Financial Literacy

No matter where your current boss is on the spectrum of bad, average, or great, it is best to view them not as your supervisor, but as your customer. No matter what your actual tasks may be, view your role as a service business and your supervisor is your primary client.

When you adopt the perspective of meeting the needs of your customer, no matter how high-maintenance they may be, it makes it easier to take their demands less personally.

It is actually to your benefit if your boss is particularly high-maintenance and exacting. Why? It is like going through military bootcamp. You practice crawling under barbed wire with explosions and gunfire going off so that you won’t freeze up when you have to do it in real life. Bootcamp is a practice simulator of extreme pressure to condition and refine your mind, emotions, and body. This conditioning is preparing you to succeed on the field of battle in adverse conditions. Similarly, a bad boss is training you to raise your game – to increase your capabilities. So no matter what you may face in the future, it will be easy by comparison.

It is a choice when you have a bad boss. You can either be miserable or grateful for building up your ability. Guess which choice helps you thrive and which one highlights your agony? If you were to hire someone to complete a critical function, would you rather have an ex-Marine or a sarcastic gamer that spends most of his or her time on the sofa? Which one will likely get the job done for you, no matter what the adversity or challenges? This is actually what bad bosses are inadvertently doing: building up your reserves and ability to handle difficult situations and tasks within difficult time frames. I’m not suggesting that you remain working for a horrible boss. But just like no one remains in bootcamp forever, a temporary bad boss can make you far more valuable in the workplace.

When you view yourself as a service provider to your supervisor, it is easier to evaluate whether you are succeeding as a good one or bad one. For example, do you solve their problems, ignore their problems, or create more problems for them? Do you anticipate what is needed or wait to be asked? Guess which type of service provider gets noticed and eventually gets the big promotion.

At one point, I was doing some freelance work and chatting online with a group of ambitious freelancers in the same industry. After several months, I began chatting with others about how to handle the full-time job offers that I was getting (one even had a large signing bonus). A few of my colleagues were incredulous, “I’ve been doing this twice as long as you with larger clients – how are you getting job offers?” The answer is simple. I help my customers solve their problems. I’m adaptable and courteous, all of the usual behavioral traits you do for someone that you respect. Most importantly, I’m constantly learning how to do my job better so that my services to any customer/boss are superior. And that is how you get unsolicited job offers.

Keep your career momentum by updating and executing your professional development plan. Naturally, many people don’t know what this is (and ambitious people do it without labeling it). It is a formal professional plan; a written outline of career goals combined with a map and timeline to attain them. Many large companies have a process for this, but few supervisors or businesses take it seriously enough to actually advance your career. Like everything else, it is solely up to you to build, and act upon, your own professional development plan.

The most difficult step is starting. First, you need to select a vision or activities you enjoy and have an aptitude around and select several industries and geographic areas where those activities are best rewarded. While these may change over time, you must have a thoroughly consider your target as a starting point. The second step is to list the job and leadership skills that will be needed. Then write out those steps and target dates to acquire those skills. You’ll need to determine:

• How you will acquire skills and certifications
• How much it will cost
• The amount of weekly time required
• What other support or mentorship you may need
• How will you measure progress

The third step is taking action to accomplish your personal plan. By having a written plan, you can review your results each month or quarter and make any adjustments moving forward. There is a career satisfaction and pay gap between people that use a professional development plan and those that do not. Which side of this gap do you want to be on?

What is the opposite of willpower?

1. Procrastination – Have you been procrastinating on updating your resumé or applying for a new job?
2. Indulgence – Have you been indulging on purchases that you simply cannot afford?

These are the everyday battles that we face with whatever willpower that we can summon. You already know that: your success in life is dependent upon your general level of self-control. Self-control means the capability to do the thing that needs to be done and avoid temptations. When stakes get high, can you take on a difficult task or do you routinely seek fun or easy tasks instead?

Like anything else, willpower is a limited resource but similar to a muscle, it can be increased with appropriate exercise. The more willpower you employ, on a regular basis, the more your willpower capability will grow. According to Dr. Jason Hunt of Brigham Young University, another way to build your willpower is to perform a selfless act. A selfless act uses the exact same part of the brain and the same hormones are released as employing self-control over a temptation. By actively performing a selfless act every day, you are strengthening your willpower that will aid you in parts of your life that need more self-control. There is a lot of research and tactics on motivation, self-control, and willpower that can be found online. Anyone may benefit from learning more about self-motivation and self-control.

