Psst... This Could Be Why You Didn’t Get the Job

Photo: Create & Cultivate

Behold, the dreaded email that just rudely cannonballed into your inbox:

“We’ve reviewed your background and experience and have decided to proceed with another candidate who meets our needs more closely at this time.” 

The disappointment can crash over you like a wave upon reading these words. Professional rejection is one of the worst feelings a person can experience while job hunting, and yet we have all been there at one point or another. And likely, the first rejection won’t be the last.

Once the initial blow has settled, you will probably start to wonder what it is that these “other candidates” have that you don’t. At the risk of sounding annoyingly optimistic in this unfortunate, but unavoidable, situation, taking time to consider the reasons behind your rejection offers an opportunity to better prepare yourself for the next position you apply for. It is also entirely possible that this is an “it’s not you, it’s me” situation, and you really did nail the job interview, but outside factors got in the way of sealing the deal.

Let’s explore some of the reasons why a company might decide not to move forward with you.  

Reason #1: You didn’t sell yourself.

In professional situations, being confident is the key to success. Nerves are to be expected when interviewing for a job, but if you allow them to take over and mask the great experience and professional accomplishments you’ve made, your potential employer will take note.

If things didn’t go as well as you’d hoped during your interview, remember that even the most seasoned professionals can get flustered in these situations. You may have made a common error that made the difference between the hiring manager moving forward with you. Did you dress appropriately? Were you on time and polite to everyone you met? Did you do your research on the company beforehand? Proper preparation, body language, and confidence are key to nailing the interview. And above all, don’t forget to send a follow-up email or letter shortly after the interview.

The art of talking yourself up without coming off as cocky or above-it-all is one worth working on for future interviews—if there was ever a time to show off your skills and accomplishments, this is it! You can bet that the candidate who does end up landing the position will present themselves confidently and graciously.

Reason #2: You’re not qualified. 

You could be an excellent culture fit with a positive attitude and a dynamite work ethic, but at the end of the day, if you do not meet the job’s qualifications, you are probably not going to be hired for the position. If this is the case, there’s no need to beat yourself up—it’s nothing personal, there are simply other candidates that could better perform the job. If you’ve lost out on your dream job, take this as an opportunity to work on building up your skills and experience so that next time there is an opening, you meet the qualifications. 

Reason #3: You didn’t tailor your résumé and cover letter to the specific role.

You don’t have to redo your entire résumé and cover letter every time you apply for a job, but it is vital to make sure you are targeting your application materials to the specific skills and job description provided for the position you’re applying for. To be seriously considered or (hopefully) hired in a new position, you need to showcase all of the concrete reasons you would be the right fit for the role.

Keeping your skills and experience too general, won’t be enough to “wow” a hiring manager, so it’s well worth it to take some time to adjust your language and ensure you are highlighting your most relevant skills and experience. For more advice on this, check out our useful guide on resume dos and don’ts.

Reason #4: Your salary requirements are too high.

It can be tricky to navigate how to answer when a job application or hiring manager asks what your salary requirements are for a role. List a number too low, and you may undersell yourself and set yourself up for compensation frustration. Go too high, and your application may be quickly tossed into the “no” pile—listing a salary outside the range of what the company is hoping to provide may have been the factor that took you out of the running. 

The best way to approach a salary requirement question is to make sure you have done your research on your market value and the salaries of similar roles ahead of time. This way, you can go in with a justifiable number or range already in mind. Don’t let fear convince you to put a number lower than what you feel you are worth. It’s a good idea to write something like “flexible” next to the number so that even if it is higher than what the company is willing to spend, they know there is room for negotiation.

Reason #5: The company decided to hold off on hiring.

This one really takes you off the hook, because there’s probably nothing you could have done to avoid it. Sometimes, due to budget or internal organizational shifts, companies will decide not to move forward with hiring for a role. While unfortunate, it happens. Try not to get discouraged.

It’s important to give yourself some time to feel the disappointment of not getting a job you wanted—after all, this is a difficult experience that can be a blow to your self-esteem, but, don’t let this situation be for nothing. Consider all aspects of the job application process to figure out where you could improve for next time, from pressing send on your initial application to nailing your interview and post-interview follow-up.

This story was submitted by Career Group Companies. 

Love this story? Pin the below graphic to your Pinterest board.

This story was originally published on December 14, 2019, and has since been updated.

MORE ON THE BLOG

How to Gracefully Exit Your Current Job

Photo: ColorJoy Stock

Leaving a job is never simple, especially when you want to stay on good terms with your boss, which is always a good idea. Burning bridges over the course of your career will only burn you. And chances are, you will quit a job at some point in your career.

In fact, people are quitting their jobs at record rates right now. Nearly 4 million Americans left their jobs this April, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, pushing the quitting rate to 24% higher than it was before the pandemic. 

So we’re answering your big questions about how to gracefully exit, prima ballerina style. 

Give Plenty of Notice

The hiring process is long, arduous, and complicated. Finding the right person to fit into a well-oiled machine is notably one of the hardest parts of running a company. And when a team member leaves, a major wrench is thrown into that machine, no matter how well executed it is. 

If you work at a corporate job, two weeks is a standard amount of time to give. However, if you work at a small startup, where your team members will be scrambling to cover your work and tasks, you should plan to give a month. That way, no one on the team is forced to work even longer hours than they already do.

Most employers admit that hiring into a small team takes a finer-toothed comb. And at startups, there aren’t temp employees or people working beneath you who already know your job. 30 days may seem like a lot, but it shows your soon-to-be former boss and colleagues that you respect them. It also gives you enough time to potentially train your replacement. 

You don't want to simply leave on good terms, you want to leave a good memory in the minds of your work peers. And what they are required to do post-exit, will color that memory for better or worse. 

Let Clients Know You’re Leaving (the Right Way)

Often, especially at larger companies, it is upper management’s responsibility to notify clients of your exit, as they are considered company property. No matter what, you should ask before making contact of any kind. 

That said, everything should be brief but positive. If you are resigning and already know your replacement, it is a good idea to introduce clients to the new team member. That way they know the transition is smooth, not messy, and they are still in good hands. The reality is: a client or work colleague’s number one concern isn’t where you’re heading next, but how their account will be handled. 

If however, you resign without a replacement, sending a mass email to your client list looks bad and it makes the company look bad. It looks like balls are getting dropped. Even if you’re leaving on good terms, it’s a surefire way to make your boss question your motives.

So, how do you handle leaving if you don’t have someone primed and ready to take over? 

1. Make sure you have a conversation first. Every boss is different, but taking the time to ask them how they would like you to handle, is a professional courtesy that will be appreciated.

2. If you are unwilling to ask, you should wait two weeks to announce your departure. Hopefully, in that time, the company has found your replacement and assured a smooth transition.

3. Send the email from your personal, not work email.

4. Do not discuss the “why” of your exit in depth. Bringing any kind of drama into a mass email is unprofessional, and it doesn't make the company look bad, it makes you look bad.

Define Your Duties Thoroughly 

Beyond creating a document that outlines all of your duties, you should also create a document of what you’re currently working on and where those things stand. Your boss will thank you (because you’re saving them the massive headache of sorting through what’s falling through the cracks), but so will the person who follows you. And you never know where that person might end up.  

People tend to think of exiting as it applies to the team they already know. But the truth is, the person who fills your job knows EXACTLY what kind of worker you are/were. Use that to your benefit. They see previous correspondence, how you interface with clients, and what you left hanging. If you want to make a good impression, make their transition smooth. You never know where they will end up either.

This story was originally published on January 4, 2019, and has since been updated.

MORE ON THE BLOG

This Former CFO Turned Entrepreneur Doesn’t Believe in Failure (and Neither Should You)

Photo: Courtesy of Kathleen Pagan

Walking away from a 9-to-5 job with a steady paycheck and health benefits to start your own business isn’t easy. To help you to take the plunge, we’re introducing a new monthly editorial series The Case for Quitting where we ask self-employed women all about how they successfully struck out on their own, from how they balanced their side-hustle with their full-time job to how much money they saved before handing in their two-week notice. This month, we chatted with Kathleen Pagan, CEO and founder of the homewares company Endlessly Elated. Ahead, she shares how she transitioned out of finance and into home goods, what it really took to quit her full-time job as a CFO and pursue her dreams as an entrepreneur, and why she doesn’t believe in failure.

What was your major in college and what did you want to do when you graduated? 

I obtained a B.B.A. with a concentration in finance upon graduating college. I had an interest in business and thought a financial role at a corporation would be the right fit for me.  

What did you actually do after you graduated? What types of jobs did you apply to and what industry were you looking to break into?

Funny enough, very early on, I subconsciously knew that what I thought I should do, wasn’t necessarily what I wanted to do. I snuck in applications at the Food Network and Martha Stewart Living. Anything that would get me closer to what I secretly loved: the home space. Given my degree and work experience, I had an internship at Morgan Stanley throughout college, I didn’t quite land any of the ones I secretly yearned for. Although the Food Network CEO did respond to an email I had directly sent her, and it was certainly a highlight moment. Ultimately though, I landed a job at Citigroup in personal banking.

How did you get into the homeware space and interior design more broadly?

My journey has been anything but linear. As far as I can remember, my interests in the home space began at an incredibly early age. I remember being about eight and extremely interested in designing my own bedroom, cooking meals with my mom, and entertaining every chance I got.

While carrying out the duties of my demanding career, I nurtured my passions as a home cook and self-taught interior designer (I recently enrolled in classes at Parsons). I created a virtual destination via a blog by the same name, inspired by the beauty of home. From interiors to recipes, I consistently connected with a community of about 20k home aficionados like myself and in doing this, I realized there was a gap in the homewares space.

A gap that did not emphasize celebrating everyday moments, did not provide those thoughtfully designed conduits we all dreamed of, and certainly did not invite the consumer to have a seat at the table. After 37 years on earth, I finally listened to that eight-year-old little girl within me. Twelve months in development, a five-figure investment derived from my own savings, and amidst a global pandemic, I launched Endlessly Elated. My very own homewares company.

And as they say, the rest is history.  

How did you know when it was time to quit your full-time job and strike out on your own? What was your strategy for making the transition?

I spent seven long years strategizing my exit. Exhaustively planning every detail. Saving every dollar. All in preparation to strike out on my own. I even went as far as writing my resignation letter and keeping it in my purse for years in case, as I would tell myself, “Today is the day.”

However, the fact was that no matter how much I prepared, I simply didn’t take the plunge. As they say, I spent years allowing fear to drive the car. Crippled by the idea of failure. It wasn’t until I decided I was worthy of my dreams, worthy of living a life by design that I actually resigned. So, whenever I’m asked this very question, I say, “Yes, you should prepare. Make sure you dot your I’s and cross your T’s, but never and I mean never, stop pursuing your dreams. Find a way to live out your purpose. To share your gifts with the world.” 

How did you prepare for the transition before quitting your full-time job? What, if anything, do you wish you’d done differently?

I think the transition looks different for everyone. For me, it was mostly ensuring I was financially stable while I pursued my dreams of entrepreneurship. I wanted to be able to creatively work on my company without any financial stress.

However, for anyone reading this I say to make a list of what your needs are and prioritize them. That might be paying for daycare or contributing to your mortgage or simply being head of household and needing to pay for it all. Whatever that is, map out a plan that realistically gets you in the vicinity. 

Nothing turns out perfectly planned, so take that pressure off yourself. Trust that you are responsible and know that you will plan to the best of your ability. And once you do, GO FOR IT. Resign, put your head down, and gloriously work through all the things that you have been wishing for. It won’t be easy, but it will surely be worth it.

Knowing what I know now, the only thing I would have done differently was having the courage to believe in myself and my innate abilities sooner, but then again, it’s easier said now that I have made the transition. I believe in the right timing and in the end, the transition occurred at a time when “preparation met opportunity.”

Were you worried about money? What advice can you share for people who are worried about leaving a steady paycheck to start a new career? 

This was my number one fear. The steady paycheck narrative. But here’s the thing, is the paycheck really steady? Yes, it might be regularly paid but is it firmly fixed? We all know someone who has been put in a room only to be shocked by the news that restructuring was occurring, and they would be laid off. 2020, was a culmination year of this very situation. Unfortunately, so many individuals were furloughed or completely laid off. So, I ask you, is anything really steady?  

I will never tell you entrepreneurship (or starting a new career) is easy. It is the HARDEST thing I have ever done. At times, it can be scary and lonely, but it is also the most rewarding. Doing your life’s work. Living on purpose. Living a life by design is all worth the journey of taking the leap.

Did you save up first or did you just jump in headfirst?

I am definitely a planner, so I did not jump in headfirst. In 2012, the year of my dad’s death and ultimately the reason I had my “am I living a fulfilled life?” epiphany, I started saving every dollar. Maxing out my 401k, investing in the stock market, and skipping out on as many shopping trips and vacations that I needed to. 

By the time I resigned in 2019, I had saved the equivalent of two years worth of my CFO salary between my liquid savings and investments. This also included a five-figure investment for startup company costs. It took me seven years to do this, lots of sacrifices, but I did it. I was intentional and ultimately walked away feeling empowered that I had set myself up to be financially secure.

What's the most important thing you have learned from making a big change in your career life?

That I am worthy. Yes, that is a full sentence because anything more would give the sentence a justification and it simply doesn’t need it. You are worthy because you are.

When you look back and reflect on your previous career do you have any regrets or are you still really happy with your decision?

I absolutely have no regrets and know for sure that it was the best decision, the most rewarding one I’ve ever made.

I am extremely grateful for the opportunities and lessons that my career taught me. Looking back, the dots always connect. If it weren’t for my finance career, I wouldn’t have had the knowledge on how to manage my business finances, make solid financial decisions, create budgets and inevitably scale my company. It is important to remember that we all learn from our paths no matter how disconnected they may seem from what we ultimately desire. 

Going after what you deserve in life takes confidence and guts. Does confidence come naturally to you or did you have to learn it? What advice can you share for women on cultivating confidence and going after their dreams? 

