Welcome back to another episode of the corporate Cowboys podcast as always my name is Alex for the next half hour you’ve got me to listen to this is like an open office hours of sorts right because if I was if I were a manager some type of leader ship figure within corporate
I would have an open door policy as far as good ideas go right I’m opening I’m open to listen to any good idea that is that is smart right what’s that specific measurable actionable relatable and time-bound something like that right it’s ripping it off the top of my head
But it still sounds legitimate right because you want all of those features and a good idea for for you to be able to receive this ball from your subordinate from your employee from your crew member from your colleague and run that ball right as a leader as a leader
Granted there are some managers that really only work to the letter of the title and they just manage they just manage resources and never get anything more done they’ve they’ve more or less settled they’ve become complacent so they look like sitting ducks to corporates Cowboys a little Proof of Life today is Friday
July 7. and if you haven’t visited Us online if you haven’t shared this podcast with anyone do that we’re on Instagram the handle is at corporate Cowboys with a z at the end we’re on Twitter also it’s corporate cow cow bees or kibis it’s c-o-r-p-o-r-a-t-e-c-w-b-y-z
Is it byz or bys it’s one of the two but the profile picture is the same we claimed them both [ __ ] it because the one who had a there’s somebody out there who’s got who’s got like the the corporate Cowboy original handle and we were just too late to the Twitter game
Not that we give a [ __ ] uh we’re on patreon Join one of the numerous tiers that are there and uh there’s some donation links available also if you’re a smart cookie I’m sure you can find them but any money we receive goes towards business expenses and legal fees as always
Just know that this uh podcast it’s a way of expressing cathartically comedically what it means to be a consonant professional I think a lot of individuals when they first start working their first job there is a sense of Honor a sense of pride that begins to erode over time the more
You learn about what the quote-unquote real world what the real what real life is like life outside of quote unquote safe spaces like school like the library like church right those are all relatively safe spaces not just the diversity and inclusion Center in your [ __ ] higher education that ain’t a
Safe space try going in and including outside ideals yeah you’ll get chewed the [ __ ] out there’s no Marketplace of ideas there you just either tow the line the mainstream narrative or you can see your way out right and there are some aspects like that in corporate there are some
Aspects of corporate that are exactly like that and so people become disillusioned over time when they go to work they have a sense of Honor a sense of Pride they want to be a good employee they want to do good work folks take pride and good worksmanship but
A lot of the higher-ups don’t they want they literally want the bare minimum they just want you to show up get whatever done that’s assigned to you no more no less because they don’t pay you to do anything more they expect it they expect the minimum yeah they demand the
Maximum effort from you but they expect the minimum I think when you climb up a couple of rungs on the ladder you see that more and more and a lot of these managers don’t have the ability don’t have the skill sets in order to motivate to inspire the professionals around them
To Aspire to be consummate professionals why because they aren’t consonant professionals how the [ __ ] would they know what the how the [ __ ] would they know what they want when they themselves are not experiencing it they are not working on it right Alex you’re taking forever I thought we
Were going to read a question all right today’s question right I’m just I’m just letting the listener know I’m letting the listener know that this podcast is really um Talk therapy it’s a little bit of Comedy a little bit of seriousness a whole lot of business
So that you can take notes whether it’s mentally whether you’re putting them down on paper little quotes you pull from this that are like gold nuggets right forget about Pearls Before Swine dog I’ve been I’ve been in the [ __ ] trenches and I’ve dug deeper in search of in search of precious metals right
And the one metal the One Medal that I’ve valued the most and has rendered itself the most valuable has got to be the one that comes that’s got to be attached to your hip at all times keep that [ __ ] thing on you it’s better to not need it than to get caught lacking
Because that’s what a [ __ ] corporate Cowboy would do catch you [ __ ] lacking today’s question comes from our slash career guidance let’s just get to it a little bit of general advice before I start though I gotta give that legal disclaimer that none of this none of
What you were about to hear that you have heard over the course of this podcast none of it you should be construing as specific legal advice to you right it’s not tailored for you the listener it’s just generalized I’m giving you the peak into how we move how we think how we operate
In terms of a hypothetical in relation to a hypothetical client’s situation okay so keep that in mind we do not condone any wrongful conduct we do not promote any illegal activity right foreign and they’ve flared this for advice this is coming off Reddit by the way from our slash career guidance
Will four plus years of self-employment hurt me when applying for a new role so they’ve they’ve been working they’ve been working it’s not like they’ve been lounging they’ve been working making money in a role on their own something an operation that they’ve been managing themselves and coordinating with with clients coordinating with
Colleagues with other professionals other subcontractors right because we’re now dealing with a world of independent contractual relationships especially when you’re moving from contract to contract you could have a number of clients and for those clients if you can’t service them completely then you’re gonna go out in search of a
