Rewiring Your Mindset for Success with Regan Hillyer

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GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO DREAM. GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT.

Question: What is your definition of success?

Is it the size of your paycheck?

Enjoying what you do?

Is it the impact you make in other people’s lives?

Maybe it is having the freedom to start and leave work whenever you please?

Whatever your definition of success is, do you know how you’re going to achieve it?

Some people may have an idea, but most of us don’t.

Most of us follow the system and hope to progress accordingly.

But, is that really the most efficient way to achieve the success we have in mind?

Probably not.

That’s kind of where Regan Hillyer found herself after following the systematic path of going to school to major in architecture and being asked to look into her future as an architect 20 years into her career. She was not happy about what she saw in her future, so she changed her path.

At the time, Regan wasn’t even sure where she saw herself to achieve this “success” everyone put so much pressure on.

She did a lot of soul-searching and decided to be proactive about her future by working on herself first. She began rewiring her mindset to succeed. Regan actively set goals and visualized her successful future to travel while working towards her goal to make millions. Many talk about this as developing a success mindset.

Regan now helps others with personal development by teaching them how to set their own “success mindset” to build their online empire with their personal brand.

In the podcast, and below, Regan shares how to be more proactive about your success by incorporating a more solid way to realize your vision of success.

STEPS TO DEVELOPING A SUCCESS MINDSET:

  1. Get clear on your unfiltered vision
    • Begin journaling
    • If you are more visual, create a vision board of your goals and measurements of success
    • If audio is a better way for you to realize your visions, have a conversation about it and record it
  2. Give yourself permission to dream
  3. Ask yourself:
    • Who you need to become to manifest your vision?
    • Where is your focus?
    • What resistance..fears…limitations do you have that is stopping you from achieving your vision?
    • What do you need to believe?
      • Belief system is necessary to manifest your dreams
    • What would the higher-version of you do to make your dream happen faster – action step
    • Intentional and aligned with your vision
  4.  Once you are clear on what you want and where you see yourself, become the person you need to be to achieve those goals

ABOUT REGAN HILLYER

Regan is a successful serial entrepreneur, speaker, and author of the new bestselling book, Be Your Brand.
She began her career at a personal development company, speaking on stage almost every week – until she got burned out and decided to make a big change.

Today, Regan is all about helping artists, leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs with their success mindset and building an “online empire” through creating a successful personal brand.

Regan continues to help her clients shift their reality and unleash their true message and communicate it effectively, so they can build a powerful personal brand that is in alignment with their values.t he invested in this business of buying businesses.

In the past 16 years, Ace has purchased over 40 businesses and discovered unique strategies to finance businesses and continues to help other people leverage those same strategies.

EPISODE LINKS AND RESOURCES
Guest: Regan Hillyer
Relevant Links

www.reganhillyer.com

Social Media

Regan on Facebook

Twitter: @ReganHillyer

Resources

The Ultimate Guide to Finding a Career that Fits You

The Ultimate Guide to Using Your Strengths to Get Hired

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Scott Barlow: Welcome back to Happen To Your Career. I am so excited to have our guest on today. She has a really interesting story and background. Her journey is one you all can learn from and will be excited for. Regan how are you?

Regan Hillyer: Hey Scott I’m awesome. Thank you.

Scott Barlow: Thanks for making the time and coming on to talk to us. I appreciate it.

Regan Hillyer: Pleasure. It’s great to be here.

Scott Barlow: Just to get us started. How do you tell people what you do when faced with that question? How do you quantify it?

Regan Hillyer: I guess it depends on who I am talking to. Generally I let people know I do two cool things. First, I help people with their success mindsets. I help them shift their reality from within. And second, I help artists, leaders, and creators unleash and monetize. I help them create the life they truly desire around that.

Scott Barlow: That sounds awesome and right in line with what I know many HTYC-ers are excited about to. You haven’t always done that

Regan Hillyer: Correct.

Scott Barlow: I’d love to talk to you about what that journey looked like. Where did this start for you?

Regan Hillyer: I grew up in an amazing family in Auckland, New Zealand. I was told I had to follow the system and go to school, work hard, and get good grades. I did that then went to university which was expected. I was studying architecture because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.

For me my journey kicked off in a university lecture. The lecturer said “welcome future architects, I want you to picture your future twenty years out from now. What is it like to be an architect?” I started visualizing it and I felt sick to my stomach with what I saw. I knew that even though I was good at it and people were telling me I would be the best architect, at my core I knew that it wasn’t right and what I was put here to do in the world. I made a decision then that I wasn’t going to follow that path and be an architect.

I proudly told my dad and he said I will support anything you want to do that will make you happy, but what are you going to do? I remember there was silence on the phone and said just give me some time to figure that part out. That is what threw me into personal development and soul searching at a young age. Why am I here, what is life about, what is my purpose, how do I help people and make an impact and live a great lifestyle?

I threw myself into doing everything: wealth creation, investing in properties, currency trading, sales, marketing. I did everything people told me to do. Investing money I didn’t have, showing up, and being committed, but nothing clicked. I told one of my mentors, when I was frustrated that I’m not cut out for this or meant to be successful. He said “Regan, the thing is you have it backwards. You are pouring all your time, energy, and money into figuring out strategies to make it work and you need to work on you and rewire yourself to succeed. Change your mindset and understand how successful people think then everything will shift.” That’s how I got into coaching and personal development and figuring it out organically for myself.

Scott Barlow: So what I heard is it is your dads fault for asking the parental type questions like what are you going to do. That is really interesting because I heard you say maybe I’m not meant to be successful. I’m curious, what is your definition of success in the first place and how has it evolved?

Regan Hillyer: Success for me, it’s different for everyone, but for me it’s having the freedom to do what I want, on my terms, with who I want, in what way I choose for it to look like; ultimate freedom. Right now it is centered around impact and answering big questions on how to increase my impact and shift that to a new level each day. It definitely didn’t start there. At first it was about making money and doing something I enjoyed and having time and freedom around that.

Scott Barlow: It seems to start that way for so many people. I haven’t met many people, a few, but not many, that started out with a different definition of success. For so many people it seems to be around power, status, or money of some variety to start with.

Completely different question. I heard you say that you were experimenting with all these things and doing a lot of things. Did that help you in anyway? Aside from advice and conversations along the way. Was it helpful to be involved in so many things?

Regan Hillyer: Yes. I believe it was all perfect and happened for a reason and I needed to live that experience to be where I am right now. I am grateful for it. Was there a faster way? Most likely. But I’m grateful for the experience. Once I started rewiring my mindset and went deep into success psychology that is when the strategies started making sense. I went back to what I’d learned and applied them looking at the world through different glasses. It was all for a reason and I believe I had value out of everything that I did in the long run.

Scott Barlow: What is an example of something that didn’t maybe need to happen that you now see you could have avoided or learned the lesson differently?

Regan Hillyer: I thought I would learn to invest in property as it’s an amazing way to set up success. I went really deep only to find out I wasn’t really passionate about property, but I kept forcing it. I didn’t even have capital but I was set on learning on how to do it. After I rewired my mindset and learned success principles and about successful people I figured out about my passions and what I wanted to create. It was easier to find a property mentor to tell me what to do. Which is how I invest now. I have a mentor I work with on a close basis and that works well and I don’t need to know the whole strategy. At the time I thought I needed to know.

Scott Barlow: I find that is the case for a lot of things. If you want to shortcut the process you can find people who assist because they have already done that. Where else have you done that approach within your life?

Regan Hillyer: Once I figured out that it was a thing I started doing it everywhere. If I’m looking to do anything I have no interest in trying to figure it out myself. The fastest way to get from where I am to where I want is to find someone who has done it before or helps people do it. I do it in every area. For example, if wanted to run a marathon, and never had, I wouldn’t go online and download an eBook and run every day. I would find someone who trains people for marathons and hire them and work with them. It’s that simple because it will accelerate the process.

Scott Barlow: That is interesting. You’ve mentioned mindset, just to kick it off I’m curious what you feel has to take place to transfer or change that mindset? If you asked me 8 years ago, thinking about hiring a running coach or coaches for anything - business coaches, marriage coaches, or sought out mentors I would not have done that. I’m curious about which steps people have to go through. It never seems to be just a flip the switch - I get it and start to hire people.

Regan Hillyer: You can do what I do and go through trial and error and frustration figuring it out yourself only to realize there is a faster way. One of the things that I recommend if you are unsure if it will work, is go and study successful people. Look at not just what they are doing now but how did they get there. Who surrounds them? Who has been beside them to accelerate them to where they are? No one successful is self-made. Everyone is an accumulation of information, strategies, and people they’ve had intentionally beside them.

Scott Barlow: Give me an example of where you’ve done that early on? Maybe not now with your current business because I think it’s easier for people who have already been through that transition and are on the other side of the mindset to be able to articulate what is happening now, but as you were changing and studying the successful people where did it happen?

Regan Hillyer: One of the first mentors I worked with was someone from Australia. I was in New Zealand and it was a big deal to travel to Australia. I immersed myself around this one person who is a self-made multi-millionaire. If I wanted results like that I needed to be closer to that person. I showed up at the events and got to know him and his team better. One thing I did was made a commitment to get closer to them and understand his mindset and how he created this. It was half a million dollars to hire him for mentoring and I did not have access to that. I got creative, to see how I could get closer. He had an education seminar company. I emailed them and offered to work for them for free for a month. I’d never had a job in my life. I’d always done my own thing. I had to park my ego and swallow my pride and work for someone and get in their environment and get to know their team better. At first they said there were no positions. I said I’d work for free just let me through the door. They put me in a sales role. I said if I’m good at the end of the month you can keep me and pay me. I was with them for about 8 months and learned so much. I learned how a successful education company runs. It was getting closer to the mentor and getting invited socially and going on lunch breaks. It was environment. It didn’t cost me anything for coaching or mentoring. I was creative and committed.

Scott Barlow: The cost was time. There are a couple things I love. First, the intentionality that you wanted to do it. And second saying it’s not possible to drop a half million so how can I do it? That’s the line of questioning that can be effective.

Let me ask, it seems like it’s a big deal when you confuse an Australian with a New Zealander? Is that a thing?

Regan Hillyer: It’s more of a big deal for a New Zealander.

Scott Barlow: I’m with my family putting together a trip in December of next year. Selfish question but where should I go in New Zealand? What are one or two things I have to see?

Regan Hillyer: Depends what you are after. It has everything: Surf, hiking, incredible beaches, mountains, and the jungle. One of the top places I would go is Queenstown. It is amazing and world class with scenery. Everyone is in love with it.

Scott Barlow: I’m putting it in Evernote.We are trying to do a month to six week trip each year toward the end of the year. This is where I think we are heading next: Australia and New Zealand. Total dovetail, now less selfish questions.

If someone is thinking about this in terms of pursuing a business for themselves for the first time, and they are trying to grasp, “what is success for me?” What advice would you give them? Reach a few years back.

Regan Hillyer: I think one of the biggest things to get clear on is your vision and where you are heading. There are no right or wrong answers. What are you looking to create and what life do you want? I love to journal. You can journal, visualize, or meditate. I like to ask if I was to create a big picture vision/reality/a big life for the future and remove any questioning on how to do it, whether it’s too big, etc. If I park all of that, what would I actually ask for or want? What do I want to create? In every area of your life. So many people don’t actually get what they want in life because they are too scared to stand up and ask for it and declare it. That is one of the key things: get really clear on where you want to go.

Scott Barlow: Aside form journaling are there other ways to do it?

Regan Hillyer: You can journal. A lot of people like to visualize. A lot of clients don’t like writing. They are amazing at closing their eyes and getting creative visualizing it. If you would rather talk about it you can have a conversation about it with someone and record it. Grab your iPhone and hit voice memo and record in your phone. Talk as though it is done. Start with, I’m excited it’s such and such year and this is what is going on. Just record it so you can hear it back

Scott Barlow: There are a couple ways to go about this. I am curious where this has been really helpful for you? I’m a huge fan of visualizing and it’s been helpful in my life. Where has it been helpful to you?

Regan Hillyer: It’s been a part of me the whole way. It’s one of the first things I started doing and giving myself permission to dream and to ask for what I actually wanted. I made my first million when I was 24 years old but I wrote that down five years before that. If I wasn’t doing that it wouldn’t have happened. It’s been with me every step of the way in every area of my life. I still write out my big picture reality and vision daily and write what I’m excited about now. It’s a fundamental.

Scott Barlow: How do you do that on a daily basis? My routines have changed over the years and I’ve been thinking about this and what my every morning looks like. For you, what does that look like now?

Regan Hillyer: It varies depending on the time you have available. In an ideal day, if I have an hour to dedicate, that is bliss. I start out asking myself just what I shared. If I’m creating a big picture reality what would be going on? I write it out as though it is done. Not in the future, but write like I am so happy that I have done this or that. My mindset is clicking with it already happening.

The next step is asking myself who I need to become to manifest that. I believe you can’t manifest it unless you are that version. People think I can’t wait to make millions, but you have to be the millionaire first and the money will show up. Ask what am I about? What am I focusing on? What do I tolerate and not? How do I walk?

The third thing is what resistance and fear is going on right now? What blocks do I have? Bring awareness to that. Write it down.

Step four is digging into what you need to believe for it to manifest right now. If your belief system isn’t in alignment with what you want to create you will take a lot of action but not manifest it. I wrote out powerful beliefs: I believe I am a powerful entrepreneur. I believe that I manifest everything I desire with ease and grace and I write them daily.

The last step which is critical is I ask myself if this were done and there was no question what would the higher version of me be doing right now for this to happen faster. I write action items. I’d call this person, go to this interview, pitch to this podcast, etc. You start getting your action you need to take in life and business. When you act on those items it means it is intentional and aligned with creating your vision you aren’t just busy every day.

Scott Barlow: I love that, particularly the beliefs question. That is not something I ask myself on a regular basis and I love that. I think that HTYC-ers will love that. I am curious, based on the way you run your business do you attract a lot of people that are really interested in the lifestyle business concept?

Regan Hillyer: Yes. I think everyone pretty much is driven by having an amazing lifestyle. They see me jumping all over the world. Even in the education business we have a team of over 30 people working from laptops and doing it the amazing lifestyle way. I’m a beacon of light to show it is possible and you can do it on your terms easily. A lot of people focus on this.

Scott Barlow: I’m curious because there are many connotations, what do people not realize when they are enamored with the thought of being able to travel? For our business we can do that and I love being able to have the freedom to do that but I’m curious what are people not thinking about?

Regan Hillyer: That’s a great question.

Scott Barlow: When they are falling in love with the outward piece.

