Speaker 1: Hey, BA fam, It's time for the va qa A
Speaker 1: the v a qa which say the va qa with
Speaker 1: manday the va qa without Tiffany A. Hey, y'all welcome.
Speaker 1: I am writing solo. Isn't it beautiful? How tiff and
Speaker 1: I have just been there for each other this summer
Speaker 1: I had a baby. She was like, I got you
Speaker 1: go do that thing. And now Tiffany's taking a month off.
Speaker 1: She's taking a supergirl to Paris, She's taking her to London,
Speaker 1: and I'm not going to tell you everywhere they're going, y'all,
Speaker 1: don't go try to find them, Okay, let them enjoy
Speaker 1: their time in Europe, all right? I see how you
Speaker 1: treat how you treat miss Tiffany at a Beyonce show,
Speaker 1: Try and talk about your credit score on the floor
Speaker 1: when Queen bees fan is blowing in the background. No no, no,
Speaker 1: no no. I will not give her location away. But
Speaker 1: I am happy to be here as always with our
Speaker 1: BA fam. And I got y'all, I got your career questions.
Speaker 1: I'm even I'm gonna sneak a little business advice in
Speaker 1: today because you know, I know some things now, tiffank
Speaker 1: the only one, although if you haven't checked out her
Speaker 1: mentorship program. What the hell are you waiting for? Go
Speaker 1: to mymentor Tiffany dot com for twenty bucks a month
Speaker 1: or something like that, and you can join her Patreon
Speaker 1: and she gives just like endless business advice and it's
Speaker 1: a really amazing community that only Tiffany could create. As always,
Speaker 1: so I'm very excited about that for her. On today's
Speaker 1: episode with Just Me, I'm going to be answering a
Speaker 1: couple questions, like I said, tiptoeing into how you can
Speaker 1: make your online business as a side hustle start thriving
Speaker 1: so you can sort of move from side hustle to
Speaker 1: full time hustle. Is that a thing? And then we've
Speaker 1: got a really juicy question that I still haven't figured out.
Speaker 1: How the hell I'm going to answer about a young
Speaker 1: woman who is new at a job and wants to
Speaker 1: quit after just two months, just two months on the job,
Speaker 1: but could potentially make a huge raise if she does it.
Speaker 1: So let's get into it, y'all. I'm Mandy woodrif Santo's
Speaker 1: aka Mandy Money. Y'all know I am a career and
Speaker 1: negotiation expert. I have my own business called the Mandy
Speaker 1: Money Makers, which is an online community for women of
Speaker 1: color specifically, but you know we have other We have
Speaker 1: all kinds of women in the group. And I help
Speaker 1: y'all master your careers. I help you learn how to
Speaker 1: negotiate and to turbo charge your career so that finally
Speaker 1: it's a wealth building engine and not just a job
Speaker 1: from job to job. Right. So that's who you've got
Speaker 1: talking to you today. I'm going to jump on into
Speaker 1: the questions. Before I do, let me remind you how
Speaker 1: you can get on the baq and A. You can
Speaker 1: slide into our DMS on IG. By the way, holy crap,
Speaker 1: we got twenty k, twenty thousand followers on ig. We
Speaker 1: just passed that mark this past week. So thank y'all
Speaker 1: so much. That is incredible. And hey, shout out to
Speaker 1: our amazing social media manager Amber and to the team
Speaker 1: at Cumulus looking at you, Imani and Dennis for cutting
Speaker 1: those clips for us for our reels. Could not have
Speaker 1: done it without y'all, So we're just very excited about that.
Speaker 1: While you're there becoming our twenty thousand and one, two
Speaker 1: three and beyond follower, slide into our DMS with your question.
Speaker 1: We'd love to hear from you. Ask us anything about career,
Speaker 1: money management, credit, relationship advice, why not business advice. We
Speaker 1: got it all for you. You can also email us directly
Speaker 1: brond Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com or check out
Speaker 1: our website bronambitionpodcast dot com. Contact us. Also, stick around
Speaker 1: and look at episodes of previous shows. There's so much there.
Speaker 1: Join our newsletter, just join the BA fam. Okay, all right,
Speaker 1: let's get into today's question. I am going to start
Speaker 1: with listeners. Sarah, who slid into my DMS at Mandy
Speaker 1: Money on ig and has a really juicy question. She's
Speaker 1: also from London, so that means I get to use
Speaker 1: my Love Island accent and no one's here to tell
Speaker 1: me to stop. So I'll just keep doing it. And
Speaker 1: you know, hopefully you won't stop listening in your cars
Speaker 1: or on your walks or wherever you are. All right, Sarah,
Speaker 1: Hey Mandy, she'sa I love you in Tiffany. I listen
Speaker 1: every week. I'm from London and although the finance systems
Speaker 1: may be different, I was hoping to get some finance
Speaker 1: and career advice from you. I called you, queen, caught you.
Speaker 1: I'm a new mom. Oh she spells it. Mom, that's
Speaker 1: so cute. Well, okay, I'll stop, it's too much. I
Speaker 1: went back to work three months ago. My baby is
Speaker 1: now ten months old. Congrats, lady. I am married. My
Speaker 1: husband's currently working but doesn't have a permanent role, so
Speaker 1: he's looking but hopefully we'll find something soon. I'm a teacher.
Speaker 1: I also do wedding planning as a side hustle, but
Speaker 1: I stopped for two years and I've recently started again.
