Welcome back to the corporate Cowboys podcast my name is Alex today’s date is Saturday December 10 2022. thank you for joining us if you are new to the podcast just know that this is a form of uh cathartic therapy and a way to get free advice
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Corporates Cowboys with the Z and um I mean without further Ado let’s see if we can’t answer a question coming from r slash career guidance these folks are on Reddit obviously and they are asking for advice they’ve flared it they’ve put the flare there for advice seeking advice
They’re asking what are some good skills to learn in my free time well God what what are some good skills jeez I mean okay the body the body says here what are some good skills to learn in my free time to increase the likelihood of me
Getting a better paying job okay okay so they’ve at least given us some some requisite some necessity some context as to what skills the uh the appropriate skills they’re looking for see because when I heard some good skills just to learn in your free time I mean
I’m still trying to learn play the harmonica I’m still trying to learn to draw and I doodle every now and then you’ll catch those on the Instagram page if I’m in a a conference some kind of business meeting about brainstorming session I might get down on some doodling and
Post it as a proof of Life still but if you want to get a better paying job I think first and foremost it’s going to be your speaking skills your communication skills what level of communication do you possess that justifies you being paid more you know I’m going to say a large number
A significant if not the majority of jobs deal with person-to-person interaction and you have to know how to interact how to communicate person to person on an individual level as a human as a professional why because that’s the nature of business that’s the foundation of business it’s transacting between one another
Even if no money per se is exchanging hands even if no product is exchanging hands there is always always a service component whereby business is initiated or business is maintained business is developed it’s going to be through this sort of interaction that to me is the Paramount skill that would justify
Getting a better paying job now there is a lot of variety I guess people have different definitions of what a better paying job consists of and the uh op here the original poster the the one who’s prompted us with this question they don’t give us any further context
And if we had them on a one-to-one we would ask what their skills consist of what their technical skills consist of what their social skills consist of what their background is in it could just be that they have the technical skill to start at an entry-level job and are asking what
Additional technical skills they might need to be paid more money technical skills like word processing like technical writing like composing spreadsheets automating spreadsheets data analysis projection forecasting into I don’t know business Cycles mathematical formulas something scientific even but that gets away from the social side of things if we’re talking strictly
Technical knowledge what what are some good skills I think uh the term skills something practical which is why I went straight to the social I went straight to the communication skills because that will allow you to navigate the workplace that will allow you to navigate the corporate world better than simply knowing
How to automate functions in a spreadsheet how to analyze business data if you don’t know how to communicate it if you don’t know how to bring your higher levels of technical knowledge using a skill to be able to communicate it to the person who writes your checks I don’t see how knowing
So much knowing everything knowing a lot automatically translates into money I don’t see that connection there has to be that interaction that in between that communication whether it’s in the form of a presentation an introduction an interpretation and then a negotiation for compensation for your salary for your
Money what it is you take home you have to know how to translate what you know into something the other person can contemplate can possess within their own mind and put a value on it now that’s a start how you increase that value you need to further develop your communication skill
Because if you’re just right off of the bat giving the right answer with no Nuance with no context with no what’s the term I’m looking for with no diplomacy no influence no professionalism you’re effectively a drone you’re only working for the check when you should be working for yourself
Developing your professional skills your communication skills for the sake of continued development future development that will be what becomes valuable to the company to the corporation whoever you work for it’s only as valuable as you make it and what they’re willing to pay for it that back and forth communication
That line of communication must be healthy and a good professional a corporate Cowboy knows how to initiate contact how to maintain communication and further strengthen those lines that create Trust that then become business relationships that become your Professional Network and ultimately your network is your net worth it’s not it’s not often
That you get the opportunity to exercise those skills you possess to work on them to to to craft and to hone them this goes all the way back to season one episode one filing down that Skeleton Key when when your communication skills are maxed out when you’ve developed them to the maximum possible
And I get I understand not every interaction goes the way we want it to we’re humans at the end of the day and as rational as we might be sometimes humans are unreasonable for whatever reason and that way and that way crafting a skeleton key I think is
It just takes me back to how I started developing myself how I learned to communicate and be outgoing not be boisterous not be flamboyant right I mean if I have to put on an act I know how to put on an act I’ve been there I’ve done that I set people up
