Do the hustle...

So you get an email from someone you know telling you they know someone who’s trying to fill a position doing whatever it is you specialize in and it pays about 80% above the industry average (that’s almost double). You’re not really looking, and you’re happy doing what you’re doing wherever it is you’re doing it, but for that kind of money, you’re willing to talk.

For that kind of money, you could solve a lot of your problems. You could wipe out that credit card debt. You could save up that downpayment on a house. You could finally afford that trip to wherever.

So you tell as much and they set you up with an email introduction to their contact who’s in HR at this company. You bounce a few emails back and forth and set up a time to talk.

In the meantime, you use the email address to look into the company. The site says that they do one thing, but the word “jobs” or “careers” is in the URL, so you figure they’re a headhunting shop that specializes in your niche/industry.

Then you have your call with the HR person and they ask you if you know what you do. You tell them your theory about them being a headhunting shop, and they tell you that you have it all wrong. Then they ask you to hear them out while they tell you the part that scares  most people off, and then tell you all the great stuff about their company.

How YOU doin...

They do porn. Plain and simple. They do porn,but they have a great culture, offer plenty of benefits and flexibility, and they’re committed to doing something in whatever field it is you specialize in. They want someone like you to come in with a vision and build a strategy and team to make that vision a reality, and they’d really like to meet with you.

You would have carte blanche.

You’re interested in what they have to say. They sound very serious, but you’re not all that sure. You’re happy with where you are and on the path you’re on, so you tell them as much.

They ask you if an extra $10K would change your mind.

They’re already paying way above the industry standard, they haven’t even met you, and you’re only having your first call with the HR person, not even the person who’d make the final hiring decision or that you’d report to, and they’re dropping ten more grand on the table like it’s a fortune cookie.

So you figure it can’t hurt to go in and meet them, and you do. You go down there, and it’s a typical digital media office space. It’s in an office building with a receptionist, and there is nary a booby nor a schlongs to be seen.

You sit down with the person who’d make the final hiring decision – the person you’d report to. You talk vision and strategy, both long-term and short-, and you’re both on the same page. They know what they’re looking for, and you fit the bill perfectly.

So what do you do? Do you take the gig? Do you wipe out the credit card debt, save up that downpayment, and/or finally afford that trip to wherever? Or do you curl back up into your comfort zone and tell yourself that adherence to social stigma is worth it?

Credit: Christian Greller

Thinks about it this way: as long as you’re not making a living doing what you love, then you’re still someone else’s bitch.

It doesn’t matter if you call it a “job” or a “client,” if it’s what you do to pay the bills so that you can use what little of your free time you have left doing something else, then it’s not yours. You’re relying on someone else to put food on your table and a roof over your head, and you are not free.

The flip side to this is that if even you have a “boss” and are “employed” by a “company,” as long as you love what you do for them, then you are free. This is the path you’ve chosen and, if given the chance, would choose again, because the time you spend putting food on the table and a roof over your head is time spent doing what you love.

So this is what I want you to do. Take a second to forget the labels that people like to put on things to make themselves feel better or someone else feel worse about what they do for a living, and ask yourself this: Who do you work for?

Credit: Keith Wondra

No shit, the company has been great to me. The culture there is really down-to-earth and void of a lot of the bullshit office politics you find in so many place. My job has also let me travel to a bunch of places I’ve never been, and the company has given me more flexibility than I thought was possible with a 9-5. It’s been a lot of fun, and I’m sure I’m going to miss it.

So why am I leaving?

Simply put, it’s time for something new. There are things I want to do that I haven’t done yet, and I’m not getting any younger, so I mind as well get cracking.

So what’s the plan?

Well, I’m not sure yet. I mean, yeah, I’ll be working on some things that I’ve been chiseling away at for a while, and hopefully finish them in time for my 31st birthday — I think that would be a nice birthday present to myself.

But career-wise, I don’t know what my next move is going to be. Maybe I’ll freelance, maybe I’ll get an offer I can’t refuse, or maybe I’ll change professions altogether.