Speaker 1: Financially I should be a lot more secure, but due
Speaker 1: to getting married two years ago and having a baby, yeah,
Speaker 1: that'll do it. I don't have any savings. I have
Speaker 1: a loan from the bank, which I will finish paying
Speaker 1: off in March next year. We want to do things
Speaker 1: like buy a home, but we're a long way away
Speaker 1: from doing that, and as it happens, I am paying
Speaker 1: for most of the expenses in her home Right now,
Speaker 1: I think I need to focus on getting my business
Speaker 1: off the ground. Please can you give me some tips
Speaker 1: on how I might be able to do this. I
Speaker 1: currently get business from word of mouth, but I'd like
Speaker 1: to create a better online presence and hopefully get business
Speaker 1: like that too. I have coordinated two weddings so far
Speaker 1: this year. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much, Sarah. Okay, Sarah, I got you, and it
Speaker 1: just sounds for you like there's a lot of life
Speaker 1: happening right now, which is all beautiful. Congratulations on your baby,
Speaker 1: Congratulations on your marriage. I know from experience, those are
Speaker 1: two very expensive things. I spaced mine married in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: first kid in twenty nineteen, a couple years apart, so,
Speaker 1: you know what, not that far apart from you. It
Speaker 1: is challenging, especially if the wedding itself, you know, was
Speaker 1: expensive enough to deplete your savings and then you, you know,
Speaker 1: turn around have the kid. I'm not going to spend
Speaker 1: time because Sarah. Of course, if you went back in time,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you'd be like, maybe we should save more
Speaker 1: for the wedding and set aside extra on the side.
Speaker 1: But we all don't have that luxury, right. Can't just
Speaker 1: not let life happen while we're waiting to have the
Speaker 1: perfect amount of you know, savings in the bank. You
Speaker 1: guys sound young. You did your thing, you got married,
Speaker 1: you had a hope, it was a beautiful wedding, and
Speaker 1: now you have a baby and you are where you are.
Speaker 1: What's exciting about you and why am I really excited
Speaker 1: that you've reached out is because you have so much potential.
Speaker 1: You are working full time as a teacher, and believe me,
Speaker 1: I know what it's like to be the bread winner
Speaker 1: and the pressure that that entails, whether it's you or
Speaker 1: your partner. But for it to be on your shoulders
Speaker 1: while you're also in your first year of motherhood, oh girl,
Speaker 1: I know exactly what you misbe feeling. And then on
Speaker 1: top of that, you're going to want your thinking about
Speaker 1: what more you can add to your plate. Like it's
Speaker 1: not enough to be a new mom and to be
Speaker 1: you know, covering the household bills and to have like
Speaker 1: a side hustle. It's like, okay, well, let's you know,
Speaker 1: ramp this up even more. So, first, I just want
Speaker 1: to honor the fact that you have a lot on
Speaker 1: your plate and you're incredible, Like all mothers are. We
Speaker 1: will be striving to continue leveling up. And just because
Speaker 1: you become a mom, it doesn't mean that you stop
Speaker 1: having ambitions of your own. And you're finding out the
Speaker 1: same thing that I found out about entrepreneurship, which is
Speaker 1: like it's pretty great for moms. It's pretty great to
Speaker 1: be able to work from home and make her own
Speaker 1: hours and have flexibility. Like when I tell you when
Speaker 1: I found out that the Universal pre K that we
Speaker 1: were supposed to be so, I mean, I am excited
Speaker 1: that we got through the lottery in our town to
Speaker 1: get my kid into Universal pre K is only from
Speaker 1: nine am to two pm. I'm sorry Universal for who
Speaker 1: if you're working like part time at Target or something like,
Speaker 1: do you understand even to pay, like you have to
Speaker 1: pay to have extra care if you want to leave
Speaker 1: your kid there past two pm and drop them off
Speaker 1: before nine am. Like when the mom in the open
Speaker 1: house at the pre k that I went to for
Speaker 1: my son, when she raised her hand and was like,
Speaker 1: excuse me, I live in Manhattan. That's about an hour
Speaker 1: and a half commute. How and you don't let me
Speaker 1: drop my kid off earlier than seven thirty? How Am
Speaker 1: I supposed to be in my seat at work at
Speaker 1: eight thirty or nine like I need to be. It's
Speaker 1: insane what they ask us to do as parents, right,
Speaker 1: So being an entrepreneur, like as you're probably thinking of,
Speaker 1: and as I can attest to, it is so great
Speaker 1: for moms, like for working moms, and I know so
Speaker 1: many moms who choose to pursue entrepreneurship, myself included, you know,
Speaker 1: after having a successful sort of nine to five career,
Speaker 1: not because you don't love what you were doing anymore,
Speaker 1: but because life is changing and you need to change
Speaker 1: along with it. All right, So I'll put that spiel aside,
Speaker 1: but I just wanted to like acknowledge where you are, Sarah,
Speaker 1: and let you know I see you. I deeply see you,
Speaker 1: even in this message, Okay. And I'm really really proud
Speaker 1: and just excited for you in general as far as
Speaker 1: your wedding planning business. Okay, I love that for you.
Speaker 1: I love and the fact that you know it seems
Speaker 1: like my dad always makes us joke about if you
Speaker 1: want a recession proof business just by a liquor store.
Speaker 1: He's like, it's always going to be liquor people always
Speaker 1: going to want their alcohol. Okay. I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's true or not, but it seems right. I feel
Speaker 1: like weddings are an industry that is only going to
Speaker 1: continue booming and booming and booming. A lot has changed
Speaker 1: in our society, but we still love a party when
Speaker 1: it comes to celebrating love. So I feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: it's definitely ripe for you know, new businesses to come.
