Doubling my 9–5 salary several times in my career is something I never thought would happen. My career went from startup land to call center operator in a short space of time.

That meant going from six-figures down to the minimum wage in my home country of Australia. And to top it off, I have no degrees in anything business related — unless you count a sound engineering qualification.

If an uneducated guy from the home of the Kangaroo can double their salary, there is definitely hope for you. Popular career websites like “Seek” suggest the typical advice about doing better in your performance review or getting more education from a university. This advice is out of date and I have watched many colleagues fall for this trap and only end up disappointed.

Doubling your salary, or at the very least increasing it significantly, is about breaking the norm and trying a few things that are a bit more radical as you’re about to see with these simple tips below.

The goal should be more than money

You can develop side-businesses, side-hustles, and hobbies that can supplement your 9–5 income source, and they can all put extra money in your pocket that allows you to work less and not stress so much about bills. Okay so you can make more money but if that’s your only goal, the extra zeroes on your bank balance will get really boring real quick.

If an uneducated guy from the home of the Kangaroo can double their salary, there is definitely hope for you. Popular career websites like “Seek” suggest the typical advice about doing better in your performance review or getting more education from a university. This advice is out of date and I have watched many colleagues fall for this trap and only end up disappointed.