Never been to payscale.com, but I've been to salary.com and imagine it's the same type of site. You bounce in and storm out, wondering... Am I a sucker? Other people seemingly doing what I'm doing are making tons more money!!

You're hearing 75 percent dissatisfaction with the money-side of the compensation package. Some of the wealthiest people I've met are also the most miserable. I wonder how many people are happy about their total compensation package?

Some places will pay you a TON more because they'll make you miserable too. When the only thing to keeping someone at a job is the money, then I'd have to recommend they reconsider.

Rant...

Dave, I can relate to the notion of money isnt everything, especially as I got older.

I've been very fortunate. I now have a multiple-streams-of-income career where I make more money than ever but I'm not tethered to any one company or project. I pick and choose what I want to do. Consequently, my "happy meter" is sky high, too.

Payscale is a cool site. They want my money too, like everyone. According to the site, I'm on the 36 percentile of what I could/should be making for the service rendered to the employer. I do understand that if I'm short of pay, that's not the problem but the symptom of the real problem. I am working diligently to solve that one. I would of course love to earn much more than I do for the aggrevation endured daily there. I'm just like anyone else that has a stressful, demanding position working with people that dont seem to "get it".

There are benefits with stock options and being in a company/industry in its infancy can be attractive to see what and where it will go.

If you are not paid enough for your position, it would be time to take to a pen and paper and start listing all the contributions that you have made to the production of that year. One of the things that Gordon has tried to impress upon all of us is to show how we bring value to a company.

While it is important to do the project work expected and asked of you, it is equally important that you try to keep in mind the contributions you make towards increasing productivity and income flow for all involved.

While you are preforming, writing, acting, contributing, selling, fixing and talking in your position , ask yourself what am I doing or how can I bring improvement to the big picture of that business.

If you can answer this and document how you contribute, that is what makes people want to pay you. Show that you think and produce beyond your desk or cubicle.

Thanks for your comments. Along these same lines, if you are not sure how you can be of more value to your employer, ask. Use those exact words. "How can I be of more value to the firm?" Then, go deliver on what you were told. It will put you in a much better position to get a raise.

Jim Rohn quote:

"It takes time to bring value to the marketplace. We get paid for the value, not the time"

Thanks for the great quote, JoeHorizon. It really resonates with me.