Speaker 1: And as an entrepreneur, it's perfect because like you can
Speaker 1: take on one client, or two clients or three clients.
Speaker 1: Now at this point you have been getting, like you said,
Speaker 1: word of mouth recommendations, which is amazing. What I love
Speaker 1: about that. And it's similar to how I approached my
Speaker 1: business as a career coach. Was I started out by
Speaker 1: giving you know, a lot of free sessions because I
Speaker 1: wanted to build once one. There's a thing when you're
Speaker 1: new at something, they can't complain if you're doing it
Speaker 1: every right kind of but you feel less pressure because
Speaker 1: you're going to be figuring out your approach. You're figuring
Speaker 1: out what works for you. You're going to be figuring
Speaker 1: out what systems and tools and processes make your planning easier,
Speaker 1: what vendors you like and don't like, what you understand
Speaker 1: about scheduling, how do you deal with you know, personality
Speaker 1: differences from the bride side or the groom side, or
Speaker 1: the grooms and the groom side, you know, and you're
Speaker 1: going to be fine tuning your skill set as a
Speaker 1: wedding planner with your first clients. Right, So it's great
Speaker 1: that you're getting word of mouth, but as you build
Speaker 1: up that confidence, as you get those testimonials from your
Speaker 1: clients saying how incredible you are, that's when you want
Speaker 1: to start thinking about marketing it out. In my experience,
Speaker 1: so when you so, for example, right now, what I
Speaker 1: would say is if you're thinking about, like, okay, I
Speaker 1: should be finding new clients on Instagram and social media.
Speaker 1: I think that's a lot of people's first thoughts as entrepreneurs.
Speaker 1: But as a wedding planner, think about where your perfect
Speaker 1: customer is. Are you trying to plan weddings for people
Speaker 1: around the UK? Are you trying to plan weddings for
Speaker 1: people where you're going to be physically present, like need
Speaker 1: to travel to wherever they're going to be getting married, Like,
Speaker 1: you want to think about where your customer lives, and
Speaker 1: then you want to think about where you're going to
Speaker 1: reach them. Of course, Instagram is great for attracting an
Speaker 1: audience and gaining followers, and you could totally start making
Speaker 1: reels today about what all goes into planning a wedding
Speaker 1: and I would gobble that shit up. And so with
Speaker 1: a lot of people, but I'm here in the US,
Speaker 1: I'm already married. I'm not your perfect customer, am I.
Speaker 1: You want to figure out how to find people who
Speaker 1: are engaged, about to be engaged, thinking about being engaged,
Speaker 1: or getting remarried or whatever. You're going to want to
Speaker 1: find them where they are and be sure that when
Speaker 1: you do find them, they have the potential to actually
Speaker 1: use your services. Right. So that's why I'm saying, just
Speaker 1: think a little deeper about the whole social media thing.
Speaker 1: I do think it can be an incredible tool to
Speaker 1: gain notoriety and to gain a following, But at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, you got to think about one
Speaker 1: word conversions. How are you going to convert the person
Speaker 1: who CLI follow on ig or TikTok into a customer.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about that every day, Sarah. This week I
Speaker 1: went viral on Instagram and I gained two thousand plus
Speaker 1: followers in forty eight hours. But do you know how
Speaker 1: many actually went through my forms to join my email list?
Speaker 1: Like two hundred And I'm sitting here like, holy crap.
Speaker 1: Two thousand Instagram followers is cute, but email is even
Speaker 1: more powerful, And I need to figure out what is
Speaker 1: broken in my funnel, Like that's what we call it
Speaker 1: a little funnel because I brought them through the top
Speaker 1: of the funnel. That's Instagram. Right. Why aren't they getting
Speaker 1: to my email list? And what is it about my
Speaker 1: sales my marketing that is not converting people to my
Speaker 1: email Because when you convert them to your email, you're
Speaker 1: much more likely to be able to sell your services
Speaker 1: to them, because then you're going to get more intimate
Speaker 1: with them. You're going to you know, cuddle up with
Speaker 1: me in my email inbox. Okay, I'm going to move
Speaker 1: you to the primary section. No more updates are social.
Speaker 1: You're going to be in the primary section. Okay. Gets
Speaker 1: a real intimate okay, and you can actually engage with them.
Speaker 1: You can you can put them into what I have.
Speaker 1: For example, you join my email list and I start
Speaker 1: sending you not every day. I'm not trying to spam,
Speaker 1: but sending you like helpful content, valuable content. I'm nurturing
Speaker 1: our relationship together. I'm trying to show you who I
Speaker 1: am so you can get to know me, start to
Speaker 1: engage even more with my content, and then maybe a
Speaker 1: few months down the line, when I'm hosting when I'm
Speaker 1: opening enrollment for the Mandy money Makers as I do periodically.
Speaker 1: You're really excited by that point and you want to join,
Speaker 1: or for example, for you, you want to be nurturing
Speaker 1: that relationship so that when they get engaged, or if
Speaker 1: they're engaged now, when they actually get serious about planning,
Speaker 1: they think, I saw I remember that, like Sarah, that
Speaker 1: wedding planner I just followed on Instagram, like last year,
Speaker 1: I remember her. Let me go to my email and see,
Speaker 1: you know what her website was. They're going to be
Speaker 1: able to find you. So you're going to stick in
Speaker 1: their mind, and that is why that relationship is so
Speaker 1: important to nurture. So don't just think about social media.