Confidence is something that I can truly say has come with age and wisdom. There are aspects of my life that I’m extremely confident about and there are others that I sometimes have to remind myself of my “badassery” (my favorite Shonda Rhimes’ word). I’ve learned that when fear, the killer of confidence, creeps in, to give myself examples of things I’ve achieved. Examples of times I have succeeded. This inevitably boosts my confidence and serves as a reminder that I can do anything I put my mind and efforts on.

So, cultivate your confidence by constantly reminding yourself that you are a force to be reckoned with. That before this very moment there have been plenty of instances where you have overcome obstacles. That believing in yourself, having that confidence is what got you here and it will certainly get you to your next chapter.   

It’s easy to celebrate the wins, but how do you handle failure or when something hasn’t worked out for you?

My idea of failure has had a complete makeover over the years. My theory is simple, I don’t believe in it. See, failure can only occur if you stop trying. The only way you can literally say you failed at something is if you gave up. If you don’t, if you get up every single time you are knocked down, then you can’t fail. Ask any successful person how they’ve achieved success and they’ll tell you they never stopped moving. They did whatever it took to get them to their goal. So, failure doesn’t really exist. It’s simply an obstacle in disguise. 

What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made and learned from along the way?

Ahh, I’ve made plenty. It’s part of everyone’s journey, right?

But, I would say that my biggest mistake thus far was not listening to my own intuition as it related to my career. Not trusting my own instincts and ignoring my gut, which always proved to be correct. It’s hard to look back and know that at times I chose a different path simply because I didn’t believe my inner compass. That if I had just listened, my life may have looked very different. Although I don’t regret much, I can certainly say it was a huge disservice to myself. A mistake I am very cognizant to not repeat. 

What is the #1 career or money book you always recommend and why?

“Year of Yes” by Shonda Rhimes is definitely a must-read. This is neither a career book nor a money book, but I do think it is one that inspires you to go after your dreams. To believe that if you simply say yes to everything that scares you (usually you are only fearful of the things that secretly make you tick) your life would completely change, and you too could live a life full of passion and purpose.

What advice can you share for someone who is thinking about leaving their current gig to pursue their side-hustle or passion?

As Nike’s slogan says, “Just do it.” I used to be extremely afraid to tell people to pursue their passions, for the fear that if something didn’t work out I would be to blame, but the truth is that most of us are responsible for our choices, and not telling you to go after what makes you tick is not only a disservice to you but also to those gifts that have been embedded within you. Simply imagine if Oprah had asked us and we told her to stay the “safe and steady” course. To continue her career as a local news broadcaster. Today, we wouldn’t be witnesses to all of her greatness. Don’t let anyone do that to you, but most importantly don’t do that to yourself. The moral of the story is you only have one life, so make sure to make it count.  

Anything else to add?

Yes. We must remember that saying yes to things that are out of alignment with what we know to be true for ourselves is inevitably swaying us away from the very things that make us who we are and who we were meant to be.

Photo: Courtesy of Endlessly Elated

MORE ON THE BLOG

"After I Lost My Business and Went Bankrupt, I Thought My Professional Life Was Over"

Photo: ColorJoy Stock

Several years ago, my fitness brand encountered some serious challenges, which all could seem rather unremarkable for those not deeply in the trenches and drama—Breaking News: Small Business Closes!—but over the past year, many people have asked for my advice on how I pivoted quickly, kept my chin up, and returned with confidence, celebrating what I can uniquely offer this world.

For the most part, I’d say I’m pretty resilient and I’ve bounced forward quickly. Maybe it’s because I’m not risk-averse and I don’t like to do anything small. I can assure you that it looks a lot more elegant than it was, and is. There are days I feel like a rockstar and some days that I question my worth. But one constant is I’ve learned that failing is not only inevitable in some capacity, but it also creates progress. I believe failure creates knowledge. Knowledge creates vision. Vision creates change. And change is what we need.

As you read my perspective it’s important to know where I’m coming from: As a life-long athlete and a huge believer in fate, I’m a shameless optimist. Forward, for me, is the only direction I go. The rotator cuff injury that forced me into retirement as a D-1 SEC cheerleader led me to rehab my shoulder through pilates, which led to creating my own fitness method, Cardio-Cheer-Sculpting. When a bad real estate transaction and a seven-year-long lawsuit (that ultimately ended my company) led me to believe that there was a better way to expand my fitness business online in 2015. 

Due to the pandemic, many businesses were turned on their heads overnight, forcing many to learn the art of adaptation immediately, or else. It saddens me to watch so many small businesses scramble to go online so fast. My digital transformation didn’t come from a pandemic and wasn’t forced to happen in the blink of an eye. For years I wanted to find a way to bring my method to the masses without opening an army of brick-and-mortar studios, dealing with complex operations and the risk of even greater fixed costs. I wanted to use my energy, sweat, and unique talents in a different way. 

There was a time in 2017 to 2018, after I lost my business and went bankrupt, that I thought my professional life was over. Every day I would wake up and recite my mantra: Laur, just keep going. Be in the moment, even if it’s an awful dumpster fire moment. Be flexible. Keep moving forward. I could have easily broken down but I chose not to. Okay, so I did once on the kitchen floor, but who’s counting? 

Here are my top tips on how to pivot your career. 

1. Identify Your Vision 

What is your passion? What are you fighting for? Purpose crushes obstacles. You want a career that you can wake up to every day and be passionate about. A career that involves doing things that you would choose to do even if you weren’t being paid to do it. Be clear on what you want you’re trying to manifest. Don’t put mixed messages out into the universe, as it will only attract confusion into your life. 

2. Be Optimistic 

You have to literally be your own cheerleader. You cannot have a positive life with a negative mind, nor can you achieve your goals if you don’t believe in yourself. Believing in yourself and what you can achieve is imperative to move forward in life. Believe to achieve. When you combine the power of positivity with the power of visualization, you’ll set yourself up to win. 

3. Connect With and Lean on Your Network 

Surround yourself with the people in your life who help you realize your true potential, even when you may not see it yourself. 

4. Keep Evolving 

You have to be forward-focused. We live in a really fast-moving world. 2021 is like the flash, right? You can never assume that just because you did it one way that you can just rinse and repeat. You have to keep moving, changing, learning, and never ever be predictable. 

5. Focus on Staying Healthy and Strong 

Your mind and spirit are just as important as your body. Keep your spirit alive. People will try and break you down. Do not make yourself small for anyone and do not allow others to break your spirit. 

6. Embrace Uncertainty 

Lean into it and grow with it. You don’t have to have all the answers right now. Everything is temporary. My lowest days set me up for the most growth. They broke me down and ultimately really fired me up.  

7. Get Excited 

Shake the Etch A Sketch! Big things are happening, the sky is the limit, nothing is impossible, and there’s nothing like a clean slate.

“You want a career that you can wake up to every day and be passionate about. A career that involves doing things that you would choose to do even if you weren’t being paid to do it.”

—Lauren Boggi, Founder of Studio LB

About the author: Lauren Boggi is a fitness expert, celebrity trainer, innovator, founder of Studio LB, and the creator of Cardio-Cheer Sculpting, which combines cheer choreography and cheer conditioning. A 15-year industry vet, certified pilates instructor, and mom-of-one, Lauren has gained notoriety nationwide, appearing on shows like the Kris Jenner show, The Doctors, and in publications such as The New York Times, People, Vogue, Shape, Fitness Magazine, and Forbes. Seen as a thought-leader within the industry, Lauren’s energy, authenticity, and ability to drive user experience and foster human connections have helped her create a passionate and dedicated community worldwide.

MORE ON THE BLOG

How to Answer the Question "Is My Job Right for Me?"

Photo: Smith House Photo

So much effort goes into applying, interviewing, and securing a job that once you’ve solidified yourself in a position, it’s hard to think about ever leaving. However, changing jobs and pivoting professional paths is an essential part of one’s career. By age forty, the average Baby Boomer has changed jobs around 11 times. And with the growth of the gig economy and desire to be your own boss, it’s becoming less and less likely that the first full-time job you get is the one you stick with for good. 

To figure out if your current job is right for you, many things should be considered. Asking yourself if there’s growth potential, if you like the company culture, and if you enjoy the work you’re doing, these are all factors you should consider before diving back into that job hunt. And while no job is ever perfect, asking these things of yourself is sure to jumpstart your thinking and guide you in the direction that’s right for you. 

1. Do you enjoy what you’re doing?

One of the first questions you should be asking yourself is this: “Do I like what I do every day?” Obviously, no one job is completely perfect, and you’re never going to enjoy all of your responsibilities all of the time. It’s a well-documented fact that “finding your passion” is too simplistic of advice to take when evaluating your current job. But the general idea is that you should look forward to coming in and do the work you do every day, and truly believe it’s meaningful. And if you do, you’ll be 20% more productive. But if you find yourself falling out of bed every morning and dragging yourself to do work you don’t even believe in, then maybe it’s time for a change.

2. Do you have a healthy relationship with your boss?

Now, let’s be realistic here. I’m not saying you’re out every weekend at the karaoke bar crushing cocktails together, having a healthy relationship with your boss doesn’t mean you’re best friends. It means that you feel like you can be communicative with them, you are working towards the same goal, and you feel like they advocate for you.

This also means that every superior-associate relationship will look different, and that’s okay. Not every individual prefers the same leadership styles. Some might prefer a manager who is hands-on and gives lots of direction, and another person in the same position might hate someone like that. But the fact of the matter is this, 58% of the workforce say they trust a stranger more than their boss, and if you’re a part of that percentage, you should try looking for a change.

3. Is your compensation fair and does it align with your experience level? 

Even at a dream job, it’s easy for resentment to build if you haven’t gotten a raise in 18 months. Especially if you look on a website like Glassdoor and find out you’re making 60% less than most of your counterparts.

At the end of the day, compensation needs come down to what benefits, perks, and salary you require to both succeed in your role and live your life. If these are not being met, it might be time to either ask for a raise or look elsewhere.

4. Is your commute doable?

This is a special shout-out to our professionals living in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., who are amongst the individuals in the US with the longest commute times. Commutes can be stressful, and sometimes not worth it. A study done in 2017 discovered that an extra 20 minutes added to a commute equates to a 19% pay cut. 

Of course, commute time isn’t the only thing you should consider when evaluating your trips to and from work. Are you still able to live nearby your friends and family? Are you close to a range of restaurants, bars, parks, and schools? The answers to some of these questions should help decide if your current situation is right.

5. Are you expanding your skillset, and do you see a growth trajectory?

A great job challenges you and encourages you to hone your skillset while fostering your existing talents. For most professionals, an ideal job also encourages continuing education and employee growth. If you don’t see these things in your current position, you might want to look for something more, but before you do, have a conversation with your manager that addresses where they see your role going in the long term. Perhaps even request approval to attend an event or take a class that will sharpen your skills. And if your current company doesn’t encourage these growth paths, then it might be time to say goodbye.

While general, these five guiding points are sure to help you evaluate if your current position is right for you. And while it’s important to remember that not every job will check off every box, you have a right to leave your desk at the end of every day feeling satisfied with the work you put in for your company. Leaving a company and going into the dreaded job hunt can be risky and tiresome, but trust that finding the right position will pay off in the end.

About the Author: Susan Levine is the president and founder of Career Group Companies, a leading recruiting firm based in Los Angeles, with offices in New York, San Francisco, Orange County, and Greenwich. Their divisions, comprised of Career Group, Syndicatebleu, Fourth Floor, Avenue Pacific, and Events, span a variety of industries. They specialize in executive and administrative support, marketing and design, fashion, events, and c-suite-level placements. As a widely recognized industry name, they pride themselves on placing top-tier direct hire and freelance talent in their dream jobs. They use their expertise to impact the lives of their candidates and improve the company culture of their clients, one exceptional match at a time.

Love this story? Pin the below graphic to your Pinterest board.

This story was originally published on October 28, 2019, and has since been updated.

MORE ON THE BLOG

How to Proactively Search for a Job as a New Graduate

Photo: Andrew Neel from Pexels

Graduation is coming up quickly, and if you’re about to finish school, it’s time to start strategizing to make some big life decisions. Scary, right? This might be the biggest transition of your life thus far, but it’s ultimately just one small leg of your journey.

Instead of treating your job search as one daunting task, break it up into less intimidating tasks that you can accomplish one at a time. This is how to proactively search for a job as a new graduate.

Brainstorm

First off, start by brainstorming to figure out what you want to do and what you want to look for in a job. Consider a few different scenarios to give yourself a well-rounded and realistic feel for where you may end up in the next few months. There’s no way to tell what could happen, but it’s smart to go through a few possible options and goals to figure out a rough game plan for each. Use your brainstorming session as a time to figure out what you want next, and strategically plan your next career move.

Take a look at your transferable skills, figure out what jobs you’re qualified for, and do some soul searching to figure out what kind of job is really right for you. Whether or not you wanted to have a job lined up after graduation, this is your opportunity to take the time and plan your next career move so that you’re excited about it. Take control of the situation and make your next move worth it so you can start your career on a good note.

Update Your Résumé

Once you’ve brainstormed to get a better sense of what direction you want to take your career and what kind of jobs you want to apply to, make your résumé great and articulate all that you have to offer. You might not want to sit down and update your résumé, (yes, I know it’s not how you want to spend your free time) but it is important to do so.

Gather information about past jobs, internships, class projects, and other information that highlights what you bring to the table. This will help you create the most effective document to meet your needs.

Reach Out to Your Contacts

The ultimate way to get your résumé into the right hands is to use your industry connections. If you have a contact who can direct your résumé to the right person, use it. “Job search is about going beyond the résumé to get noticed. Real relationships with colleagues and friends matter in getting a foot in the door,” says career coach Alyson Garrido.

Reach out to industry contacts to let them know you’re about to graduate and are looking for new opportunities. People are often willing to help, but they cannot do so if they aren’t aware that you’re interested and open to new opportunities.

Consider sending an email like this:

Hope this note finds you well! We met [where/when you met] and I wanted to circle back with you and see how things are going. [Insert a question about how an event went or touch on something you spoke about when you met].