Regan Hillyer: There are a few things. First, if you are looking to create the lifestyle you have to decide to go with it. For example, when I first went location free or digital nomad, I didn’t first create and make it work and then went location free. I went location free first and put myself in a position where I was forced to figure it out and make it work or I’d have to go back.

First decide. One of the key things once you are in it and living it, that people aren’t aware of but have to figure out, is that it is important to create boundaries. It is easy when you are working for home or traveling and working to blur it all in to one. It’s not necessarily bad but it can be challenging. I’ve found a lot of freedom going about my day responding to emails and client calls and realized I could do it from bed. I literally went into this place where I thought I should stay in bed all day and do it. But why was I feeling drained and can’t relax? Because I was still in work mode. It seems so obvious and simple but even putting clear boundaries on places where I relax and work makes a difference. Whether it’s in other places or in your own home. It’s important or you blur it and it can backfire.

Scott Barlow: I can vouch for that. It hasn’t bene as long for me since I’ve made the jump but as we’ve been traveling - and I have little kids, three that are following along - it’s incredibly difficult to work in the same place whether it’s Airbnb or a hotel. So I’ve had to, on a suggestion from a friend, go get a working space so I can differentiate.

Regan Hillyer: Exactly. I do that too. Even when I’m in Los Angeles I have a place that is a bit of a base for me. Some nights if I want to write a lot I will leave and go to a beautiful bar in Hollywood and I’ll play into that vibe with my laptop. Then I can go home and relax. I think it’s important to have the different environments.

Scott Barlow: I haven’t figured out how to be as productive when I’m not in a home base. Another selfish question? I’ve been struggling to figure that one out and routine. What would you advise? What has worked for you to get over that?

Regan Hillyer: I think there are a lot of different things. I would make sure that first any action you take is aligned and intentional. To be honest I have a lot going on and multiple business and I travel a lot. I live an amazing lifestyle with fun and down time. I do what I want, but it doesn’t mean I’m not working hard. I’m working intentionally. That comes from the daily mindset practice. Really taking the last step and saying what would the version of me be doing right now to move forward? It may only be three things to do that day but they are more powerful than doing 50 things you don’t really need to do. It’s being really intentional and coming from the space making sure you are committed and getting it done. Daily non-negotiables. At one o’clock in the morning I may know I haven’t done two of them and I will do them. I’m very disciplined.

Scott Barlow: Love it and appreciate it. For everybody else that wants to find out more about you or your business or anything else where can they go and do that? How can they get more Regan?

Regan Hillyer: If you go to reganhillyer.com you will see a lot there and you can subscribe to my email list. I send out a lot amazing content on a daily basis. I’m active on all social media platforms. Anywhere you love to hang out it is all under Regan Hillyer. Check out the content and connect and let me know you came from this podcast.

Scott Barlow: Thank you for taking the time. This has been good, selfishly good.

Regan Hillyer: It’s awesome. You are so welcome.

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Careers: How to Do It Differently with Scott Barlow

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WHAT’S YOUR IDEAL CAREER PROFILE?

So many of us start our careers thinking that these fancy job titles sound amazing. But, more often than not, we don’t stop to think if these jobs actually fit who we are as people or the lifestyle we truly want to live out.

Finding that ideal role at the perfect company that fits our core strengths and values isn’t an easy task. Usually, the path to finding this ideal career isn’t a straight line, and the end result also isn’t something you get instantly.

Here at HTYC, we try and help guide you to a career that fits you in the straightest line possible. The only thing we ask of you is for you to understand that:

  1. It is going to take a little digging into yourself to find this ideal career
  2. How much you put into the thought process (that we layout for you), will likely effect the results you get in your “job search”
  3. This process isn’t magic and it will not produce immediate results
  4. Your genuine participation is necessary

Listen to the podcast as Scott outlines the steps you need to take to do the whole career change/job search process differently  to achieve that happy, healthy work-life integration that people talk about enjoying so much.

Also, check out the list below for the step-by-step process  that will show you how you can find that career that fits your everyday-life needs.

STEP ONE – IDENTIFYING YOUR IDEAL CAREER
LOOK AT THE BIGGER PICTURE OF YOUR LIFE AND CAREER GOALS.

It’s not all about shooting in the dark when it comes to your career. This is something that takes sincere thought and effort to determine what it is that you want to do, not necessarily for the rest of your life, but for a pretty decent chunk of time.

This is the part a lot of us miss when we start our career. All it takes to help identify your ideal career is asking yourself these basic questions:

  1. Is the work you want to do something that goes against your strengths or is it something that goes against the grains of your strengths?
  2. Does the work meet your basic needs?
    • A long commute, especially if it’s over an hour by bus
    • Very long hours
    • Pay you feel is unfair
    • Job insecurity
  3. Is the work engaging for you?
    • Clear tasks, with a clearly defined start and end
    • Variety in the types of tasks
    • Feedback, so you know how well you’re doing
  4. Do you work with people that are supportive of you?
  5. Does that job/role fit with what you value with the rest of your life?
STEP TWO – IDENTIFYING ORGANIZATIONS THAT FIT YOUR IDEAL CAREER PROFILE
START WITH WHAT YOU KNOW AND DEVELOP YOUR HYPOTHESIS.

For example, if you know in your ideal career profile that you want to travel while you work and one of the things that you value is having people trust you to get the work done, that means that the type of organization that you are looking to connect with is one that needs to run in a way that empowers its people.
If this is what you know you are looking for, the next step is to begin researching these types of organizations that offer remote job positions or appreciate a distributed workforce, essentially a team that works remotely from different locations, instead of in one physical office location.
You can start your search on google with “flexible work job sites,” and start your job search with what pops up – this time it happens to be FlexJobs.com.

  1. Begin to find and identify those organizations that meet your ideal career choice needs.
  2. Make a list of companies that align with other pieces of your ideal career profile

This is what we like to call forming a hypothesis, since you are guessing that these are the organizations that you want to end up working for, but you’re really basing that off of an assumption. You don’t know if this list of companies actually/factually align with your ideal career from STEP ONE.

Big struggle for people.  understand where to search and how to translate what they want into what organizations may offer that.

BUT! THERE’S A BONUS!
Once you are able to think critically about what you want and how you’re going to get want you want, this transfers to other areas of your life. Being able to understand and devise a way to be able to go after what it is that is important to you in a way that is feasible and tangible to you is a GREAT critical thinking skill to have!

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STEP THREE – REACH OUT TO THE ORGANIZATIONS THAT FIT YOUR IDEAL CAREER PROFILE
ONCE YOUR HAVE THE LIST, BEGIN TO “TEST YOUR THEORY”

Do you know what the difference between a traditional informational interview and our “Test Drive” method of reaching out to a potential employer is?

For one, people usually try to sell themselves to an organization/potential manager in an informational interview.

With our method of interviewing, the test drive method, the difference is that you are NOT there to get a job.

Why you ask?

Well, you don’t know if you want to work for that organization yet, remember? You are trying to find out all of the information to see if this role and the organization actually fit the career profile you made in STEP ONE.

Don’t forget that you are asking for a meeting to learn more about the organization and the people in it. You want to show sincere appreciation and a want to gain knowledge and insight about the specific role you are looking for and at that organization.

If you come off as someone that is just asking for a job, it starts to feel like bad sales. You’ll come off as pushy and it will feel inorganic. If you are genuinely curious and want advice on the job on the organization or the type of work, you’ll form more of a relationship and you’ll find that people are will to help those that are truly interested in learning more.

Here’s an example of Felix Oberholzer-Gee. He began to ponder this issue as he was, of course, waiting in line at the airport. Later, he decided to conduct a field experiment to explore the question. He and a team of experimenters equipped with small bills approached 500 people in lines and offered a cash payment of up to $10 to cut in.

Would the bribe be accepted? How much would it take to jump the queue? And how would social norms and a sense of fairness play out along the line?

As expected, the higher the amount of payment offered, the more likely individuals were to allow a stranger to cut ahead of them.

The surprise? The line-holders allowed the person to cut in and most wouldn’t accept the money in return.

Oberholzer-Gee took this to mean that people will allow cuts if they perceive the queue jumper has a real need to save time, though most people felt it inappropriate to cash in on that need.

For line-holders, a higher bribe meant the jumper was more desperate – REAL need to save that time…legitimately want to help someone.

One last thing, as you continue your test on your hypothesis, you’ll notice that you’ve begun to form new relationships with people that are in the field and organization you envision yourself in (by default – if you follow all of these steps correctly).

If you find that this is a person, organization or type of problems that you solve that you’re interested in continuing with, you now have the ability to:

  • Ask for introductions to other people to continue exploring
  • Ask for introductions or advice on how to get employed by the company
  • Seek their continued guidance in the form of a mentorship

Be sure to keep you new connections informed of your career goals and status of employment.

Foster those relationships. You’ll want to stay fresh and relevant in their mind.

So, when an opportunity that sounds like the perfect fit for you, you’ll be the first person they’ll call and recommend!

EPISODE LINKS AND RESOURCES
RELEVANT RESOURCES

Strengths Finder 2.0

ULTIMATE GUIDES

Ultimate Guide to Getting Hired for Your Strengths

Ultimate Guide to Finding a Career That Fits You

PODCASTS

Happen to Your Career

What Fits You

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Scott Barlow: Today we have a bit of a different episode. I don’t have a guest today because I have something incredibly important to talk about. It is by far one of the most requested pieces of information that we get emailed about all the time. I wanted to put together a “how to” guide for what you can do to actually go step-by-step to find a job, and particularly a career that you love and are excited about. So that at least most days you can’t wait to get up in the morning to go do that thing. It happens differently than most everyone thinks.

We have produced close to 200 episodes, in around 4 years, which blows me away. We wanted to be able to put this episode together that takes you through the overview of the process. We also dive in with examples and how to do each piece.
Here’s what I mean and what we will cover:

Step 1: Identifying your ideal career and giving you a ton of resources on how to do that. We have devoted separate podcasts and training for this piece to really identify what fits you. We will start with that.

Step 2: How to use that to identify organizations that you think might fit what you want for a career.

Step 3: How to reach out to companies that would be a good fit based on what you learned in steps 1 and 2.

That is what we are covering today. It is the single biggest thing we have requests about as people learn more about how to make these incredibly difficult career changes. Often when people come to us they don’t say, “I am an HR generalist and I want to be a manager.” We don’t get that request. Mostly it’s more like an accountant saying “I’m trying to figure out what I really want to do. I think maybe it’s a museum curator but I’m not really sure. I want to learn what I should be doing and then how to do it.” Those are the types of incredibly difficult requests we get.

The first biggest part is identifying what they want to do.

To start let’s begin with why people should do this differently. That is our theme. There are many studies to support that the average person isn’t excited about their current role or situation. You can make a case that most of us don’t know how to enjoy the journey and that is the cause of unhappiness, but I think it is a lot bigger than a lack of mindfulness skills. Instead, it is often a misalignment with what you value, what is important to you, and what you are great at or can be great at - Your signature strengths. There are also a few other pieces.

That is where we start. To get rid of the misalignment you have to do things differently than the average person to be able to make a change. I know that is obvious.

Let’s talk about what that is and what it can look like.

Step one is identifying your ideal career. People first come to us asking “how do I identify my ideal job or career path?” That is the wrong question. We have entire podcasts on this. We put together a training, 8 or 9 episodes, on this topic. Go to figureitout.co and we have a mini course there. Another more extensive place for information is in iTunes or anywhere you can search podcasts. Search “what fits you.” You will find a podcast intended to be listened to from the beginning straight through. It’s an audio course format. Use that as a resource. It is an entire training on how to identify the ideal career. It isn’t how you think about it. When identifying the ideal career we perceive it to be finding an ideal situation for you and identifying that situation, not an ideal job or title. Not I want to be an HR manager or in medical, or whatever else, because when you identify it that way it is incomplete and missing important variables that make you happy within your career and the time you spend at work. We spend so much time there and we fail to see the other pieces and try to assign it to one thing. The reality is it isn’t just one thing.

Let’s discuss what it actually is. There are some basics for everyone to have an ideal view of your career or picture of what your next career step could and should look like to have a higher chance to make sure it is fulfilling. Here are basics that have a number of studies to support them:

  1. Is the work something that goes against your strengths or does it work with your strengths? These are things you are good at and have a tendency to gravitate to. Not really your passions, like enjoying eating spaghetti. A passion doesn’t mean it is something that should be a career, but is it something that works with your strengths versus against them?

We’ve got an entire podcast to help you understand that. We have tools on our site like Strengthsfinder 2.0. Go to happentoyourcareer.com/strengthsfinder. That will help you quantify and identify your strengths. That is just the start, then you get into your signature strengths - those things that you are both great at and have a tendency to enjoy. It’s not necessarily activities, but a mix of personality and the way you are wired. Things you happen to be good at, predispositions, etc. The important part is thing one.

  1. Is the work engaging for you? This is a variable that differs slightly for everybody. Some of the most important things are whether you have clarity on what the work is.
    1. Is there a defined start and end? I’ve heard that over and over as an HR manager. People don’t understand where work starts and ends. It was ambiguous and they couldn’t relate and it wasn’t engaging.
    2. Is there variety in the task? If there isn’t you aren’t stimulated and you get bored.
    3. Do you have the ability or freedom to make the decision on how you are doing the work? That is the opposite of micro-management.
    4. The other piece is are you getting some type of feedback so you know how well you are doing. If you don’t have those things it is highly likely the work won’t be engaging.
  1. Another piece is do you work with people like your boss that you feel are good, supportive, and there for you? The same is true for the other people you work with. A number of studies show that your boss is one of the most important pieces that shows up pretty high as being a big deal about whether you are excited about your job. Your colleagues play into this as well. Are they creating a supportive environment?
  1. The other piece that is a big deal is if you are working incredibly long hours. If you don’t feel like you are getting paid fairly or treated fairly that is also a big deal or if you feel like there is a ton of time that is a waste. For example, I used to commute for two hours and I felt like that was time that was a waste in my life. It made the job, regardless of the actual job, a bad deal for me.
  1. The last, but possibly most important, is does that job/role fit with what you value in the rest of your life? Both if the job isn’t going against your values and if it allows you to do other things important in your life.

Those are the five biggest things that we see again and again. They are all part of whether or not a career actually fits you. If you are only looking at any one of these pieces or just asking a question like “is HR right for me or operations management, or research” you are missing the point. Instead we want you to look at the larger picture. That is why when we sit down and help people put together an ideal career profile we incorporate all of these pieces. Without them you are shooting in the dark sometimes.

You want to have all of those pieces. Let’s say you’ve gone to the trouble to take what you know about yourself, what is important to you, what environment is great with you, what you value, etc. You know your needs and strengths. (We are skipping over a whole bunch of work.) After you have all of that we create an ideal career profile and what it could look like minus the job title, because job titles are different in different organizations, and it’s missing the point.