Speaker 1: Then how are you going to get them into your
Speaker 1: world for real? Through email? Now, I have just shown
Speaker 1: you that even I haven't mastered that. Some things I
Speaker 1: do I get hundreds of email subscribers. Some things I
Speaker 1: do I get, like I said, two hundred out of
Speaker 1: two thousand new follows, Like damn, I feel like I
Speaker 1: should do better than that, right, So what I will
Speaker 1: say is to start building your email list. You want
Speaker 1: to find people who are going to be your perfect customer.
Speaker 1: Think about how old, are they where do they live?
Speaker 1: Are you going to have any particular niche like, for example,
Speaker 1: my niches I really focus on women of color. So
Speaker 1: I understand that I'm going to be turning away some
Speaker 1: people who don't feel included in that, And that's okay
Speaker 1: for me because I just want to be laser focused
Speaker 1: because I know my message is going to appeal to
Speaker 1: a woman of color between the ages of twenty five
Speaker 1: to thirty five. Okay, so who is that person for you?
Speaker 1: Are you going to specialize in elopements? Are you going
Speaker 1: to do destination weddings? Are you going to do weddings
Speaker 1: just in London and become the master planner for London
Speaker 1: or you know, wherever in the UK you choose, think
Speaker 1: about what makes you unique and then start to think
Speaker 1: about how to tell that story to your you know,
Speaker 1: your favorite customer. So then we've talked about social media.
Speaker 1: I think that that's fine. I think you debt. Like
Speaker 1: I said, you can definitely have it, but before you
Speaker 1: go viral, you want to have the infrastructure to convert
Speaker 1: those followers into customers. Okay, convert, convert, convert, How can
Speaker 1: we talk about converting? So having a lead magnet is great.
Speaker 1: So like, what if you create a document that is
Speaker 1: just you know, you can do it in Canva, but
Speaker 1: you aren't. You know, you're an expert at wedding planning
Speaker 1: right now where you're becoming one. Maybe it's top ten
Speaker 1: mistakes or the top you know, top ten wedding mistakes
Speaker 1: you don't want to make, or it's five ways to
Speaker 1: save money on your wedding you have to get this guide,
Speaker 1: or you know, there's different ways you can entice people,
Speaker 1: give them something valuable for free. For me, I have
Speaker 1: four free scripts you can use to ask for a
Speaker 1: raise at work right now, at work, right now, right
Speaker 1: So that appeals to my favorite customer. She's someone who's
Speaker 1: ambitious and wants to advance in her career but doesn't
Speaker 1: have the language. I'm giving it to her and all
Speaker 1: my colors. My branding is going to appeal to that
Speaker 1: kind of person. So anyway, so think of something that
Speaker 1: they really want, and you know how the best way
Speaker 1: to get understanding of what they want is to really
Speaker 1: survey the people that you're working with now, the people
Speaker 1: that you are providing services for as a wedding planner. Now,
Speaker 1: ask them what do you wish you would have had
Speaker 1: starting out, what do you wish you would have known?
Speaker 1: What could be helpful? Or here I made this thing
Speaker 1: because you look it over, does it feel useful to you?
Speaker 1: And then you create that download you create, you can go.
Speaker 1: You can create a Squarespace website or very simply, I
Speaker 1: mean shout out to Squarespace. They are a sponsor. Okay,
Speaker 1: but there's other websites you can also do. But just
Speaker 1: find the simplest way to get that form up so
Speaker 1: you can link to it on your Instagram so when
Speaker 1: they follow you, they can also go to your link
Speaker 1: and join and get that freebie, and you can say,
Speaker 1: you know, get on the wait list. Here's a freebee.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, I'll let you know when I have
Speaker 1: more wedding tips to share. And then you start to
Speaker 1: build your email list at the same time while you're growing. Okay,
Speaker 1: and even then, just like me, you'll tinker with it, right,
Speaker 1: you'll kind of tinker and say, okay, well, this lead
Speaker 1: magnet didn't really convert that much to like people sending
Speaker 1: their emails, or maybe I need to have this or that.
Speaker 1: Like you'll you'll learn some things. Okay. I could go
Speaker 1: on and on and on about this, But like, what
Speaker 1: else could I say about, you know, shifting your side
Speaker 1: hustle into a full into full time work as a teacher.
Speaker 1: You have summers. I'm going to assume that you have
Speaker 1: off or at least that's kind of perfect for you
Speaker 1: as a wedding planner. So I feel like you're fine
Speaker 1: to continue teaching while sort of treating your wedding planning
Speaker 1: as a side hustle. I think that kind of works
Speaker 1: in your favor. But think about the timelines of when
Speaker 1: people get engaged. They're getting married in the summer, but
Speaker 1: they're getting engaged around the holidays, right, think that's still
Speaker 1: the most common time to get engaged. So you want
Speaker 1: to think about starting this lead magnet, getting your email
Speaker 1: lists built up like right now, heading into the fall,
Speaker 1: because if you start getting people's attention now and then
Speaker 1: you start building on that while they get engaged over
Speaker 1: the holidays and they start googling for wedding planning in
Speaker 1: the UK, they'll find you, my dear. Okay, so think
Speaker 1: about that. It can feel really overwhelming to be starting
Speaker 1: a business while also being a mom and a bread
Speaker 1: winner at that, but don't let that sort of weigh
Speaker 1: you down, think about what your ultimate goal is. It
Speaker 1: is to be able to provide for your family, to
Speaker 1: have the flexibility that you need in your schedule, and
Speaker 1: to build something of your very own and that I
Speaker 1: think is worth fighting for. I'm real excited for you.
Speaker 1: I will say it takes time. It's going to take
Speaker 1: time to build an audience. It's going to take time
Speaker 1: to find your perfect customer. You're going to need support.