In any case, it should be interesting…

To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved.
–George MacDonald

Credit: ynahteb

Have you ever wondered how far your the trust of your personal brand goes? Or how many degrees of separation it can transcend?

Imagine that you’re pretty good at what you do and that you’ve even made a bit of a name for yourself in some circles. Then imagine that one day, one of your connections reaches out to you with a job offer — a good offer to do interesting work.

Now what do you think will happen when you start work and many of your colleagues don’t know who you are? Will they trust their colleague’s judgement in hiring you and give you the benefit fo the doubt? Or will your presence make them feel uneasy and threatened?

They’ll probably Google you to find out what you’re all about? What will they find? How do you think they’ll react to it? How do you think it’ll affect the way you do your job?

Do you think it’ll make them want to reach out to and engage you? Or do you think it’ll make them want to challenge you and find the chink in your armor?

After all, there’s so much more to your personal brand than just your credentials. There’s also your personality and all the pieces of it you leave online can end up coming together to make up the lion’s share of your first impression.

Your personal brand can do a lot to build trust, but how transferable is that trust? Will it follow you through the doors that it opens for you, or wil it get bogged down in office politics?

And how would you react to a new guy with a strong personal bran? Would you be cynical about all the smoke and mirrors they used to build it? Or would you be curious about who they really are and try to engage them?

Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.
– Plato

You should never let office politics discourage you. Everywhere you go, there’s going to be politics.

Everywhere you go, there’s going to be a different balance of power, different people with varying levels of influence, seniority, and control over resources. And if you want to get anything done, you’re going to have to play by the rules that are already in place.

But just like countries, different companies are going to have different regimes. Some are going to be more democratic than others, and depending on the industry and your position, different models are going to work better for you.

What you have to ask yourself as an employee is “What kind of regime suits me best? What kind of system do I need to do the best job that I can do?”

And what you have to ask yourself as an entrepreneur is “What kind of regime do I want to reign over? What kind of system will help me offer the best product or service that I can?“

The Japanese have a saying: “A man is whatever room he is in.”
– Burt Cooper, Mad Men

Credit: phrancij

The average American sleeps about 7 hours a night. That leaves them 17 hours in a day.

Now, if ‘re not a workaholic or don’t put in a lot of overtime, you probably spend about 8-1/2 hours at work (half an hour for lunch). And then there’s the commute back and forth; assuming that you don’t fight California-like traffic there and back, that probably about an hour. When you put those together, you have 7-1/2 of your day left.

Then there’s getting ready for work: showering, grooming, and maybe even make-up. Let’s say that also takes about an hour. Now there’s only 6-1/2 hours left in the day.

So on average, 10-1/2 of our 17 waking hours revolve around work. That’s about 62% of your day. And that’s not counting all the time you spend thinking about work when you’re not there.

With at least 1o-1/2 hours, 5 days a week going into work, that’s about 44% of your waking week. And when you consider how the other 56% is divided up among erands, chores, family, and friends, you realize that work governs way more of your life than anything else.

Whether you like it not, work plays, by far, the most important role in who you are because it takes the lion’s share of your mind share — your moods, your thoughts, your personality. So if you hate what you do for a living, how do you manage to not hate yourself?

But more importantly, if you love yourself, how do you settle for doing something that you don’t love?

We are all raised in a different family with slightly different definitions of every word.
– Lulu Lemon Manifesto

Credit: jovike

And you know, the funny thing about corporate culture is that starting somewhere new is a lot like moving to a new city or country. There people are different, the clients are different, the values and goals are different, and there are very different ways of doing things.

Submersing yourself into something like that is quite an experience. It’s like learning to walk and talk all over again.

No matter how sure of yourself you are, no matter how much you know, it’s impossible to avoid how much you don’t know.

You might have a lot of potential. You might have a lot to offer clients. And you might have even more to contribute toward the company’s goals.

But you don’t know the landscape, you don’t know who the rising stars are, and you don’t know who are the best people to help you get certain things done.

You’re completely disoriented. You’re lost.

The steepest learning curve is getting your bearings. But at the same time, you have to hit the ground running. So the best that you can hope for is that you can trust your instincts to know what the f**k is up, and that they send you running off in the right direction.