Welcome back to another episode of the corporate Cowboys podcast my name is Alex as always your host whom you have for the next 30 minutes to treat as an Open Door consult if you will right pretend I left my office door open or a jar or you know just cracked slightly
Open and you’re able to listen in you’re able to hear listening to over here uh some general advice general advice I might be giving right so I’m going to give you that disclaimer up front to you the listener that nothing that we post nothing that we share or um yeah post up
And provide on our social media profiles should be construed as legal advice none of it none of it unless you engage with us directly unless you engage us directly hire us to be a consultant of yours to be a representative legal or otherwise you cannot take what we say
To be legal advice we do not promote any wrongdoing any elicit or unlawful activities so you can’t say that gangster rap made you do it right all right today’s question it’s not so much a question right a little Proof of Life first Proof of Life today being Saturday August 5
2023 right and uh today’s I guess topic of discussion which I’ll be having with myself but again let’s pretend let’s imagine that this is an open Office hour and somebody’s come into the office and they’ve told me Alex Alex this is coming from r slash find a
Path by the way r slash find a path and they’re they say Alex the two most common pieces of career advice I get are Polar Opposites are Polar Opposites two most common pieces of career advice I receive our Polar Opposites and I would imagine a follow-up the question to that would be
You know what’s what’s up with that what’s up with the two most popular pieces of career advice given to aspiring professionals or young professionals or old professionals but anybody can be as aspiring professional right what’s up with the two most common pieces of advice being complete Polar Opposites the body to
This reads well it’s two quotes a quote do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life end quote and then it says or quote don’t turn what you love into a job or it’ll kill your passion end quote okay I see where they’re going with this
So those two quotes and you could interpret them to be opposites I mean me personally I would need a little bit more context with any piece of advice that you receive unless the advice is specific you see even the advice that I provide or I provide through my colleagues or
With my colleagues advice is going to be generalized it’s very generalized advice whether or not I’m contributing to a conversation it’s going to be General until it’s contextualized right because when you contextualize something further that means that you’re deriving more information taking in the factual circumstances into account
So that the advice that you give is is tailored is personalized and it’s individualized it’s specific for whomever you’re giving it to whomever you’re providing it to right now we always treat these uh 30-minute sessions as if we’re treating or dealing with or speaking with interacting with a
Hypothetical client right and this is to provide you a little peek into what it is that we do on a day-to-day basis but it also helps me develop my Approach my structure and organization right a mental template of sorts on how to address a client’s issues in real life
Right so we use these hypothetical clients as many study cases in order to improve our approach in reality in real life practice right so they’re asking or they’re saying more than more than anything they’re saying do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life that’s one quote and
Then the second quote is don’t turn what you love into a job or it’ll kill your passion and they continue they they say this leaves me feeling very conflicted in choosing a career path should I choose what I think is most interesting or what I think has better job prospects hmm
Should I choose what I think is most interesting or what I think has better job prospects I guess if we wanted to give it even more upward inflection should I choose what I think is most interesting or I think has better job prospects should I choose
Should I choose what I think is most interesting or what I think has better job prospects I what would a corporate Cowboy do put yourself in the shoes or you know the boots I guess if we’re using this metaphor of a corporate Cowboy you want to do your research
First right yes you’ve done an internal evaluation some kind of internal assessment internal examination on what your interests what your abilities what your talents might might be in now you’ll have to translate those into something marketable meaning something that makes you money but if you run the risk of becoming
Destitute becoming poor impoverishing yourself to pursue something that you are interested in something that you love you must be prepared for the consequences to your actions right unless unless you approach it methodically in anything that you do you could easily start in a job where
You make a lot of money even if you’re not interested in it and even if you don’t do the job methodically competently you could lose it from one day to the next that’s been one of many overarching themes to this podcast is that everyone is entry level forever now the goal the objective
Is to develop your self professionally professionally in everything that you do even if it’s something that you love even if it’s personal social relationships with family with friends treat them how you would want to be treated so you’ve got to be competent you’ve got to be capable speaking professionally
If you want to pursue something that you’re interested in to the detriment of your paycheck then you’ve got to be working full time and developing your that’s SK in developing that skill that prowess in addition to your skills for networking your skills for marketing because you still need to feed yourself
You still need to Market yourself to some extent otherwise well you’re more likely to um to converge with the path that that many modern day professionals take on and that is to to work full time Monday through Friday eight to five eight to six however many
Hours they log in right and then they’ve got that time off of work or the weekends if they’ve got weekends available to them to work on their own hobbies to work on their own interests which I’m deducing would be option two right is to not turn what you love into a job
Or it’ll kill your passion so do your job during the week and contain your passions for the weekend or sometime I off the clock after work right there’s nothing wrong with that there’s nothing wrong with either approach now what would a corporate Cowboy do a corporate Cowboy