We take that ideal career profile and we go to step 2, identifying organizations that might fit this. Think of this like when you were in fourth grade science learning about a hypothesis and testing it. In the next steps you are going to create a hypothesis for yourself and test your theory. Step 2 is all about identifying organizations. People get caught up in this and how to do it.

“How do I begin identifying? I want to cut right to the correct one.”

It doesn’t work like that. Here is how to do it using the common steps. It is not a straight line path which can make it difficult. People want an instant result and you need to refrain from that. Instant results lead you to nowhere. Here’s the how.

Start with what you know. For example, if you know that within your ideal career profile that you want to travel while working and have people that value you to get the work done, then that means - and you have to think critically - you know you can’t always be at the office and the organization needs to run in a way that empowers its people.

You might start by researching organizations that offer remote work. Those types will have higher tolerance for you traveling while working and not require you sitting at a desk in a cubical for a particular time at a particular computer. They often have a higher degree of trust because of the distributive workforce, meaning the people are spread throughout, the globe, different cities, and areas. They are not all in the same office.

If that is the case, this means that I can google remote work job sites or flexible work job sites. I can take what I know and put it into google and it becomes another place to start. Then it pops up flexjobs.com or the muse.com and I can search remote work. I can get an idea of the companies that allow for that, condone that, or find it valuable. That is a really basic example. That is the process: starting with what you know, taking a section of your ideal career profile and drawing a conclusion for what you know, going piece by piece, and converting it over using critical thinking to find what organization will support it. Once I know that I can begin applying it and finding the organizations.

Let’s say I am interested in remote work and traveling. It’s very important to me, but it’s not to everyone. But if it is, then on flexjobs.com I can begin making a list of companies that align with other pieces of my ideal career profile. Those are my hypotheses. I don’t know for a fact that these companies are actually perfectly aligned with my ideal career profile. It’s not only okay, but part of the process, but people really struggle with this. We help people know where to search and translate it into organizations that may offer it. It comes up again and again. It’s not easy but we do it every day. Most people aren’t doing it frequently. The good news is once you get the hang of it it applies to other areas. Once you can think critically it translates into other areas of your life. Not just your career, but understanding and devising ways to go after what is important to you that is feasible.

Once you identify this initial list of companies you can begin testing your theory. One of my favorite ways to do this, because it works a lot, is reaching out to companies you think might fit. We call this the test drive method. You’ve heard of informational interviews, where you schedule an interview with the company, and often have coffee, you bring your resume and you ask a lot of questions. That is great and informational interviews are good, and I know a ton of people who have gotten jobs this way but I prefer a different method.

The test drive method is one of those. The biggest difference in the test drive method versus informational interviews is you aren’t there to get a job. You aren’t there to get a job. I say it a third time, because it’s shocking. You aren’t there to get a job.

For a variety of different reasons, mainly because you don’t know if you want to work for this organization you only have a hypothesis but you haven’t validated it yet. So why would you be there to get a job before you know whether it fits you, it’s what you want, and all the things we talked about, and if it fits the pieces of your ideal career profile. We aren’t looking for one hundred percent but at least eighty percent to see if we should continue.

You are instead there to find out more and learn about the people in the organization that can help you understand different roles. Your sole goal is to learn about them. As soon as they perceive that you are there to get a job then very often they have places for that. They send you to HR. They will say I can’t help you we aren’t hiring. If you are there for a job they will do what they already know how to do. They already have ways to handle that. Instead I want you there asking for their opinions. That is a different thing.

Their opinions, advice, stories, and information about the organization is something that can be provided. They may not have a way to handle that and it’s outside the social norms. That is one of many reasons it can be a more effective way to learn. If you are asking for a job it’s like asking for marriage on the first date. Let’s say you are on a first date, at the table and you put down your fork and say I’m feeling pretty good about this, what do you say we get married? How about that? At that point the date is probably over. If it’s not over, there won’t be a second. It would rarely ever lead to immediate marriage because you don’t know the person and they don’t know you. For the same reasons why would you do that if you are just getting to know an organization. If by some miracle you get an immediate job, which has happened, then it’s not going to be a good fit. Or at least you don’t know it will be.

Let me give an example of a different place where this same philosophy works. You may know this if you listen to our show. My coaches do help calls. We get on the phone and we try to figure out how we can help you. This is different than selling you something. Everyone has had a bad sales experience. Bad sales experiences make you feel pushed. They are inorganic, they don’t flow, and your alerts go off. It doesn’t feel right. Instead when we get on the phone with the intention to help people very often those people turn into customers of ours, but we aren’t there to sell them something. That is not our job, it is to help them. We know, and have the numbers to support it, that when we legitimately try to help people, often those people come back around and ask about other services. A huge percentage of people turn into customers and we see it again and again. It is the same way for when you contact organizations and test your hypothesis. The second you are there for a job, it feels like bad sales. It feels like you are asking for something that is misaligned, being pushy, etc. Instead if you are there to ask for their advice, learn more about them, and are genuinely curious you will learn more. And it’s hard to fake genuine curiosity. That is where it often turns into opportunities that other people won’t get. Very often when my coaches jump on the phone and we try to help people those people often end up buying from us. It’s the same thing. They end up buying from you because you are there showing genuine interest. People know this. You know genuine interest when you see it. You have a BS indicator. We all have that.

These are some of the biggest reasons why something like this is much more effective and the secret behind the secret is that you have to be genuine about it. You have to be going to learn. Legitimately going to them to test your theory. There are a variety of ways this can happen. You can go in and call someone there that has a job you think is interesting and say “I’m going to make a career change in the future and I am interested in your organization, then I found you on linked in and I’m interested in what you do. I’m wondering if you and I can schedule fifteen minutes where I can ask you questions about your job and company.” It can be that easy. That is just one method. We teach other scripts. That is one example to learn more about the person and organization.

Another reason it works, and an example of it, is Felix Oberholzer-Gee who did research at Harvard and was starting to think about a problem of waiting in line. He came up with this while waiting in line at the airport and decided to conduct an experiment on waiting in line, particularly to see if he approached people in line, offering, a cash payment would those people allow him to cut or take their place. He was curious if it would be accepted and how much it would cost. I was interested in this because I wanted to know how much social norms, and a sense of fairness, and people wanting to help would play into this. For them to take the abnormal action.

As you might expect, the more that they were offered the more likely people allowed it. The really surprising piece was that line holders allowed you to cut in line but most would not accept the cash. They would refuse it. They derived that people would allow cuts if they perceived the person needing to cut had a real need to save the time and a lot of people felt they couldn’t exploit that situation. They legitimately wanted to help.

This is the same reason that when you ask for help genuinely and they perceive it to be genuine and that it will help you, most people are willing to say yes. Part of that is a social norm. Part is that people feel good about helping others and also when you take a genuine interest in another person that is a gift. There are a variety of reasons why it works. That is all you are doing at the end of the day, asking for help and taking a genuine interest in someone else. As long as they perceive that, most people, over half between 50 and 70 percent, will say yes to helping you in some way. By either spending time or giving information, or offering to connect you, etc.

Once you get on the phone with someone and you have this conversation, have a list of questions you made in advance and you can ask those and have a conversation. It doesn’t have to be rapid fire, but just a conversation while they share about the organization or role or anything else you want to learn. After you do that the weird thing is you have begun a relationship with them. At that point you can do a lot of different things. Continue that relationship. I’ve had people turn into mentors. They can be an asset in understanding how to break into the organization or give you advice, or career help. Also, once you have the relationship you then have the ability to ask for introductions to other people to continue exploring. Maybe in other companies or you can ask for introductions on how to get employed in their company if you later find it is a company you want to continue to learn about and whether you want to work there. Those are several different ways and it only happens once you establish the relationship.

That is how a lot of this builds on each other. This doesn’t just apply to getting a job. The same types of psychology and approaches work in a lot of ways. We’ve shown a scientific study and our experiences. I’ve had a lot of experiences where I’ve found it to be true.

That is how this can work. It is kind of a different way than most people are thinking about it. This is something we’ve embedded in our programs, such as Career Change Boot Camp, and we teach our coaching clients, but I wanted you to understand how it can work. We have a variety of other scripts, tactics, and approaches and ways to do this in different situations.

Ultimately the biggest thing I want you to take away is I want you to go on the shortest path for your particular career change and what you want, which means you have to follow these three steps to some degree:

  1. Identify what you want and what is good for you, your ideal career profile;
  2. Figuring a hypothesis for what it can look like and the best way to get there (building relationships, identifying other ways in that are more effective)
  3. Go and test the hypothesis.

Hopefully that gives you an idea of how this can look. If you have questions don’t hesitate to contact us and let us know. This is what we love to do and we would be thrilled to help you in any way. We can get on the phone and offer help or you can send us an email and we will respond and connect you with our free stuff and programs. Do not hesitate. One of the saddest things is when people don’t take advantage of help that is right in front of them and experience a ton of pain because they don’t either want to ask or take the time, or perceive the help isn’t there. We are here to help in any way that makes sense.

This was a completely different episode, so let me know what you think. I’d be interested to hear and if you enjoyed the “how to” content we can do more like this. For anything we mentioned, the studies, links, or resources go to happentoyourcareer.com/168 and find all of those things including being able to subscribe to the podcast.

 

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Become Indispensable with Enrico Torres

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There are milestones in your life that make you re-evaluate your career path – you decide to move to a new city, you get married, you start a family, or you have to take care of your parents when they grow old.

No matter what type of change prompts you to rework your career journey, there are always ways to improve your situation and stay ahead of the career change game.

Today’s show features Enrico Torres, an unassuming entrepreneur with a work ethic that perseveres through constant improvement. He spent over two decades working as a restaurant kitchen manager and a roofer before deciding that he needed a change (for the better) to accommodate his new life as a father.

His motto of making yourself indispensable continues to carry him through his ever-evolving career changes as he believes in focusing on working harder to improve yourself – skills and overall knowledge, to be better than the last guy that had your job.

Listen as Enrico shares his biggest takeaways from starting his business from scratch, while working his day job. He talks openly about his experience of making his dream happen and how the hustle never stops, especially when you become an entrepreneur!

ABOUT ENRICO TORRES

Enrico Torres, founder and CEO of AppendMe®, a new social Ecommerce app. AppendMe simplifies social, letting you share pictures and videos to other social networks with one tap, and text and chat with friends. It’s with an innovative and entrepreneurial mentality that brought him to create this new app. He saw the void in the social media and Ecommerce market and set out to build an app that would serve the people. Being able to have a space to share his innovative visions while working as a roofer during the day has helped him fill the creative voids he had in his day-time career.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
  • Continuing to learn and grow your skill sets (in any industry) will help you flourish and become indispensable
  • Stepping-up your career and committing to your career change is a big risk, but the benefits you’ll reap in the end are worth all the hard work you put in
  • Go for it…Take a chance..you can even slowly start building towards your goals because you don’t want to regret not taking that chance at the end
RELEVANT LINKS AND RESOURCES

Check out Enrico’s work and new ventures here: EntrepreneurX

Connect with Enrico on Linkedin

Follow AppendMe on Facebook

Get the latest happenings of AppendMe on Twitter: @AppendMeApp

GET IN TOUCH WITH US!

Email:  Scott@happentoyourcareer.com

Twitter: @htycbiz and @scottabarlow 

Follow us on Facebook

Come join us over on Facebook in our Work You Love OneStop group!

LOVE THE SHOW? SUBSCRIBE TO THE HAPPEN TO YOUR CAREER PODCAST:

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LEAVE US A REVIEW AND HELP US TO REACH MORE FOLKS JUST LIKE YOU AND HELP THEM “HAPPEN” TO THEIR CAREERS!
 WANT HELP FINDING THE WORK THAT FITS YOU?

If you’re just starting your journey in making a switch from a job that no longer aligns with your goals, check out our FREE 8-day course to “Figure Out What you Really Want for Your Career!”

For helping finding YOUR signature strengths, enroll in our FREE 8-day video course at figureitout.co!

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Introduction 00:00
This is the Happen To Your Career podcast, Episode 158.

Enrrico Torres 00:04
I worked in the restaurant business for over 12 years, you know, but then it was time to change, so then I jumped into the construction business. I really like, I like working with my hands, you know, I'm one of those guys that just wants to keep working with his hands. As I started getting older, I realized, you know what, I'm not gonna be able to do this, always, you know. So I either have to either build a crew, so that I can manage them and do that, or find something better to do. So about four and a half years ago, that's when I ran the idea by my wife and I told her "Honey, what do you think about us starting our own social platform?" and she's like, "honey, you don't even know how to send an email."

Introduction 00:42
Hey HTYCers, if you've been struggling to figure out work that fits you then join our eight-day free mini course, all you have to do is text HTYC to 38470. That's HTYC to 38470 or simply visit, figureitout.co that's figureitout.co. See you there.

Scott Anthony Barlow 01:13
This is Happen To Your Career, we help you stop doing work that doesn't fit you, figure out what does and then make it happen. Whether you're looking to do your own thing, or find your dream job, you've come to the right place. I'm Scott Barlow.

Scott Anthony Barlow 01:31
This is Scott Anthony Barlow, and you are listening to Happen To Your Career. This is the show that helps you figure out what work fits you by exploring other stories, we get to bring on experts like Bozi Dar who helps people leverage their strengths to advance their careers, or people that have pretty amazing stories like Kirby Verceles who ended up making the dream job transition not once, but twice. And these are all people that are just like you, because they have gone from where they are, to what they really want to be doing. There's people that are just like our next guest, Enrico Torres. And I got to tell you a little bit about this conversation with Enrico because when you listen, you're going to be able to continue to learn and grow your skill sets in any industry. And it's gonna help you understand how you can flourish and become indispensable. Pretty cool, right. So also, we're going to talk about how stepping up your career and committing your career change is actually a huge risk, or it feels like a huge risk, at least, but the benefits you'll reap in the end are absolutely worth it for all of this hard work that you put in. So also, we're gonna encourage you to go for it, whatever it is, take the chance, you can even start building towards your goals today because you don't want to regret not taking the chance in the end. So we've got 2017 coming up here. And I'm really excited for that. And I'm excited for all the people that we're going to be able to help and have an impact on and that gets me excited for you to listen to this conversation because this is somebody who's actually in the middle of it. A lot of times we've brought people that have "made the transition." But this is a little bit different. Enrico story is a ton of fun, first of all, he's just a really, really, really super nice guy. But at the same time, he is in the midst of making a transition. And he is working his tail off to make this happen. And a lot of times people don't get to see what happens in the middle of it. And even on this show, although we've brought a few people on that are in the midst, usually it's... "Hey look, we've made it. Here's after the fact looking back." So I want you to take a listen to this, it's going to be super cool. He's the founder and CEO of AppendMe which is new social ecommerce app and he's created this from the ground up to really fit both his life and what he believes he can put into the world that is valuable for other people very, very cool. So he's taken the risk on this and put a lot of his own money and hard work into this. And he spent over two decades prior to this working as a restaurant kitchen manager, a refer his work ethic and his motto is to constantly work harder to improve yourself both your skills and your overall knowledge to be better than the last guy in the job. And I think you're absolutely going to love it. So take a listen, right here, right now to my conversation with Enrico Torres.

