The Secret to Thriving in Any Organizational Culture

Career Ladder Intel:

  • The traditional emphasis on degrees and years of experience is rapidly declining. This shift toward skills-based hiring creates opportunities for professionals from diverse backgrounds to compete based on demonstrated capabilities rather than formal credentials - Read more

  • The average shelf life of a skill is now approximately 2.5 years in an AI-influenced environment. This reality demands a commitment to ongoing professional development - Read more

  • 90% of HR leaders predict that up to half of their workforce will need to reskill in the next five years - Read more

To your success,

Dr. Lex ✍️

Founder, Career Ladder | Career MBA

DID YOU KNOW?

In the early 1920s, Walt Disney was fired from his job as a cartoonist for a newspaper called the Kansas City Star. Instead of letting it crush him, Disney started his own studio in Kansas City, then moved to Hollywood, and the rest is history.

HEADS UP:

In next Sunday’s issue of Career Ladder I’ll share the secrets on “How to handle burnout… without quitting your job.”

⭐️ I highly recommend you star this email or move it to your primary inbox so you don’t miss the next one. ⭐️

MISSION:

Career Ladder helps motivated professionals grow their career and income in half the time by sharing career strategies used by the top 1%.