For most people, starting the perfect career can mean sacrificing one important element, a big salary. Proving yourself in a new industry often means starting at the bottom, but it shouldn’t mean staying there forever. If you love everything about your job except your paycheck, you feel like you’ve proven yourself and your bank account can’t take any more starvation it’s time to ask for a raise. But how do you walk the fine line between groveling and entitlement?

By following a few simple tips, you too can increase your salary… a little.

1) Wait at Least Six Months: Picture the following scenario: you’ve been at your new job for 6 weeks, you’ve brought fresh ideas, you get along great with everyone and all 6 weeks have gone without a hitch. You stride into the bosses office with confidence oozing from your pores and you demand a raise, or else you’re quitting. Now picture yourself packing up your stuff at your desk while everyone whispers around you because you’ve been fired. If you’ve been employed for less than 6 months chances are you’re going to be replaceable, so making waves isn’t advisable.

2) Know Why You Deserve It: Once you’ve been there long enough, make sure you know what you’ve done to deserve more money. If sales are sagging, office politics are at an all time high, your entire department is falling apart and the business is about to go under MAYBE you don’t really deserve the raise like you think you do. But if you have numbers to back up your demands you can easily prove why you deserve the extra cash.

3) Keep Your Expectations Realistic: Everyone wants more money; it’s a simple fact of life. No matter what you’re making now, chances are you’d be better off making another 20-30,000 a year. But if you’re only making 35,000 now, something tells me you’re not going to have that increased to 70,000 after only 6 months of employment. Unless you’re playing professional sports, you shouldn’t expect a 100%, 50% or even 30% raise. If this is your first time asking, be firm in asking for 10% if you’re work has been acceptable, or 20% if you think you’ve been extraordinary. Don’t ask for too much on your first attempt, acting like a jerk is an easy way to leave with a 0% raise.

4) Listen to the Boy Scouts: Always be prepared. You have the evidence to back up your claims of deserving a raise, and you’ve decided how much you’re going to ask for. So you’re all ready to go, right? You walk into the bosses office, you sit down and say “Sales are up by 20% since I uhh, started, so umm, can, uhh, I please, sir, have, you know, a umm, 15 to 20, umm, gimme, no, I uhh, would like a, you know, raise?” Well Milton, at this point you’ve taken six months of employment and tossed it out the window because your boss now thinks you’re a bumbling idiot.

5) Know What You’re Going to Say Beforehand: Go in with a script and be confident. “Mr. Slate, I’ve been working as a Bronto Crane Operator here for six months, and I believe I’ve proved my worth as an employee. As you can see from these figures, I’ve managed to increase productivity by 60% since I began. I feel I’ve earned a $4,500 raise, which is about 15% I believe this is more than fair. Thank you, sir. Yabba Dabba Doo!!!!!”

6) Keep It Up: Just because you’ve gotten your big raise doesn’t mean it’s time to slack off. History is littered with examples of famous people who took a big paycheck and then performed well below expectations, both personally and professionally. And while you probably won’t be arrested for running a dog fighting ring, or relegated to your company’s version of the bullpen do to pitching poorly, you still don’t want to let your performance slip. After all, what good is the last raise you got if you don’t deserve another one?

Asking for a raise is uncomfortable and nerve wracking, but it doesn’t have to be painful. It’s a difficult economy out there, and it’s likely that your employer isn’t having the greatest fiscal period of all time, but if you feel you deserve a raise, that shouldn’t stop you from pursuing what you deserve. Unless, that is, you happen to work for a company on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, then you may want to consider waiting.