For what we are interested in, taking steps toward advancing your career and finances, there is a common and proven tactic to increase your ability to get past procrastination. This is to go somewhere away from any activities and sounds, eliminate distractions and temptations, and then begin taking small steps to advance toward what you want. Even if it is only 15 minutes a day, repeatedly and consistently doing this can lead to material progress toward your goals.

Companies tend to downsize from a decrease in revenue or profit, and is common during a recession. So how can you reduce your odds of being one of the people who are downsized?

I was once hired to develop a plan and budget for laying off 80 people at a company. It was an unpleasant but necessary task for a struggling business. Below are some of the decision-making criteria that came up in discussions.

1. When you’re the most expensive person in the department. If you are a top performer, then you are likely to be safe from being cut. But if you’ve ratcheted your way into becoming overcompensated for your position or tasks, then you are the top target for any layoff plans.
2. Keep advancing your job skills. Technology changes can disrupt old ways of performing work tasks. If you avoid these changes, certifications, and trainings, then you move to the top of the list when layoffs occur.
3. Dedication and caring about improving your job performance. There are employees who seek new assignments, initiatives, responsibilities, and tasks; and there are employees who avoid any new assignment. You can guess which group gets axed first.
4. Attending to the social politics of getting along and making things easy for your supervisor. If you have a prickly personality where you are generally negative, needlessly challenge others, and don’t support co-workers, then you move higher on the layoff list.
5. Length of employment with the company. When there is no obvious metric for choosing whom to let go, a company can simply use seniority, and let the newest hires go first. If you change jobs frequently, then this is keeping you unnecessarily at the front of the line for the chopping block.

Top performers normally have a spot created for them even when there are layoffs. This is the biggest shield against any unfortunate job disruption. The traits of workers who are most desired include:

• Work well with others
• Self motivated
• Eager to learn
• Willing to head up new company initiatives
• Positive work attitude
• Most certifications and training
• Willing to help others; fill in gaps; go beyond your job description when needed

Sooner or later, there will be a next economic recession or depression. When this occurs, you will want to be known as a top performer to both keep your job and be a desirable hire to other companies.

For most people under age 40, retirement is a vague concept in the distant future. But somewhere around age 50-60, many people begin to seriously investigate how they may be able to retire. Few are able to retire early and too many will never be able to retire at all. What makes the difference, in my opinion, is the career planning before age 25. Enjoying a nice standard of living from making a good wage is a goal of many high school and college graduates. Those that ambitiously move forward toward a well-paying career, coincidentally, are the only people that are able to successfully retire early.

From a welder to a medical doctor, the careers that pay well can create enough extra money to retire early. An acquaintance had the U.S. Navy put her through college and medical school. She only had to work for them for 4 years to complete her commitment to them. She was a successful surgeon, lived well, and retired at age 47. On the other side of the spectrum, a line worker in his 60s that I know at a manufacturing plant still financially struggles at the end of every month. Although he could take early social security retirement, he knows he cannot live off of social security so he waits for age 66-70 to get more money.

What do you do if you’re career trajectory hasn’t been the financial payoff that you expected? Pivot immediately to a better paying career. I know people that enrolled in law school at age 40, finished their bachelor’s degree at age 38, and started at the bottom in a new career that pays them very well today. Another relative switched universities junior year in order to change majors to something that would pay far more money. He lived very well and had the option to easily retire at age 58; but he waited two more years to pile up extra money from his over-sized salary.

Earning a lot is no guarantee of early retirement; there are a million ways to fritter money or lose it. But to have a shot at early retirement, a healthy paycheck is step #1. If your career doesn’t allow for a large paycheck, and you’re not willing to change at this point in your life, then your money must do the hefty lifting for you – but this both difficult and very risky to accomplish. A far better approach is to find a side job or a side gig; luckily there has never been an easier time to find these online.

Sooner or later, you may want to have the option to retire early, or to retire at all. Today is the time to make a serious assessment of your career options, side job options, and investing options to make that happen.

