My yearly review is this week, and I’ve been at my job for 2 years and single handedly transformed the marketing material at my job (I’m a studio/lifestyle photographer for an online retail business). I want to ask for a much higher raise this year, being that the traditional 3% raise would lose me money rather than be a raise. I did research and found that the average studio photographer in my country is $45k. I want to ask for that, meaning it would be a 15% raise from what I make now. I think this is reasonable, considering I drive 40 miles a day to and from my job, so gas alone is a big concern lately. With that, the amount of work and overall quality of imagery I have created over the last two years has changed the face of the company enormously.
With all that said, any advice on how to give myself the best chance that they will actually listen and work with me on giving me a higher raise? I know the possibility is pretty low but want to give myself the best chance.