Subcontractor who can fill in the blanks for you so they write I graduated college in 2018 and started an entry-level role in marketing that year I was fine but I was underpaid and wanted to explore the social media side of marketing more than I was able to
I get that I get that I mean especially when you’re fresh out of school right when you’re in school if school does it right if school does it right they promote creativity they’re they’re not just telling you what to learn but they’re telling you or they should be showing you how to learn
How to search for more knowledge how to search for more information how to discover actionable Intel on your own and unfortunately a lot of public education isn’t doing that so folks returning to outside supplementary education self-help comedy like the podcast but in this in the in the event I’m not gonna say it’s
Unlikely but in the event that you do leave high school or higher education and your intellect your Sharp wittiness your curiosity your your peaked interest hasn’t been blunted down by general education requirements right if you still feel like you like the pursuit of a specific field of knowledge
Is going to be valuable to you right that’s that’s where genius is born I mean folks think that genius is only prodigy that genius is only Savant that genius comes from high levels of IQ or maybe exorbitantly high levels of IQ but that isn’t always the case discoveries Ingenuity Innovation creativity comes
From people who stick with what they started with not just jumping around and the same thing goes for jobs same thing goes for employment and corporate right so I know that job hopping tends to be a a popular a popular option for a lot of professionals
And to an extent it’ll work it’ll work while you’re climbing the ladder but then you begin to realize that your career isn’t only within one organization your career is across an entire field the longer you’re in a field the longer you the more you cultivate a reputation
So you’ve stuck with the field even if you’ve been moving through organizations that’s some [ __ ] corporate Cowboy [ __ ] got some higher level thinking that’s some higher level thinking but few folks can really see the forest through the trees like that foreign that being said when you leave school
And you have that hunger to learn you you’ve got you’ve got that it’s it’s a voracious hunger that you want to do more you want to know more to be able to do more like you’re at one level of capable of doing something and and uh you see or you can identify you
Understand your potential so if you feel like you’re being restrained you feel like you’re like a horse nipping at its bit you’re like a a wild animal that’s been not caged but limited right you’ve got some kind of Governor chip in your brain and that might be a contract that you’re
Not allowed to explore social media marketing because that’s not what we hired you for then you can leave you’re still in marketing you’re still in marketing and you begin working for yourself you’ll learn more about marketing because you’ve got your hands in the dough and you’re learning
To make bread you’re learning to to bake the [ __ ] yourself than just showing up for work hey Alex we got a four or five more clients for you today they want you to compose a a post they’ve included pictures for us to use and uh you’re
You’re going to program these to be uh published for the next week and a half for the next two weeks or however [ __ ] long hahaha I won’t be learning [ __ ] because it’ll already be open for me right granted I mean I’m I’m assuming I’m over here assuming that this hypothetical
Client was working for an organization that did social media marketing but was just limiting their their UH responsibilities to something menial to something very basic to something that they believe was below their potential was not maximizing their potential their professional potential there is the alternative that they could
Have stuck around and if they were in an organization that did the social media marketing right that they ought to stick around for a little longer to explore opportunities to explore resources and networks that they might be able to take advantage of before they pulled a parachute or think that they
Need to leave because that might not be the case they might not need to leave at all they just need to voice an opinion or filter an opinion through the right channels of communication that’s how you network that’s how you move like a corporate cowboy you want to exhaust every potential opportunity and
Sometimes you’ll have to create them yourself that’s taking initiative corporate Cowboy doesn’t always just follow orders [ __ ] kidding me everyone has got their own autonomy everyone everyone even the CEO everyone has got one degree at least one degree of discretion just like how we believe that everyone every [ __ ] one has at least
One million dollar idea and I’m just saying the proverbial million dollar idea right everyone’s got at least one good idea able to be capitalized on everyone has got at least one capitalizable idea that they just may not know how to put into a tangible form how to transform how to transmuted how
To convert it into a tangible form to be able to Market it to be able to sell it to be able to license it that’s why you have [ __ ] like me it’s why you come to us I got Associates who know Associates [ __ ] I might be able to do it myself
If I don’t Outsource it to somebody and by Outsource it’s just connecting you with someone who has that area of expertise down to what he isn’t that what you want you want your eyes dotted and your t’s crossed you want the nevermind I was gonna make a uh a Contraband reference but
I was on a good I was on a good rule I’m keeping it legit I’m keeping it legit for this one so this person left out they left out of the organization that we’re in because they felt that opportunities just weren’t presenting themselves we don’t
Know all of the background if we had the client the hypothetical clients in front of us we would be able to dig a Little Deeper dig a Little Deeper I mean more information more of the right kind of information never hurts right there’s there’s useful information and information that is irrelevant that’s