As you may remember, I'll be graduating this coming [month] and am looking for new opportunities in [field]. [Company] is on my short-list of dream companies, and the mission strongly aligns with my personal philosophies, so I wanted to see if there might be any current or future openings I could look into.

I’ve recently updated my résumé and have attached it to this email for your convenience. Please let me know if you have any questions, and feel free to pass it along if you see fit.

Thanks in advance for your help! Please keep me posted on how things are going and if there’s anything I can do to return the favor.

Best,

[Your Name]

Leveraging your network is one of the best ways to find and secure new job opportunities. Doing so enables you to get your résumé in front of the right person and often helps you bypass large applicant pools, especially during the graduation rush.

Focus on the Quality of Applications, Not the Quantity

It can be tempting to just hit “apply” on every position that might seem like a potential fit, but instead of focusing on how many job applications you submit, try to create a couple of really strong applications with résumés that you have customized for each position based on the job description.

Often people employ the “spray and pray” tactic when applying for jobs. This term has become common among recruiters when describing a candidate that applies to tens or hundreds of positions in the hopes that someone will bite. On average, each corporate job opening attracts 250 résumés. This means that your résumé has to be outstanding in order to stand out from the crowd.

When using the spray and pray tactic, résumés usually don’t hold the specified requirements or keywords, causing them to get turned down immediately. When you don’t customize your résumé to each job, it’s clear that you’re using the spray and pray tactic. This isn’t an effective job search strategy, and it also doesn’t bode well for your reputation among hiring managers or recruiters.

Remember That It Takes Time

Ultimately, finding a job that is a good fit for you takes time. There are so many factors that go into finding a job such as company culture, location, salary, scope of work, timing, etc. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed or dejected because your job search isn’t going as well as you hoped, but it’s important to realize that it’s not personal.

Finding a job is hard for everyone! Finding a job that meets your criteria and is a good fit for you and your potential employer is difficult whether you’re searching for your first job out of college or looking to make a lateral move as an executive.

About the Author: A native San Franciscan, Michele Lando is a certified professional résumé writer and founder of writestylesonline.com. She has a passion for helping others present the best version of themselves, both on paper and in person, and works to polish individuals' application package and personal styles. Aiming to help create a perfect personal branding package, Write Styles presents tips to enhance your résumé, style, and boost your confidence.

Love this story? Pin the below graphic to your Pinterest board.

This story was originally published on June 10, 2019, and has since been updated.

MORE ON BLOG

3 Ways We Can Stop Professionally Ghosting Each Other

Photo: ColorJoy Stock

Several years ago, I was interviewing for a role at one of the top beauty companies in the world. I went through rounds of interviews and met key members of the cross-functional and senior leadership teams on multiple occasions at their offices.

In my very last conversation, the head of HR called me on a Friday to say, “The team loved you.  We would like to put together an offer for you. Can you please remind me of your current compensation package and specifically your stock grant component?”

I was thrilled. I immediately provided the details. She thanked me for my time. She said she would call me first thing Monday morning with the offer details.

She didn’t call me first thing Monday morning. She didn’t call me later that afternoon, or later that week, or the Monday after that. She never called me again. 

I followed up a few times. Maybe she’s just busy. Maybe something happened to her (Oh god, I hope she’s ok!). Maybe she lost my contact information. And then I realized I had invested my time and effort into a process that would never receive any closure: I was a victim of ghosting. I had been ghosted. She would never reach out to me again.

Since then, I have been ghosted more times than I can remember in my career. And the hard truth is, I have also ghosted people. I, too, have been the ghoster.

What is ghosting? Ghosting is to completely stop responding over text, email, or phone (insert your preferred mode of communication here) after having been responsive and in touch with someone over a distinct period of time for a specific business objective.

The business objectives during which the ghosting occurs can be a wide variety, including being in the process of prospecting a new client, interviewing for a job, raising funds for a non-profit event, a promised introduction to another industry contact, or seeking investors for a new venture.

Please note: Ghosting does not include cold emailing, cold calling, or cold LinkedIn messaging. If the person doesn’t know you, they don’t actually owe you a response. It’s not considered ghosting. Unless you call me Rita instead of Mita, I try to respond when someone reaches out to me even if I don’t know them.

So why have I ghosted people?

Because I was uncomfortable with the request, because I didn’t have time, because I could no longer deliver on what I had promised. Because I had said yes when I should have said no. Because I am working, teaching, and parenting (all during a pandemic). Because I was scared to respond with the truth and I didn’t want to hurt them. 

If we acknowledge what’s holding us back from engaging and push through to respond, we show up as the leaders we want to be, acting with kindness and empathy. Here are three ways we can stop ghosting once and for all.

1. Be Timely 

To avoid potential ghosting, I try to respond to people within 72 hours (during a pandemic, it might be closer to a week) when they reach back out with a quick one-liner: Thanks for checking in. It’s a busy time. Please reach back out in two weeks.   

The ghosting can begin when you simply don’t have an answer for that person yet. You might not know what your response should be. You might have a response and realize it should be a phone call or a longer email.

If I don’t respond because I don’t have a response yet, and too much time passes, I am slipping into ghosting territory.

2. Be Honest and Transparent  

No one wants to deliver bad news. And what’s worse than bad news is no closure, obsessively refreshing your inbox and checking your phone incessantly. We are living in limbo during this pandemic; there’s no need to add any more uncertainty or stress on each other. 

When I think back to the offer I never received on that Monday morning, how would I have handled it as the head of HR? A simple email would have sufficed: “We have decided to move ahead with another candidate. We wish you the best of luck in your career endeavors.” 

Any additional insight would have been appreciated given the amount of time I spent interviewing (i.e. not aligning on salary expectations or looking for someone with more technical experience). I would have been upset, but the ghosting was far worse. I was left with an incredibly negative impression of the company that I didn’t hesitate to share with others in my network.   

Unfortunately, budgets were cut and we can’t proceed with the proposal.

Unfortunately, we have a hiring freeze now and the role is no longer open.

Unfortunately, we don’t believe this is the right fit for us and we won’t be proceeding with the partnership.

We all are owed the respect of closure. We would want it for ourselves. And we have the power to give closure to others.

3. Be Clear on What You Can and Can’t Commit To 

Recently, I was asked by two individuals if I could mentor them. While I wanted to say yes, I knew I couldn’t give them the time they deserved. If I did say yes to avoid saying no, I would eventually not have time to mentor them and ultimately ghost them.

And while I hesitated to respond to their requests with the truth, I knew if I ghosted them I would risk damaging these relationships. So I told them I was humbled they thought of me and with a new job and raising young kids in this pandemic, I just couldn’t commit right now. Each individual responded saying they understood and looked forward to keeping in touch.

Please don’t say yes when you mean to say no. Please be clear on what you can and cannot commit to. And if you committed to something and can no longer deliver on what you agreed to, just speak up. Let individuals know your circumstances have changed. While they may be disappointed, they will appreciate your honesty and respect you for being accountable and for not disappearing on them, never to be heard from again.

“If we acknowledge what’s holding us back from engaging and push through to respond, we show up as the leaders we want to be, acting with kindness and empathy.”

—Mita Mallick, Head of Inclusion, Equity, and Impact at Carta

About the Author: Mita Mallick is a corporate change-maker with a track record of transforming businesses and cultures. She is the head of inclusion, equity, and impact at Carta. Mallick is a columnist for Entrepreneur, and her writing has been published in outlets including Harvard Business Review, The New York Post, and Business Insider.

Love this story? Pin the below graphic to your Pinterest board.

MORE ON THE BLOG

6 Ways to Establish Yourself As an Expert Using LinkedIn

Photo: Vlada Karpovich from Pexels

Strong personal branding, when done right, is an act of service. It’s greater than your ego and bigger than your fears. It’s about your audience, your customers, and your network. Trust me when I say: they are waiting for you to show up.

But how do you find your community in such an oversaturated digital world? 

You go to LinkedIn. 

Yep, you heard that right. And here’s why. 

LinkedIn has 675M users, but only 3M—a tiny drop in the bucket—are using it to its full capacity. LinkedIn is this wide-open white space ready for the taking, a place to build authority and thought leadership, and most importantly, a place to show up authentically in the context of your career. Despite the great opportunity LinkedIn provides, less than 0.5% of users are maximizing its potential. 

Linkedin is today what Instagram was in 2012—our most underrated platform. In the last few years, the LinkedIn algorithm has generated a 50% increase in viral activity year over year. 

LinkedIn is the only platform where career and authenticity merge. If you’re ready to up your thought leadership game, here’s how you can master LinkedIn for your own personal brand.

Optimize your profile.

Looking at other people’s profiles is the #1 activity on LinkedIn. That means optimizing your profile is critical. Update your cover photo, headshot, headline, summary, exemplary media, and work experience to reflect a full, 360-degree story. Think of Linkedin as a search engine and your profile as your own personal website. This is your ultimate business card. 

Be human.

The olden days of LinkedIn are long gone. This is no longer simply a place for job search. This is a place to connect. Sure, show your expertise, career history, and your resume, but also show who you are. If you’re building a brand of your own, yes, people care about what you do, but they will do business with you based on who you are and how you show up. You need to be extremely intentional about your humanity and your professional expertise. And if you're able to blend both, you will cut through the noise. 

Be true.

Being real, approachable, and relatable isn’t always likable. In fact, if you’re disrupting any industry, you’ll come across some haters. The aim isn’t to be likable; the aim is to be true to yourself, and THAT will gain you the right clients, business, network, etc.

Publish quality over quantity.

Every platform serves a purpose, and LinkedIn has established itself as the leader in top-quality long-form content. Publishing natively to the platform has proven to be a successful marketing strategy and an effective way to position yourself as a thought leader. If you’re worried about sounding self-promotional, focus on telling real stories and sharing in a way that can be of service to others. You're trying to create value versus adding to the noise.

I’ll say it a million times—no one cares about what you do, people want to feel something. They want inspiration, education, and entertainment. They want to feel uplifted, less alone, and more empowered! Know your audience, but also know this: if you’re willing to open up and be human and real, that's where the good stuff lies. 

Own your niche.

One of the biggest complaints I hear is that LinkedIn is only for the corporate world and that it’s not for creatives, artists, entrepreneurs, or disruptors—that it’s not for you—but that’s wildly untrue. People of all industries, not just corporate, play here. LinkedIn is not industry exclusive; in fact, its algorithm favors “small” creators. It’s a place to showcase your niche and own it.

Be consistent.

Like most things in life, you get out what you put in. LinkedIn is by definition a social networking app. You have to be willing to join the party, not just when you need a break, but consistently to connect, learn, and support your community.  

The making of a truly powerful personal brand sits at the intersection of your humanity and your expertise. And there is no better social media platform to bring it all together than LinkedIn.

“Think of Linkedin as a search engine and your profile as your own personal website. This is your ultimate business card.”

—Jessica Zweig, CEO of SimplyBe. Agency

About the Author: Jessica Zweig is the CEO of SimplyBe. Agency, a premier personal branding firm based in Chicago and serving clients across the globe. Named a “Personal Branding Expert” by Forbes, a “Top Digital Marketer to Watch” by INC, and honored with the Gold and Silver Stevie® Award for “Female Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2018 and 2019, Jessica facilitates sold-out workshops and speaks on the power of personal branding to corporations including Google, Salesforce, Virgin, Nike, Motorola, Red Bull, and Bank of America. She also hosts the top-ranked marketing podcast The SimplyBe Podcast. Jessica’s debut book, “Be: A No Bullsh*t Guide to Increasing Your Self Worth and Net Worth by Simply Being Yourself,” launched in February 2021 with Sounds True, an imprint of Macmillan.

This story was originally published on July 7, 2020, and has since been updated.

MORE ON THE BLOG

3 Signs It’s Time to Take Something Off of Your Résumé

Photo: ColorJoy Stock

When I hosted a mentor session for Create & Cultivate Insiders, I got a lot of questions about résumé format and career path, but one question that stood out to me was, “When is it time to take something off of your résumé?” This is a great question because the answer depends on your experience and the goal of your résumé.

With that said, there are a few guidelines you should follow to help you see the signs that it’s time to take something off of your résumé. A common misconception is that you should include your whole career path on your résumé. While this is true for some people, most people should include some adjusted versions of their career path on their résumé.

Today, I want to discuss when to take something off of your résumé.

Take it off if… It doesn’t serve a purpose.

If you’re pondering the question, “When is it time to take something off of your résumé?” consider the fact that you only have a set amount of space to craft the perfect snapshot of your career. Everything on your résumé should serve a purpose.

• Is an experience listed on your résumé to camouflage an employment gap?

• Is an experience listed on your résumé to highlight your experience in a particular field or specialty?

• Is an experience listed on your résumé because you want to show that you have experience in a specific role?

• Is an experience listed on your résumé because the company name holds influential power?

Every piece of information included should serve a purpose. If it does not, it’s time to remove it from your résumé.

Take it off if… It was in a different lifetime.

Depending on the person and situation, I typically recommend including about 10-20 years of experience on a résumé. Including information that’s older than that is often not worth it. There are exceptions to this if the experience serves a purpose, (i.e. it shows a notable company, client, or role), however, most of the time you don’t need to go back that far.

If you have a lot of great experience that was a few decades ago, you can save those anecdotes to use during your interview.

“If it doesn’t serve a purpose—or was from a different lifetime—it’s probably time to take it off.”

—Michele Lando, founder of Write Styles

Take it off if… It makes you seem less experienced or too experienced.

Some experiences may have been very valuable and may have even been a turning point in your life/career, but they might work against you. Great examples of experiences that are important but not important for your résumé when you have an established career are college classes or internships. Note that these are not important to include if you have an established career.

If you are currently in school or just out of school searching for your first job, college classes or class projects are a great way to bolster your résumé and highlight your industry knowledge. However, if you do have an established career, they will often make you appear less experienced.