Scott Anthony Barlow 04:38
Hey, and we are back for another week have Happen To Your Career. I am so excited today because I've got a guest where I think this is gonna be really fun. Plus, he's got an amazing story. I want to dive into that like always, but I want to welcome to the show, Enrico Torres. How are you?

Enrrico Torres 04:57
I'm doing well. How about yourself?

Scott Anthony Barlow 04:59
I am absolutely fantastic. I can't complain at all, and I am having better weather than you are. So I can't... you know, you're on the East Coast, I'm on the West Coast. And I love that we can have this type of conversation in the first place. But I'm really interested in how do you describe what it is that you do right now, you know, if we hadn't already had a chat before this and everything like that, and we met, not on the internet. And we're, you know, we are meeting in real life or whatever and, you know, ask you, what do you do? Well, how do you describe that to people right now?

Enrrico Torres 05:38
Okay, well, what I do is right now, I'm working in construction, installing roofs here on the East Coast. And then I'm also developing my software application, you know, a mobile application, which actually, we're also working on the web version of the application. So I guess you can say, I'm multitasking right now, you know, between both worlds, the grunt work and the actual techie world.

Scott Anthony Barlow 06:04
So I love that. And it's actually, to be quite honest, part of the reason why we're interested in talking to you on the show, because you're kind of in the thick of it right now. So many of our listeners are contemplating career changes, or in the beginning steps of making career changes. And you are kind of in the thick of it. And I think that for everybody, it's kind of a lifelong journey. But I was really hoping to be able to dive in and have a little bit more conversation about what is going on right now. But even before that, I'm curious, how did you even get to here? Where did this start for you? Where did the interest in this? You know, how did you get into roofing in the first place? How did all this, where did it begin?

Enrrico Torres 06:47
Okay, well, to make it, you know, as compact as possible here, I came here in '91 from South America. So I started working, I was 14, so I was going to school and then working in the restaurant business, I worked in the restaurant business for over 12 years, you know, but then it was time to change. So then I jumped into the construction business. So I was in my 20s, you know, mid 20s, or something like that, when I jumped into construction. I started working in construction, I really like, I like working with my hands. You know, I'm one of those guys that just wants to keep working with his hands. And then as I start getting older, I realized, you know what, I'm not gonna be able to do this always, you know, so I either have to either make, build a crew to something I can manage them and do that, or find something better to do. So about four and a half years ago, my daughter was born, and it really hit me, I'm like, I really need to come up with a better plan to make my life and the future of my kid, you know, better. So that's when I ran the idea by my wife and I told her, "Honey, what do you think about us starting our own social platform?" And she's like, "But honey, you don't even know how to send an email." So believe it or not, I didn't even know how to send an email. I didn't even have a smartphone. So I was gonna like, "Yeah, but there's Google, I guess I can try to google." She's like, "okay go ahead, you know, try it." So I did and that's how pretty much is being you know, as being a transition from washing dishes, cooking, executive chef to, you know, starting from the ground up, cleaning shingles, and then moving to sheet metal mechanics. So now I installed meta rules. And then about four and a half years ago, now we're talking software. So I'm still doing both because obviously, I have to pay for my dream, you know, because it's not free. So...

Scott Anthony Barlow 08:39
Wait, I got a hold on, it's not a free as it turns out?

Enrrico Torres 08:43
No, it's not. If anybody says is free, they're full of baloney. Yeah, nothing is free. You got to keep... you got to hustle. You know what I mean?

Scott Anthony Barlow 08:50
Yeah, nothing is free. At a minimum, it costs time, at a minimum.

Enrrico Torres 08:53
Exactly. And time is, you know, how it is. It's very valuable, especially when you have a kid if you know, you spend time building your dream, and it's like...

Scott Anthony Barlow 09:03
Yeah, absolutely. We've got three little kids.

Enrrico Torres 09:06
Wow.

Scott Anthony Barlow 09:06
It's so nine through, I should know how old the last one is, he's gonna turn six. Well, they keep changing, I mean, if they said the same age, it'd be easier. But yeah.

Enrrico Torres 09:16
Yeah, right. I know right. Like, it's always like, I'm like, "honey, How old is she?" She's like, "Oh, my gosh." And I'm like, "I'm kidding."

Scott Anthony Barlow 09:26
I had to think about itt, I wasn't kidding for a few seconds but now I know. I'm super curious, though, about a couple of things, you know, just as you're kind of talking through that piece. What... as you were thinking about this type of, you know, social media platform and everything else. And you're like, "honey, I'll just, you know, there's Google. I'll just, you know, figure it out." Like, where do you think that type of approach or attitude or mentality or whatever you want to call that, where do you think that comes from for you? Because a lot of people wouldn't say that. They would say, "geez, I don't know how to do that. So why don't I find something else I, you know, think I can run easier or whatever else. Where does that come from?"

Enrrico Torres 10:07
Oh, yeah, believe me, yeah, exactly. That's... well, for me is I've always been, I don't know, I've always been a risk taker, you know, I'm always like, okay, let's do this. Let's just go for it. Like, I don't want to think about it, I just want to go for it. And then figure it out as we go on, you know, as we move along. So I've always had a little chip inside my head off, just taking chances, you know, I know, believe me, because when I started, I was kind of like, it was overwhelming at first. I mean, I didn't even know how to send an email for the love of God, every time I had to do something to my accountant, I'll be like, "honey, how do you send an email?" And she'd be like, "okay, here" and then she will show me and I will type it. So then I'm like, so now she's like, click send, you know, which is crazy, because now look at the platform I build. I mean, obviously, I didn't build I have my team, which without my team, I wouldn't have made you know, I tried it. But it was too much and not enough time during the day to try to code. My respect to all the coders out there. They're amazing. I mean, they can truly bring your vision to reality, it's truly amazing. I love my guys and girls, you know, because we have both, but yeah, it was just the feeling of I have to do this. I know I can do this. And not only that, I have a very busy mind. I mean, like crazy busy, like, I don't sleep, like normal people, like, you know, I sleep very little. So my wife is like this, "why should it keep your mind occupied? Because you're always, you know, thinking, you're always up, you can't sleep, you're always trying to figure out how to fix things, how to do things." So it worked out for me. Now, you know, I'm not saying it might work for everyone, but it definitely worked out for me.

Scott Anthony Barlow 11:49
Yeah, absolutely. So why this? Because I mean, from your story, it sounds like, well, hey, you know, social media, okay, let's do that. Why not? But I mean, why this? Why was this the thing that for you really resonated?

Enrrico Torres 12:05
For me, it was because I remember trying when I first started using the computers, right, and I remember looking at a couch, and I was looking at a couch on another platform. And then I went to another platform and that couch was there. So then I didn't understand. I was like, "wait a minute, how did these people know that I was looking at this couch." You know, to me, the concept was new. I didn't use computers. I didn't know anything. So I was kind of like, shit. There's somebody spying on me.

Scott Anthony Barlow 12:34
Just following me around.

Enrrico Torres 12:36
Exactly. So it really freaked me out literally, like it really genuinely freaked me out. And I was like, What the heck is going on? Why are they doing that? Like, you know, so then I was really scared, like, looking stuff. And I'm like, what are they doing and then I started looking at Google and then seeing more and more people concern and stuff. And I'm like, well, I'm really concerned too. Like, how hard can it be? You know, so it was kind of like, how hard can it actually be to do it, right? So then I was kind of like, okay, you know what, there's so many possibilities here, you can do so many things. This is perfect. I gotta dive into this. One is not really physical work is more mental, you know, so, I was like this will be perfect. I've been doing physical work for a long time. So this will be a good career change for me, you know, as I get older. So that's pretty much why you know, it's gonna like, I'm pretty sure I can do this in the creative part of it. I like to think of myself as somewhat creative.

Scott Anthony Barlow 13:38
So let's talk about that for just a minute because I think that a lot of HTYCers, that are listening right now, as I talked to people and have conversations and email back and forth with a lot of our listeners, they are creative, I don't think that all of them consider themselves to be creative. So I'm curious what you mean when you say a creative and then what you're kind of looking at that as?

Enrrico Torres 14:10
Right. Okay, well, you know, creative, when I'm saying creative I mean, "of being able to build something, visualize something" and like what you're saying right now about people being creative and then they don't think, I bet you a lot of times what happens is people express their ideas right to friends, family, people always shut you down. They're always like, "Oh, no, that's not gonna work. Somebody have already did and this and that." They don't really get us, we're kind of like suppresses your creativity. It's kind of like "Oh, man, I'm only supposed to do this one thing and one thing only" even though you're very alive inside but you know, because of all the negativity is gonna like you can really flourish you know, like, I'm a peacock let me fly but you can if you know, I know that's a line from Mark Wahlberg and I love that movie with Will Ferrell. I'm sorry, I'm getting sidetracked. But anyway, but yeah, so you know, it's kind of like creativity, like, I love being able to see something. And I'm like, okay, you know what, if you can do it this way, if we were to move something here, there, I'm like, that will be better. But you can't do that, like, when you look at existing platforms, you can... all you can do is send suggestions. And maybe they'll listen, maybe they won't, most of the time, they don't listen. And you know, you're kind of like, stuck with what they gave you. In my case, I was like, you know, what, if I build it, like, you know, the way I see it, like, if we can move this here, based on user's feedback, and everything I'm like, that's even better, you know, because it's enforcing my creative power. Okay, if we do this here, we put it there. So that's the part that I've really liked about what I'm doing now, on top of, obviously, my construction, because in construction, believe it or not, you can do the same thing. When people look at roofs, you know, we go up to the roof, and we're like, we look at a crazy detail, right? Most people get scared. And I'm like, "Oh, no, man, look, if we do it this way, we move to the right. How about if we put the metal here, we do this." And everybody's?, "I don't know if it's gonna work." And I can see it in my head working. So then when we execute it, then all of a sudden, everybody's like, wow, you were right. And I'm like, yeah, I love it. So I love... that's the drive, you know, that's what drives me just being able to create something. And in execution, obviously.

Scott Anthony Barlow 16:26
That's interesting. I think that most people at our cores, we enjoy some type of creation, I think, the 'how' it happens. And the 'what' you enjoy about creation is different for each person, and kind of personality strengths, whatever, but it really kind of seems that, I don't have any like scientific evidence on this, there's probably studies I could pull up or whatever they find out, but it really seems like kind of, at our core, we we're all... if you consider creative to be just, you know, the act of creating things, whether it be like solutions, or, you know, solving problems, or the opposite side where, I don't know, before we hit the record button, we're talking about how you stone a painting business, you know, you've been in roofing and in construction and everything like that. And that's something that I really enjoyed out of it, too. Like I enjoyed being able to as weird as it sounds, like I enjoyed being able to like look at a house and then talk to the type of the homeowner and say, "Oh, yeah, we can do this thing over here. And that's gonna make it have a completely different... arrange this color and put that over here and move that." And then all the things like that's a creative process.

Enrrico Torres 17:37
Correct. Yes. And then the homeowner at the end is happy because the homeowner cannot envision that than you could, you know, so yes.

Scott Anthony Barlow 17:44
Yeah. Interesting. You're making me think about some stuff a little bit differently. I like it. So why... I'm just curious, you know, when you made the first transition, like you're in the restaurant industry, and you decided, hey, look, I'm gonna go into construction. Like, what was that initial prompt? Or how did that happen? Or was there any thought process around that? Or did it just sort of...

Enrrico Torres 18:10
No, well, they're kind of was, because I wanted to do something better. I wanted to kind of step up in the world and make, you know, make a little bit more money as I was getting more there. I'm like, well, restaurants are limited, they can only pay you so much. And I figure we're looking construction. I know, I work pretty hard. So I'm like, I know, I can work my way up and see what happens where it takes me, you know, and that's pretty much how I jumped from the restaurant business to the construction business. Although it was hard at first because I didn't know anything about construction. I didn't know how to read the tape measure. I didn't know what tools were core. So it was very hard for me to get adapted at first. But in the back of my head, I was like, I know, I'm gonna kick, you know, serious but here, I know, I can move up. This is easy. This comes really easy to me. I know, I can do this. The hard part was learning the new words, you know, because obviously, Spanish is my main language. So it was kind of it was difficult, but I made it happen. And here we are now. It's pretty much the same transition with that in as in, you know, with technology, although I'm doing both now, but it's pretty much the same.

Scott Anthony Barlow 19:23
Yes, I'm really interested in that. And I'm gonna push you on a couple of these areas, because I think this can really be beneficial to a lot of our listeners, because one of the things I hear over and over again with each of the transitions that you're talking about, and you kind of call that out just a second ago, is that hey, look what was stopping you was not that you couldn't do it or anything like that. What was stopping you was just simply learning enough about it in order to make it work, if you will.

Enrrico Torres 19:53
Yes, yes.

Scott Anthony Barlow 19:54
And I heard you say that, you've kind of always been that way to somebody?

Enrrico Torres 20:01
Yes.

Scott Anthony Barlow 20:02
Why do you think you've always been that way? Do you think it's a wiring type thing? Or do you think it's like the way that you were raised? Or do you think that along the way, you picked up different experiences where you got confidence around, being able to learn different things or what...?

Enrrico Torres 20:17
I think, well, part of it is I've been wired differently. I mean, my father owns, he's a businessman. So he has, you know, different businesses. But I think that the reason is, what do you call that, I really like, I want to succeed, I want you know, I want more than just a nine to five, I want to make a name for myself, you know, I really want to represent. That's pretty much... I've always been like that, when I worked at a restaurant, I was washed dishes, I had to wash dishes faster than the guy before me, if I was doing the cold table, I had to dress the food faster, grill everything. So that's how I get moving up, up. Because I had to be, you know, in the back of my head, I'm like, I have to be better than the last guy before me. So same, I apply the same thing in construction. You know, it was like, I have to be fast, fast, fast, fast. Not only that, I just because I wanted to make myself indispensable, one of the problems I think, is a lot of people, you know, they feel scared, you know, being scared is genuine. I mean, I was scared. But at the same time, I'm like, I know, I can do it. I know, I can do it. If you know, if I commit, I know I can make this happen. But at the same time, it's kind of like you have that in the back of your head, like you say, I mean, I'm almost 40. I'll be 40 in November. So taking on a risk like this is, you know, this career change is, it's pretty crazy to do that. In the mix of while I'm still doing roofing, but I am like, I know I can make it happen. I'm almost 40, I want something better for myself, and that's the end of it. I just got to do it, you know?