Speaker 1: I need you to find two to three other wedding
Speaker 1: industry people doing the kind of business that you want
Speaker 1: to be doing. Go find them and start following them
Speaker 1: and engage with them right now. Figure out where they
Speaker 1: hang out. Figure out if there's a conference, if there's
Speaker 1: like a mastermind group or something like that where you
Speaker 1: can engage with people who are doing similar work to you.
Speaker 1: Why because not to copy what they're doing. There's plenty
Speaker 1: of space for all, y'all. Okay, there's plenty of room.
Speaker 1: It's about finding that community and that support and the
Speaker 1: people you can go to every day when you have
Speaker 1: a question, you know, have you tried this vendor? Have
Speaker 1: you thought about this? Have you you know, what about
Speaker 1: the what about could I hologram the groom in because
Speaker 1: he's trapped, you know, his flight, he didn't make his flight.
Speaker 1: Those types of questions you can ask from your tribe,
Speaker 1: you know, from the people that in your community that
Speaker 1: you're going to build. And I think that that was
Speaker 1: one of the smartest things that I did early as
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur, was really put time and effort into building
Speaker 1: those relationships with new peers so that I could feel supported. Okay,
Speaker 1: I will leave it there. I really hope that that
Speaker 1: was Those were some tidbits for you, for you that
Speaker 1: you can use. Good luck with everything, and thank you
Speaker 1: so much for tuning in from the UK. Okay, I
Speaker 1: did have to end on a little British accent there, y'all.
Speaker 1: I watch way too much Love Island and I'm not
Speaker 1: ashamed of it. Do you have any idea how long
Speaker 1: this show would be if Tiffany actually also watched television?
Speaker 1: But she doesn't, so I have no one. She gives
Speaker 1: me nothing about my reality TV obsession. Okay, it's probably
Speaker 1: better for y'all, But I'm going to take a quick
Speaker 1: break now and I'm going to come back and answer
Speaker 1: question number two, So stay tuned, ba fan, I'll be
Speaker 1: right back. Hey, ba fan, we are back with question
Speaker 1: number two. It's me Mandy Money, writing solo without my
Speaker 1: beloved Tiffany, but hopefully she's off gallivanting in Europe with
Speaker 1: Supergirl and having an amazing time. I am also having
Speaker 1: an amazing time, believe it or not, because I love
Speaker 1: answering y'all's questions. And we have a brilliant question from
Speaker 1: a listener today who wants to be called the Cashback Queen.
Speaker 1: I think you might have to take that crown from
Speaker 1: Tiffany because she is like the queen of cash back anyway,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna give it to you because she's like
Speaker 1: here to defend her crown, so you can wear it. Here,
Speaker 1: Cashback Queen, here is your crown. I am a relatively
Speaker 1: new grad as of December twenty twenty one, congrats, and
Speaker 1: I'm in the early stages of my career. I just
Speaker 1: started a new job as a market researcher at a
Speaker 1: company and I've been there for almost two months. But
Speaker 1: we've been experienced some turmoil in terms of reorganizational restructuring
Speaker 1: of teams. People have been leaving and two people at
Speaker 1: the VP levels were fired. Ooh juicy because the company
Speaker 1: is moving from being a startup to an early stage company.
Speaker 1: They said, this is not part of a larger layoff
Speaker 1: for the future, but I'm not so sure, considering the
Speaker 1: recession is looming. That being said, a recruiter at a
Speaker 1: different research market company reached out to me and is
Speaker 1: offering me thirty two k more than what I'm making
Speaker 1: right now for the same position. The salary bump would
Speaker 1: be life changing. Is it too early to leave a
Speaker 1: company after being there for two months? Love the cash back, queen.
Speaker 1: I thought I was going to get some explanation of
Speaker 1: why you deserve that crown, But it's fine, you can
Speaker 1: keep the crown. Nothing about cash back here, but a
Speaker 1: very very juicy proposition career wise. Okay, so a couple
Speaker 1: of things. Hear you. I love here here. I love
Speaker 1: that you are young. You just graduated a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, but you already understand that no one is safe,
Speaker 1: not even you. And of course your company is not
Speaker 1: going to tell you, oh yeah, this is going to
Speaker 1: be part of a larger layoff later, of course they
Speaker 1: or not. They don't want to cause a panic and
Speaker 1: they don't want more people quitting, right. I will say
Speaker 1: that this is I'm actually kind of I think this
Speaker 1: is good for you to experience early in your career.
Speaker 1: A lot of opportunities can come from turmoil. And in fact,
Speaker 1: you know, like who I'm thinking about in this moment
Speaker 1: right now. Whenever there's chaos in my house. You know
Speaker 1: who always benefits My dog. She waits to the point
Speaker 1: where she can. She recognizes the sound of when one
Speaker 1: of us has made amsay, will me go oh crap
Speaker 1: or ugh or ah or what like? She will run
Speaker 1: into the room and look to see if food was involved.
Speaker 1: And typically it is because we have a toddler and
Speaker 1: we're always in the kitchen doing something with him, or
Speaker 1: he's dropped something, something has spilled. And even if it's
Speaker 1: not food related, let's say, you know, the baby has
Speaker 1: a blowout diaper and we're like, oh no, she will
Speaker 1: run in behind us while we're distracted by the baby
Speaker 1: with the blowout, and she will find the food that
Speaker 1: we have forgot lying on the table in her path
Speaker 1: and she will gobble it up. Now, I need everyone
Speaker 1: early in their careers or in their career in general,
Speaker 1: to think of turmoil at the office as opportunity the
Speaker 1: same way that my dog thinks of a blowout diaper
Speaker 1: or spilled milk as an opportunity to come and get
Speaker 1: a little bit of extra something something, You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, So for stick with me on this analogy, okay,
Speaker 1: or the metaphor just to stay with me, because what
Speaker 1: I'm saying is that when things are kind of crazy,
Speaker 1: it's an opportunity for you to shine. It's an opportunity
Speaker 1: for you to swim, not just to take things that
Speaker 1: you know are lying around, but to pick up opportunities.
