Speaker 1: Hey, Hey, ba fam, I have been waiting to tell you, guys.
Speaker 1: I have been sitting on this news forever. But for
Speaker 1: the first time in Brand Ambition history, we are going live, y'all.
Speaker 1: We are going to be live from Newark, New Jersey.
Speaker 1: It is all happening October tenth at six pm. If
Speaker 1: you want to get tickets now, tickets are limited. We
Speaker 1: picked the best venue. It's a historic black owned bookstore
Speaker 1: in Newark, but seating is limited. This is going to
Speaker 1: be an intimate evening with me and Tiffany live in person.
Speaker 1: It may be the only chance y'all get I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna lie to see us together live in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: so please come get your tickets. We want to make
Speaker 1: sure that the crowd is packed with true be a family. Okay,
Speaker 1: So if you want to get tickets, run, don't walk.
Speaker 1: Run to Brown Ambition podcast dot com to get the
Speaker 1: link right there and let us know that you're coming.
Speaker 1: Tag us, send us your receipts, send us your order.
Speaker 1: Maybe we'll send you some BA wag. We'll have some
Speaker 1: BA swag at the event. Even we are going to
Speaker 1: be celebrating nine years of the show, y'all. Nine years.
Speaker 1: We're like geriatric podcasters in the very best way. But
Speaker 1: we cannot wait to see y'all in Newark. So go
Speaker 1: ahead Brown Ambition podcast dot Com to get your tickets
Speaker 1: to see me and Tiffany live for Brown Ambition Live
Speaker 1: in Newark, New Jersey. It's all going down. Like I
Speaker 1: said October tenth, get your tickets again at Brown Ambition
Speaker 1: Podcast dot com. Ba fam, what's up? It's Mandy and
Speaker 1: the stew writing solo today, but it is one of
Speaker 1: the best days of the week because it's time for
Speaker 1: the b a qa a the v a qa which
Speaker 1: say the ba qa with Manda the ba qa and
Speaker 1: no Tiffany, but it's still the ba qa aba fam. Okay,
Speaker 1: I have got a very juicy question from my inbox
Speaker 1: because if y'all haven't heard, I'm kind of low key,
Speaker 1: high key an incredible career coach. I'm just going to
Speaker 1: own it and stand in my power. And I have
Speaker 1: a career Pivot masterclass that I have been doing. Oh
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think I've done it three times
Speaker 1: and I don't know why I haven't done it sooner,
Speaker 1: because it is definitely the thing that y'all have asked
Speaker 1: me for so often when I have done whether it's
Speaker 1: negotiating webinars or professional branding webinars, I hear from so
Speaker 1: many women who are wanting to pivot and choose a
Speaker 1: new course in their career but really don't know how.
Speaker 1: But now that I'm doing it, I get some incredible
Speaker 1: questions from and a lot of BA fam is always
Speaker 1: in the audience at my webinars, so I get some
Speaker 1: incredible questions from just women who are going through it.
Speaker 1: And I wanted to take an opportunity to feature one
Speaker 1: of those questions today because I got it yesterday and
Speaker 1: I've just been I've been niddling on it ever since.
Speaker 1: So this question comes from let me say, let me
Speaker 1: call her Natalie. Natalie says my question, Oh, she says,
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to your upcoming webinar. I love you
Speaker 1: In Tiffany on Brown Ambition, I listen every week. My
Speaker 1: question for you is an immediate need. I just found
Speaker 1: out that I am being laid off. My last day
Speaker 1: is in November. But thankfully I've had a feeling that
Speaker 1: change was coming. Thank Jesus for the note. So I
Speaker 1: started applying here and there in June. Needless to say,
Speaker 1: I've ramped up my job search since my last day
Speaker 1: with my current job is going to be November fifteenth.
Speaker 1: I work in banking in an operations role. I'm looking
Speaker 1: for jobs that fit my current skill set, but of
Speaker 1: course asking for more money to keep money coming in. However,
Speaker 1: I'm also relaunching my business, which is consulting business, but
Speaker 1: I have no revenue yet. Do you have advice on
Speaker 1: how to pivot my current skills to apply to higher
Speaker 1: paying jobs that are transferable? What would that look like
Speaker 1: in a resume revamp and or for the business relaunch?
Speaker 1: Advise me on how to navigate while I'm on the
Speaker 1: job search. Should I look for jobs that sharpened my
Speaker 1: skills for the business, even though it may be less
Speaker 1: of a salary sense I don't have. I don't have
Speaker 1: as much to experience there as I do with the
Speaker 1: business as I do with banking and finance skills. I
Speaker 1: hope I'm not too all over the place, but a
Speaker 1: lot is going on right now. I look forward to
Speaker 1: hearing from you, Natalie. Okay, I need to take a
Speaker 1: drink of water and take a little break. We're gonna
Speaker 1: hear from some sponsors and I'll be right back with
Speaker 1: my answer to Natalie's career question. I think the one
Speaker 1: thing that I've learned this past year and from my
Speaker 1: own life and just from everyone else, is like this
Speaker 1: is the time. Like sometimes stuff just happens, and it's
Speaker 1: not just one thing, it's all the things happening all
Speaker 1: at one time. And the way that I wish life
Speaker 1: came with like a red buttons. You can like get
Speaker 1: your you know, your mama, your auntie, whoever is your
Speaker 1: support system, just like immediately ship them to you or
Speaker 1: have them teleport to you so that they can support
Speaker 1: you in those really tough moments. Because I'm just like,
Speaker 1: where's the grown up at? Where's the growl up who's
Speaker 1: going to figure all this shit out for me and
Speaker 1: make it seem doable. But I can be that grown
Speaker 1: up for you, Okay, Natalie, We can be each other's support.