Scott Anthony Barlow 22:03
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I'm just thinking in the back of my head a little bit about this. And I'm actually very, very much the same way. It sounds like we have somewhat similar personalities. And I am thinking about these, I used to have my crews do like painting races, like we used to set them up on one wall versus another wall or something like that. And...

Enrrico Torres 22:31
Yeah, we did the same with chandeliers. I'd be like, "okay, you guys go over there. You go over here. Let's see who gets it done the fastest."

Scott Anthony Barlow 22:36
It's like, no, guys, hold on. Come on. I can do it this way faster than...

Enrrico Torres 22:40
Yeah, right. Exactly.

Scott Anthony Barlow 22:41
Yeah. So this is interesting and that, like, how some of this stuff kind of manifests in different areas. But I think that you say, you know, I heard you say that you're a risk taker, and you know, at 40 and everything like that, but I don't think you're actually taking that much of a risk, right? I'm gonna... because here's what I mean by that. Not meant in an insulting way or anything like that.

Enrrico Torres 23:05
Oh, no, no.

Scott Anthony Barlow 23:06
But the way that you're doing it, I think is very, very smart. Because you are, you didn't like, sell off or ditch the roofing company or something like that, and say, I am all in, okay, developers make this happen. Instead, you're going about it, where you're building it maybe a little bit more slowly, but you're keeping the income coming in, you are not having to deal with the stress of making everything work and having be 100% all in on this, and you can allow it to flourish over time. So I actually think that's really, really smart. But I would almost challenge you a little bit and say, that's a smarter way and a less riskier way.

Enrrico Torres 23:54
Right. Yeah, this is pretty crazy. I mean, this application, believe it or not, when I started this project, I thought it was gonna take us six months. Okay. We started this project in 2012. And we were using different solutions. Okay, because at the beginning, we didn't start developing from the ground up, it was only to about 24 months ago, when I just got really tired of using other people's solutions. And just, we were limited everywhere. And, you know, we go back to the creative part, I have so many ideas. I have so many things we wanted to do that because of using other people's solutions, we were limited. And they just came to like, you know what, that's it. We're done with them. I'm putting on my own team. And we're building it from the ground up. So we started about two years ago, I thought it was gonna be six months and here we are, we're still developing, you know, so it's definitely quite a learning curve.

Scott Anthony Barlow 24:52
So what would you advise people in a similar situation where they want to make something happen? They want to you know, I heard you say, there's a lot that goes into it in order to make my dream happen. If they want to make their dream happen, and they're thinking about getting started, they're kind of at back at that place where it's like, you know, I think I could do that. I totally think I could make that happen. And they're still either think about it or just getting into it. What advice would you give them?

Enrrico Torres 25:19
I will say, very to make sure they do the research, because you don't want to take a risk, you know, if it's not really gonna pan out, but you want to do your research and do it. Like, take the chance, I mean, take a careful chance and slowly start building it. Because at the end of the day, like what you don't want is regret. That's the one thing I don't want, I don't want to be 80 years old, and then think, darn it, I should have done it, I knew I could do it, I should have done it. Regret is the worst thing, you know. And if you're especially, if you're in a job, like you said, 35... 30, 35 you're going through that transition, I mean, the jobs, you know, sometimes they're not as good as they could be and it's like, you have to look for another job, but you're scared, you're like, I don't know, if I want to take the job, I don't really know everything about it, you can learn I mean, you're always going to be learning. So if that job is not making you happy, why stay in a job that you're not happy every day, you know. At the end of the day, it's not just you that is not happy, is your family, they can see that you're not happy, your kid, everybody can see, your weighing down. So you just gotta go for it, take a chance. See where it goes. And, you know, I mean, you're still young. I'm still young, I'm almost 40.

Scott Anthony Barlow 26:43
Approaching.

Enrrico Torres 26:45
You're approaching 40.

Scott Anthony Barlow 26:46
Getting closer and closer than I would like.

Enrrico Torres 26:49
Yeah, I know. Right?

Scott Anthony Barlow 26:51
Yeah. But ultimately, I don't know if that matters that much. I mean, eventually, the expiration will be up and everything along those lines, but I don't know, I feel pretty pretty darn young too, how old am I? I can't remember. Okay, so it's not just I can't remember my kids ages, I can't remember my own age. Not sure what that says about me but it's probably accurate. Anyhow, I really appreciate you sharing a whole bunch of this. And you've just got a really interesting and inspiring story. And I so appreciate you making the time. And I'm curious for people that want to learn more about and we didn't even get into it that much, it's called AppendMe, right? Tell us a little bit about that. And then I want you to tell us where we can find out more about you or more about your platform.

Enrrico Torres 27:39
Okay, yes, AppendMe right now, we have the social part out there. On the social part, you can do everything from sharing pictures, links, anything, you also have the ability to like this, like sympathize. And we added that because we wanted to give the user control over their posts, you know, if your pet dies or something like that, you don't want somebody liking your posts, you know, you put sympathy. So we added these buttons in accordance to the users. We also have filters, chat, group chat, everything within one application. And we're working on the e-commerce part where so you're going to be able to buy and sell anything using the application too. So that's pretty much what a AppendMe is right now. And you can reach me, you can either... when you sign up on the application, you can find me there, look me up as Enrrico. And that's how you can connect with me. I also have a profound LinkedIn, we have a page on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, just type AppendMe and you'll see us pop up. So that's pretty much how you can get a hold of me.

Scott Anthony Barlow 28:47
Very cool. Hey, I very much appreciate it. And thank you so much for taking the time and making the time.

Enrrico Torres 28:54
Thank you so much. And thank you to your audience for listening.

Scott Anthony Barlow 28:57
I hope you absolutely love that conversation. I just want you to know that as we're going into this next year, we can absolutely help no matter where you're at. And one of the biggest things that we teach people that we work with either one on one or in our programs or classes or courses is that, when you're just consuming information, that's fine if you're doing it for the purposes of entertainment. However, if you're doing it to actually help, then that means that you have to apply the information that you've learned. So we absolutely love you taking the time and making the time to listen to the podcast. Absolutely love it. This wouldn't happen without it, wouldn't happen without it at all. So really, really appreciate that. And I want to be able to give back to you and that means that we want to be able to teach you to apply all the stuff that you've learned by listening to our episodes and everything else. So the best way that we can do that is for you to be able to reach out to us and tell us a little bit about your situation. And then we can line you up with the best way that we can be of help to you. And I have no idea what that looks like, it might be having you work with one of our coaches, one of our career coaches like Lisa who's been on the podcast multiple times, or Gia or, you know, somebody else on our team, it might be, we don't have the right type of help for you. And we need to point you in another direction. And we know somebody who can take care of you. It might be that it's you know, through career change bootcamp or side biz MBA or our coaching client tech career to action, if you're starting a coaching business, but whatever it is, you know, we can't help unless you take action, and are ready to actually apply the stuff that you've been learning. So in 2017, that's what I want you to do, to be able to kick this off, right. So don't hesitate to reach out. And there's a number of ways that you can do that. But the very easiest way is just go to happentoyourcareer.com/help. That's happentoyourcareer.com/help and fill out the form there. It'll ask you a few questions about your situation. And we'll be able to help you make it happen. All right. Hey, thanks so much for making the time, taking the time. I really, really appreciate it. Take a listen to what we've got coming up next week on Happen To Your Career

31:36
I've always enjoyed writing even as a kid, I knew it was sort of something that was in me. And I've been working in communications since college for about 10 years now in different capacities. Doing I was a TV news reporter, and I worked as a TV news consultant. And now I work in public relations. But I always stayed true to what I enjoyed, which was writing skills and communications.

Scott Anthony Barlow 32:02
All right, all that and more. Go on over, get this stuff actually applied, go to the happentoyourcareer.com/helpform and happentoyourcareer.com/help. And we will be able to help you get aligned with the best way that you can get moving forward in 2017 to make a massive change to your career in your life. See, all the. All right, I'm out. Adios.

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Regaining Perspective with Tracy Timm

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Graduate from high school in the Top 10 of your class. Check.

Get your bachelor’s degree. Check.

Land a job applicable to your degree. Check.

Work 60-hour work weeks to get that promotion. Check.

Sleep. Eat. Work. Sleep. Eat. Work…

Check. Check. Check…

Have you been living a calculated, box-checking life?

Are you tired? Bored? Wondering if there is more to life than just sleeping, eating, and working…just to repeat it the next day?

Are you looking for a change of pace, lifestyle,  or career?

That is exactly how our guest, Tracy Timm, felt after checking off the boxes of graduating from Yale and getting a job on Wall Street out of college. Tracy began to feel the effects of the classic “high-achiever” looking for more from life than just her job- which began to make her miserable.

After deciding that picking misery and safety over an actual fulfilling life was not how she wanted to continue, she laid her cards on the table for her employers and ultimately left Wall Street to begin her entrepreneurial journey (after her trip around the world to regain a new perspective on life, of course).

Listen as Tracy shares  how she got her perspective back to make the switch from the corporate life to a life defined on her own terms.

ABOUT TRACY TIMM

Tracy Timm is a self-described “risk-averse over-achiever.”

Tracy’s passion for learning about people and why they do the things they do led her to start her own business focusing on helping organizations find, retain, manage, and develop their best people to give maximum impact back to the business through behavioral psychology practices as well as providing support to young professionals that hate the fact that they hate their job and want to do something more meaningful in their lives.

In her own words, Tracy is an “unassuming entrepreneur” that went into business as a “quarter-life career coach and behavioral psychologist and human capital adviser.”

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
  • Why it’s important to be authentically you in all  you do, especially when it comes to your career
  • How knowing and ASKING for what you want is the magic combination in getting what you want
  • Knowing the difference between having a bad day at work and absolutely DREADING going to work…
  • Rapid prototyping…designing experiments…(taking on a side gig…volunteering…shadowing..)
RELEVANT LINKS AND RESOURCES

Check out Tracy’s work at her website: TracyTimm.com

Text “EZTracy with your name and your email” to 313131 for her free ebook: 7 Fast Start Strategies for Starting Something New + a surprise goody!

Email Tracy at tracy@tracytimm.com

Follow Tracy on Facebook

Connect with Tracy on Linkedin

Follow Tracy on Twitter: @thetracytimm

GET IN TOUCH WITH US!

Email:  Scott@happentoyourcareer.com

Twitter: @htycbiz and @scottabarlow 

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 WANT HELP FINDING THE WORK THAT FITS YOU?

If you’re ready to take a calculated risk on yourself and get yourself out of your comfort zone to find out what really fits you, check out our free 8-day course to “Figure Out What Fits.”

For helping finding YOUR signature strengths, enroll in our FREE 8-day video course at figureitout.co!

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Breaking Down the Difficulties of Career Change with Lisa Lewis

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Are you exhausted and burnt out from your current job that you can ‘t even think about what it is going to take to start changing careers?

It’s time to re-calibrate your mindset to make that career change to something you enjoy (finally!).

Two keywords: Space and Margin.

In today’s episode our career coach, Lisa Lewis, drops in to share why it’s important to create time and space for you to visualize and design your next career.

From there, you will be able to layout what you have in front of you to begin making those marginal decisions to get you to your next career. Don’t over-think…small steps is the goal.

Listen in as Lisa also discusses some of the realistic, potential positive and negative outcomes if you decide to invite your current employer to discuss your thoughts of changing careers.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN ABOUT CHANGING CAREERS
  • How to get clear on what you have in front of you (financially) to build a road map to get to your next career move
  • Why taking the time to figure out what you want by creating a vision will add to your inspiration to keep you from burning out through your career change process
  • How setting strong boundaries with your current work situation is just as important in the transition process to your next career to help you get re-energized and keep you from burn-out in order to take those baby-steps in exploring your possibilities
  • How to propose your career change to your current employer

The more that you can re-calibrate your mindset to instead of look for either/ or situations and answers, but to look for inclusive answers of. ‘Let me open up my creativity and my, sort of, radar in the world for roles where I can get more of the types of activities and the types of strengths usage and development that I love AND make enough money to be able to continue on my life at the level of happiness and the level of living that I want… I think just that mindset shift can be hugely powerful and open up all kinds of interesting possibilities that couldn’t possibly be on your radar if you think about the world in this binary, either/or, black or white kind of way.

Lisa Lewis

If you want to learn more about our career coaching and other services, head on over to our career coaching page.

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Lisa Lewis 0:01
How much do you know about what that job and what that world is like on a day to day basis? Because the idea of getting to do the work versus the type of tasks and the type of skills that successful execution will then make you really successful in that role. This can be really different.

Introduction 0:26
This is the Happen To Your Career podcast, with Scott Anthony Barlow. We help you stop doing work that doesn't fit you, figure out what it does and make it happen. We help you define the work that's unapologetically you, and then go get it. If you're ready to make a change, keep listening. Here's Scott. Here's Scott. Here's Scott.

Scott Anthony Barlow 00:50
Hey, this is Scott Anthony Barlow, and welcome back to Happen To Your Career. We have a pretty exciting episode for today, and I have with me back on the show for time number three, believe it or not, we've only had so many guests make a third appearance and back by popular demand. She's more popular than me on this podcast and I am mostly excited about that, a little bit jealous, but mostly excited. I want to welcome back to the show to talk about, how to make really difficult career changes? Lisa Lewis, how are you doing?

Lisa Lewis 01:32
Hey, Scott, and hello to the HTYC family and also I'm definitely not more popular than you are, for the record. One of these days I'm gonna get to podcast interview you and ask you about all sorts of random questions that I'm sure everybody wants to know, including bragging about your kids. So get excited.

Scott Anthony Barlow 01:52
I don't think we have enough podcasts digital recording real for that. So by that just go hours and hours and hours, at least.

Lisa Lewis 02:02
Only one way to find out.

Lisa Lewis 02:03
How cool.

Scott Anthony Barlow 02:03
Only one way to find out. Okay, we will do that episode. You and I have been talking about that for a while like, "when are we gonna do something..." Okay, we'll make it happen because that's what we do around here, make stuff happen. So you have though, in all seriousness, you have the most downloaded episode at this point. Your first one, episode 147. By the way, if you haven't heard Lisa before, go back listen to Episode 147. It's a good one. It is following the breadcrumbs to your dream career. Very, very awesome. And we're back. We're back for more. So...

Scott Anthony Barlow 02:07
Did you know that?

Lisa Lewis 02:11
It's just really fun. I didn't know that. It's just I, you know, like the reason we do what we do is to be helpful and to get people in motion. So that's just super cool news. Thanks.