Unless you’re currently in college or recently graduated (looking for your first job out of college) there is no need to include information about the classes you took in school. Once you’ve made it past your first or second entry-level job, employers care more about what you’ve accomplished at work than what you learned in a classroom. Education is important, but on-the-job experience always takes precedence.

On that same note, it’s important to consider if a role makes you appear too experienced for the position you’re applying to. If you’re trying to shift careers or maybe take a lower-level position because of location, it’s important to be conscious of what information can make you appear too experienced for the job. If a potential employer feels that you’re overqualified for the job, they may fear that you’ll get bored easily which could equate to you inadequately completing required tasks or leaving a role quickly which would increase turnover.

Ultimately, every piece of information you include on your résumé should serve a purpose. It may be tempting to include everything to show your entire career path and/or versatility, but it’s important to consider the question of when is it time to take something off of your résumé. If it doesn’t serve a purpose or was from a different lifetime, it’s probably time to take it off.

About the Author: Michele Lando is a certified professional résumé writer, personal branding expert, and founder of Write Styles. She has a passion for helping others present the best version of themselves both on paper and in person, and works to polish individuals' application package and personal style. Aiming to help create a perfect personal branding package, Write Styles provides resources to enhance your résumé, professional appearance, and boost your confidence. Michele strives to help others gain the confidence to put their best foot forward in a personal and professional light.

Love this story? Pin the below graphic to your Pinterest board.

This story was originally published on October 30, 2019, and has since been updated.

MORE ON THE BLOG

Be Prepared—6 Tough Interview Questions (and How to Answer Them)

Photo: Altea Alessandroni for Pexels

So you've landed an interview—congratulations! Standing out in a sea of resumes is no easy feat, but the hiring process is far from over.

Now it's time to knock your interviewer's socks off. If you really want to wow, you’ve got to do your homework and be as prepared as possible. You’ve picked out the perfect outfit, researched all there is to know about the company, and printed your resume, but you can’t stop there. What will really get you hired is your stellar answers to the interviewer’s questions—not that super cute blazer (sorry!). We’re here to help and make sure you don’t go into the interview blind!

While the process can be long and nerve-wracking—these are questions that potentially alter your future after all—there are some difficult interview questions you can bet on being asked. Read on, practice, and go crush that interview!

1. Tell me about yourself. 

This is a little like the "What do you do?" question that can be so stressful. It's asking you to sum yourself up in a succinct but engaging way. You want to grab your interviewer's attention without delving into your life story. 

What the interviewer really wants to know is a little about your personality, but also what about you will add to this particular company. Do not have a scripted response. This should be tailored for each interview and you should talk about where you are professionally. 

DO talk about why you got into your particular field and how it relates to your background. What it is about your line of work and experience that is specifically "you." When and where you adopted your dog is cute, but save it for after you get hired. 

2. What is your biggest weakness?

I'm a workaholic. A perfectionist. Type A. I never give up, to a fault. None of these answers the question. Using this question as an opportunity to #humblebrag is not the way to go. Instead, they show that your biggest weakness is an inability to address where you're lacking and you come off cocky. Everyone has weaknesses, including the person sitting across the table from you, and self-awareness is a good trait.

3. What would your previous employer say about you?

This question needs to be answered based on how you left your last company. If you were fired, and you've still listed that position on your resume, don't try to hide it. Instead, use this question as an opportunity to explain where you went wrong and what you learned. 

If you left your last job on good terms and your former boss is willing to be a reference, this is a great way to back up what you say. 

If you had an exit interview, you can pull directly from that conversation, and is a reason to ask for an exit interview if your employer doesn't offer one upfront. However, a resume doesn't have to include every job you've ever had. 

That said, be prepared for this one: 

4. Are there any jobs you've omitted from your resume?

This is a particularly tough one. If you've left a job off your employment history there are usually two reasons: it was a short, contract position (90 days or less) that didn't add anything but a few extra lines to your resume, or you left on really bridges burned, bad blood, terms.

There are certain jobs we take that are fillers or contract jobs that give us the ability to pay our rent, or brush up on skills (a great point to highlight). Feel free to mention jobs that you took as "in-betweeners." Even if it's a job that you think is beneath you and your skills, tell your potential employer about it. The willingness to work while you're "not working" highlights an ethic to stay on the grind even if you aren't employed full time. 

If there really is bad blood between you and a former employer, and an interviewer point-blank asks you this question, you don't want to start a new work relationship off by lying. You can talk about what happened in more vague terms without mentioning the name of the company. As scary as it can be, this is a great opportunity to show your humanity, own your failures, and end on a high note by explaining what you learned. 

5. What are these gaps in your employment history?

This piggybacks on question #4. Sometimes gaps are omissions and sometimes they are simply times when you were unemployed. If there are gaps, be prepared to explain what you were doing during this time. 

If you don't have an answer because you used your fun-employment time as just that, let this be a lesson: Don't sit and wait for the job to come to you. The harder you hustle the greater the reward. There's a good chance that if the job comes down to you and someone who took a class or another job during their unemployment, you're probably not getting that position. 

The hustle never sleeps or stops—even if you're not getting paid. You are responsible for your future, no one else. 

6. Is there anything you want to ask me?

If you say, "No, I think I've got it," be prepared to kiss that job goodbye. You just spent 30 minutes with the person in charge of hiring you and if you don't have any questions, you haven't done your research. Show that you are willing to go the extra mile (hell, block) for the company. These questions should NOT be about salary, benefits like vacation days, or how long you have to wait for your first performance review and promotion. Climb the ladder sure, but wait until you get hired to take a step up the rung. 

Look into clients they've worked with, their greatest successes, and figure out a question or two that shows that your battery is fully charged up for them i.e. not questions that show you're only looking out for you. These are questions that show you are also willing to go outside of your job "description" and get involved in multiple verticals. 

Good luck and be your best-prepared self. This is your year if you want it.

Love this story? Pin the below graphic to your Pinterest board.

This post was originally published on January 20, 2016, and has since been updated.

MORE ON THE BLOG

Follow Your Dreams, Err No, Your Gut—and Other Clichés of Success We Need to Ditch

Photo: Smith House Photo

Chances are you’ve heard one of the following clichés at one point in your life when seeking out career advice: “If you can dream it, you can achieve it;” “Pursue your passion;” Work hard, dream big;” and “Follow your dreams.”

It might have been at your high school or college graduation, or at a conference from a motivational speaker. You may have seen it emblazoned on the front of a greeting card to commemorate one of your life accomplishments, or on Instagram where the post has garnered thousands of likes and reposts.

They are clichés intended to make us feel inspired to go for the next big thing, a reminder to stay focused on the grand prize of that imaginary picture of success we all have. But how do these clichés work in the real world where things are not as simple and clear-cut? 

It is time to get real about what it means to achieve in the real world and move past the clichés. Your success depends on it. Let’s take a look at the most famous clichés rewritten as real-world advice.

If you dream it, you can achieve it adjust accordingly.

It all starts with a dream–the dream college, the dream job, or the dream life. Knowing what you want and being able to imagine it first is essential to achievement. If you can dream it, more than likely you can map out a plan to go after it.

The first step in moving past this cliché is knowing that following your dreams will often involve detours, failures, pitfalls, and disappointments. It often involves dismantling the “master plan” and having to create a new one. It means revisiting who you thought you would be and accepting you might want to be something else.

Know that dreams will change throughout your life and you will be in redrafting mode often. Dreams evolve at the same speed that you are evolving as a person. One minute you can have a dream of owning a house and a car and another minute you are dreaming of traveling the world—and this can be said for all other dreams you may have. 

If you can dream it, you will learn that real life will make you adjust accordingly when you begin to face obstacles and setbacks on your journey. When you have an epiphany about that dream job you thought you always wanted or that life you always chased after, you will be faced with going back to the drawing board.

Being able to pivot and draw wisdom from the trials and tribulations is what will make your accomplishments so much more meaningful in the end. Accepting that it won’t be linear is the first step in maintaining your focus on any dream.  

Know that in real life, you can continue to dream as you evolve and adjust those dreams to your new realities. It won’t mean you’ve failed in achieving anything, it just means you are accepting you will always be in a state of growth—an essential place to be to make strides in success.

Pursue your passion purpose.

Everyone has a passion. It can range from politics to non-profit work to the arts. Our society has always been enamored with the idea that simply having a passion and focusing solely on that can grant you the key to success. Just pursue what you are passionate about and everything will fall into place, right? Wrong.

We’ve all heard the stories of people who have tried to follow their passions and have had to switch gears in order to make a better living or maintain a family. Just because your day job does not revolve around your life passion does not mean you haven’t unlocked the key to success.

Having a passion in life and being able to make a living off of it is wonderful, but oftentimes that is not the case, especially if you are just starting off in your field. Know that this is okay. The good news is if you cannot pursue your passion to make a living, you can always focus on pursuing your purpose.

You can find your purpose by analyzing some of your passions. Does your passion involve helping others? Does it involve contributing a special skill? What can you take from your passions and make relatable to your current situation? Take a closer look at your passions and you will find there is often a deeper purpose that can translate to any job you may have.

By finding your purpose you will open more doors and possibly find you have more than just your passion, but rather a mission that can carry you through many careers and down many paths in life.

Work hard, dream big then, work harder.

“Work hard, dream big” is one cliché that almost nails it, but in the real world it goes more like this: Work hard, then work harder. Following this revised version is where you will start to see the fruits of your labor.

Finding success at any stage of your life means putting in the extra effort. Going above and beyond the expectations and going the extra mile. When you work harder, you shine brighter.

When you bring your all to a job, you establish yourself and your brand at the top tier level. And in order to maintain this status, you will have to continue to work harder every single time as you raise that bar.

Every step up, you will be required to outdo the last. So, yes, keep dreaming big but know that you will be tasked with working even harder as you inch closer to achieving that dream.

Follow your dreams gut.

As noted earlier, your dreams will evolve. You will change and your notion of what real success means will also change. This brings me to the final cliché reworded for the real world: Follow your gut.

As you move throughout life, do not depend on the dreams you have drafted to be the definitive guide, because they will change over time. Instead, follow your gut as you move through jobs, friends, and life and use it as your compass. It will never fail you. Your inner voice will dictate what direction you are being drawn to and oftentimes there is a good reason for it. It is taking you to a place you belong to.

Learning to trust yourself is the key to achieving success on your own terms. You are the only person who will know what is best for you. You are the one who will determine what true success looks like.

At the end of the day, your life and dreams cannot be captured in a cliché; they are far too complex. Remember to stay agile with your dreams, find your purpose as you analyze your passions, work harder every single time, and follow your gut; this is real-life advice that goes beyond the clichés to help you move closer to what you really want in life.

About the author: Brenda Duran is a writer, communications specialist, and creative. She can be reached at bduran5@yahoo.com and at bduran.com.

This story was originally published on September 18, 2019, and has since been updated.

MORE ON THE BLOG

"If You Aren’t Growing in a Role—Whether That's Your Title, Salary, or Responsibilities—Leave ASAP!"

Photo: Courtesy of Cassandra Dittmer

Walking away from a 9-to-5 job with a steady paycheck and health benefits to start your own business isn’t easy. To help you to take the plunge, we’re introducing a new monthly editorial series The Case for Quitting where we ask self-employed women all about how they successfully struck out on their own, from how they balanced their side-hustle with their full-time job to how much money they saved before handing in their two-week notice. This month, we caught up with fashion stylist Cassandra Dittmer who has not once but twice left a full-time job to start her own venture. Here are her tips for when it's time to put in your two-week notice.

What was your major in college and what did you want to do when you graduated? 

Apparel merchandising and design with an emphasis on international relations. I wanted to be a fashion designer or work in trend forecasting.   

What did you actually do after you graduated? What types of jobs did you apply to and what industry were you looking to break into?

I graduated and 48 hours later drove out to Los Angeles. I was looking to break into the fashion industry and definitely wasn’t looking to be in entertainment. I had interned the previous summer for a celebrity stylist and she offered me an unpaid gig while I was looking for paid work. I took the opportunity so that I could be boots on the ground in L.A. looking for work and taking freelance styling jobs. I fell in love with the styling industry and, at the time, was only interested in styling gigs.  

How did you get into fashion?

I was always interested in fashion from a very young age. I grew up in rural Iowa and always loved how dreamy and artistic the fashion industry appeared. It seemed so glamorous and foreign to me. My mom got me really interested in personal style and runway shows very early on. She was always dressed to the nines and instilled in me the mindset to dress for yourself and cultivate a deep sense of personal style. Where I grew up had absolutely nothing related to the fashion industry. Every internship started with a lot of cold emails. Instagram didn’t exist at the time and I would exhaust myself emailing every stylist in the industry for an interview. Eventually, I flew out to L.A. one weekend my junior year of college and literally knocked on doors until I could convince someone to hire me as an intern.  

What was it like balancing your full-time job with your passion? Do you recommend starting a side-hustle while you have a full-time job? 

I barely know any other way at this point because I am constantly piling on my projects and keeping myself really busy. I think starting a side hustle when you have a full-time job is the most responsible way to start. Side hustles are important to staying agile and open-minded. I find that I access different parts of my brain when there is less pressure attached to the outcome and that brings out a whole other side of my creativity. 

How did you know when it was time to make the transition from side-hustle to full-time? What was your strategy for making the transition?  

When you can make the economics make sense it is definitely the right time to leave a full-time job. Starting any new company or venture always takes more time and capital than anticipated. The strategy is to create a schedule and stick to it. It sounds simple, but it takes a lot of discipline to put in that after-hour work and source that reserve brain energy. I started with a lot of exploratory calls and coffee dates. I would reach out to everyone I knew who had experience related to my side hustle and start to build the research out. Don’t sleep on the research and product development portion of starting a new company. This foundation should be solid before you take a leap. 

How did you prepare for the transition before quitting your full-time job? What, if anything, do you wish you’d done differently?  