I’ve built people up I mean not set people up like that right I’ve I’ve helped well on Alex choose your words I’ve I’ve developed professional relationships where the fruit of those relationships are the personal successes of others and I say successes like plural is the personal success of another person
That’s how I’ve set others up so we are speaking professionally here developing yourself what skills exactly could they be looking for I mean I I would say social social at that point because it’s a universal objective I want to say as a corporate Cowboy to want to move up
In status to want to move up in position to want to move up in compensation but that comes with responsibilities that comes with an increase accountability if [ __ ] hits the fan it falls on those with the highest ranks at least it’s ought to it should in some organizations that may not be
The case but those organizations may not be as resilient internally may not be as Innovative as creative but that’s for another episode I still put my money on and will continue to bank on communication skills let’s take a look at some of these comments and uh find what others are suggesting
The first comment here says Microsoft Excel I mean we spoke about the utility of knowing how to create and use spreadsheet software but it’s not the end-all be-all I think knowing it is a good technical skill but an interpersonal skill like communication like public speaking that’s going to create those relationships those bridges
To being able to secure better paying jobs if not a better paying position within the same job within the same organization uh second comment here says social networking yeah they put in parentheses relationship building teamwork and social skills yes yes that’s all those are that’s that’s a
Great summary of what I said essentially and it’s very straightforward what I did was just off the top of my head gave what I believed to be the most reasonable response the most professional response it’s knowing how to be a professional how to act like a professional somebody else said
The third comment here actually says uh looks like they break it down but I’ll go ahead and read it off and it says here professional and then a colon professional coding and they suggest JS JavaScript python SQL and command line data management they suggest Excel or axis design and Engineering so they suggest
AutoCAD GIS and microstation under photography videography and editing I don’t know that’s still the same design and Engineering they suggest they further suggest photo slash videography and editing under foreign languages and then under that vehicle licenses and in parentheses that’s piloting trucks and boats so obtaining vehicle licenses
Uh I want to say vehicle licenses is probably not a skill um the license itself the skill itself yeah I think so knowing how to Pilot knowing how to drive that sort of thing defensively or offensively right just having knowing the basics and being able to build upon them I think is a
Good start but having the licenses themselves I think it opens more doors but what they were asking for was was the skills to get a better paying job and not so much the credentials those skills will lead to credentialing though and of course open the door to higher
Paying positions but I went with what I felt and that was the social skill the social component uh they put here under general core competencies Auto Repair Finance stretching calisthenics and physical care Home Improvement also languages so yeah knowing how to speak in different languages knowing how to communicate
Be it in different languages they also include the best Hobbies which are martial arts slash self-defense under that they put BJJ Muay Thai weapons training and safety uh foraging well they put forging like forging documents or forging metal but I think they meant for edging like because in
Parentheses they put a mushroom ID and hunting so being able to um not Bushcraft so much but but being able to fend for yourself in the wild knowing knowing a little bit about uh outdoorsmanship uh they include farming slash botany and horticulture uh I think those are good Hobbies
Definitely meditation that’s a good hobby I suppose but one could be productive and get into a state of Zen simultaneously it takes additional work but hey if it’s a passion if it’s what you want to be doing like developing social skills if you like what this podcast is for
Like how it serves me then you can do it um and they put breath work and they could also fly drones so I don’t know maybe you could take up droning as a hobby but as far as I know that also requires some type of License to be able to uh some
Type of commercial license like a drone license to be able to uh fly drones in in some Regional airspace and then they put here and most importantly read read developing a good system for taking notes and logging your knowledge is critical for anyone who takes Reading seriously
Personally I I tend to agree with that with that last piece to read read knowing being able to put eyes on a document to put eyes on a situation just reading a situation reading a room being aware right even if even if it’s coming even if it’s information coming out of a book
Knowing how to collect and distill that information into a form of intelligence something that is usable something that can be applied and then becomes knowledge then becomes something actionable becomes something you can practice and when it becomes when it moves from something when it moves from just the realm of
Knowledge knowing how to do something to actually doing something actually practicing it it becomes a skill I think reading is it is one of the most basic one of one of uh I think a primary the most fundamental form of acquiring skills it’s a bridge to acquiring skills
Obviously you could be very book smart and not know how to do anything in Practical life so reading doesn’t give you skills but it provides you it provides a mechanism to acquiring skills and it cannot be discounted I think reading is invaluable so that may just be my bad for
Not addressing reading but I feel like I may have I may have been working off of the assumption that people who ask these questions especially people who write them who type them out on these uh subreddits are already literate to an extent right are working with a minimal at least