Me let’s let’s take me for example Alex your friend your colleague your associate I enjoy the work I enjoy the struggle that comes with it why because every challenge every challenge you’ve confronted at work every interaction every exchange that takes place is an opportunity to better yourself to improve relations
Between you and a colleague between you and a challenger you and the opposition you and the competition you and the client you and your manager you and your subordinates every single interaction is an opportunity to become a better professional and in turn a better person
A lot of a lot of what you do most all of what you do professionally in one way or another bleeds into who you are personally how you conduct yourself in both of those realms inform Who You Are in your entirety so if you do something that you love and
You know right now it’s not marketable then you must be I mean I’m not gonna say you must but you’re essentially tasked it’s your duty take on this due diligence of researching further how you can Market what it is you love doing and make money from it
Become good at it become competent at it you don’t have to be the best you just have to be better than everyone around you you don’t have to be the best just the better option and that doesn’t come with the particular rate that you assign to your work
It comes with the quality overall I mean there’s some folks who charge astronomical values and money laundering aside They Don’t Really deliver much what have they got to uh to provide for you other than uh a legacy name maybe a past reputation so in terms of quality and quantity I mean
We’re talking goods and services here right not so much an entire career so choosing a career path based on what you like to do versus what you need to do to survive or to move up even if um let’s say even if you’re not working even if you’re not currently working
In what you are passionate in that’s still helping inform your approach to what you are passionate for so what you’re interested in just because you’re not passionate in your work no just because you’re not working in a field that interests you or that you’re passionate for doesn’t mean that you’re going to
Not do it competently that you’re not going to perform effectively to your fullest otherwise that ethic that work ethic you’ll find bleeds in to what to what you are interested in into your weekend into the love of your life you show up to work you’re miserable you
Just show up for the check I don’t even I don’t even like this job like they pay me what is it 40 80 100 grand for the [ __ ] knows I just show up for the work because I got bills to pay and I only live for the weekend well your weekends will be
Miserable why because you’ll start at just like you may count the hours to the weekend you’ll count the hours during the weekend and and the stress won’t stop you’re stressed for the weekend and you’re stressed during the weekend having to do it over and over and over it essentially never stopped because you
Never stop counting the hours that you either have to return to work or that you are working just enjoy the work it’s it’s uh It’s A peculiar mindset I’ll agree I’ll agree to Peculiar mindset but you don’t have to um segmented into those depressing episodes there’s a different way of
Segmenting your work of compartmentalizing what it is that you do I mean granted if the overall objective of your whatever company you work for whatever organization you’re a part of if if a key objective of theirs is not honorable right if there isn’t a sense of dignity that comes with it
Whether it’s a [ __ ] job or I don’t know you work for an institution that is absolutely morally bankrupt or pushing some kind of nefarious unproductive regressive I mean naturally regressive agenda right that you know I could see why that might be draining a drain on your soul a drain on
Your sense of being on your on your sense of existence but that’s not exclusive to any side of uh the Paradigm any side of the right left Paradigm it’s not exclusive to either side but being a better professional I mean I’ve I’ve met some pretty um repugnant individuals who are morally bankrupt
Or who represent sides that are I would say Verge on the precipice of evil right and yet very professional very professional they only do it for the money you might say but to them while they are working they are improving their ability to handle cases professionally right even if it’s not something they’re
Passionate in even if it’s not something they’re absolutely a Die Hard extremist or fanatic for the fact that they could enter this field learn the angles learn the approach the methods build and improve on them makes them a more competent professional at the end of the day
And I hesitate to posit anybody to um to paint anyone as the enemy or the opposition but it’s the same thing as I mean I I we started we started this podcast with the idea that corporate Cowboys infiltrate corporate and make moves make make money moves
Make big moves right even if they don’t lead to immediate payouts we’re making moves we’re setting ourselves up so an individual can’t enter an organization can infill traits an organization and be a competent professional continue improving and developing their professional skill set without holding any of those institutional organizational values
Close to their heart it’s not unheard of it’s not unheard of granted there’s gonna come a time where you know push comes the shove or the trumpets sound [Laughter] and they’ll have to make a choice and at that point well then you show me you show me someone
Who doesn’t have a passion for the work but stays because I’m just following orders or I got mouths to feed that’s where you pull their [ __ ] card that’s where you find out who they are as humans who they are as as people as professionals has uh as Souls I guess that’s where you
Find out that’s where you uh that’s where you weigh their heart on the scale against the feather type [ __ ] I didn’t even finish the body on this one let me uh let me go ahead and read you the uh the second part because that was the first paragraph right so
They say uh this leaves me with the feeling of feeling very this leaves me feeling very conflicted and choosing a career path should I choose what I think is most interesting or what I think has better job prospects you know just just off top I think in today’s day and age
You want to go with something that has more job prospects for you immediately immediately right white rights because otherwise uh you you are stuck doing more work I think that’s just my personal professional belief you do something that you’re interested in like say this podcast right this podcast I do have aspirations of
