Assess Your Husband Through Rose-Colored Glasses

Excerpted from
How to Help Your Husband Make More Money So You Can Be A Stay-At-Home Mom
By Joanne Watson

Never mind that your husband leaves his clothes out for you to put away (no matter how many times you remind him!), your husband has great attributes. Find them and unlock the door to more income.

To increase his income, you and he may need to effectively communicate what is really great and valuable about your husband, either by your husband to his present employer in seeking a raise or promotion, or to prospective employers, or by you to friends and acquaintances who may refer you to a great new opportunity for him.

Learn to focus on the positive. Ignore the rest.

Become your husband's biggest supporter. That is part of Team Work.

Many times you will find that your husband has valuable skills that he takes for granted if he is not being well paid for using them. Being underpaid can undermine his confidence in himself and make it harder to get a raise or a top-paying position.

Layoffs and Setbacks

What if your husband has had some setbacks? Maybe his company "downsized," or he lost a job, or just didn't get the job or raise he thought he should have.

Don't let him get stuck in the temporary "defeat." It's easy to focus the attention on setbacks, but you can help him put his attention on his past successes, and the ones he wants to create for the future.

By pulling together as a team, and encouraging him, you can make those "bumps in the road" seem like just that-part of the trip to his ultimate success.

Many successful men have overcome obstacles to get where they are. Walt Disney, for example, reportedly went bankrupt more than once before realizing his tremendous success.

Remember, the world is full of opportunities-those you find, and those you make. That holds true in any economy. There are always products and services that people need and want.

A lot of success has to do with confidence. By building your husband's confidence, you may build his income.

Everyone has terrific gifts and abilities. You want to bring out the best in your husband by validating those abilities, and helping him to focus on the positive.

Your husband's talents are special and unique to him.

Action Plan:

1. Write a list of things that he is good at.

For example, is your husband really good with computers? Is he the one everyone in the office goes to if they have a problem they can't solve? There are many hi-tech careers that pay well enough to support a family.

Are there subjects that people come to your husband for advice on? It could be a "hobby" that leads to an excellent income source. People tend to do very well working in fields they really enjoy.

Don't allow false modesty to get in the way of a complete assessment. If your husband feels that some of his skills are at the beginner stage rather than the advanced stage, make sure that he doesn't take them for granted, and write them down anyway. You can make a note by them as to the degree of skill.

Those skills may be quite valuable to others just as they are, and failing to acknowledge them may be costing your family money in terms of lost income.

Additionally, they provide a foundation that can be expanded upon later to increase your husband's earning potential, so it is good to note them.

Try to make your list of skills as complete as possible. Skills are assets. It can help to have a good inventory of them. As you progress through the book, you will learn more about how to turn those assets into the money your family needs for you to be a stay-at-home mom.

2. Add his experience to the list

Take stock of the different jobs your husband has had and the actual functions he performed. Sometimes employees end up with responsibilities far outside the position they were hired for. Ignore the job title. If he has actually performed tasks that are required in another job, he has gained valuable experience and has other marketable skills that you and he need to keep in mind.

Ask him about accomplishments that he is proud of, and write down the top 5. They will help demonstrate his skills and how valuable he is to an employer.

3. Next, write down some of his best qualities

Is he patient and easy-going? Is he focused and determined? Is he methodical and persistent in working out solutions? Is he dependable? Creative?

As your list of skills and attributes grows, take a fresh look at your husband. Doesn't he seem like the kind of guy you would like to hire as an employer? There are plenty of employers out there in need of people who possess the items on your list.

Don't forget to tell your husband what you think is great about him. We give our children praise and encouragement. Our husbands can benefit from it as well, and it will strengthen your relationship while raising your income.

You can now set your sights high. When you and your husband come to appreciate how truly great his attributes are, it will be much easier to go after a referral, a raise, a promotion, or a new, higher-paying job and get it.