Scott Anthony Barlow 02:55
Yeah, you're welcome. Drop that good news on you, as we're recording for pure reaction. Okay, so today, our task is to help people understand why these difficult career changes are so difficult. Well, maybe not exactly like that, because that we don't want to show them where the water while they're drowning. But instead, we want to help people understand the reasons behind why difficult career changes can be so difficult. And once you understand that, some easier ways to go about it and how to actually make the change. So that's a lot to ask. I mean, we could spend, what? 17 or 19 or 147 hours on just those topics, but I want to pick out some of the most or the biggest reasons why career change is difficult in the first place. So that we can help people understand what's going on behind the scenes, the stuff that they don't see those forces that are at work, if you will, and then help them understand what to actually do about it. Sound good?

Lisa Lewis 04:01
Yeah, it's a big agenda, but I'm excited.

Scott Anthony Barlow 04:04
Okay, all right, we're gonna do this. If we, let's take a couple examples here because we get so many people and in fact, oh my goodness, we've had, like 2500 people added to the Happen To Your Career family in like the last 10 days, which is...

Lisa Lewis 04:25
That's amazing.

Scott Anthony Barlow 04:26
Nutty.

Lisa Lewis 04:27
High new family members. That's so cool.

Scott Anthony Barlow 04:30
Yeah, that blows me away. I'm super, super excited about that. We've got lots of new people that need our help. So, no pressure or anything, right. Yeah. The... let's take a couple of examples because I've been emailing and talking to some of these people. And I wanna make this really, really relevant here. So one of the biggest things that I've seen again and again, is people that are really, really struggling to figure out, "how to go from one type of career to something completely different when they don't necessarily know exactly what that looks like." They don't necessarily know exactly what they want to be doing. They've got some ideas of what's not so exciting about their current situation, right. But they're not necessarily sure what they would like to do and how they want to spend their time differently. So, have you heard of that problem before, Lisa?

Lisa Lewis 05:31
Yeah. Oh, all the time. And I mean, I feel like I was facing that same problem when I was thinking about my own career change. I knew I didn't want to do digital marketing, and I said, I'm gonna go become a mental health therapist. And the first thought that sort of comes to mind whenever I hear about this sort of hard left career pivot with folks that I'm working with, the first question that always pops up for me is, "how much do you know about what that job and what that world is like on a day to day basis?" Because the idea of getting to do the work versus the type of tasks and the type of skills that successful execution will then make you really successful in that role. Those can be really different.

Scott Anthony Barlow 06:27
Really, really and even.... and that's a great point too, because when you, I don't know, mental health therapist, that is probably more similar from one organization to another than some other types of jobs even. But still, you know, any job that you take, like if you are a digital marketer, let's say, you know that looks completely different, you might be doing coordination and, I don't know, putting up blog posts on one company. And then if you're in a completely different company, it might be still even more difficult. So it compounds knowing what it's going to be like with this dynamic sort of moving target type thing that happens when you go from company to company when it's based just on that job title in the first place, right?

Lisa Lewis 07:24
Oh, yeah, yeah, falling in love with a title I think can be a risk factor. And if you're getting really excited or enthused about a specific title, or a specific sort of new career that maybe you know somebody who does, but you haven't necessarily gotten any hands on experience doing yourself through volunteering, internships, apprenticing, shadowing, anything like that. My first thought is, it's gonna make your transition to that career so much easier if you can put some sort of relevant experience on your resume. So why not take a peek for opportunities to give it a test drive and see what it's like to be in that world, you know, whether you get your hands on or not, because that'll give you a much much better sense of you know, since there is no such thing as a completely perfect, you know, unicorns and rainbows job every single hour of every single day, it'll give you a sense of what some of the ups and downs are, and see if it's the type of thing where you're not going to mind the downs because the ups are so good and they're so aligned with who you are and what your gifts are.

Scott Anthony Barlow 08:34
I get stuck on unicorns and rainbows. Jack, we talked about unicorns and rainbows on the podcast, now I can't do it later we've already checked that off. Disappointing. Steal my thunder. I see how you are. This is why you have the most downloaded episode.

Lisa Lewis 08:53
You know, I think though that like the dream of having the unicorns and rainbows career can be really seductive, like really intriguing and entrancing and can almost pull you away from recognizing or acknowledging any of the other good things or any of the other things that you like in your current job, which then can make it even harder to know if you're jumping when you're making a career change into something else that's going to fit you or if you have a sort of walk so far away from the sort of things that you like and that you're good at, in past roles, that you're almost losing the sense of self in pursuit of the rainbow unicorn, sort of utopia dream.

Scott Anthony Barlow 09:42
So that's really interesting. And I have seen that happen again and again and again. I was just on a call the other day with a somebody who pretty badly needed our help and she was saying the exact same thing. She's it was talking about her current role, and, you know, she gets fairly well paid. And she also enjoys a lot of aspects of it, but really had this kind of overwhelming feeling that she wanted something more and there could be something much better for her out there. So it's sort of these nagging forces from both sides. And she was trying to decide, hey, do I just have grass is greener syndrome or whatever you want to call that, right? Unicorns and rainbows syndrome. Unicorn and rainbow syndrome, like you, I don't know something, rainbows... URBS? I don't know, something like that. We're gonna make up a term. But I think that, that's real because people have this sort of, "should I stay or should I go conundrum" and is it going to be any better if I go? So how do you think about that?

Lisa Lewis 10:59
Well, the way I start thinking about that is trying to ground yourself in what you know to be true about yourself. So even backing up to the job that you're currently in, or the job you're most recently in, there was a reason that was appealing and interesting to you. So I would say, dig back into what the things were about the job that initially spoke to you. Was it opportunities to get to manage and grow a team? Was it that you were going to have a lot of autonomy, that you were going to have a lot of access to the numbers and the data? And think about those different data points, those different sort of hints at what speaks to you and to who you at least were at that point. And you can do this sort of realignment reevaluation of based on who you are now, skills and strengths that you have and your values and the way you want to live your life. Do those things still appeal to you? And if so, let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater and abandon everything and just make a jump into another role because you're currently overworked, underpaid, too stressed, burnt out whatever it is, but tap back into the things that sustain you and fulfill you and fill you up and see how you can sniff around to find those in a next opportunity. And I want to say something because you just mentioned, you know, somebody can be in a fairly high paying position and feel a lot of stress and strain and pain there. And I think that the golden handcuffs syndrome or the golden handcuffs mindset, can make career change really, really hard for folks, especially for top performers. Because there's this secret little pervasive lie that we tell ourselves, which is that, if I make a career change, there's no way I will ever make this much money ever again. Therefore, I have to stay in this role, even though I hate it, because I have a standard of living that requires this much money. And I think I mean, I'm sure you can speak to this too. But what I've found is that the more that you can recalibrate your mindset, to instead of look for either/or situations and answers, but to look for inclusive answers of, let me open up my creativity and my sort of radar in the world for roles where I can get more of the types of activities and the types of strength, usage and development that I love, and make enough money to be able to continue on my life at the level of happiness and the level of living that I want. I think just that mindset shift can be hugely powerful and open up all kinds of interesting possibilities that couldn't possibly be on your radar, if you think about the world in this binary, either or black or white kind of way.

Scott Anthony Barlow 14:19
That's really interesting. And I absolutely love that line of thinking. Actually, even if you go way back to when we had Dan Miller, on the podcast, it's been quite a while it's been like, three plus years at this point. But he talked about and thinking, as opposed to or thinking, you know, I don't like A or B decisions. A or B, decisions suck. I like A and B decisions. Those are so much better. How do we do that? And I think that's a lot of what you're talking about. But one of the things that I absolutely love from that is when you start thinking in that regard, that line, that, whatever you'd like to call it. As soon as you start asking the questions of, how do I get both? How could we make that happen? Ding, ding, ding, ding. Then you can actually start working backwards and you can start filling in steps to be able to see how can we do both. Or even if you're not quite that far along and say, okay, well, what are the possibilities? How could that actually be possible? So here's a great example too, we've got, I'm not going to tell her entire situation but mentioned her name Jenny, in our career change boot camp, and Jenny was and has been for a long time in a field where she is not rewarded for some of her natural strengths and inclinations. And I'm trying to not share too much about her situation, but I think she's got a really really interesting story and she's just recently made some huge headway. Anyhow, so she... she's very much a people person, very much a collaborator and she's in this role where it doesn't require collaboration and in fact, those natural strengths of being around people and implement interact and build relationships with people and doing so very effortlessly. They are not rewarded in the sector that she's in. They're probably even discouraged, I would probably say that, it's just they don't place value on them where she's at. And small wonder, it feels like those are... it feels like, you know, it's a bad fit for a job, shocking surprise there, right? No rainbows, no butterflies, no unicorns, do not pass go, do not collect $200. So she's had a really really, really difficult time seeing how this stuff could be valuable in another industry, another sector, another organization, another company, whatever it is, and that was part of her hang up for a very, very, very long time. And also couldn't see some of the, even if she could get there, couldn't see some of the steps in between. So really, really, really proud of her because just recently, in order for her to be able to do some of that exploring, like you're talking about, and being able to begin testing, if you will, in new industries and new sectors, she went and had a conversation with her boss about transitioning out and did so in a way where it was very much a partnership and like she's not gonna walk out of the building and anything else but she had to be able to see how she could have an AMX solution as opposed to our solution long before she was able to even consider doing that and making it a realistic possibility. So, paves the way.

Lisa Lewis 17:58
About that. Yeah, oh, absolutely. And something else actually that I think is worth mentioning is, you just gave an example of somebody who's thinking about career change, and who brought their boss into the conversation. And I think if you are in a position to be able to bring your current employer into the conversation at all about a potential career change, it is definitely worth at least considering and at least exploring. And I say this because one of the biggest things that I hear from folks about a reason they can't make a career change is because they are exhausted, like burnt out, feel like they're working all the time, don't have a spare second to even think about themselves. And that is a really hard place to make any sort of change from especially a strategic and thoughtful change, you know, it's a good place to put in your two weeks notice without having anything else lined up place. But like we would not encourage that for any of the HTYCers, you know, unless your situation is really dire, and that's the best thing for you to do for your mental health.

Scott Anthony Barlow 19:07
Or if you've got enough runway and built enough savings, and you have created that pathway for yourself to be able to have additional options.

Lisa Lewis 19:15
Yeah, oh, yeah, well, we should talk about transition planning in a second. But what I wanted to say there is that if you are exhausted and burnt out with your current job, then I would so encourage you to start drawing some really strong boundaries with your work for two reasons. One, because you got to get a little bit more margin in life, to be able to make this career change exploration a priority. And to feel like you have this space to start dreaming and start creating this vision of what you could move into and get yourself just re energized enough to take that one next baby step to explore. But the other reason is, if you're feeling burnt out and in a terrible spot, you know, even if you don't end up making a career transition for two or three or four months from this very moment, wouldn't it be nice to get yourself a little extra breathing room and a little bit extra, you know, a mental health, mental piece. And just having that first conversation with your boss to say, this is not working for me right now, this is not sustainable. How can we find a way to make this sustainable? And then start to crack the door open to have some other conversations. Because, wouldn't it be cool if you were able to get a little bit more fulfillment and excitement out of your job just by being able to have an agreement that you can limit it to 40 hours a week? Or if you have a conversation with your boss to say, "hey, I really need these boundaries." And your boss says, "we can't really make that happen." Then it's going to be no surprise to anybody when you say, "I would like to make a transition to a different department, or I'm putting in my notice and going on to something else." But you've given your boss and your employer at least the benefit of the doubt and at least one opportunity to try to make things better for you. Because sometimes folks are silently suffering, and silently working 60 hour weeks that their bosses don't necessarily see or acknowledge. And if you can bring that to light with folks, you can sometimes make these quick marginal improvements that will give you so much more space and breathing room and freedom, you know, even if you do ultimately end up making your career change in a month or two anyways, I think if there's any opportunity to immediately make things better on you and a mental health sense, you should definitely do it.

21:51
I was sure that I needed to make changes in my career, but there was so many options that I was stuck.

Joshua Rivers 21:57
Cindy is a chief financial officer for a small nonprofit in Fresno, California, while completing the exercises, she made a discovery.

22:07
I knew by myself in advance was, I need to look for improvements. I need to make those improvements. And then also know, I don't do maintenance. What I didn't know, there was an underlying theme between the two. The reason you need to make the improvements is because I work hard not to get bored. It was apparent to me.

Joshua Rivers 22:27
However, it seems that the she was the last one to find out.

22:31
I took my shiny new discovery to my family. And we were happy to validate. Yeah, that's the reason that they thought I did these things. Without the exercises and the figured out eight day course, I would remain blind to a clarifying truth that everyone else thought that I already knew. And therefore they were talking about it. I'm now concentrating on work in consulting industry. There will be project base so I can complete things and move on to the next thing, alleviating a boredom.

Joshua Rivers 23:01
The HTYC eight day figure it out course helps Cindy realize something that was obvious to everyone but her. What could it do to help you discover so that you can make an impactful change for your life and career? To take the course for yourself, text HTYC to 38470 that's HTYC to 38470 or just simply go to figureitout.co that's figureitout.co.

Scott Anthony Barlow 23:36
Okay, so we're talking about like, what makes career change difficult in the first place. And that is absolutely one of the things if you're exhausted, burnt out just like you're talking about Lisa, then you're not going to, you call that margin and I absolutely love that, you're not going to have the margin to be able to get happily even the space to get to know yourself enough and figure out what the next step can look like. So almost the precursor to doing any of the difficult work to understand what would be a great career change for you, or to have the time and space to actually make that change, you have to create your own margin. And most people are doing exactly what you described, where they're wandering around and kind of bumping into stuff just because they're so tired, so burnt out, so exhausted, and that's not obviously a good place to be. And when we're talking about really a major life change that for most people some, you know, take someplace between two and six or seven, nine months, in some cases, because that's what this is making, not just making a career change, but making a career change to work that you are enjoying and is for you. Then that is, it requires getting some space and getting some margin. Okay, so let me pause and say most people are kind of afraid to have that conversation. So let's talk about that for just a second here. First of all, what is that... what are the possibilities? And what that conversation can get them in terms of margin or different type of immediate quality of life? And then what are the things that people get scared about? And what are the realistic potential negatives? Let's break it down to those couple of sections.