Naturally, getting top grades in college helps to access to the best career opportunities. But many college students are unaware how important it is to get a great internship as well. As a result, I have repeatedly observed a giant gap in the career launch between regular college graduates and those who battled to get a great internship.

A professional internship provides four critical benefits in launching a career:

1. It is a trial run for a particular career field. It is best to discover as quickly as possible if a career in your major subject of study is a fit for you. You can then change majors, or focus on an industry or niche that is a better match for you. Too many enter a profession only after graduation and then learn too late that they do not enjoy that profession. That is a waste of 4 years and a fortune in tuition. Now, they are forced to either return to get another undergraduate or graduate degree to enter a more suitable career. (Plus, explain in every interview why the abrupt career change without sounding fickle.) This is a predictable lesson that is both very expensive and time consuming; and the inoculation is getting internships.
2. It provides direct professional experience that puts you a league above all other job applicants coming out of college who do not have any professional experience. You will have skill sets that a new employer can build upon, rather than someone starting from scratch.
3. It provides connections and networking that are unavailable to people who are not in the profession. You will learn vocabulary, industry trends, and players that outsiders will not know.
4. If you and the company or organization go well with each other, then an internship provides the easiest transition into full time employment with that organization.

Instead of seeking an internship, too many college students choose a summer break or seek jobs with a higher pay like a restaurant where they can earn tips. With a short-term focus, they may earn a little more money over the summer, or relax and have fun. But by graduation, those with professional internships will immediately take the best jobs in their field while the rest of the graduates struggle to get job interviews and wonder how the interns got so lucky.

There are more students than there are openings for internships, so how do you go about finding them? Meet with your school’s career center, ask professors, family and friends, and job sites. If these don’t produce results for you then you have to be more proactive. For example, start contacting companies directly that you want to work for and ask to speak with hiring managers. Speak to students who have landed great internships that you are seeking. Most college students won’t take extra steps and that is also why landing an internship is so valuable; you are proving to any prospective employer that you are ambitious and get things done.

Given how much time, money, and effort you are investing to get a college degree, I highly recommend you add getting a professional internship to the top of your To Do List as well.

There is a single indicator that predicts your long-term career success. It does not matter if you are an employee, self-employed, or run a business that employs others, this will predict your success. You already know what this indicator is: your diligence and thoroughness in performing tasks. How well or poorly you perform tasks, over time, is a certain indicator of how your career will either flourish or flounder. Luckily, it is something that you can improve no matter how poorly you’ve performed in the past.

The earlier someone begins working hard, the steadier this habit becomes throughout their career. For example, children who never worked in high school or during college are simply not hard-wired to working hard. When parents or teachers set someone’s schedule all week, they rarely acquire habits of self-motivation to accomplish their own goals or to surpass the expectations of others. Studying hard and playing hard does not always correlate to working hard and cooperating with others toward a long-term goal.

So let’s examine your current work habits. Would your co-workers currently rate you as an elite performer or an average performer? Would they say that you are normally a whiner and complainer or that you silently work toward getting things done? Would they say you dodge responsibility or volunteer for new and additional assignments?

Certainly, there are bad managers and companies where a great work ethic is overlooked. But if you are an elite performer, you can figure out what you are worth in the marketplace and find a better work environment where you are treated and rewarded appropriately.

Your work habits are a result of your personal philosophy toward work along with your personal attitude about work. Is your attitude about work good or bad right now? Is your philosophy about work empowering or caustic to you and others around you? When you get both your philosophy and attitude pointed in a favorable direction then your work habits will improve automatically.

I recommend that you set a goal to becoming an elite performer. Employers reward them with increasing duties, responsibilities, promotions, company stock, rewards, perks, and much more. The first step toward managing your career is to become someone that consistently provides the most value, giving you the most options inside and outside of your company.

Many articles or tips on getting a raise hinge on the wording or being willing to quit your job. These may produce a minimal raise, but in my opinion, these tactics are not the successful foundation of long-term raises and promotions.

