Director of Content Earning $184,000/year

Welcome to another post in the $100k Club series. You can see the full series here. This is "My Morning Routine" for content marketing folks making six figures. The goal is to shed light on the skills and habits that enable people to achieve lucrative jobs and help get more people in this club.

These will be anonymous and updated regularly. If you make more than $100k/year and want to contribute, fill out the form here.

For more info on content marketing salaries, check out our salary report.

If you'd like to see more info on salary by job title, check out these resources: Content Marketing Manager Salary, Content Strategist Salary, Head of Content Salary, and Content Director Salary.

What was your first full-time job in content? What was the salary?

Content marketing manager, $83,000 — I had been in editorial roles for a while prior to that.

List out your income by year for as long as you've been working in content marketing.

• 2015: $83,000
• 2016: $96,000
• 2017: $104,000
• 2018: $120,000
• 2019: $120,000
• 2020: $140,000
• 2021: $157,000
• 2022: $175,000
• 2023: $184,000

How much do you earn today? What's your job title?

$184,000; Director of Content

What's single biggest salary jump you've made? (either from job-hopping or a promotion/raise)

Job hopping, from $120,000 to $140,000.

What is your most valuable skill?

Resourcefulness — when I don't know something, I take the initiative to figure it out.

What's the best book you've ever read on writing, marketing, sales, business or productivity? (Feel free to suggest more than one!)

Writing: "Bird by Bird," by Anne Lamott

Business: "Badass: Making Users Awesome" by Kathy Sierra

Have you had a career mentor/coach? If so, how did you find them and what have you learned from them?

Yes, and it was EVERYTHING. My organization at the time had a learning stipend and I decided to put it toward coaching, because I was new to people management. I interviewed several (I want to say I found them through Noomi? I forget) and went with the one I clicked best with. I can't even begin to list all the wonderful lessons I learned from my coach over the following years, but here's one that stuck out: "Sometimes we overestimate what we're capable of in a year, but we underestimate what we're capable of in 5 years."

What skills or habits help you thrive at work?

• Seeing the big picture — understanding what's important to the company, and not spending time on work that isn'
• Kindness — always trying to be a good human, to do right by my team, to be responsive and supportive and gracious
• Organization — my to-dos are a mix of digital and analog, but I found a system that works for me, and I don't deviate from it
• Curiosity — when someone references a concept I'm unfamiliar with, I ask them to explain it or I make a point to go look it up

What advice would you give to someone who wants to join the $100k club?

Go into sales? Kidding. Mostly.

Practically speaking, switching jobs is still the best way to get a pay bump, as well as exposure to new experiences that'll come in handy when it's time for your next role (and/or bump). This is especially true for women and underrepresented folks.

Philosophically speaking, I've never looked at my content career as "how can I get to $X?" Instead, I care about how I can stay learning and growing and doing interesting and challenging work with smart people. For the most part, the money has followed. Occasionally I've had to advocate for myself or seek out new opportunities, but my primary motivation has never been about a bigger paycheck.

Where do you live?

SF Bay Area, CA