Lisa Lewis 25:21
Sure. Well, and especially with your background in HR, I'd love to hear you fill in with your thoughts here too. But, so to start with, what are some of the potential positive outcomes of having that kind of conversation? I think positive outcome number one is that, you remember that you have some power, and you have some choice. And at the end of the day, whatever current work situation you are in, you probably have at least a little bit of opportunity to make a change or an improvement or an upgrade. And, you know, some of the ways that, that could play out is you might be able to get flexibility on the hours that you come into the office, you know, maybe you have core hours, and you only need to be in the office from 10am to 3pm. Maybe you get the opportunity to work from home, and that eases some of the burden on you because your commutes tough, or you've got to go pick up your kids from daycare, maybe you get the opportunity to fully work remotely, you know, you could get the chance to change responsibilities and take on something new and even be able to start testing out that career change in your current job by taking on a new cross departmental project. And, you know, once a company has you as an employee, 99% of the time, they don't want to lose you, they've made an investment in you, they think that you are smart and talented and worthwhile and you'd help them grow the business. But if you're seeing ways to grow the business, in ways that will also grow your happiness, then I think you owe it both to yourself and to the company to say, "Hey, here's what I'd like to do." And Scott, I think you have a beautiful story about how you were able to do this with your last boss and able to show how actually working from home, made you able to be more productive, made you a higher output higher caliber employee for them, but also got you some desperately needed margin and flexibility in your own life.

Scott Anthony Barlow 27:27
Oh, yeah. This, I mean, people start from one of two places here. So you're either starting from you already have a good relationship, and they view you as a high performer and everything and that's what's going to allow you to go have that type of conversation in the first place. However, on the flip side, if you are struggling and, you know, you suspect they know who you're struggling to, then it's maybe even more important that you go and have that conversation and ask for help. So, on the struggling side, that conversation can be as simple as, look I have been really struggling with these pieces of the job, I want your help to figure out how I can do these much, much, much better, because I'm probably doing things that are making it harder. And I could really use your partnership on this. And that can be as simple as that conversation even though I know people are scared to have that because feel like they're admitting failure to some degree, but actually what you're doing is getting your boss's support to actually turn it into a really great situation so that then you can have an additional type of conversation later, which that piece that you're referring to Lisa. I went, I already had a great relationship with my boss and they felt really, really good about me as an employee. They wanted to keep me, I knew all of that already. And I had intentionally built that. But I went to them and said, "look, I am wanting to do something else. And I am really excited about that. But I also want to make sure that everything is really well taken care of here." And that's what eventually led me to start this business. But even before that, went to them and negotiated a little bit of flexibility and time and it started out with actually just one day a week being able to, actually one thing is one day every other week. Yeah, one day every other week, being able to work from home. And I just went in and presented a business case for it. And when I say a business case, I'm just talking about like, how is it going to be good for them? Like, forget me, push me out of the equation for a second and say, what are they going to get out of this deal? And why would they want to even consider it? And it was really simple things like, hey, this is going to make me so much more productive. Here's what I've already measured. On an average day, out of the 10 hours a day that I'm spending at the office or nine hours a day that I'm spending at the office, then four of that four to five of those hours are taken up by people just dropping by my office to have conversation. And as much fun as that is, and as much as I enjoy that, it's not helping me move these projects along that I know are critical. So that's, where my business case started. And then I just sat down and said, "hey, look, I would love to try this. How could we make this happen? How could we try this out? Could we try it for just, you know, 30 days, see how it goes. If it's not working out, let's discontinue it. If it is working out, then that's fantastic, because that means I'm more productive. Are you willing to do that?" So we tried it for one month, and that's how it started. And it was literally that simple of a conversation, although there was a lot of thought put into how it would be really, really good for my boss and my employer.

Lisa Lewis 31:01
Yeah. Oh, Scott, I love that. And I think one of the biggest takeaways from what you just mentioned is that the more thoughtfulness you put upfront into presenting the business case of how this is beneficial for them, the fewer potential negative ramifications you're exposing yourself to and having that conversation. Because I think you're absolutely right to bring up that, you know, on occasion, you can have this sort of conversation and it can backfire. And your boss can all of a sudden think, you know, is this person trying to take advantage of the system? Do they have one foot out the door? Yada, yada, yada? And I think that those types of reactions tend to come up when you go into that conversation, just underprepared and haven't thought about ways to really show off the business case or why it makes sense for them first, before any acknowledgement of the benefits for you.

Scott Anthony Barlow 31:59
This is really interesting because I really thought we were gonna go on a couple of different ways. And there's so, oh my goodness, there's so many things that cause career change to be difficult, especially when you're looking for work that and looking for a career that actually fits you and that you're excited about doing and everything else. But so much of the what stops people is way back in the just going through and doing the job and all the normal stuff that pops up, I know that before we hit the record button, you were talking about like internal scripts and beliefs and kind of what we tell ourselves and some of those pieces too. And I think that those are really, really critical, but they cause us not to even believe it's possible in the first place. And therefore if we don't believe it's possible, we never are willing to take and act on some of these steps like going and having a really simple conversation with your boss saying, "hey, look, how can we make this better?"

Lisa Lewis 33:04
Yeah. Oh, so true. But the cool thing there is if you are willing to step, put a pinky toe into the water of this type of a conversation with your boss, that is tough, and that requires some courage, then what else are you capable of doing? You know, and it certainly would be the most simple and risk managed way for you to test out a career changes if you can get your current employment, to make that a possibility for you. But if that's not a possibility, and you do your due diligence there, you also know you're capable of doing hard things. You're capable of preparing yourself for that sort of a conversation, which wouldn't be unlike a new business conversation that you would have if you went out as an entrepreneur, or sort of conversation that you're likely going to have with a future employer when you're saying, "I'd love to come work at your organization. Let me talk about all the value that I can bring to what you're trying to do here."

Scott Anthony Barlow 34:07
I couldn't agree more. I was thinking back to what you had said a little bit earlier, and even talking about transition planning and being able to evaluate what the steps look like to get out. But I'm not even sure that, that is valuable here except to say that, to do any of this stuff, I think that part of what you're going to have to do is figure out at least what the light of the end of the tunnel looks like, and I'm not necessarily talking about, look, I'm going to make the, I don't know, I'm going to become a beekeeper and it's going to be awesome, and I can't wait to become a beekeeper and that's what's driving me every single day to be able to make this change, have these hard conversations and everything else. That's not what I'm talking about. Instead, I'm talking about, how can you imagine what a better life could be and the stuff that's most important to you. And then that can help you work backwards, to be able to make some of these steps in the first place and have something to move towards. One of the things that, I can't remember where I've heard it Lisa, but I've seen truth to it again and again and again, like part of what drives progress in any particular area for somebody is, and even motivation people. People talk about motivation, but most people realize that motivation runs out. However, if you've got that light at the end of the tunnel that provides hope, and hope often doesn't have to run out. And that can also add in purpose. And I don't know we can get into one of 15 billion different studies and stuff saying that all those things are good things. But I think you've got to have some of that to be able to get through any of these hard things, because otherwise, why am I going to take the time to go and have that difficult conversation with my boss? Why am I going to push past some of these hard things in my head? Why am I going to take the time to get to know myself in the first place? So what are your thoughts on that, first of all?

Lisa Lewis 36:15
Yes, oh, my goodness, I totally agree. You've got to have hope and you've got to have that vision for what a future life might look like. And I love a quote from Tony Robbins about how, "you don't need motivation, you need inspiration when you're trying to think about doing hard things and big things in your life." Because motivation will come and go and especially if you are in a burnt out situation right now, you probably have no motivation to do anything beyond it, just get yourself out of bed in the morning and you may not even have the motivation to do that. But if you can come up with an inspiration, inspiring vision of what life could look like for you, you know, what that ideal career situation is? That can be the fuel for the fire to keep you moving yourself inch by inch, closer to new possibilities and new frontiers.

Scott Anthony Barlow 37:15
One of the things that we have people do in career change boot camp and actually some of our other programs too, I think is really, really powerful is called visioning. And there's a lot of different forms that this can look like. And I don't know what that sounds like, if you haven't heard of this before, maybe it sounds a little "woowoo" or something along those lines. But all it really is, is just helping to paint yourself a picture of what the future can look like and how you want to spend your time. In our case, we're looking at it as "hey, how do you want to spend your time?" So that can literally be what your ideal day or week looks like. It can also be, you know, looking at five years in the future and not saying oh, I'm working this type of job and it's absolutely fantastic. And I'm eating this type of bagel on my way to work, or whatever else, but instead, the most important pieces of what your life looks like at that time. Because when you do that, and when you can start to vividly imagine that what is really, really, really weird is that you start and begin to make those types of connections for what has to happen in between there. Will you have it all figured out? No, not necessarily. But if you've got that, you know, light at the end of the tunnel, like we're talking about, because that's what this can be, or can help establish, then you can continuously make decisions on a daily basis, even micro decisions that you don't realize that you're making that can move you closer and closer to whatever that vision is that you're talking about. So that's one teeny tiny little trick, you know, that we use with people that we work with that can help, especially when it gets hard. Because we heard establish that difficult career changes are by definition, difficult, right? I mean, have you ever, I don't think I've ever asked you, but have you ever done anything like that, Lisa?

Lisa Lewis 39:18
Scott, I am such a believer in visioning, and figuring out what you really want. And this is actually a very cool time to ask me that question, because I started out my coaching business at the end of 2015. And when I was writing my 2016 goals, I wrote down, I'm going to be working for myself before the end of the year. And could I have told you the path to get from there to where I am now? No. Did I have any idea the twists and turns that it was going to take to figure out how to make that a realistic possibility for me? Oh my goodness, no. But were there secret micro decisions that I must have made along the way that helped me to keep this vision at the forefront of my mind and keep moving towards it even when I didn't realize? Absolutely. And you know, it's gonna happen maybe a couple weeks before the end of the year. But that became a reality for me. And it was because I got super clear on what I wanted, and then sort of subconsciously started setting myself up for that to become my reality.

Scott Anthony Barlow 40:41
That's how it happens though. So that's something that's really really, really difficult to explain to people because it isn't a straight line path, isn't necessarily step one, step two, step three. Now, I think there are, once you've got that vision established, then you can begin to put in, you know, step two, or you figure out what step seven looks like, or whatever else and you start to begin chunking those pieces out, both consciously and unconsciously. But really, what's going on here is kind of the brain's ability to focus on what it deems important versus unimportant. So this is called selection bias. This is the same thing that like, you know, you buy the red Honda or whatever, and all of a sudden the red Honda's are everywhere, right? But when you decide that look, I'm going to be working for myself or I'm going to be making this transition or I'm going to, I don't know, for me three years ago, it was, we're going to spend winters elsewhere. And you know, now we're gonna go spend six weeks and live in Paris and stuff like that for a little while. But you know, when you decide those things, then all of a sudden, you start seeing the how you could do that everywhere, much like the red Honda that pops all up all over the place. Because you've decided and now your brain is filtering in that information versus filtering that out. So it's just getting your natural stuff to work for you rather than against you, which is where it's usually working. So absolutely love that answer. Lisa, for so many different reasons, many more than we have time to talk about here. Okay, so what would be your parting advice to people who are in this place right now where maybe they don't have the margin. They're thinking about this process and realizing that it's, it feels insanely difficult. They are wondering, you know, how do I actually make this change? What does that look like? What is you know, step one? What should they do? Where should they begin?

Lisa Lewis 42:56
Well, I have a two part advice nugget here. Part one is, if this is a question that is resonating with you about trying to figure out what exactly it is that I want and that I think I could have in my next career move, if you have not already, signed up for our eight day mini course, you got to do that. It has so many helpful prompts and ideas and exercises and videos from Scott. And I remember back when I was just first learning about HYTC, I saw all of that and was totally blown away at its ability to help focus your brain on helpful, forward moving and forward looking questions. So if you have not already taken a look at that, you should definitely go do that. But nugget two of advice is, I think the last reason why sometimes these things can feel really big and scary, is some folks don't have 100% crystal clear picture of what their current financial runway looks like. Because I think that the big underlying fear as you're thinking about a career change is, what if I quit my job and don't have anything lined up and then I'm unemployed for six months or something crazy like that? And so what I would say is to help bolster your own faith that you can manage this. Take a look at what's going on with your current bank account and savings, and figure out what sort of financial runway you have in front of you. So what are your current typical monthly living expenses looking like? What savings do you already have in place that could help for you to get by, if heaven forbid, you had this conversation with your boss and it went completely nuclear. And once you have a sense of, oh, I actually have two months living expenses already saved up or even better. Oh, I already have eight month's worth of living expenses saved up that I could tap into if I needed to. It can help for those hard things to feel a little bit less hard, or to feel a little bit easier to tap into the courage and the assuredness that no matter what it's gonna work out for you.

Scott Anthony Barlow 45:13
Most of our episodes on Happen To Your Career often showcase stories of people that have identified and found and taken the steps to get to work that they are absolutely enamored with that matches their strengths and is really what they want in their lives. And if that's something that you're ready to begin taking steps towards, that is awesome. You can actually get on the phone with us and our team, and we can have a conversation to find the very best way that we can help. It's super informal, and we try to understand what your goals are, where you want to go, and what specifically you need our help with. And then we figure out the very best type of help for you, whatever that looks like and sometimes even customize that type of help and then we make happen. It really easy way to schedule a conversation with our team is, just go to scheduleaconversation.com that's scheduleaconversation.com and find a time that works best for you. We'll ask you a few questions as well. And then we'll get you on the phone to figure out how we can get you going to work that you really want to be doing that fits your strengths, that you love and you're enamored with. Hey, I can't wait to hear from you.

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How to Accelerate Your Career with Bozi Dar (Revisited!)

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Are you tired of watching your colleagues get promoted?

Do you feel like you’ve been constantly looked over for that next pay raise?

Are you starting to feel like everyone around you is doing better than you in their career?

If you’re ready to advance your career and find out how to get promoted, we’ve got a solution for you. A six-step formula created by Bozi Dar that will help you accelerate your career.

ABOUT BOZI DAR

Bozi Dar is a career adviser and the author of the #1 bestselling book, ‘Promoted: The Proven Career Acceleration Formula to Reach the Top’. He created the Career Acceleration Formula after having struggled for years to advance his own career.

The six-step formula helped him get six job promotions in six years which led him to increase his salary 15 times. Bozi continues his “mission to liberate you from the crappy, rehashed career advice from the so-called “career gurus” and introduce you to career strategies that will get you 5x results in 1/2 the time (what I call the ’10x effect’)” at Career10x.com.

Today, we revisit Bozi’s episode where he shares his step-wise process for identifying, landing, and succeeding in the job and career path that fits you!

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
  • The 4 “invisible forces” impacting your career and why they aren’t helping you.
  • Find out about the “10% club”, the 10% of employees at any given company that are steadily advancing in their roles, and learn how you can become a member!
  • And learn Bozi’s signature 6-step formula for accelerating your career!

If you’re finding yourself in a similar situation and need the extra push to get that promotion, check out Bozi’s FREE online training, “3 SECRETS TO ACCELERATING YOUR CAREER WITHOUT WORKING HARDER OR PLAYING OFFICE POLITICS.”

