The year I missed out on a $11,237 bonus

Hi Reader

I earned a five-figure bonus one year.

$11,237.

But my employer never paid me.

At the time, I was working as a copywriter for a Fintech.

My big bonus payment that year was tied to my performance.

I liked my job, and I was geeking out about copywriting and getting sh*t done at work back then.

So, after working many long weeks, I smashed my five goals for the year.

During my annual review in November, my manager approved me for a five-figure bonus.

I’d never earned so much in a single month before.

I planned on using this extra money to buy a Kia Sportage to ferry around our three kids.

Three weeks before Christmas, my manager sent me a Microsoft Teams invite.

She wanted to talk.

The company was rescinding my bonus.

“I’m really sorry. It’s nothing to do with you,” she said. “HR has said we’re paying too much to too many employees.”

I closed my laptop and logged out for the day.

Now, I could handle not getting a bonus because I failed to hit a goal for the year.

A binary equation:

Do the work and get paid.

Don’t do the work, miss out.

But I was furious that HR was removing something I’d earned and which they’d already approved.

And not because of something I’d done.

They canceled my bonus because of an arbitrary and shifting company bell curve.

So, I decided to earn my OWN bonus payment.

I stopped working late on urgent copywriting jobs for work.

I took my lunch breaks.

I clocked in at nine and out at 16.30.

No more responding to urgent emails, meeting invites, and copywriting requests outside my working day.

Instead, I spent my time creating an offer for my writing business.

(At the time, my business was a side gig. I only focused on it when work was quiet.)

I launched my offer to my email list over Xmas and New Year’s, using some copywriting techniques I’d picked up at my job.

After the launch ended, I reviewed my sales stats in Teachable.

I couldn’t believe it.

The profits from my offer exceeded my corporate bonus.

And this was from creating a digital asset that I owned.

I could relaunch this asset.

And I could earn even more.

Until that moment, I valued job security above all else.

I realized I could only ever earn so much working for someone else.

Even then?

Guarantees don’t exist.

But if I created content that converts for my business… HR or an employer couldn’t cap my earning potential.

I could work hours that suited me… and not execs in other time zones.

I spent the following year saving up enough cash reserves to quit.

I left the following December.

If you need help creating an offer that will earn your business an extra $5k this month, reply to this email. I have something for you.

Write on,

Bryan Collins