Speaker 1: So when people are leaving, that means they need a hero.
Speaker 1: They need someone who can step up and help things
Speaker 1: move a little bit smoother. So can you be the
Speaker 1: most reliable person on your team right now? Like, Hey,
Speaker 1: I know someone so and so just left last week.
Speaker 1: I know you're looking to backfill the role, but in
Speaker 1: the meantime, is there anything I can do to support you?
Speaker 1: This is a great time to show that you're a
Speaker 1: team player, that you think on your feet, you can
Speaker 1: be flexible, you can roll with the punches. The last
Speaker 1: thing people want when the shit's hitting the fan at
Speaker 1: a company, on their team, like bosses, managers, the last
Speaker 1: thing that we want is for someone to be a
Speaker 1: baby about it and to be like, oh, when the
Speaker 1: change is happening, what does this mean? Talk to me?
Speaker 1: Have a one on one every day so you can
Speaker 1: quell my fears about life and my anxieties like we
Speaker 1: don't want that. Well, we deal with it, sure, But
Speaker 1: what would be infinitely more valuable to us is someone
Speaker 1: who can get with the program very quickly and start
Speaker 1: helping us, like catch the water as it's leaking from
Speaker 1: the roof, you know, like let me go find a bucket,
Speaker 1: let me find a pan, what can I do? Put
Speaker 1: me in coach. That kind of attitude will get you
Speaker 1: so so far, and even if it's like you end
Speaker 1: up getting let go later on, you know who's also
Speaker 1: gonna get let go? A lot of more people who
Speaker 1: were gonna move on to new companies, have new opportunities,
Speaker 1: and who will they remember. They are not gonna remember
Speaker 1: the one who put their hands up and was like, y'all,
Speaker 1: this is crazy. I'm checking out late today, or I'm
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna log off early today, or I'm not
Speaker 1: even gonna get on Slack today, y'all, it's too crazy.
Speaker 1: Like the people who check out, they're not gonna remember them.
Speaker 1: They're gonna remember the Mollie dogs of the world. They
Speaker 1: can remember the ones who swooped in and looked for
Speaker 1: an opportunity to pitch in, help and shine. Okay, so
Speaker 1: don't look at it like I say, like a negative thing.
Speaker 1: Think of it as opportunities. And I use the same
Speaker 1: mentality throughout my career to thrive Yahoo. When I joined Yahoo,
Speaker 1: it was going through a lot of turmoil. They had
Speaker 1: a new CEO. I mean, the Yahoo's Yahoo's all through turmoil,
Speaker 1: but I still shined. I look for opportunities. I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: they're they're short on video staff. Let me pitch my
Speaker 1: own video series called Money Minute, which ran for two years.
Speaker 1: Like that's the kind of thing that you can grow
Speaker 1: out of those moments of turmoil. You're at a startup
Speaker 1: right now. They and you say they're moving from a
Speaker 1: startup to being an early stage company. It's kind of
Speaker 1: but I know what you're saying kind of the same thing.
Speaker 1: But I get it. As they're growing up, Like how
Speaker 1: can you also be growing up with them? And where
Speaker 1: do you see yourself at the next stage for them?
Speaker 1: Stage for them? You know, think of it, think of
Speaker 1: it that way. It doesn't have to be scary it
Speaker 1: can just be a healthy, natural, you know, progression of
Speaker 1: a younger company. Also, don't forget how this feels to
Speaker 1: be a part of a startup, because I think some
Speaker 1: people think of startups as like, Ooh, I'm going to
Speaker 1: join and they're going to get acquired, and I'm going
Speaker 1: to become a bajillionaire because I'm going to get all
Speaker 1: this equity and you know, I'm going to be employee
Speaker 1: number seven at Uber, employee number seven at Google. Whatever.
Speaker 1: But it does always work out that way, or even
Speaker 1: if it does, it's still really crazy to work there.
Speaker 1: Things are not figured out, they don't have all the
Speaker 1: grown ups in place to handle things. Systems are not
Speaker 1: fine tuned. You know, people have not entirely figured out
Speaker 1: what they're doing. They're all kind of just flying by
Speaker 1: the seat of their pants in the best exciting way possible.
Speaker 1: But if you're going into a startup expecting it to be,
Speaker 1: you know, like a blue chip company that's been around
Speaker 1: for decades and has everything sort of organized and everyone
Speaker 1: knows where everything has been filed away, you're going to
Speaker 1: be disappointed. You're going to be you're gonna be upset,
Speaker 1: You're going to be stressed, Okay, So you want to
Speaker 1: have realistic expectations for where your company is at that
Speaker 1: you're joining at the time that you're joining it. And
Speaker 1: if you can at least get like a real realistic
Speaker 1: understanding of where the company is, I promise you're going
Speaker 1: to be much more adaptable and flexible and be able
Speaker 1: to become molly dog in that moment and find opportunities
Speaker 1: to help. You're not going to be panicking because you
Speaker 1: will have seen it coming. I'm joining a startup. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's going to be a little jinky from here and there,
Speaker 1: you know. All right, So that's the first piece of this.