Twice I have left a full-time job to start my own ventures. The first time, I left a full-time styling gig to start my own styling company. Styling is a unique industry because it’s very difficult to grow your clientele while maintaining full-time employment. At times, I wish I had waited longer and had more clients so that I didn’t have to bootstrap so hard. Other times I wish I hadn't stayed so long (almost five years) in an assistant role. If you aren’t growing in a role—whether that’s your title, salary, or responsibilities—leave ASAP! I had very little business experience and spent most of my time working directly with artists. I wish I had prioritized my business acumen as acutely and with as much emphasis as I focused on the creative.   

Were you worried about money? What advice can you share for people who are worried about leaving a steady paycheck to start a new career? 

Money was my #1 concern when leaving my job. I was luckily in zero debt but had very little savings when I changed careers. There is a lot of legwork and preparation that can be done while maintaining a full-time job. I used to make 3-month, 6-month, and year-long projections and work backward from that. I have started many collaborations and designed projects by working only 3-5 additional hours per week. Set that schedule and commit to it. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, paralyzed, and not know where to begin. The hardest part for me is starting and staying organized. I always like to approach any new venture in bite-sized chunks. Start small and accomplish things weekly so that you are giving yourself positive reinforcement. 

“You will find more fulfillment and joy out of becoming the best version of yourself.”

—Cassandra Dittmer

Did you save up first or did you just jump in headfirst? 

I wish I had saved more, but I just jumped in headfirst! I think it’s hard to find the balance between boldly betting on yourself and being naive. I only saved about 15% of my annual income at the time I quit and would not recommend starting a new venture with that little savings. 

What's the most important thing you have learned from making a big change in your career life?

I have found cultivating and maintaining a set of ethics and standards is crucial. If you can create a business that truly reflects who you are as a person and maintains high standards you will be successful. It is crucial to add real value to your customer or client. When you have cultivated a community of people and you are truly listening to their needs, you will add far more value, and therefore be indispensable. 

It’s easy to celebrate the wins, but how do you handle failure or when something hasn’t worked out for you?

I try to meet failure with a humbled mindset. I work hard to remove my ego from the situation as failure often feels so personal. At the end of the day, in business, you have to have resilience and persistence. It’s important to keep evolving and realizing that everything isn’t personal. Failure is an opportunity to grow stronger as well as be more strategic in your decision-making. It’s also nice to take a bit of time and recharge yourself when you are forced to restart. I can’t create anything meaningful when my brain isn’t clear. 

What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made and learned from along the way?  

Working without contracts and making business decisions based on a handshake. I have been burned many times before, typically financially, by later realizing there is not an alignment in terms. It sounds simple, but get everything in writing and take the time to do it right the first time!  

When you look back and reflect on your previous career do you have any regrets or are you still really happy with your decision?  

At times, I have reflected on leaving a cushy job to leap into the highs and lows of self-employment, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I find immense joy in poking holes and finding gaps in the industry and market. Being my own boss and having my own company allows me to be more agile, take bigger risks, and therefore have greater rewards and fulfillment. 

Going after what you deserve in life takes confidence and guts. Does confidence come naturally to you or did you have to learn it? What advice can you share for women on cultivating confidence and going after their dreams? 

I am naturally confident, but also very self-deprecating and critical. I oftentimes wish I wasn’t so hard on myself, but I have big goals and know that requires being uncomfortable and taking calculated risks. It isn’t productive to compare yourself to others, especially other women. Everyone is dealt a different hand and has different lived experiences. All you can do is focus on your capabilities and work within those constraints. You will find more fulfillment and joy out of becoming the best version of yourself.  

What is the #1 career or money book you always recommend and why? 

It’s been years since I have read Seth Godin’s “Linchpin,” but the title sticks out to me because I remember reading it right around the time I left my first job to start my own styling company. I remember thinking that becoming indispensable and learning how to add real value as a critical mindset to embody.  

What advice can you share for someone who is thinking about leaving their current gig to pursue their side-hustle or passion?

Make sure that you are providing a service that adds value and making decisions that are solutions-based. I have made many decisions in my ego and based on what I thought was cool and that doesn’t always translate. It’s important to take a step back and build a community around the product or service you are looking to sell. Entrepreneurship and the fashion industry are both highly glorified, and it really isn’t that glamorous 99% of the time!

MORE ON THE BLOG

Ask a Confidence Coach—11 Tips to Take Your Career to the Next Level

Photo: Create & Cultivate

Show of hands: Who has heard the phrase “confidence is key” before? Are you with me on this? From elementary school murals to iPhone screensavers, this common phrase is plastered everywhere, and for good reason. I truly believe that confidence is key for many areas of your life, but if you’re like me, I only think about confidence in personal settings. My personality, looks, and sense of humor are all things that I easily see as areas needing confidence. But the one area I’ve always struggled feeling confident in? My career. And that’s where Heather Monahan comes in. 

Monahan is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and founder of Boss in Heels. Having successfully climbed the corporate ladder for nearly 20 years, Monahan’s book “Confidence Creator” illustrates the tough lessons she’s learned throughout her career that have helped her develop the self-assurance necessary for getting what she wanted in life. Below, Monahan shares 11 ways you can take your career to the next level by feeding your own. Here’s what she recommends.

Figure Out Where Your Passions and Talents Lie

When you are spending your time in your superpower you feel so confident. What I mean by that is if your talent is highlighted when you are interacting with others, but you are currently in a job where you only interact with spreadsheets on your computer, you need to change roles. Figuring out where your passions and talents are is critical to becoming your most confident self at work. This is the single most important thing you can do. When we speak about what we know and love, we are more confident.  Identify your superpower and spend your time there. 

Bring Your Confidence to Work (Even If You Have to Fake It Sometimes)

Confidence everywhere is important. Here is an example: I was hired by an association to give my keynote speech. On the conference call the week before the event, the new president was laying out expectations for me. This is what he said: “Heather, this is my first year as president and there is so much pressure on me to create a stellar event. If your speech is amazing then I am golden, if you blow it I fail. You cannot blow it.” I laughed in my head. I could hear how he was lacking confidence in his new role. Thankfully, I am very confident in my speaking abilities, and here is what I said: “Have no fear. I will nail this and you will look like a superstar. You can take that to the bank.”

He started laughing and thanked me for being so confident, it put him at ease. However, if I had said to him, “I am so sorry you are feeling this pressure. It sounds really hard. I can promise I will try my best,” (while a fair response) it would not have been the confident response my client needed in his moment of fear. Bringing confidence to work is the difference between existing and excelling. People want to work with people that are confident because it makes them feel comfortable.

Confront Your Misconceptions and Limiting Beliefs

This is the million-dollar question. Statistics show that women feel less confident than men beginning at age eight. What this says to me is the way we are raised—the self-limiting beliefs that are imposed on us through culture, society, media, and the “lanes” that are created for women—all impact our confidence. We are told to be a certain weight, look pretty, be kind and gentle, be smart but not too smart, and on and on. What I have learned over the last two decades is pretty much everything I was taught as a child needs to be re-examined now.

I was raised as the “social” one and my sister was the “smart” one. I walked through life carrying these labels with me and allowing myself to be limited as a result. Confronting these misconceptions and moving into my fear allowed me to create confidence in myself; however, it was pretty scary. Realizing that we create our own reality and we allow for or choose not to accept others’ opinions or limitations is incredibly empowering. For years, I had played small at work because I saw that it allowed others to feel more comfortable. When I would rise up or step into my power I would see others feel uncomfortable. 

Deciding to own my power has allowed me to take off in business and in my life. It starts with you and me deciding to live our lives by our own rules. Confidence is a choice. 

Make Goals and Stretch Yourself Every Day

There are so many things. Leverage LinkedIn. Everyone has a personal brand. Make the conscious decision to hold the pen when orchestrating your personal brand. If you don’t do this others will be writing the outline for your brand and deciding your story. LinkedIn is a fantastic place to showcase your highlight reel at work. This is where you want to list your accomplishments, accolades, and reviews. We live in a word-of-mouth society and the best words are the ones others share about us.

The next time someone says, “Great job!” convert that feedback in the moment and ask that person to write a review of your work on your LinkedIn wall. Get in the habit of doing this and watch the credibility and traction you create. Have a goal. Whether it is to make 10 sales calls today or to reach out to three new potential mentors, you need to have a big picture goal and vision of your future and you need to have micro-goals that you will accomplish each day. Surround yourself with people that are ahead of you, as they will help to stretch you beyond what you see as your current potential.

“Make the conscious decision to hold the pen when orchestrating your personal brand.”

Be Prepared to Step Into the Uncomfortable Sometimes

If you lack confidence, you will not pitch yourself for the job that doesn’t exist or for the promotion right in front of you. The first time I pitched myself for a vision I had, which was not an existing job, others said to me that it wouldn’t work and others had the same idea, but the company wouldn’t want to implement it. In that moment, if I lacked confidence, I would have accepted that answer and backed away. Thankfully, I was confident in my abilities at work and I called the president of the company, met with him face-to-face, and closed him on my idea. 

That idea more than doubled the company’s revenues during my tenure at the company. If you want to move up, you need to create confidence so you can step into the uncomfortable and move beyond what has always been. When you create confidence, you also allow yourself to innovate and see things others might not be able to see.  Confidence allows for creativity and authenticity which are key in getting ahead at work. 

“Faking it ‘till you make it will help you to get through difficult times, but it is never the long term answer.”

Confidence Is Earned

Confidence is such an interesting thing. I believe we are all born with the same baseline. However, we are immediately impacted by our surroundings and the individuals we are interacting with. There are so many people that I meet who have amazing parents, wealth, and health and create confidence immediately from their surroundings. What is interesting is those same people as adults when faced with losing their parents crumble. When your confidence comes from an external place it can’t be sustained.

I know this first hand. I had associated my confidence with my job title and my paycheck. The day I got fired, my confidence came crumbling down. The important thing to know is regardless of if you have confidence today or don’t, you can create it in any moment. The act of reading this article is creating confidence as you are accessing knowledge to better yourself. Confidence is not something that some are born with and some are not. Confidence is something that anyone can create and that can falter at different times in your life or different areas of your life.

Some may be confident in their personal life but not at work and some may be really confident in their workout but not when dating. Confidence is different at different times in your life and different situations, but through practice and discipline, you can become masterful in creating it and realizing your true potential.

The “Fake It ‘Till You Make It” Mantra Works… Until It Doesn’t

This mantra served me well in corporate America. Back in the day, I lacked confidence at work for many reasons. One of the big issues is because I had been told by many to dress a certain way, look a certain way, and change how I really am. The more you move away from the authentic you, the more you chip away at your confidence.

Over time, my confidence was dropping. When that happened, I began to allow others to treat me poorly at work. When I allowed for that, my confidence started spiraling. I still had a very high position in the company and would have to address employees and audiences often. In those moments, I would fake my confidence. I would take the stage or the mic and “pretend” I was ultra-confident. This worked and so many people believed it. The real fail is I didn’t believe it. Faking it till you make it will help you to get through difficult times, but it is never the long-term answer.  

Practice Gratitude and Visualization

Using affirmations daily works. As does:

• Writing notes on the bottom of your shoe, which is a great reminder to pick you up when your confidence dips. 

• Wearing your power color to work will allow you to feel your best.

• Putting yourself first and investing in you will build your confidence. 

• Deciding to no longer apologize and instead thank others will help you to feel stronger.

• Taking others off of the proverbial pedestal will allow you to feel on level ground with others which creates confidence. 

• Scents like lavender or anything that resonates with you can help when you are lacking confidence.

• Creating a confidence playlist and theme song will help you to ignite confidence before a big meeting. -Writing down three things you are grateful for each day will shift your mindset. 

• Practicing visualizing the life, promotion, meeting you want to happen will start things in motion and ready you for your dreams to manifest.”  

Clothing Can Be a Powerful Tool

For years, I would wear a navy blue pantsuit because I had listened to the prescriptive direction others had imposed on me. These days, I rock ripped jeans and bodysuits and I feel powerful. Being true to your style and what you feel great in will always help you to be more confident. Trying to follow what others tell you will work is a recipe for failure. You have the answers for you. You know what you like to wear and what you don’t like to wear. Show up as you and shine your light ripped jeans and all.  

Ditch the Fear and Do It Anyway

For years, I sat paralyzed by my fear. I would go to work in a toxic environment and cry at home at night because I felt stuck at the job that paid my bills. I was so fearful I would make excuses as to why I had to stay. I never thought, “Why don’t I leap and see what happens?” I now see fear as a green light that means GO! Not only go, but go faster. If I had leapt years ago, I would be so much further now. Done will always be better than perfect and failure only occurs if you quit. I am not a quitter. 

I have had countless failures since I was fired and re-invented myself as an entrepreneur but each failure leads me to a new place, a better place as long as I just keep going. Like anything, you can build your strength and conquer new levels of fear. Start small and take baby steps. Talk to a new person in line at Starbucks today. Then tomorrow use that experience to allow you to share your new idea at work with your boss. Keep amassing these small wins by confronting your fear, and before you know it, you will have momentum that will propel you to smash through fear. What’s the worst that can happen?

This story was originally published on July 15, 2019, and has since been published.

MORE ON THE BLOG

17 Successful Women Share the Insightful Books That Supercharged Their Careers

In this age of information, we have everything we need to start a new business, create a website, or set up a budget right at our fingertips—Google is a powerful tool. But sometimes you need a deep dive into the topic to truly understand the scope of what’s required from every angle—that’s when we turn to books. In our series, Turning a Page, we ask successful people to share their go-to tomes that helped transform their business, career, or money mindset. Whether you listen to them or need to physically flip the pages (and write notes or underline the text like us!), there is so much power in self-educating. Ready to turn a page in your career? These books will help take you there.

Photo: ColorJoy Stock by Christina Jones Photography

Our career roadmaps are typically anything but linear. In fact, there are often many different paths to find success, which can make navigating the process that much more difficult. Fortunately, an abundance of trailblazing leaders have paved the way to show us that anything is possible, and many of their journeys have been documented in powerful books that are readily available to us.