Just not relevant for uh your particular issue or to put together and formulate a a worthwhile strategy it’s just not it’s not relevant it doesn’t doesn’t Merit any consideration but the right kind of information we cannot get enough of it so of course we would be asking follow-up questions
So Baseline questions something you know some some biographical information some background and then dig deeper in the areas that we need to know more about in order to come up with a plan of action they say more than I was able to I started okay so they wanted the social media
Marketing the more marketing than I was able to social media marketing social media side of marketing more than I was able to come on Alex I started freelancing on the side and it took off so I quit my job six months later chef’s kiss beautiful beautiful didn’t just [ __ ]
Leave and and was gone in the wind no no no no he put a sale up first they they put their sale up first caught some wind and dipped that’s how it needs to be done that’s how it should be done nicely done I’ve been employed since spring 2019 and
Have really loved it I did over six figures in Revenue last year as a so low entrepreneur and I’m proud of my accomplishments as you should be as you should be that sounds like a a great effort a great deal of time energy skill effort was put into getting something up off
The ground starting it from nothing I mean yeah you had the background information you had the the theoretical knowledge that maybe you came out of school with but you coupled that with the interest and the creativity and the drive the motivation the initiative your own initiative to freelance
And it took off and it and it’s paid off from what we’re reading the next paragraph says that said the role I would have listed as my dream job in quotes back in 2018 just opened up damn that’s that’s tough man that’s [ __ ] tough that’s a dilemma that is a dilemma
You’re doing so well on your own by yourself and I mean maybe if if uh if I and I do remember when when you first start picking up momentum and getting in the groove of things like it’s not it’s not really that much of a grind anymore it’s
Just a continuous hustle like the hustle is there forever but the struggle the struggle is very short and in the beginning like it’s like that that cost of Entry the cost of Entry is whipping yourself into shape that’s that’s the the the grinding down that’s the removal of excess material
Pretend you’re like a blade right and you’re [ __ ] blunted you’re damn near Square it off you’re like a 90 degree just just a 90 degree flat top and you have to shave off those Corners to come to a peak to come to a bevel an edge right
And you have to do that over the course of of learning the ropes for your own business striking out on your own and not losing not losing the drive not not losing the momentum keeping the momentum there keeping your foot on the gas and and assuming that that isn’t your
Dream job right because as an entrepreneur you can pretty much take you could pretty much take your mission anywhere you want it to go but if you still have an idea that you haven’t been able to let go of something that you think you left behind in corporate which if I’m being honest
If you can do this on your own hire people hire people I mean the hypothetical client doesn’t mention anything like that about hiring or managing other subcontractors or employees as a as an entrepreneur as a sole proprietor you know or an LLC I don’t know what it
Is that they that they were doing business as but they don’t mention that so that’s a you know it calls into question whether or not uh their entrepreneurship is really something that was fulfilling to them satisfying to them apparently it wasn’t because their quote unquote dream job
Something that they left behind in 2018 in corporate it just opened up and now they’re interested you see but for four years one has to ask have they been doing similar work or something equivalent to that dream job that’s prepared them for the position that’s geared them that’s trained them that have they
Tooled themselves up have they have they ground down those edges have they grinded grinded ground have they ground down those edges to the right degree bevel so the correct shape of Blade that they need yeah yes I’m still on this blade analogy because I use this blade analogy going through law school the
[ __ ] thought that you practice law with the spoon and I’m I’m out here the Cutthroat [ __ ] that’s working that’s how work gets done by actually doing it but those are the questions you have to ask yourself it’s it’s whether those skills required for your quote-unquote dream job are skills that you’ve been developing
Inherently as an entrepreneur how you can translate those how you can transpose those from having worked only by yourself or having worked only with with other professionals and then you’ll have to I’m not going to say submit to getting managed to submit to an employer but that’s essentially what you’re gonna
Have to sell them on is that the value you bring isn’t something you are overqualified for because that exists that does exist [ __ ] will look you up and down see you may be too much to handle and tell you that you’re overqualified I’ve seen it I’ve seen I’ve heard I’ve
Never told anybody that that they’re overqualified I mean [ __ ] they wanna they wanna work for uh four conditions and they want to work under workplace conditions [ __ ] you signed a dotted line join the ranks right so it’s a corporate War you’re just born into it but beyond that
That shouldn’t hurt you at all so long as this dream job and what you’ve been doing align to some degree to some extent something that you’re able to not finesse but Hustle but communicate to them professionally and make you hireable right is this other position also six figures
I know money is a huge thing for a lot of individuals but maybe it’s offering you more broader access to resources and networks that you couldn’t have developed in the same amount of time working only for yourself I get it running your own business takes a lot of time takes a lot