Speaker 1: I know. Now two months in, while there's blood in
Speaker 1: the water and you're sensing chaos at your job, you
Speaker 1: have this incredible opportunity to be making thirty two k
Speaker 1: more for doing the exact same work. I would say
Speaker 1: it'd be really hard for you to turn it down
Speaker 1: at this point, Like, are you going to turn down
Speaker 1: thirty two k early in your career? When I agree,
Speaker 1: I think you should be making You should be taking
Speaker 1: these big risky swings with your career while you can.
Speaker 1: You know, I think it was really hard to turn
Speaker 1: that down. At the same time, you want to understand,
Speaker 1: like this company itself like thirty two K for the
Speaker 1: work you're doing now, I can see that happening. You're
Speaker 1: at a startup, maybe the budget's a bit lower, but
Speaker 1: you want to you know, look into the company that
Speaker 1: you're joining. How are they doing financially? Are they having
Speaker 1: any turmoil and if so, where what departments have been
Speaker 1: affected by that? You know, if it's the same industry,
Speaker 1: then what's happening to your company maybe happening at others.
Speaker 1: If what's happening at your company is likenomically driven you know,
Speaker 1: by what's happening in the economy, not just you know,
Speaker 1: driven by the fact that it's a younger company. So
Speaker 1: you want to ask, you know, questions of this company,
Speaker 1: like you know, if they're public, you can read their
Speaker 1: quarterly their last quarterly UH market call and one am
Speaker 1: I thinking of the word quarterly earnings report, yes, which
Speaker 1: they have to provide. You know, you could read through
Speaker 1: it see what's happening. Yeah, and it's marketing research right now.
Speaker 1: As someone who came up in journalism and marketing through
Speaker 1: my career, I can tell you that a lot of
Speaker 1: the same economic trends are impacting all organizations and marketing
Speaker 1: budgets are getting hit, you know, so I don't think
Speaker 1: that you can say any company is necessarily going to
Speaker 1: be safe, you know, for the long term, but I
Speaker 1: would see I would ask them if you had, you know,
Speaker 1: any reorganizations recently, you know, if if so, which which
Speaker 1: departments were impacted? You can ask them, you know, I
Speaker 1: underunderstand that there are some challenging economic times. How has
Speaker 1: the marketing research team pivoted or made changes in light
Speaker 1: of this? Have you had to you know and sort
Speaker 1: of ask them questions about strategy and where they're thinking
Speaker 1: of going in the future. Good for you to know,
Speaker 1: And also I think it makes you an even more
Speaker 1: promising candidate because they're like, oh, she's really plugged in.
Speaker 1: She gets this is a bigger picture. It's not just
Speaker 1: about you know, this one job. That there's a bigger
Speaker 1: picture here and we're a part of a much larger,
Speaker 1: larger organization. That's what I have to say about, you know,
Speaker 1: pros and cons of like taking the job. You got
Speaker 1: to sit with it and make sure you're moving into
Speaker 1: a company that's going to be a good fit for you.
Speaker 1: Will you have good mentorship, do good people work there,
Speaker 1: you know, is there upward mobility all of that? And
Speaker 1: if this job doesn't work out, I don't think that
Speaker 1: you need to look at it, like I said, as
Speaker 1: a total loss because of everything I said before about
Speaker 1: the opportunities that you have to shine in this relatively
Speaker 1: chaotic environment at your current startup job. Okay, now about
Speaker 1: this whole two month thing, is it too early to
Speaker 1: leave a company after being there for two months? Listen?
Speaker 1: I could sit here and tell you that won't look good.
Speaker 1: But I can also sit here and tell you that
Speaker 1: I have done it, and I have survived and lived
Speaker 1: to tell the tale. It's old Mandy money lore that
Speaker 1: my first big girl job after college, after I frolicked
Speaker 1: around South America and came back to United States with
Speaker 1: sixteen dollars to my name, that I took the first
Speaker 1: job that would have me at a newspaper in Gainesville, Georgia.
Speaker 1: Shout out to the Gainesville Times. And I think my
Speaker 1: first week of work, I got an email from a
Speaker 1: magazine in New York that I had interned at asking
Speaker 1: me to interview, And within a couple of weeks I
Speaker 1: had a job offer. I had an interview. Within a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, and then a couple of weeks later,
Speaker 1: I had an actual job offer and I turned in
Speaker 1: my two I don't even know if I gave them
Speaker 1: two weeks, but I quit that job a month after joining. Okay,
Speaker 1: did I burn the bridges there? Yes, I don't think
Speaker 1: that mister Mitch I forget his last name at the
Speaker 1: Gainesville Times probably ever wanted to talk to me again,
Speaker 1: because you know, he hired me, thought he was done,
Speaker 1: and I was like bye e. So yeah, there are repercussions.
Speaker 1: You have to think about the people that will remember
Speaker 1: you as the person who quit when the ship was thinking.
