If someone takes a chance on you, or you’ve found yourself with an opportunity you’re not sure you deserve, the best thing you can do—for yourself, and the other party—is earn it. In 1998, Peyton Manning signed a $48 million contract with the Indiana Colts. “People ask me what I plan to do with my money,” he said. “I plan to earn it.… Whatever it is I sign for, it won’t make any difference to me unless I’m a productive quarterback in the NFL.”

If the compensation isn’t as high as you’d hoped, work hard to earn a fast promotion. If the compensation is higher than you’d hoped, work hard to earn it. In Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter, 50 Cent writes about an artist he was supporting who turned down an opportunity to work with him and Interscope because the artist thought the advance payment was too small. 

50 writes, “Instead of focusing on what the next man got, he should have focused on the larger opportunity, which was having me get behind his project. With all my momentum, I could have given him the heat he needed and then some…

“It might sound counterintuitive, especially in a chapter titled ‘Know Your Value,’ but the first check you receive should never be your biggest concern. Always focus on the long-term potential instead.”

The best gift someone else can give you is to help you get to where you want to go.

“If I’m the person that’s signing an artist—any artists I’ve ever signed—they don’t want no fucking gift,” says Steven Victor on Throwing Fits (1:05:50). “They’re ready to go to work. Signing a deal—it’s like it didn’t even happen. ‘We’re going to the studio tonight.’ That’s the time I’m on.”

“My gift to you is going to be the information I give you. My relationships. My taste. My network. And the fact that I’m going to be fucking working tirelessly to get you to a place you’re trying to get to.”