To narrow down the seemingly endless options out there, we tapped 17 incredible women to uncover the books that have supercharged their careers, helped them land promotions, lead companies, and, ultimately, shaped the ways they’re positively impacting the world around them. Their recommendations—like their backgrounds—are eclectic. They include titles from a corporate lens, an entrepreneurial perspective, and even the viewpoint of a symphony orchestra player turned consultant. 

Emily Chen

Founder of Emcstudioco

The Book: “You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life” by Jen Sincerio

The Key Takeaway: As creatives and entrepreneurs, we so often fall into the mindset of scarcity. This book helped me shift my mindset when I was starting my creative studio and first entrepreneurial venture. It made me realize we are all born with innate gifts and that fulfilling our purpose allows others around us to step into theirs.

Samantha Patil

Co-Founder and CEO of Well Traveled

The Book: “Everything Is Figureoutable” by Marie Forleo

The Key Takeaway: A couple of years ago I made the decision to walk away from my stable and successful career that I'd put 10 years of work into building. I dove into the path of entrepreneurship and I couldn't be happier that I did. Entrepreneurship is scary, exciting, frustrating, exhausting, and thrilling all the time and I wouldn't have it any other way. I read Forleo's book not long after taking the plunge into running my own business and now have the words "everything is figureoutable" in a frame on my desk. The minute I start to think, "What am I doing? I don't know how to do this!" I look at those words and I get back to work. I've realized I'm stronger, more capable, and more resilient than I ever imagined, and Forleo's book and these words often help me give myself the pep talk I need whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed.

Yewande Faloyin

Founder and CEO of OTITỌ Leadership Coaching & Consulting

The Book: “Lost Connections: Why You’re Depressed and How to Find Hope” by Johann Hari 

The Key Takeaway: After two years of exhaustion and burnout, “Lost Connections” reminded me that I am so much more than what I do. It emphasized the significance of connecting to more than just my work for success, fulfillment, and satisfaction. This book would benefit anyone seeking to find true, lasting success in all areas of their life, recognizing that when we thrive in one area, it elevates the others! Understanding how depression can result from one being disconnected from different yet equally important areas in one's life helped me to confidently quit my consulting job at McKinsey and build a business that I love in a way that connects with, supports, and amplifies all other areas of my life.

Olivia Bowser

Founder and CEO of Liberate

The Book: “The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment” by Eckhart Tolle

The Key Takeaway: Each page opened my eyes to what life could feel like when living fully embodied in the here and now. I realized that I had so often been consumed by obsessing about the past or ruminating over the future that I was missing what was right in front of me. By living for the now, I can create positive change, be a better leader, and be the best version of myself.

Sophia Sunwoo

Founder and Principal of Ascent Strategy

The Book: “Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making” Machine by Mike Michalowicz

The Key Takeaway: I have never met an entrepreneur who has read this book and hasn’t raved about how drastically it has changed how they manage their money and helped them turn a profit in their business. There really isn’t anyone who wouldn’t benefit from this book—it’s simply genius and sets you up to always have cash on hand for payroll and to self-fund any desired investments for your business. If you want to boost your financial literacy and wield your money to your desires, read this book.

Sam Ogborn

Founder and CEO of Once + More

The Book: “Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are” by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

The Key Takeaway: This book helped me understand the socially acceptable conversations we all have versus our personal, inner thoughts, and feelings. This book has been invaluable for my career as it's helped me understand true human nature and the importance of reading between the lines.

Mariya Leona Illarionova

Founder and Creative Director of Wild Side Studio

The Book: “Start Something That Matters” by Blake Mycoskie 

The Key Takeaway: This book changed my perspective on business and pivoted my career. At the time, I was working in a laboratory at Brookfield Zoo. The book inspired me to quit the lab, dive into the startup world, and eventually start my own business. Mycoskie taught me that we can use capitalism as a tool to redistribute wealth and better our planet. I recommend this book to anyone who feels let down by society and the professional world. Reading it gave me the momentum to follow my heart and to be the change I wish to see in the world.

Lori Abichandani

Founder and Brand Strategist at A Big Idea

The Book: “Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business” by Danny Meyer

The Key Takeaway: I love this book—so much of my philosophy on life and business has been shaped by it. It emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, cultivating strong culture, leading with generosity, and building to last instead of building for trends. It's truly a timeless read. While set in the hospitality industry, there are lessons to be found for anyone building a company from the ground up. I highly recommend it to entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs of all kinds.

Alex Cooley

Founder of AC Electric

The Book: “The Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life” by Robert Fritz

The Key Takeaway: This is not a business book. Robert Fritz is a symphony orchestra player turned consultant of all things. The book's main idea is that addressing life, business, and societal concerns is not just about tackling its problems but about envisioning an altogether new, idealized vision. This implementation with structural change is a powerful perspective on how to solve nearly any situation. It's the first book I have my clients read and is so great for anyone who wants to own a vision and make a big impact in their industry and society.

Maiko Sakai

Founder and Lead Strategist at Airtight Concepts

The Book: “Radical Candor (Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity)” by Kim Scott

The Key Takeaway: The revised version is key because the newly added parts clarify Scott’s true intention for the framework as well as her definition of radical candor, which was misunderstood and meme’d when the first edition was released. This is one of those books that makes me say, “I wish I’d written it!” with the utmost respect. Scott’s decision to work on the revised version and how sincere and transparent she was with the process left me thinking about how to revamp my work and my business for days. I was deeply inspired by her candid ways to continuously improve the framework she created and truly walk the walk as a boss and as an entrepreneur. I highly recommend this book to all entrepreneurs who aspire to create their own intellectual property but have doubts creeping up and/or are planning on building and nurturing a kick-ass team for their businesses.

Kim Kaupe

Founder of Bright Ideas Only

The Book: “Hearts, Smarts, Guts and Luck: What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur and Build a Great Business” by Anthony Tjan, Richard Harrington, and Tsun-Yan Hsieh

The Key Takeaway: This was the first book to help me understand what my entrepreneurial mapping was thanks to their first-ever Entrepreneurial Aptitude Test. I could see where my strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities were when it came to building my business and expanding my dreams. I recommend it to anyone who wants to start a company or lead change.

Melinda Wang

Founder of MW Projects

The Book: “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! Adventures of a Curious Character” by Richard P. Feynman

The Key Takeaway: I came across this book by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman when I was in middle school and only recently did I realize how much it impacted my life, both professionally and personally. This semi-autobiographical book is a collection of anecdotes of Feynman’s adventures in theoretical physics, Brazilian samba, academia, visual art, safe-cracking, and more. Words of wisdom about authentic knowledge, intellectual idealism, and the importance of following through on curiosities flow throughout the stories. Meeting this self-professed curious character inspired me to not only follow my passions across art, law, and entrepreneurship but to go deep and always challenge myself to learn more.

Lauren Rosenthal

Founder and Chief Chick of Birdie

The Book: “The Paradox of Choice: Why Less Is More” by Barry Schwartz

The Key Takeaway: This book finally gave me a term to explain what I'm addressing with my app, Birdie! So many people are familiar with the book that as soon as I bring up "The Paradox of Choice" everyone understands the issue and how important it is to solve. I believe everyone can benefit from this book. We are all so inundated with options on a daily basis, so better understanding how the paradox of choice impacts us can help change our mindset and reduce unnecessary stress and anxiety.

Lori Sussle Bonanni

Founder and Communications Consultant at Elssus, LLC

The Book: “Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel” by Rolf Potts

The Key Takeaway: I read this for the first time while traveling solo during my career break in South America nearly a decade ago. Travel is a real-life choose-your-own-adventure novel, especially if you travel without being tethered to an itinerary like me. Ultimately, the benefits of travel—curiosity, creativity, flexibility, and an increased tolerance for uncertainty—make me a stronger entrepreneur.

Dina Kaplan

Founder and CEO of The Path

The Book: “The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life's Perfection” by Michael A. Singer

The Key Takeaway: Singer shows how much we can change our lives, and our careers, by making new choices about how we want to live. He also shows that it is possible to lead a company while being kind and ethical. I think about the decisions he made constantly as I remind myself that I can change my life—and the lives of others—by always choosing to act ethically, and that I can lead my team by being strong but also caring. This book will benefit people leading companies or teams or really anyone open to believing they have the power within themselves to be happy and to control their destiny.

Wadeeha Jackson

Director of Compliance and Ops at HXRO Game Ltd

The Book: “Expect to Win: 10 Proven Strategies for Thriving in the Workplace” by Carla Harris 

The Key Takeaway: “Expect to Win” was a game-changer for me during the earlier part of my career in the finance industry. For me, the key takeaway was the importance of having a sponsor. As a young professional, you usually seek seasoned professionals for mentorship. Throughout the book, Harris points out that a sponsor provides influence and expresses a willingness to advocate on your behalf. Unlike mentorship, sponsors serve as a direct pipeline toward unique opportunities to push your career forward.

Trish Boes

Leadership and Life Coach at Soul Leadership Solutions, LLC

The Book: “The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are” by Brené Brown

The Key Takeaway: This book totally rocked my world and is one of the reasons why I chose to become a leadership coach years ago. It introduced me to the concept of perfectionism, which, eight years ago, I didn't know was a thing. I realized that I was a perfectionist and that a lot of the things I was doing in my career were based around people-pleasing and avoiding feelings of shame, which eventually led to my burnout. I still read this book regularly because it reminds me to lean into vulnerability and prioritize wholehearted living, which means engaging in our own lives from a place of courage and worthiness. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to reconnect with their own brilliance and to let go of feelings of burnout, imposter syndrome, or constant self-judgment.

Love this story? Pin the below graphic to your Pinterest board.

MORE ON THE BLOG

Want to Land Your Dream Job? 3 Tips to Get You Closer to Your Career Sweet Spot

Photo: Color Joy Stock

I’ve been helping students, peers, and friends figure out their education and career journeys for nearly fifteen years. I don’t have all the answers, but I’ve learned a great deal about how to craft my own destiny since entering the workforce, despite what at times has felt like I’ve strayed from my course.

Throughout my career journey, I figured out what skills I needed to develop and found a way to pursue my passions, even when my full-time role wasn't exactly my dream job. By taking on different responsibilities and learning opportunities, and by shifting to a different mindset, I continued to set myself apart and diversify my skill set. I’ve relied on some simple career tenets in the companies and roles I’ve had for over a decade—even if they were subconscious at the time—and it’s not surprising that we’re teaching students some of these things through my work at HIVE DIVERSITY.

Regardless of where you are in your own career journey—whether you’re just starting out, thinking about a pivot, or just aren’t exactly at your end goal quite yet—here’s my advice for ensuring you always grow closer to your career sweet spot.

1. It’s okay to accept a role that’s not the job.

This advice may seem obvious since there are many people who aren’t in their dream jobs. However, I’m not guiding you to open the floodgates to start considering anything and everything. If you can envision a path to the role you want from the role you’re considering, it might be worth a shot rather than waiting for the perfect job, especially in a challenging market. I graduated from college during a financial downturn, so I’ve experienced what it’s like to start or pivot a career during a period of uncertainty. I wasn’t in a position financially where I could go too long without a job, so I eventually accepted a role that wasn’t related as closely to my major and to what I wanted to do, but where I could see a path to getting there.

Fast forward to today, and I’m the chief operating officer at HIVE DIVERSITY, a career development and recruiting platform which brings together one unique community of students and recent graduates with employers who value diversity. Our students learn about career development from five levels of gamified content, videos, and resources, which take them from college major and career planning through interview prep. As part of our guidance on selecting a post-grad role, we advise students “as long as the job is not just ‘anything’ it doesn’t have to be everything… just a step in the right direction.” Of course, if you get your dream job, that works, too!

2. Adopt a “yes, and” mentality.

A big part of my work and life approach is informed by design thinking, a human-centered approach to solving problems. To aid in idea-generation, design thinkers will often call upon the mindset of “yes, and” (also used in the world of improv), which involves accepting and building on new ideas, rather than saying no to them. In my experience “Yes, and…” has meant finding something worth accepting in anything that comes my way, and then adding my own spin on it.

When it comes to your career and helping to get closer to what you want and value, “yes, and” can be a great way to ensure you’re not closing doors too quickly that might lead to something useful. A few years ago, I was in a fast-paced customer-facing operations role with a lot to manage and little time to do it. When I was asked to add a new daily task to my to-do list, my initial instinct was to say “No, but…” which I pivoted to a “yes, and.” Yes, I took on the ongoing task, and I amended the ask so that I improved the process itself. I recognized that adding my own twist of process improvement would be a résumé-builder in itself. Not only did this new task eventually take a lot less time to do, but I was able to find value in the initial idea that was sent my way.

3. Proactively seek or create opportunities to work on things you’re interested in.

As you’re on your journey to career nirvana, look for ways to work or volunteer in the areas you’re most interested in if it’s not exactly what you’re doing full-time. You might be in a company you love but not in your dream department or functional area. Or, you might be considering an individual contributor role, and you know that you want to build leadership experience to get the job you’ve always wanted. If you have the capacity to take on additional projects or learning opportunities, don’t be afraid to seek them out!

As part of a rotational training program at a company I was excited to work at, I’d learned that there was a department specifically focused on technical project management—something I’d been exposed to and wanted to build on. Through demonstrating interest and an informational meeting with the department head, I ultimately was able to rotate to that department. I love leading teams, so when I took on a subsequent role where I could expand on technical skills without being a people manager, I sought opportunities to lead. Given my interest in diversity and inclusion, I volunteered to be on the leadership team of two employee resource groups: another vital “extra” role that clinched my experience in both D&I and leadership at once!

Ultimately, I’d built up a portfolio of experiences that caught the eye of my partner and HIVE founder, Byron Slosar. Building on my work across operations, career services, process improvement, diversity and inclusion, leading teams, and more, I wound up being the perfect fit for HIVE DIVERSITY and vice versa.

If you’ve spent time learning what you want, it turns out you already have the tools to get there. Take chances, be proactive, and work with what you have. The rest will follow.

“When it comes to your career and helping to get closer to what you want and value, “yes, and” can be a great way to ensure you’re not closing doors too quickly that might lead to something useful.”