A better strategy for raises is to build habits, that when continued over time, make your skills so valuable, that you are offered top raises and promotions to keep you from leaving for a competitor. What are some of the habits of top performers? Exactly what you’d expect:

• Get to work a little earlier and stay a little later.
• Focus and diligence on getting work completed.
• Proactively take-on more responsibilities before you are paid to do them.
• Complete certifications, trainings, and degrees to maximize your qualifications.
• Join industry associations to learn and network for opportunity and learn your worth.
• Become the most valuable person on your team, department, office, and company.
• Request a meeting with your boss periodically to see if there are other things you can do to become a better employee (outside of a normal performance review).

Consistently building and performing these habits will move you toward being a far more valued employee. Top-ranked employees are far more likely to be granted the highest raises and the fastest promotions. Large corporations commonly make a list of their top 100 employees to mentor and advance within the company. Are your current work habit more similar to the top talent that is developed and protected or the replaceable workers that are only seen as an expense to be minimized? Are you more of a workplace warrior or the first slacker to be let go in a layoff?

As you become a top-ranked employee, you also become a target for your fellow employees who, by contrast, you are making appear as poor employees. So be ready for them to make false rumors about you. In order to weather these attacks, it is up to you to go out of your way to try to keep rapport with all of your fellow employees, as best you can.

A tactic to get a raise, even if it works once, will be an insignificant amount of money compared to a continual ratcheting of promotions and raises over your career from becoming a top performer. It is my advice that you focus on productive and valued habits and not tricks.

Spring is here and graduations are plentiful from high schools and colleges – so I polled a few people with very successful careers. I wanted to hear about what their advice is to launch a career for people just starting out today. Since the advice is varied, there may be something for any new graduate to consider.

Adviser #1:

In my view there is no such thing as a job, being employed is a paid job search. A job is how you improve your resume for your next job at a higher level. When you are evaluating a position, never look at the current pay, perks, or anything except how a potential job will look on your resume to future employers. Or, how will this position prepare you to advance to a higher level. This is my best advice to new graduates: it is better to be a manager at a fast food restaurant than to take a menial task at a higher pay that is in a large cubicle farm where it does not lead to further opportunity.

Adviser #2:

You should do a lot of preparation to find the best company in your industry and target how you are going to get hired by them. An industry leader is likely to be very profitable and so they’ll have more money available for support, training, technology, etc. along with higher salaries and benefits than any of their competitors. If you cannot start with them, then find the paths this company uses to recruit so you can align with them and get hired.

Adviser #3:

Always be learning and it won’t matter where you work. No matter where you work there will be new trends, technologies, and disruptive competitors. An employee that learns best will become increasingly invaluable when he or she is an expert in many important elements for the company. Yes, it will take a while for you to be noticed, and yes, your salary will always lag behind how much you contribute, but sooner or later, as it is recognized, you will move up sharply in both rank and salary.

Adviser #4:

Immediately get a side gig for income so you’re never financially dependent on a single employer. I have several freelance jobs that have led to full-time job offers. It has never been easier or more acceptable to find freelance assignments or other online work that you can do on the side. Several of my friends have a blog where they show off their work skills to get jobs, others are Uber drivers, there is always a way to have a side gig. Side work helps your finances but is also important as a potential career-building avenue that regular employees don’t have.

Adviser #5:

After I discovered I had an aptitude for sales, I made a great career of it. But if I were to start over and talk to my younger self, I would have gone straight for my dream company in my dream industry. I should have gone to their front door and said, “I’ll do anything – empty trash cans, park cars, work night shifts, unpaid internship, anything to get my foot in the door so that I can show you that I belong here.” I recommend that you go straight for your dream, and pay any price to get there, so you don’t look back later with regret.

Instead of hoping that your social media accounts are not damaging your career prospects, there is a new app that analyzes it for you. HeyClear.com explains how their app, Clear, intelligently scans through your social media accounts to highlight anything that may appear to be inappropriate or troublesome for a professional setting. Once an item is highlighted, you can choose to keep or delete the post; and the app assists you in doing this. So these questionable posts can be removed before you apply for a new position. (Clear is also working on the capability to screen photos as well, for professional inappropriateness, but it is not ready yet). A periodic scan can possibly spare you from embarrassment and performing career damage control.

Another tool to protect your online presence is BrandYourself.com that has free and pay services to manage unfavorable or embarrassing search results for your name.