After buying Remit Sethi’s book on personal finance—and somehow managing to automate a huge chunk of my money to be hidden away from my greedy hands into a Roth IRA, Savings and 401K–I’ve taken an interest in his lessons on Earn1k.com. Like most people in their 20’s, I’m looking at how to advance in my career, and make (as my boyfriend calls it) “man money”.
A couple notes I found interesting from his recent 7 Career Mistakes lecture:
- When describing their “Dream Job”, most people will list a high salary at number 3.
- Women are notorious for under-negotiating their salary and assuming they’re under qualified. I think this is pretty obvious, yet rarely talked about.
This spawned a short email conversation with Ramit himself that mysteriously ended with him saying, “Waiting 5 yrs for some mythical job is nonsense. Especially in advertising. Stay tuned for Jan.”
January you say? I will take your bait and “stay tuned”.
As many of you know, I’m in what I believe to be an ideal position for me as Marketing Coordinator, but I still worry about the steps I’m taking. I recently asked the Adsoka Agency in Minneapolis’s founder, Jason Inskeep, some advice for my career:
Me: Your obviously passionate about your company, but Adsoka wasn’t started until 2003. Did you ever have a job that you stayed at for experience/money? Basically, did/does passion fuel all your career choices?
Mr. Inskeep: Yes, all jobs lead to building experience (and money) for the future. But don’t work somewhere you don’t like for more than a year. Think about jobs in three year cycles: learning, attaining, maintaining (and then start over or leave).
Me: You have a lot of principals at your company that are woman. As the only woman (and the youngest by about 10 years) in the marketing department where I work, what are some ways I can be taken seriously?
Mr. Inskeep: Be serious to be taken serious. Have facts to share, not just opinions. Avoid breaking character (you’ll be judged by the least favorable moments: silliness at company picnic, joking on Friday afternoons, etc.) Arrive early, leave late – over dress for the role. (Find ways to break the stress of long days. A quick walk outside, or finding a mentor in senior management – or at a neighboring business.)