—Dakotah Eddy, Chief Operating Officer, HIVE DIVERSITY

About the Author: Dakotah Eddy is the chief operating officer of HIVE DIVERSITY, a digital recruiting platform that connects employers with a unique community of graduates that represents what diversity in the workforce is supposed to be. Prior to joining HIVE DIVERSITY, Dakotah was an operations leader for Victoria's Secret Beauty, where she served on the leadership team for the women's and Black associates' diversity and inclusion groups and completed the Inclusive Leadership Development Program. Dakotah received her MBA from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management with a focus on Strategy, Marketing, and Technology.

Love this story? Pin the below graphic to your Pinterest board.

MORE ON THE BLOG

Why I Deleted "Sorry" From My Vocabulary

“Your message becomes direct, clear, and representative of your self-worth.”

-Kate Davis, Founder of Knockout

As business owners, we all want to project confidence through our interactions with vendors, contractors, clients, customers, and other business owners. I started my company at 25 years old with no business experience. In these past five years, I’ve worked with manufacturers, lawyers, consultants, and event organizers. Many of these people didn’t take me seriously because of my age, gender, or lack of industry knowledge. I couldn’t change who I was (nor did I want to), but I could adjust my language to present a stronger, more confident version of myself.  

It’s become increasingly clear to me that language is powerful, and we have the ability to convey self-confidence through our word choices. In our digital world (even more so during a pandemic), our written communications are important opportunities to use purposeful language. Getting rid of the self-defeating “sorry” and “just” make a major difference in the way we are perceived. 

Did you say or write “sorry” today when you didn’t do anything wrong? Look through some emails and texts, and you might be surprised how regularly “sorry”  slips in. Once I started looking for it, I realized that I’d been saying “sorry”  instinctively throughout my whole life. When I posted about this recently on  Instagram, I couldn’t believe how many women said they also say it unnecessarily and often. Why do we do this? 

Many women I talk with compulsively apologize when asking for something or making a reasonable request. To be clear, there are definitely moments when an apology is necessary, and we should say sorry when we make a mistake or hurt someone. We know how to identify when we should say “sorry”, so let’s talk about when we don’t need to say it—and more importantly—what we can say instead. 

“Sorry to bother you, but could you send me that project proposal we talked  about when you get a chance?”  

This “sorry” is not necessary. It might feel aggressive to say “Could you send me that project proposal?”, but that’s what you need, right? If you want to soften it  a bit, you can always add “please.” The point is, it’s not your fault that this person is late, and you have no reason to say sorry. Apologizing diminishes our message and perceived confidence. 

A great substitute for “sorry” is “thank you”, which completely changes the tone of your exchange. The person you’re talking with will feel appreciated and will recognize the positive framing of the situation. 

Let’s go through some examples of how to not say “sorry.”

If you’re asking a busy person for a meeting or if you’re looking for advice, rather than saying “sorry I’m bothering you”, try “thank you for taking the time to meet/talk with me”. 

Your project got delayed because of an urgent assignment that came in, and you’re writing “Sorry this is taking so long” to your boss. They may need some explanation, but you can shift the language to “Thanks for your patience on this. The [time-sensitive assignment] set me back slightly. I’ll have this to you on  Monday.”  

A friend or co-worker listened to you vent during your lunch hour, and you want to text her, “Sorry I was talking so much today!” Try writing “Thank you for listening to me today! I appreciate your advice and patience.” This shows her that you value her time. 

Now, while we’re at it, let’s talk about “just.” 

I’m constantly on the lookout for the word “just.” I didn’t realize how much I used it until a loved one told me I use it all the time. We want to feel confident and be perceived as strong, right? This word does us no favors.  

Listen closely for “just” because it is the death of a powerful statement. “Just”  comes up in my emails constantly, and I try to delete it whenever it pops up. We use “just” so often that the actual meaning slips away.  

“She just found that jacket in the closet” 

“They just cooked the most delicious meal!” 

These examples are correct because “just” indicates that something happened very recently. 

Here’s where we need to delete “just:” 

“I’m just checking in to see if you received my invoice.” 

“I just have a few more questions.” 

“I just thought I’d suggest…” 

In all three examples, “just” makes the statement weaker. Once you start cutting out “just,” you’ll see faster responses to your emails (and responses to the ones that might never get answered). Your message becomes direct, clear, and representative of your self-worth.

Our strength is in our ability to navigate our daily lives with confidence and be unwavering in our sense of self. When we feel that strength, we radiate it, and others take note. Whether it’s our children seeing us as confident adults, co-workers who know we’re direct, vendors who realize we know what we want, or employers who see our strength, the way we’re seen is based on what we project. 

Let’s delete those two undermining words and start sending some confident emails and texts! 

About the author: Kate Davis believes personal safety should feel fun, rather than burdensome. Through her Knockout collection, Davis utilizes her background in Italian art and design to bring together daily wear with personal safety, marrying functionality with fashion and design. The collection is both stylish and sharp, featuring sleek, minimalist designs in both bold and neutral color options. With Knockout women can carry their personal safety as part of their daily style without having to compromise. More than just jewelry, Knockout is a community for women looking for camaraderie, encouragement, safety tips, and financial advice. Through Knockout, Davis wants to help women tap into their own power.

MORE ON THE BLOG

8 Ways to Grow Your Personal Brand, According to an Influencer With 1M Instagram Followers

Have you always wanted to know what it’s like to be an influencer and grow a business out of your influence? We know you’re all craving insight on how to grow a brand and ramp up your social media presence right now so when we came across influencer and co-founder of Summer Fridays, Marianna Hewitt dishing her career advice and social media tips on Instagram stories, we had to screenshot it all and share it with you here.

Hewitt asked her Instagram audience—she has 1 M(!!!), followers—to send in their questions on all things business, social, and #influencerlife. Whether you’re an aspiring influencer, a brand trying to grow, or need some major inspiration, Hewitt’s insight is golden. She pulls back the curtain to share all the realness.

You asked, she answered. Scroll on for major tips, then don’t forget to grab your tickets to the Money Moves Digital Summit to see Hewitt speak on all things, money, career, business, and more!

How do you come up with fresh content so that your followers don’t get bored?

I just ask! Whenever I need new ideas I ask what the followers want to see. I have a document saved with all the answers and then I note what gets the most requests and do those.

Being a beginner, how do you grab a brands’ attention?

I think picking a niche at the beginning helps soooo much. You become the go-to expert on that subject! Creating beautiful content helps to get reposted or for brands to notice you. I

f you want to work with a brand, buy their products and use them and share them organically to show the brands what kind of content you would create for them and how your audience responded to you sharing it.

Also, not every brand has a budget to work with influencers and if they do it could only be at certain times for particular campaigns or launches that they would have budgets. So keep it in mind that brands don’t just freely have money all the time. But by posting and sharing them organically, hopefully, they will help keep you top of mind when opportunities do come up.

How did you grow your following?

“I just did a podcast interview and talked about this, you can find that here.”

Do you think it’s too late to become an influencer because it’s so saturated?

“Not at all! But that’s why having a niche is important when first starting so that you can build a micro-community who comes to you as an expert on one thing. I don’t think you need to be niche forever, but when you start, I think it helps so much.”

How do you build relationships with other influencers?

“Follow them. Like and comment on their posts.”

Can you grow your Instagram without using a lot of hashtags? How did you grow yours?

“I don’t really know if hashtags are that relevant. I don’t think you need them to grow your page. I think you’re better off tagging brands and getting reshared. And following people in your niche and engaging with their content and hope they follow back and do the same.”

What are some things you wish you knew before starting your influencer journey?

“It’s a lot of work. Most of the work you do is for free and you don’t get paid. Because you’re creating organic content every single day that isn’t sponsored. Let’s say 10% of your content is sponsored. Then 90% of your work you do for free. So you have to be okay with doing a lot of work to hopefully get paid opportunities. You can also make money through affiliate links.

When you are an influencer you are:

• The model

• Photographer

• Videographer (if you do IGTV or YouTube)

• Editor (for video)

• Social media manager

• Community manager

• Writer (captions or if you have a blog)

• Stylist (if you post fashion content)

• Makeup artist (if you post makeup content)

And so many more things! Being an influencer is so many jobs rolled into one.

How do you keep your feed cohesive without a filter?

Take photos with similar colors. So you’ll notice there’s no black in my photos right now. So if I took a picture on a black wall or with a dark outfit, it wouldn’t match. So just take pics of things that go together.

Does the grid matter?

I do think your feed matters to new followers. When a new person comes to your page they see the first nine to 12 photos so it should get their attention and make them want to follow and have an idea of what kind of content they’ll be getting from you. I don’t think feed matters as much to existing followers because they likely just see the new posts but not as frequently go to your profile.

How do you find your niche?

Your niche should be your “thing” so it should be easy to narrow down based on what you are passionate about or an expert in. I like to think of content pillars and posting mostly those topics; so a few things that you like. You can post a few things and see what’s resonating most with your followers and getting the most engagement. Then post more of that.

How do you establish your first partnership if you’re just starting out and don’t have high follower numbers?

I would ask yourself:

• Why would this brand work with me?

• What am I bringing to the table?

And pitch them your strengths:

• Did you post them before and convert a lot of sales?

• Do you have data to show that?

• Do you create beautiful content, and can you work with them to create assets for their socials?

How do you decide which platform to post your content? Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or blog?

Instagram:

• Photos

• Stories/daily posts in the moment and more quick content

 YouTube:

• Longer videos

• Content I want to live longer or videos that are searched for

Blog:

• More writing than what would fit in an IG caption

• Lots of shopping links and roundups of items

How do you keep motivated to post stories every day?

I genuinely love to create content and share. So I never feel like I “have” to do it. I *want* to do it. On the days I don’t want to, I just don’t. Like for my feed right now I don’t have a pic to post next and haven’t felt like getting ready so I just didn’t post on my feed yesterday or today.

 How long did it take for you to get a substantial follower base?

I started Instagram very early on in 2013 when it was much easier to gain followers than it is now. I gained a large audience by 2014 but then continued to grow it. I was at 500k in 2016 (it took me from 2013 to 2016) and hit 1M in 2020. So it took me four years to reach my second 500k.”

What is the biggest struggle with being an influencer?

“There is zero job security and you have no benefits. At any time (like now) brands could all cut their budget for sponsored content and what would your job be? How will you make an income? There are no sick days. There are no days off. There is no maternity leave. All the pressure is on you.

Since you are the influencer and face of the “brand” you cannot delegate things to other people. You are the one in the photos, in the stories, etc. There are a lot of benefits though and it’s an amazing opportunity to do this full time but there are so many risks so you just have to be okay with that!”

For fashion content: Do you think a blog is necessary or can someone be successful only using Instagram?

“If you want to be a blogger then yes you need to have a blog. But if you want to be a social media influencer or content creator, no you do not need a blog. Think of some of your fave influencers, they probably don’t have a site!

Do you use a professional photographer for full body shots?

No, I’ve been shooting all my content at home on my iPhone. I generally only shoot with a photographer for sponsored content because I want the highest quality photos for the brands.

How do you pay your agency for managing you? Do they take a percentage on your earnings?

Yes, they make a percentage of the deals they bring in for me. Then the percent I get for myself, I pay taxes on (because we don’t get paychecks so our taxes are taken from the money we bring in) and then pay out employees, creatives, etc.

Like what you see? Catch Marianna Hewitt at the Money Moves Summit, May 2nd, live from your couch!

How Putting Your Health and Happiness First Can Improve Your Career

Photo: Smith House Photography

In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) turned their attention to a problem so severe and damaging they called it the “health epidemic of the 21st century.” That epidemic was stress. Fast-forward to 2020, and the WHO has updated its handbook of diseases to include burnout, calling it an "occupational phenomenon" characterized by "feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one's job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job.”

We are the first to admit that 80 hour work weeks and side hustles are the new norm. While we certainly aren’t going to be the ones to tell you to stop working your butt off if that is what you want to do, that doesn’t mean we don’t acknowledge that putting your health and happiness above your work is necessary for your general wellness. In fact, when you take care of your personal needs you may find that it benefits your career just as much as your well-being. Scroll on to find out how.

What Stress Does to Your Mind

Stress can cause physical maladies such as headaches, jaw clenching, teeth grinding, muscle spasms, heartburn, and nausea, as well as back, neck and chest pain. Even if you are a super human who doesn’t feel the physical side effects of exhaustion and stress, you might be falling victim to non-physical symptoms such as forgetfulness, disorganization, confusion, trouble learning new information, difficulty in making decisions, nervous habits and overreaction to petty annoyances. To top it all off, according to The American Institute of Stress you may also experience reduced work efficiency or productivity.

Carve Out Some “Me” Time

Everyone's wellness needs are going to be different. Some may not feel their best if they don’t take the time to cook healthy meals. Others may be strongly affected by not being able to spend as much time with their loved ones as they would like. Bookworms may feel more anxious if they can’t spend quiet time reading and escaping their troubles before bed. Think about what is important to you and what makes you feel like your best self, then carve out the time to do it. Seriously, add it to the to-do list and make sure it gets done like any other vital task.

Exercise is a great way to take care of both your physical and mental health at once. Physical activity releases endorphins in the brain and is proven to lower stress levels as well as symptoms associated with mild depression and anxiety. It can also help relax muscles and relieve tension in the body. When you don’t have time to squeeze in a workout, try having a good laugh. Laughing also releases endorphins, which are significantly more powerful than the pain-relieving drug morphine. If relieving stress and pain isn’t enough to convince you, then consider this: endorphins boost immunity which could save you a lot of out of office days come flu season.

It Benefits Your Company, Too

It would financially benefit companies to look out for their employees’ health and happiness, not to mention be the decent thing to do. In fact, workplace stress costs U.S. businesses $300 billion annually. On top of lost productivity, work-related stress causes 120,000 deaths and results in $190 billion in healthcare costs yearly. If employers value the wellness of their employees they should ensure that they are working manageable hours, taking lunch breaks, encourage time off and create a generally positive work environment.

