Hi Reader,

We’re back with another episode of our newly minted podcast, Gentle Power—and we’re embracing all the imperfections that come with starting something brand new. In this week’s behind-the-scenes:

1. We accidentally recorded half an episode with the mic on mute. But we decided to “ship” the good half anyway rather than throw it all away because it wasn’t perfect.
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2. Design magic from the universe: A former colleague showed up at just the right time to build our logo and automate our systems for free. And yes, we’re still pinching ourselves.
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3. The negotiation tip you must remember: The first offer is rarely the best and final offer.

Read on for all the details, plus why you never want to share your preferred salary number—or even a range—before you see the company’s offer.

Behind the Scenes: Shipping Imperfectly

We’ve been hyper-focused on perfecting our second podcast episode.

But between microphone mishaps and re-shooting intros, we nearly fell into the trap of “let’s wait ‘til everything is flawless.”

This will probably sound familiar to many of you.

Here’s our big takeaway: putting things out there (even imperfectly) is how you learn.

Whether it’s publishing our imperfect episode, launching a small business, or negotiating your salary, you can’t wait for perfect conditions if you want real progress.

Yes, you can get a better offer even if you don’t have another offer.

Yes, you can get a raise even if you haven’t exceeded expectations every single month.

Yes, you can apply to your dream job, or any job, even if you don’t check all of the boxes.

Our Website & Living Proof the Universe Has Your Back

When we launched YourNegotiations.com, we were drowning in to-dos: website, branding, back-end automations, you name it.

Enter Derek: a former colleague of Alex’s and a Director of Design at Instagram who happened to be starting a new design agency, Curious Club.

He offered free work for small businesses in his first month—and we landed a gorgeous website and the iconic Y/N logo you see on our site.

The Y/N stands for “Your Negotiations” and hints at the yes-or-no moments in a negotiation—but, as you may know by now, we approach negotiations a lot more collaboratively, trying to expand the pie and finding win-win opportunities for all parties involved.

We repaid the favor by helping a family member of his negotiate a new job offer, resulting in a substantial boost.

Win-win at its finest!

Negotiation Tip: The First Offer Is Almost Never their Final Offer

Companies nearly always leave wiggle room for candidates who negotiate or have competing offers.

That initial number they show you?

It’s rarely their absolute max—which is why you always want to negotiate.

Even if you *think* you don’t have any leverage. Even if you’re happy with the first offer.

Why leave money on the table?

And in certain roles, it may be a red flag if you *don’t* negotiate the first offer.

Negotiating is such a critical business skill that taking the first offer without negotiating at all might concern your future employer that you shy away from uncomfortable conversations.

But the quickest way to leave money on the table is to reveal your number (or range) first.

That’s because:

• If you reveal a number below the top of their true budget (which is not the same as the publicly posted salary range), you’d be leaving money on the table.
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• If you reveal a number above their budget, you risk looking out of touch, entitled, or overpriced.

And sharing your range is essentially sharing your number because the lowest number in your range tells the employer that you’re willing to accept that.

Our advice:

Let them share a number first.

Then you can decide how to counter.

We dive deeper into these strategies in this week’s episode of Gentle Power.

You’ll also catch a fun segment on how moving forward (even after a blooper) is how we stay sane while running a small business together.

And if you’re on the brink of a crucial negotiation—job offer or otherwise—book a free consultation call with us.

We’ll help you figure out if there’s more wiggle room than meets the eye.

Until next time—here’s to shipping imperfectly, asking confidently, and never settling for less than you’re worth.

Gerta & Alex
​Co-founders, YourNegotiations.com

P.S. For more tips and real-life scripts, grab our free worksheets at YourNegotiations.com​.