Minimal level of knowledge of intelligence that they’re able to seek know how to construct questions how to create questions how to compose a question seeking further knowledge seeking something additional seeking to supplement their life um but yeah obviously reading comes in very handy in a lot of fields
Because it’s uh it’s the foundation for knowledge acquisition it’s the foundation for um for communication I think even since we’re younger if you’re not reading words you’re reading people you as a young professional if you’re not just reading words to develop yourself you’re reading people to develop relations
And um yeah it simply can’t be understated how important reading is um continuing to the next comment I think they’re gonna start becoming repetitive here because this is now the second time I’m seeing Microsoft Excel but they include Tableau Tableau that’s t-a-b-l-e-a-u tableau but I don’t know what it’s for I I
Myself haven’t used tableau uh I might have I might have heard of it but I not sure what it does but I’m assuming because it’s paired with Microsoft Excel it’s some type of software or application uh to use for technical uh technical work uh somebody else here says
This looks like a joke nunchuck nunchuck skills they write bow hunting skills and computer hacking skills so whether or not whether or not that’s a serious response I’m not sure but it’s highly upvoted and it even has some awards um somebody put the next comment is Python and SQL which are programming languages
And uh let me let me actually follow up because somebody responds to this to the suggestion of learning Python and SQL they ask what the best source for learning these things and somebody else responds to that question there’s plenty of free content on YouTube I really like the channel sent Dex
S-e-n-t-d-e-x scent decks I believe he has a python playlist on his account if he wants to go a paid route there are plenty of courses on udemy as well udemy just make sure a sale is active and Google the course to make sure it’s good for SQL
You could do some reading with w3schools website or exercises on SQL Zoo sequel Zoo that’s W3 schools the first suggestion and then exercises on SQL Zoo and then there’s an aside here they say understand that what’s tutorial hell is what tutorial hell is understand what tutorial hell is at a
Certain point you will feel very uncomfortable doing unique problems based on your interest but you will also likely feel like tutorials aren’t helping anymore at this step it is so important to just dive into a personal project and use lots and lots of Google you can check out some other subreddits
They include some subreddits like learn programming Learn Python that’s r slash learn programming r slash Learn Python r slash learn SQL yeah again those are technical skills will they make you money I’m sure they will will they make you a better paying job it depends it depends on what you’re
Making now at your job if like if this person is if this person already is a middle manager I went straight with communication skills I think communication skills are a universal gimme are a universal gimme because you need to know how to communicate in order to get what you want and negotiate for
It right um but simply throwing out technical skills this person might already know Python and SQL which is why I didn’t go with anything technical just off top obviously there are a ton of techno like learn how to go learn how to weld and you can make that’s a technical skill
It’s a practical skill right go learn how to do it I myself don’t know how to do it just very very Basics but if I had to be paid for it I would go out and learn more right you could start making 70 an hour welding
Um this last comment I’ll leave off with this last comment because I’m starting to see uh a a pattern repetition here um they write and they ask actually some questions it says what field are you in now the answer depends on your skills and interests right this is not what I said
At the beginning if I had this person in a face to face on a one-to-one consult I would ask them questions about what their experiences are now what their skill set is now what type of education their background this person says for technical skills there are so many free or close to free
Resources out there yeah if we’re speaking technical skills you can find a lot of that just in the inner wet and the interwebs in the library this person suggests JavaScript python or good they say I’ve seen a lot of people learn Salesforce from scratch and they have a free online training
Portal called the trailhead which is excellent outside of tech skills learn public speaking learn copywriting sales and marketing find something that interests you and starts there always be learning and good luck I couldn’t set it better myself but this person this person went into a little bit more depth with the copywriting with
The sales and with the marketing um I think I think the foundation to all that is simply communicating if you know what you want you need to know how to get it and typically you are getting it from other people if if those people are are are human or if there are corporations
Right you’re getting it from other persons natural or legal persons but you need to know how to communicate and that does require learning how to write a form of copyright a form of copywriting because everything is a hustle everything is a sale you need to know how to sale and how to Market
How to Market your message how to Market your value as you try to navigate social networking professional networking professional development thank you very much for joining us on this uh on this episode I’m gonna cut it right here it’s been about 30. and um yeah if you have any comments or questions
If you need some if you’re in need of some help and would like a consultation if you’re seeking a consult you can write to us snail mail is just fine P.O box 3372 Rancho Cordova California 95741 have yourselves a great evening have a nice weekend
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