The FREE course takes place THIS THURSDAY, Oct. 20th at 5 PM Pacific (8 PM Eastern).

Sign me up to find out the 3 SECRETS TO ACCELERATE MY CAREER!

RELEVANT LINKS AND RESOURCES

Career10x.com

Get Bozi’s training for HTYC’ers here!

Check out these recommended books by Bozi: Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success and The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea

GET IN TOUCH WITH US!

Email:  Scott@happentoyourcareer.com

Twitter: @htycbiz and @scottabarlow 

Follow us on Facebook

Come join us over on Facebook in our Work You Love OneStop group!

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 WANT HELP FINDING THE WORK THAT FITS YOU?

Are you at a point in your career where you find yourself asking, “Okay, now what?” Click on the link below to check out our FREE 8-day course to “Figure Out What you Really Want for Your Career!”

For helping finding YOUR signature strengths, enroll in our FREE 8-day video course at figureitout.co!

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Follow the Breadcrumbs to Your Dream Career with Lisa Lewis

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WHAT IS THE REAL GOAL OF HAVING A CAREER ANYWAY?

It’s a topic of conversation that comes up time and time again: SUCCESS.

It should be noted that the definition of success is subjective.

There are some people that are perfectly content on that “traditional” path of success, from getting a degree to landing a job that pays for a fairly decent lifestyle. They get promoted and continue working, perfectly content with their progress.

Or maybe they don’t even get that promotion, yet are still perfectly content with the life and career path they’ve chosen.

Then, there are those people that start to lose interest in their work and even with a promotion (and raise!), they still can’t help but feel like their career has turned into a J-O-B.

It’s become a chore to get out of bed to go and “work” at a place that previously held so much promise, but now holds only daydreams for something better.

What’s better? It could be anything, anywhere…anywhere but where they’re at right now.

If this sounds familiar, don’t sweat it just yet.  There is a light at the end of that dark tunnel that you’ve gone down.

THE PROBLEM ISN’T YOU.

From the day that you started your career, you have continued to learn and grow. You’ve evolved in your role at the organization. The problem is the organization hasn’t shifted the same way you have- the work that you have been doing is no longer aligned with the person you’ve become as you’ve grown in your career.

As you pick up new skills and add more years of experience under your belt, you learn more about what you love about your job and what you could really do without. You begin to look for more work that aligns with what you value.

These little micro-pivots in what you look for in the work that you do help you along your career journey. These shifts in your values shouldn’t be looked at in a negative light. These little shifts bring you incrementally closer to your career goals.

LOOK AT IT AS AN INVITATION TO A BIGGER PATH TO GET TO YOUR NORTH STAR.

If you’re wondering how you’re going to get out of your situation when you’re not even sure what to do next, take it from Lisa and trust that “leaning towards happiness, leaning towards places where you’re already finding flow and satisfaction […] is going to be the best way to start to uncover what direction you’re growing in and what can feel really good for that next step.”

You owe it to yourself to leave your career pain for your career freedom.

If you need help to follow your breadcrumbs to your dream career, visit our career coaching page. Connect with Lisa and she’d be more than happy to help!

ABOUT LISA LEWIS

Lisa Lewis, the new HTYC Career Guru, started her career in digital marketing and contemplated going back to school to get into psychology and counseling before finally following her own career breadcrumbs and doing what came naturally to her, which is career coaching.

Here at HTYC, Lisa is involved in all things career change- from her role in the Figure Out What Fits: Career Change Bootcamp, to resume critiques and mock interviews, and also to helping people put all the pieces of their career change puzzle together through one-on-one career coaching. She specializes not only in honing in on your strengths, but also in positioning those strengths for potential employers.

If you want to learn more about our career coaching and other services, head on over to our career coaching page.

EPISODE LINKS AND RESOURCES

Send Lisa a welcome email at lisa@happentoyourcareer.com

Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn!

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Making It Happen: Three Years & Counting! A Special Anniversary Q & A with Scott & Mark

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THREE YEARS! YEAH!

Thank you all for continuing to tune in! Without you, these three years wouldn’t have flown by so quickly!

If you’ve been here from the beginning (THANK YOU again for your support!), or if you’ve just recently joined us (THANK YOU again and welcome to the HTYC community!), I hope that we’ve been helpful to your career journey so far and I continue to encourage you to take the bull by the horns and make your dream career a reality.

Today, my good friend and one of HTYC’s biggest supporters (from DAY ONE!), Mark Sieverkropp, is here to help me shed some light on some of the questions that you have sent in over the years.

If you’ve tried to convince yourself that:

“There’s no way that I can make money doing what I’m passionate about…”

or

“There’s no way that I can find my dream career…a career that exists on my own terms…”

or

“There’s no way that I can build my own business on what i really want to do because I don’t have any experience…”

I’m here to tell you that it is possible. If I can do it, YOU can do it, too.

It can happen. You can make a living by doing what you’re passionate about. If you’re not sure about what that is yet, don’t worry. You will figure it out.

The best part is that you don’t have to have it ALL figured out right away.

Design Your Life on Your Own Terms

In order to design the life and career that you want, you are going to need to evaluate where you want to go by looking at all the other aspects in your life: family, hobbies, work-life balance needs, etc.

If you say that you want a job that is flexible, challenging, and allows you an opportunity to make a difference, you need to define what you think is flexible, challenging, and what making a difference means to you. Ask yourself the hard questions and be honest in your answers.

Embrace the thought process that will get you where you want to go. Have fun in discovering what it is that you like doing, what you don’t like doing, and what will make work interesting for you.

Once you’ve gained some clarity in what you’re looking for in your career, you can now figure out the best way to actually get there.

It’s a progression, a career journey.

Dig Away At It

Once you define what you want out of your career and are clear on the answers to those hard questions, then you can dig away at forging that path to where you’ve decided to go, but don’t rush the process.

The key is starting the movement. Don’t just sit there and daydream about it or doubt yourself. Take action, do things one day at a time to move yourself closer to what you want, whether it is starting your own business or changing careers.

Taking action NOW in the direction that you want to go, is the second biggest step to achieving your career goals.

If you find yourself running into a roadblock along the way, don’t panic. Let it sit for a bit. Then, get back to it. Develop new skills that will help you get there and keep the ball rolling.

Connect the Dots

Once you’re in a groove, you’re going to be able to look back on how far you’ve come and notice your own patterns.

These connections will allow you to continue to work through your process with more clarity to get down to what you enjoy and where your strengths lie.

I think it’s interesting how our career paths meander back and forth, and the things just kind of fall into place.

 Mark Sieverkropp
Enjoy Your Career Journey

Remember to have the patience in your own process. Take advantage of your resources. Continue to evaluate and re-evaluate your progress.

When you do that, you can ask yourself, “Does my current path get me closer to what I want or does it bring me further away?”

As one of our listeners, Kelly, mentioned, “While the road will be long; I have a lot to learn. I am for the first time (maybe ever) excited about the prospect of my career and confident that I have the resources available to make it happen.”

With time, you WILL make it happen.

Just think, that once you get to that place, you’ll be able to look back and realize that it didn’t take nearly as long as you thought it would.

Whether you’re here for help in your job search, or need guidance on your career change, or if you’re looking to find some tips on how to go about starting your own business, HTYC can help with all of that!

We’re here as a resource to get you started on your path to a new career, offer you career coaching, or even mentor you in getting your business up and running.

Click below and join our upcoming live workshop on October 2nd or October 3rd and let us help you reach your goals!

RELEVANT LINKS AND RESOURCES

Check out what Mark’s been working on at www.backyardsoccercoach.com

Drop Mark an email at: mark@happentoyourcareer.com

EPISODES MENTIONED ON THE SHOW

Episode 021 Work Happy! with Jo Casey 
Episode 109 The Easy Stuff is the Gold with David Ralph

GET IN TOUCH WITH US!

Email:  Scott@happentoyourcareer.com

Twitter: @htycbiz and @scottabarlow 

Follow us on Facebook

Come join us over on Facebook in our Work You Love OneStop group!

LOVE THE SHOW? SUBSCRIBE TO THE HAPPEN TO YOUR CAREER PODCAST:

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 WANT HELP FINDING THE WORK THAT FITS YOU?

It IS possible! Let us help you make it happen for you! Check out our FREE 8-day course to “Figure Out What you Really Want for Your Career!”

For helping finding YOUR signature strengths, enroll in our FREE 8-day video course at figureitout.co!

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Bringing Authenticity into the Workplace with Joanie Connell

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What do you like doing?

Does it make an appearance at your day job?

Bringing more of yourself and being authentic to who you are at your core into your workplace should be mandatory.

Being authentic in your life and career is more beneficial to your success in your career than being a certain persona that your career molds you to be.

Maybe you’ve come to realize that the career path that you’re on isn’t exactly as you’ve always thought it would be. Maybe you’re already playing with the idea of a career change and don’t know where to start. Or maybe you feel like you’ve invested so much of your life at your job and don’t want to start from scratch.

Does any of that sound familiar?

If it is the fear of starting fresh in a whole different career or new industry that is stopping you from finding a new path where you can be authentic in your work, don’t worry about that. All is not lost as you change careers, every experience counts and the skills you gain throughout your career journey will be carried with you, adding more value to your skill set. Changing careers to align your work with who you are is not only liberating, but it will also give you better chances for long-term career success and fulfillment.

Our guest, Joanie Connell, knows exactly how it feels to be doing work that she was slowly losing interest in as her passions began to come into light.

For her, the importance of being authentic in her work led her to leave her engineering career and go back to school to dig deeper into her passion for people. She was also able to carry her experiences in the technology and engineering field into her new business venture as a consultant.

ABOUT JOANIE CONNELL

Dr. Joanie B. Connell is a Harvard-educated engineer and holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently working as a leadership coach and organizational consultant. She consults with organizations in a variety of areas, including executive leadership development, diversity, generations, flexible work arrangements, work-life balance, life transitions, character and ethics, team building, and virtual teams.  Her clients are from Fortune 100 companies, not-for-profit, and government agencies and high tech, biotech, healthcare, finance, legal and other industries.

Joanie has focused her career on helping people improve their success and happiness in their careers. She specializes in maximizing leadership potential and is the author of the book, “Flying without a Helicopter: How to Prepare Young People for Work and Life.”

Listen to our chat with Joanie as she shares her story of how leaving her engineering career to live a more authentic life to pursue a career that fueled her passion for helping people while utilizing her strengths in leadership.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
  • Pay attention to that “A-ha” moment of finding what you really enjoy doing
  • Being authentic in your career is key – being able to align your work with who you are as a person is liberating
  • Having resilience to stay strong through your failures as they happen can lead to something better
RELEVANT LINKS AND RESOURCES

Follow Joanie on Twitter: @ConnellLessons.

Learn more onJoanie’s website.

Like Joanie on Facebook.

Check out Joanie’s book, Flying Without a Helicopter: How to Prepare Young People for Work and Life

GET IN TOUCH WITH US!

Email:  Scott@happentoyourcareer.com

Twitter: @htycbiz and @scottabarlow 

Follow us on Facebook

Come join us over on Facebook in our Work You Love OneStop group!

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 WANT HELP FINDING THE WORK THAT FITS YOU?

Are you ready to be authentic in your career? If you’re ready to align your career with who you really are, check out our FREE 8-day course to “Figure Out What you Really Want for Your Career!”

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Finding Your Confidence By Getting Comfortable in the Discomfort with Maxie McCoy

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Discomfort: noun dis·com·fort \dis-ˈkəm-fərt\
1. Mental or physical uneasiness, 2. A feeling of being somewhat worried, unhappy, etc.

Are you comfortable with being uncomfortable?

Are you in a place in your life, whether in your career or not, that makes you feel uneasy? Maybe you’re stuck in limbo wondering if you need to start transitioning out of your current career.

It’s hard work to reflect during these times in our lives that make us feel stuck. Reflection and being completely honest with ourselves about where we are in our lives and where we want to be isn’t an easy task. It’s difficult to identify the things that are really important to us. But, we have to do it if we want to move forward.

Our guest, Maxie McCoy, shares that one of the first things you want to do while getting out of what seems like this career crisis is to re-frame the negative. Take this situation and turn it into a chance to put work into something that lights you up again.

Do something that will allow you to show up. It’s usually in those happy, passion-filled moments where you’re able to clear your mind and re-focus on the things that you want and the things that you need to do to get what you want.

Whether you’re thinking of starting your own business, asking for what you deserve in a negotiation, or starting a blog, you need to start re-framing the negativity that surrounds the unknown- that fear that brings you discomfort. Turn it around and start developing an appetite for the discomfort. It is only in those uncomfortable, even doubtful times that something big can happen.

It’s in those trying times where you can spin that wheel of “I-CAN-DO-THIS” and move forward. The more you get comfortable with being uncomfortable, your confidence will grow. With that growth, the level of discomfort that you can handle gets bigger.

When you look back, you’ll wonder why you even worried to begin with, because when you look back at all of the times you’ve pushed through your discomfort, you’ll now have a “beautiful reflection of where you’ve moved your life to.”

ABOUT MAXIE MCCOY

Maxie McCoy, a former broadcast journalist turned career expert is obsessed with her mission to inspire billions. She is a self-described cheerleader for the people that is passionate about providing people with the tools that they need for them to believe in themselves.
Maxie began her journey to inspire by designing and building out the global offline communities for Levo League, the #1 career destination for millennials. She is now a one-woman road tour of inspiration and career advice.

Listen to our chat with Maxie as she shares how leaving her career comfort zone lead her to a much bigger and brighter future (one that she can’t stop smiling about!).

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
  • Asking the tough questions isn’t easy, but it’s absolutely necessary. It’s hard work to reflect, but in those tough moments of reflection is where the magic happens
  • You’ll learn how to re-frame the negative to something that lights you up again
  • It’s in paying attention to everything that is happening that allows us to show up for ourselves
    • Getting comfortable with the worst case scenario will give you the tools you need to figure it out and work through it
RELEVANT LINKS AND RESOURCES

Follow Maxie on Twitter: @MaxieMcCoy.

Learn more onMaxie’s website.

Like Maxie on Facebook.

GET IN TOUCH WITH US!

Email:  Scott@happentoyourcareer.com

Twitter: @htycbiz and @scottabarlow 

Follow us on Facebook

Come join us over on Facebook in our Work You Love OneStop group!

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 WANT HELP FINDING THE WORK THAT FITS YOU?

Have you started your path on finding a new career? Having trouble figuring out what the next career chapter is? Check out our free 8-day course to “Figure Out What Fits.” We’re here to help and keep you motivated on staying on that new path of success!

For helping finding YOUR signature strengths, enroll in our FREE 8-day video course at figureitout.co!

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