Of energy where you may not be able to visit with and develop a network simultaneously because you have to get work done for yourself if you’re not Outsourcing it right there’s there’s ways around that there’s ways around that let’s read a little bit more they write
My dream job back in 2018 just opened up I’m applying today and we’ll see where it goes what I’m wondering is if my self-employment is going to hurt me in the eyes of hiring managers personally I think owning a business has taught me far more than any other
Marketing role could have in parentheses they write as I’m not only marketing for clients but also myself but I’m stressed they may not see it that way that’s a lack of confidence and and it may not it may not be I mean it may be a reasonable lack of
Confidence maybe they don’t have the confidence in themselves that might be reasonable if what they’ve been doing in terms of marketing it has only been social media right if it hasn’t been let’s let’s put it into the context of working in front of a computer
Your life is in front of a screen and you don’t have to talk to quote unquote the public you’re gonna have to talk to people because you’re setting up marketing campaigns using whatever [ __ ] what was the program called monkey something sweet monkey sweet I think it was for
The [ __ ] nose HootSuite who the [ __ ] knows that was putting up uh ads that you could program and have them successfully upload without you being there right so they could have been doing that only and just not talking to people but now their lack of confidence could stem from the fact that
They haven’t had the interview like actually interview in person in real time think on their feet and be able to explain to them to this hiring manager or to this prospective client because when you’re hiring to get employed I mean isn’t that also a client granted that you’ll be showing up to
Work every day and getting paid every week or bi-weekly or every month however it is that payroll is processed but they are necessarily a client a different type of client sure but you should be able to communicate with them professionally and let them know exactly what it is that you did
Exactly the benefits that you’ve derived from your experience and exactly those intangible assets you are trying to bring to this organization for your dream job I obviously you want to give it to them nicely you don’t want to come off as desperate either this is my dream job
From 2018. I wanted to apply back then you know it’s like me wanting to go into the military when I came out of high school but it was [ __ ] rough it was like the beginning it was like during the Great Depression you know the great the depression damn near right the Great
Recession and um you know there was there was no sign-on bonus the ranks were [ __ ] filled everybody was going infantry I tested rather high on the ASVAB and and and I guess better times and better times for recruits I could have got a decent technical job some technical MOS doing something uh
Brain Savvy OR tech savvy right but lo and behold chose not to go because you know the deployment was damn near guaranteed I would have been on the front lines yada yada PTSD like I did in cash that [ __ ] stay inside either so it is what it is you’re right
What I’m wondering is oh no their self-employment is not gonna hurt them I don’t I don’t think so and their last paragraph here if anyone else has navigated an interview after being self-employed for any period of time I would love your perspective and any advice you may have thank you in advance
Well you’re welcome in advance I feel like we answered that question while we were reading it and I tend to do that I like doing that because I think when those inferences pop up granted I don’t have anything to write things down with me right now but when those when those
Threads when those threads appear visible I want to pull on them and those might be reasonable inferences opinions of mine anecdotes that I might have heard uh opinions of my colleagues as they come up given their situations or individuals they’ve worked with but interviewing as an entrepreneur it’s going to be like interviewing
Like any other interview granted this sounds like your what your second corporate job I mean we don’t know if they were employed through undergrad through higher education or when they were in high school but the very beginning of the body here reads that they got one job out of college and then
Ditched that for entrepreneurship that sounds fun now they’re trying to return to corporate and a return to corporate as as just that you have to understand that things are a little bit more regimented you have to understand your audience and you have to understand how to communicate
Your value proposition it’s not going to a freelance client they’re still a client but they aren’t freelance anymore this is this is corporate the realm I’d like to operate in is technically freelance and a lot of a lot of my clients aren’t really I’m not going to say they’re not cut out
For freelance work they’re just not in a position of life where they’re set up to strike out on their own a lot of them want to leave corporate a lot of them want to enter corporate sounds like that’s what this hypothetical client wants a lot of them want to move up through corporate
Yeah so it’s understanding where it is your position is it’s understanding your position and how to communicate it to the hiring manager because now you’ll have managers now you’ll have managers now you’ll have work product deadlines and deliverables that you have to satisfy it’s got to do it moving
It’s got to do it moving don’t don’t stand still and when you get inside that dream job of yours you better hope are not some gold shackles that dream job of yours you better hope comes with the access and the resources and the support system that you want that’ll help you grow
Because the moment you become complacent you’ll begin but the moment you stop moving the moment you begin to lose momentum you’ll start realizing why it opened up in the first place for you to apply for it all right that’s 35 minutes take care of yourself I’ll catch you next time
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