Monetizing it at some point uh but for now accepting donations is fine is fine right and if you want to there’s some links available out there you’re a smart cookie you can find them there’s a cash app venmo PayPal something you can send direct any and all of that goes to business
Expenses legal fees that sort of thing right that said if I were to dedicate myself to to something like this let’s say this was the only thing that interested me this is the only thing I aspire to do then I would have to work even harder even
Harder to create content of a of a higher quality of a much higher quality than what is available out there on average right and I would have to do the legwork to either learn or contract out a marketing campaign right in order to get exposure to get visibility out there in the public
For more clicks for a higher audience to be able to roll that over in a click count or a view count and then monetize it further and just make it make it my own business make it a business unto itself right but but what I work in now it happens to
Be something I’m also interested in and that’s the beauty the beauty of not cornering yourself not painting yourself into a corner as far as what it is you like to do what it is you are interested in what it is you see yourself doing right Beggars can never be choosers but if
You’ve never beg you can do anything you want you just have to take it upon you you just have to take initiative take the first step in being a better professional not saying no to opportunities that come your way so this podcast grows and blows up and offers me an opportunity to uh
To live off of the podcast only with whatever content that we produce so be it so be it otherwise I mean I’m still here still practicing I’m still contributing I’m still giving value to listeners who understand that while they may not have a circle of [ __ ]
That they could meet with on the regular and talk about these issues that take place in corporate these ideas for making moves on their path to a successful to a fruitful career and then they can join us they can listen in the last paragraph here is an edit
Actually they left an edit they say for a clarification I’m a computer science major debating between specializing and what has a much higher number of job prospects and typically better pay that’s web development versus what I enjoy which is embedded Electronics embedded Electronics oh I like that that that twist at the end
That curveball at the end so many ideas sprouted in my head at least as far as marketing yourself and and it you know pursuing what it is you are actually interested in versus what’s going to get your bills paid right there’s like I said additional legwork that goes into making your
Pursuit for happiness successful making it a successful Pursuit otherwise I mean happiness is going to be on the um on the on the way right it’s not going to be on the destination it’s going to be on the trip there type of thing but that’s there’s nothing wrong with
That you can find happiness on the way there you can be happy on your way there whether or not you ever get to your destination still still you can treat it as a special interest of yours hobby perhaps something that you work on after hours a sort of Skunk Works initiative
Of your own so when the time comes embedded Electronics is what you become known for right but that requires higher level strategic planning typically something that clients come to us for directly set aside some time for a consult and and find you know what it is
They can do in the meantime until they they’re able to strike their ultimate goal their end game for a career and if that means business Consulting legal Consulting some type of patent or a copyright a trademark to uh later on be able to license to an industry even through
Embedded Electronics if you will if that’s what you want then so be it but in the meantime you’ve got to stack a little bit of paper you’ve got to stack a little more knowledge knowledge never hurts you have to arm yourself one way or another and if it’s
Not with guns and knives it’s going to be with knowledge and know-how right so stack a little bit of paper stack a little more knowledge and do not be short on the initiative even while you’re working at that job that you are only there for the money right are only there because
The job prospects were a little better than embedded Electronics don’t show up with a half measure of your potential because even while you’re there you’re building You’re Building yourself personally You’re Building yourself first as a professional and then as you gain a reputation or as you strive or make moves in a logical
And tactful way either by getting promoted or taking on more responsibility negotiating your compensation you could you could you could it is it is possible for you to introduce by initiative another program another program within web development right or a tangent to web development an offshoot of it and help
Incorporate your interest for embedded Electronics but you’ve got to see it you have to Envision it and believe that it’s possible you have to really want it you have to you have to need it you have to convince yourself that you need it if that’s how bad you want it
Otherwise they’re going to be two separate spheres of your life there’s going to be your work life and there’s going to be your embedded Electronics life right so you’re gonna have to leave your work at work and leave your home at home when there could be a much more healthy and productive combination
Of the two uh something something fashionable something lucrative even if you do it right what time is it man we’re about 29.24 I might as well plug the Instagram I mean we’re on our way out so of this episode at least that’s uh at corporate Cowboys with a z you can
Find us on Instagram on the patreon uh so you can subscribe to any number of tiers there and support the cause help us buy office supplies and functional paperweights of sorts uh and like I mentioned before well we are on Rumble also so you can find us there and I mentioned before if
You want to send us something um a dollar a million I don’t know there’s a PayPal venmo a cash app I’m not sure if we’ve got a Bitcoin wallet floating around somewhere that we can dedicate uh I’ll keep you posted and you want to write to us or send us
Some love that’s PO Box 3372 Rancho Cordova California 95741 again that’s PO box 3372 Rancho Cordova California 95741 catch you on the flip side take care
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