Speaker 1: At the same time, I do feel like it's a
Speaker 1: little bit easier to explain to a future employer during
Speaker 1: an interview why you might be wanting to leave just
Speaker 1: two months after joining a job by saying, well, there's
Speaker 1: been a lot of turmoil. There's lots of uncertainty, and
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I'm being able to, you know,
Speaker 1: use my skills in the best in the best way
Speaker 1: right now. And I'm genuinely just wanting to be, you know,
Speaker 1: in a place where I feel like I can contribute
Speaker 1: and that my contributions are meaningful, and I can learn
Speaker 1: and grow, and I don't feel like I'm able to
Speaker 1: do that right where I am. That's kind of an
Speaker 1: easier story to tell. Then, Oh, you guys just have
Speaker 1: more money, So I thought I would just like come
Speaker 1: and get it and forget everyone at my office. You
Speaker 1: want to know why, because I do think and you know,
Speaker 1: I have been a hiring manager for several for many years,
Speaker 1: and I have I haven't personally thought this, but I
Speaker 1: have been told by other folks on the hiring committee, like, well,
Speaker 1: if they're going to leave for an extra ten k,
Speaker 1: then they're just going to join us, and they'll be
Speaker 1: quitting in another year when the next competitor offers them
Speaker 1: another ten k bump. Like they think that it shows
Speaker 1: that you're easily bought, and they don't have to know that.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of us are easily bought because
Speaker 1: money talks, darling, right. But if you can tell them
Speaker 1: a story to lead them at least and to think
Speaker 1: that maybe it's not all about the money, you've got
Speaker 1: a less of a chance that they'll like stigmatize you for,
Speaker 1: you know, leaving after two months. So I talk a
Speaker 1: lot about in my negotiating, coaching and my masterclass about
Speaker 1: the story that we tell when we talk about ourselves
Speaker 1: as professionals, and how we tell stories about the choices
Speaker 1: we've made in our career. And I'm a storyteller by trade.
Speaker 1: I've been telling stories my whole life as a writer
Speaker 1: and journalist, and I think it's a really helpful skill
Speaker 1: for everyone to be learning. What is the story arc
Speaker 1: of your career and how can you tell that in
Speaker 1: a way in an interview where the person is left
Speaker 1: understanding why you've made the choices that you've made and
Speaker 1: not judging you for them, just what you look like
Speaker 1: on paper. So, yeah, I've had a few jobs in
Speaker 1: one year, as I did the year that I quit
Speaker 1: that job. I had three full time jobs that year
Speaker 1: because I quit for a company in New York that
Speaker 1: then let me go three months later, yay shout out
Speaker 1: to readers Digest, And then I had to find my
Speaker 1: third job of the year just a few months after that.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I had three full time jobs and one
Speaker 1: year on my resume on LinkedIn. But if I just
Speaker 1: explained the story, well, I took a newspaper job in
Speaker 1: Georgia and I got the opportunity of a lifetime to
Speaker 1: work in my chosen field magazine writing, and I really
Speaker 1: found it hard to turn it down. I had such
Speaker 1: a great reputation with the team there that they really
Speaker 1: only considered me as the candidates. I took the job,
Speaker 1: and then okay, well then you had a new job
Speaker 1: just a few months later. Well, I had no control
Speaker 1: over it. They let me go. And at the same time,
Speaker 1: you know, I understand this industry and I'm always ready
Speaker 1: to pivot, and this is why you know, I've now
Speaker 1: found this new opportunity with you guys. So it's about
Speaker 1: that story, right, So do they look at me and think, girl,
Speaker 1: she's been job hopp in the past, three jobs in
Speaker 1: one year, like unreliable af But then I tell them
Speaker 1: my story and it's like, oh no, I can I
Speaker 1: contract that. I see why she made those decisions and
Speaker 1: what happened. So what story are you going to tell?
Speaker 1: Get that nailed down. Think about pros and cons of
Speaker 1: joining the company that you're joining. I think it's excellent
Speaker 1: for you to be taking interviews even though you have
Speaker 1: a full time job. I'm always a fan of that,
Speaker 1: and hey, you never know if you do both. If
Speaker 1: you become the MVP of your team and then you
Speaker 1: bring them a job offer from a competitor and you're like, hey,
Speaker 1: they're gonna give me thirty two k. What if they
Speaker 1: just give you that extra money? It costs a lot
Speaker 1: more to recruit new talent sometimes and just to give
Speaker 1: someone a raise, and especially someone who's been excelling at
Speaker 1: their work. I'm not saying that they would easily give
Speaker 1: you thirty two k. It's a big ass raise for
Speaker 1: someone who's been there for a couple of months. But
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, like there's a chance that they would
Speaker 1: do something to keep you. So there's a lot of
Speaker 1: food for thought right there. I hope that that was helpful.
Speaker 1: I would love an update to see what you ultimately decided. Okay,
Speaker 1: cash back Queen, and maybe you'll explain to me why
Speaker 1: you stole Tiffany's crown of the cash back Queen. Maybe
Speaker 1: I'll maybe I'll take it back just so I can
Speaker 1: give it to her when she gets back, just because
Speaker 1: I don't want her asking questions. I'm just gonna I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna take it back and you guys can do
Speaker 1: it out when she's back. Okay, all right, Cashback Queen,
Speaker 1: thank you so so much for your question and to
Speaker 1: all of our beautiful BA fam, thank you for riding
Speaker 1: with me while I was solo today. I love hearing
Speaker 1: y'all's questions and hearing from y'all. Don't forget to hit
Speaker 1: us up on IG We are at Brand Ambission Podcast.
Speaker 1: You can also join our email our email list Atmandymoney
Speaker 1: dot com, noe at Brannambission podcast dot com and ask
Speaker 1: us your questions via the website as well. We love
Speaker 1: to hear from y'all, sending much love and until next week,
Speaker 1: Bye bye, hey, BA Fam. We could not do this
Speaker 1: show without your support or the support of our team
Speaker 1: behind the scenes. The Brown Ambition Podcast is produced by
Speaker 1: Imani Crosby and Dennis Stanplinsky is our in house tech guru.
Speaker 1: I am your co host Mandy Woodrif Santos, and we
Speaker 1: will see y'all next week. BA Fam.