Earning more: negotiation, side income, self-employment

Luka, 24, receives his first job offer: €20,000 a year. He wants to say yes at once. His aunt Mira, a self-employed translator, asks him one question: “Did you ask for more?” Is one awkward minute worth it?

A higher start keeps paying

Raises are usually a percentage of your current pay. So a higher starting salary makes every later raise bigger too.

Suppose Luka starts at €21,500 instead of €20,000, and both paths get 3% raises every year for 40 years. The €1,500 gap also grows by 3% a year. Added up over 40 years, it comes to about €113,000 of extra gross pay.

Preparing a pay conversation

Many people find these steps help:

1. Research the range. Look at job ads, salary surveys, union data and people in the same field.
2. Let the employer name a number first, if possible. The first number tends to pull the result towards it; psychologists call this anchoring.
3. Answer with a researched range, politely, and explain what you bring.
4. Look at the whole package. Total compensation includes training, remote days, holidays, meal and transport allowances, and pension contributions, not only salary.
5. Get the result in writing.

The same logic applies at any age: to part-time work in retirement, to consulting rates, or to the price of something you sell.

Side hustles: extra income, extra rules

A side hustle is paid work on top of your main job or studies, such as tutoring, selling crafts or delivery work. Three rules apply almost everywhere:

• Side income is usually taxable from the first euro, unless a specific rule exempts it.
• Check your employment contract. Some limit work for competitors or ask you to get permission.
• Never pay to join. Real work pays you; it does not charge you an entry fee.

Working for yourself

Self-employment gives freedom, but you also become your own employer. Nobody pays you for holidays, sick days or time spent on admin and finding clients. You also pay all your own contributions. That is why freelance rates must be based on billable hours, the hours clients actually pay for.

In Slovenia: s.p. and normirani s.p.

A sole trader is called a samostojni podjetnik (s.p.). You can register full-time, or alongside a job (often called a popoldanski s.p.).

• A regular s.p. pays income tax on real profit: revenue minus actual costs.
• A normirani s.p. instead deducts a fixed 80% of revenue as “deemed costs”, up to a revenue limit, and pays 20% tax on the rest. At €40,000 of revenue, the tax base is 20% × 40,000 = €8,000, and the tax is 20% × 8,000 = €1,600, about 4% of revenue.

Social contributions are paid on top, every month, and in many cases they cost more than the income tax. The rules were reformed on 1 January 2026, so always check the current limits with FURS.