You are entitled to take a breather, play hooky, nap a day away, laugh, cry, whatever it is that will make you feel lighter. Never skip a doctor's appointment for a meeting, leave a few minutes early to make it to that yoga class, go home when you aren’t feeling well, turn off your phone when you are on vacation. If you do this you will be more creative, in control, calm, productive, focused and most importantly happy.

About the Author: Jacqueline DeMarco is a freelance writer with experience in editorial and news writing. 

This story was originally published on September 2, 2017, and has since been updated.

Up next: 10 Women Who Have Your Dream Job on How They Fight Burnout, Stay Motivated, and Get Re-Energized for Work

MORE ON THE BLOG

6 Questions You Should Ask When Your Dream Job Turns Into a Total Nightmare

Photo: Smith House Photo

You worked hard to get this job. You scored a meeting, nailed the interview, and landed yourself in a seat you've been dreaming about since graduation. But then something horrible happened: you realized that the inner workings of the company didn't line up with your expectations. Or you've encountered a workplace foe. Or maybe you and your boss, not matter how well you initially hit it off, are forever at odds. 

The problem with dream jobs turning sour is that we tend to hold on to them because of how sought-after the positions are. But surely you've heard the saying one man's trash is another's treasure. This job might be the bees knees for someone else and the wrong hive for you. However, before you bounce, ask and answer these six questions honestly. 

Are Your Expectations Too High?

The small prob with "dream" anything, is that there's always an underside. The dream hangover, if you will. No job is perfect, and if the expectation was that it would be, you need to check your battery and your priorities. 

No job is brunch and selfies and fashion! all the time, and if you were expecting a front-row seat to fun and fancy-freebies, remember that late nights, tough moments, doing it wrong and getting called out for it, are all part of the dream. 

Are You Part of the Problem?

This is hard for most people to answer, because it's impossible to see the tornado's destruction when you're swirling around inside of it. But if you and a co-worker are really butting heads and leaving a trail, paper or otherwise, of destruction in your wake, there's a good chance it's not only on her. Sit yourself down and give yourself a proper pep talk about relationships in the workplace, and your hand in the issue. 

If you are truly attempting to make an impossible situation work, and it's really not panning out (and driving you to tears on the way home) it might be time to walk away. 

Were You Hand Held at Your Past Job?

Maybe you've been thrown in with the sharks and you weren't ready for it. Dream jobs are typically highly competitive, hard knock environments, and you need to be able to hold your own—not someone else's hand.

This has a bit to do with expectation as well. If your former employers weren't as "tough," because they gave you outs, or let you go home early, or didn't expect more, it's time to try harder.

In short, you need to kill it, and kill it every day. If you are unhappy because you're in over your head, swim UP. No matter how strong the current, you can be stronger, and that just might shift your nightmare back into a dream. 

It's foolish to think the "dream" will be simple. 

Do You Feel Undervalued? Maybe You Are. But Have You Done Anything About It? 

Are you feeling frustrated because you ARE KILLING IT, and no one's noticing? First, realize that to make a company run well and effectively, everyone is going above and beyond; you're not the only one. You are supposed to be doing everything. (Or everything you can to be the best at your job.) If you're expecting heaps of praise, re-read question #1. 

But if you're truly feeling undervalued and as a result are considering bouncing, ask for a meeting with your supervisor and express your frustrations. If you're bottling everything up, you may end up blowing what really is a dream. Have the convo before you opt out of a great opportunity. 

Are You Just Being Sensitive? 

Controversial word, sensitive. It implies that you're too emotional, and emotional in the workplace is usually directed at women. So how does one determine whether if they need a thicker skin, or it really is the job? One, no job should come at the expense of your health or well-being. 

However, if you're crying at work, before you give up, run what you're feeling by someone else who can be objective (i.e. don't take this to your boss). Ask your business bestie's (if you don't have one, find one) advice, and actually listen to their input. If they say you're overreacting, take their word for it and give your dream job another shot. 

Like any relationship, a healthy work relationship won't be perfect all the time. 

Are You Unable to Read Your Boss' Mind? 

BIG problem. As an employee you should be a psychic and ten steps ahead of your boss all the time. JK BABES. But part of being a good employee, and therefore a happy one, is anticipating what your boss wants. If you aren't great at doing so, find out how to get on your boss' good side.

This post was published on March 8, 2019, and has since been updated.

From Scratch: How This Founder Turned Her Passion for Fashion Into Financial Success

Written by Jackie Sedley.

We know how daunting it can be to start a new business, especially if you’re disrupting an industry or creating an entirely new one. When there is no path to follow, the biggest question is, where do I start? There is so much to do but before you get ahead of yourself, let’s start at the beginning. To kickstart the process (and ease some of those first-time founder nerves) we’re asking successful entrepreneurs to share their story in our new series, From Scratch. But this isn’t your typical day in the life. We’re getting down to the nitty-gritty from writing a business plan (or not) to sourcing manufacturers and how much they pay themselves, we’re not holding back. If you want to know how to start a business, you’ve come to the right place.

Photo: Courtesy of Printfresh

The world of fashion is ever-changing. Just ask Amy Voloshin, the creative director and co-founder of Printfresh; she has been immersed in the world of style and design since early childhood. After studying textiles and fine arts in college, Voloshin took her knowledge of design and her eye for aesthetics and turned it into a stylish and über-successful textile company.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was Voloshin’s design company. While she makes it look easy, putting out fashionable accessories, cozy sleepwear, and beautiful stationery is hard work but Voloshin has mastered the art of leadership through years of experience in her field.

Thankfully, Voloshin let us pick her brain and learn more about how her company came to fruition, what she’s learned along the way, and how important it is to keep up with the constant shifts in the world of business.

CREATE & CULTIVATE: Did you write a business plan?

AMY VOLOSHIN: I’m a planner so I always write a business plan for my new ventures. It helps me think through a lot of the details that I’ll need to tackle to get going. I think it’s important to jot down the basic outline of what you are selling, how and where it will be sold, who will be on your team and what roles you will need to fill in your first year. If you self-fund like I’ve done,  it’s really just whatever will be helpful to you and to those helping. I also use the business plan as a place to store a lot of research—I love researching, so it’s a great place to collect ideas and thoughts on how other companies are executing similar businesses. 

How did you come up with the name? What was the process like?

Our name came from our first business, Printfresh Studio. That business is all about designing prints for the fashion industry.  As that business matured and everyone kept asking us “Where can we buy your prints?” we always had to shrug and tell people we don’t know or couldn’t tell them due to the non-disclosure agreements we signed.  So when we decided to take the plunge and start our brand, we brought the name along. When we started out we thought we could put crazy prints on everything but instead decided to stay focused around our love of textiles - hence all the sumptuous velvet journals.  Now that we are expanding into pajamas, I’m really excited to use more prints in our collections.

What were the immediate things you had to take care of to set up the business?

Getting the name sorted out was really the first part since so much of the branding and design can’t begin until that is set. In this day and age of social media, having a good handle is important for social marketing.  Getting the domain is important too, but with the new suffixes that are out there now, there’s more flexibility than there used to be when everything was only .com. Trademark is something we worked on as well, but that can wait till you get things into the market. Definitely get your website up and a fun splash page and start collecting emails. You never know when things will change with social media, but email has been a really consistent place for us to get information to our customers about new products and sales.

What research did you do for the brand beforehand? Why would you recommend it?

I’m what my business partner would describe as ‘an exhaustive researcher,’  which is funny since he worked in clinical pharmaceutical research before teaming up with me. I sometimes research something to a point that might be inadvisable! But, there is so much product out there and so many companies, so it’s important to find ways to stand out in a positive way. It’s important to answer some questions—is someone out there already doing what I want to do? Is what I’m going to do providing something different and exciting that doesn’t exist already at a good price? It’s also important to know when to stop researching. With all the online resources out there it can be easy to research too much and delay the fun parts like designing.

“I’ve learned that listening to the expertise of others can help you avoid making costly mistakes and can also help open doors that may otherwise have taken forever to get open. ”

How did you find the manufacturer/production facility that you use? Did you have any bad experiences?

Being alumni of Urban Outfitters and calling Philadelphia home, we are blessed with a great network to tap into.  We had a lot of friends that were able to make connections to some fantastic factories in India and China. There are so many factories out there but it’s important to find ones that have experience making the type of product we are looking to develop, and that their ethics in terms of labor and environmental concerns are the same as our own. I travel to India and spend a lot of time meeting new partners, working in factories, and ensuring that the partnerships are the right ones. For example, we were able to find a factory for our pajamas that do so many great things environmentally, like use solar power and recycle gray water for use in their garden.  

Did you self-fund the company? Did you raise seed money or initial investment money? What would you recommend?

We self-funded the company and had some help from our family. We’ve always self-funded our ventures—I like the freedom of being able to find our own way. It’s something I’m open to in the future, but I wanted to develop the company independently and experiment. If we pursue investment money in the future, it would probably be to invest in advertising and marketing to help expand the brand and become more known in the US market.   

How much did you pay yourself? How did you know what to pay yourself?

Haha, yeah, that’s a tough one. In my first business, I started, it took about six months to be able to pay myself a small income. We’ve reinvested all of the money that we are making back into the company. Fortunately, we have some real estate ventures that help us live modestly while the business grows a bit bigger. It’s one of those things where it’s just a moment in time and hopefully, through working really hard we will see a return in a few years on our investment of time, energy, and money. 

How big is your team now? What has the hiring process like?

Printfresh is a small team of five and we all work across some of the other companies we operate (like the fashion line Voloshin). We’ve been hiring for over a decade for Printfresh Studio, so I feel like I’ve learned a lot along the way.  One book that helped me figure out how to hire better is The Who Method by Geoff and Randy Smart—it really helped us set up our hiring process and we use that methodology all the time. It’s helpful to have a set way of interviewing for the team to follow.

For a start-up especially, hiring those who have skill sets I don’t have has been important. Also, hiring for work ethic and the ability to finish projects independently has been critical for our start-up. When hiring, I like to spend a really long time getting to know applicants—typically, I’ll meet with them for 1-2 hours and really try to understand why they are leaving their current job, why this company is the right place for them, do our values synch up. I want to make sure that we will work well together since we will be spending so much time together. 

Photo: Courtesy of Printfresh

Did you hire an accountant? Who helped you with the financial decisions and set up?

We’ve been using QuickBooks for 13 years and have had our accountant for almost the same length of time.  When we first started, we used the accountant that my grandmother, and then my father, used in their businesses. Then, we got to the point where we needed someone who could come in and review the P&L with us on a quarterly basis. This has helped us really understand the numbers and trends in a way that allows us to make changes as necessary.

What has been the biggest learning curve during the process of establishing a business?

With this business, the greatest learning curve has been really learning to listen to our customers. We have never had the opportunity to work with consumers directly and seeing how people interact with our products and the reactions they have has been really informative. Really understanding why the consumer likes certain items has helped us continue to develop new and innovative products (like our upcoming mindfulness morning rituals and night time reflections guided journals).

How did you get retailers to start stocking your product? Were you told no? How did you handle that rejection?

I decided to take the plunge and signed us up for the National Stationery Show two years ago. We built an amazing booth with the help of our friend Luren and showed up at the show to try and get as many customers as possible. We printed a ton of tote bags and gave them away at the show and it got everyone talking about it. We picked up 30 stores at that show.  But more importantly, we met our real-life fairy godmother, Tara Riceberg, who has this amazing store in L.A. called TWEAK and she introduced us to Karen Alweil, who is now our wholesale sales rep. She’s gotten us into over 300 stores over the last few years. Rejection, though, is a daily constant for anyone in our business. As we go after bigger retailers, we just need to remember that ‘no’ usually just means ‘not now.’

“We’ve always self-funded our ventures—I like the freedom of being able to find our own way.”

Do you have a business coach or mentor? How has this person helped?

We have had some sort of mentor from the very early stages of starting our business. I’ve learned that listening to the expertise of others can help you avoid making costly mistakes and can also help open doors that may otherwise have taken forever to get open. Early on we used SCORE, which is a national organization with chapters all over the country. We have also used the SBDC (Small Business Development Center) at the University of Pennsylvania with a lot of success. Over the last few years we have been working with our mentor Steve Smolinsky—he has years of experience and a great perspective that helps us avoid obstacles before we even see them.

I was also able to find mentors through doing the Philadelphia Fashion Incubator, which connected me to some amazing industry veterans who have been very instrumental in helping me navigate areas of the business that I lack experience in. I highly recommend having a mentor—it’s amazing to have a life-line to reach out to during some of the challenges that arise when running a small business. There’s lots of information on the web, but not all of it’s perfect or right for your business. Having great mentors with real-life experience and who know you personally can really help you find solutions that you may have not arrived at otherwise.  

How did you promote your company? How did you get people to know who you are and create buzz?

We are definitely still learning! Marketing has changed so much in the last couple of years and I think all businesses are challenged by keeping up with the changing technology and the way it’s being used.  Printfresh Studio is so B2B (business to business) that we never had to market to the consumer. But we are slowly starting to figure it out. We spend a lot of time on getting great photos of our products and try to stay in touch with blogs and people who share our interests. Sending small gifts to people who you want to use your product and have a platform to share them on has been working as well. 

What is one thing you didn’t do in the setup process, that ended up being crucial to the business and would advise others to do ASAP?

If you are sure you have a great product, then getting it out to the media is important. Whether you find the time to do it yourself or you hire a great PR company (like Push the Envelope PR), it’s something that needs to happen ASAP.  We only recently focused our energy on it and are kicking ourselves for not doing it earlier. We didn’t really know how to go about finding the right PR company and didn’t know what to look for.  

For those who haven’t started a business (or are about to) what advice do you have?  

My top tips would be to: write a business plan, read as many books as you can about the industry you’re getting into, figure out how you’ll be different, and get yourself in an incubator or something similar as soon as possible to start growing your network. 

View the new Printfresh collection at printfresh.com and throughout the U.S. in specialty boutiques. 

Photo: Courtesy of Printfresh