Speaker 1: So I'm so glad that you reached out with this question.
Speaker 1: I want to start by saying, I'm really sorry to
Speaker 1: hear about your job. It's never easy to be told
Speaker 1: that you're going to be let go. It's some consolation
Speaker 1: that you have, you know, you have a heads up.
Speaker 1: I love that you were so smart and I hope
Speaker 1: that BAFAN, those listening are understanding that the signs are
Speaker 1: often there when things are not going the right direction
Speaker 1: at work, and it's up to us to sort of
Speaker 1: know when it's time to start looking. And I love
Speaker 1: to hear that you started looking back in June. So
Speaker 1: hopefully that means that you've got some interviews already under
Speaker 1: your belt, so you're not going into the job market
Speaker 1: rusty with your interview skills. Hopefully that means that you
Speaker 1: have reconnected with former colleagues or any associates, any peers
Speaker 1: that can potentially connect you to new opportunities. Now, I
Speaker 1: know that launching a consulting business, or you say, relaunching
Speaker 1: a consulting business, may seem like a good opportunity right now.
Speaker 1: I would I would absolutely encourage you to look at
Speaker 1: that as being one way to bring in revenue, especially
Speaker 1: if you're going to be in between jobs for a while.
Speaker 1: I mean, November is still you still have a couple
Speaker 1: of months here. But I love having I love having
Speaker 1: an additional source of revenue so that you can sort
Speaker 1: of have something in your control, right. So I do
Speaker 1: like the idea of you trying to stay at this
Speaker 1: business consulting business without knowing more details about what kind
Speaker 1: of offerings you're going to have other than just consulting.
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit worried that there's not enough clarity there,
Speaker 1: or there's not enough focus that you're going to be
Speaker 1: able to really be specific about here's my offer, here's
Speaker 1: why you want to work with me, and here's how
Speaker 1: here's why you need my services. I do work with
Speaker 1: a lot of women who flirt with the idea of
Speaker 1: starting a consulting business and have a really hard time
Speaker 1: consolidating what course and what value they can bring to
Speaker 1: the table and matching that with the perfect client who's
Speaker 1: going to need those types of skills. So if you
Speaker 1: haven't yet, I would say, sit down and really think
Speaker 1: about the types of skills that not just that you
Speaker 1: can offer, but start speaking to the types of businesses
Speaker 1: the type of your perfect client. Try getting on the
Speaker 1: phone with them fifteen to thirty minutes and just ask
Speaker 1: them what their main pain points are and start to
Speaker 1: really put together and offer for what matches the feedback
Speaker 1: that you're getting. It sounds really old school to pick
Speaker 1: up a phone and talk to a human, but when
Speaker 1: I was launching the Mandy money Makers, which is my
Speaker 1: career coaching community. That's what I did for about six months.
Speaker 1: I just got on the phone with women of color
Speaker 1: and I asked them what their career challenges were, and
Speaker 1: what they were looking for and what they needed, how
Speaker 1: they were feeling. And that is how I created the
Speaker 1: business that I did, you know six months later. It
Speaker 1: was just based on that feedback. Now, you ain't got
Speaker 1: six months. We all don't have six months, but there's
Speaker 1: something there and I just want you to take the
Speaker 1: time to be curious. It can also help you, especially
Speaker 1: when you're trying to think of like a consulting business.
Speaker 1: It can be isolating. It can feel like you can
Speaker 1: spend oh my god, I see all the time. You
Speaker 1: can spend all this time building a website, but you
Speaker 1: still don't even know what your offerings are or you're
Speaker 1: not really clear on it. So getting out there and
Speaker 1: actually speaking to people and letting them tell you what
Speaker 1: they need and how you can serve them, that can help,
Speaker 1: like get your juices flowing. It can help you find
Speaker 1: some momentum. It can help you even come up with
Speaker 1: ideas for services that maybe you didn't think about. So
Speaker 1: that's what I would say about the consulting businesses. Take
Speaker 1: this time to start trying to identify your ideal client
Speaker 1: and figure out what their needs are, and then just
Speaker 1: find the intersection of what their needs are with your
Speaker 1: key with your core skills that you can offer, and
Speaker 1: then that's your consulting offer. Okay, So as far as pivoting,
Speaker 1: you say, how to pivot my current skills so I
Speaker 1: can apply for higher paying jobs that are trained insferable.
Speaker 1: So I don't think you ask about the resume. What
Speaker 1: would that look like in a resume revamp? If you've
Speaker 1: listened to the show for any amount of time or
Speaker 1: follow me on social media, you know that me and
Speaker 1: resumes we don't get along. I don't like them. I
Speaker 1: think they're wastes. I think, well, I like them for
Speaker 1: what they are. They are a tool to summarize someone's
Speaker 1: professional experience. But they are not the end all be all,
Speaker 1: and they certainly are not the end all be all.
Speaker 1: They aren't the end all be all of getting you
Speaker 1: a job, and they certainly are not the end all
Speaker 1: be all of getting you a job that pays really well.
Speaker 1: It can be a tool, but I wouldn't focus so
Speaker 1: much on spending a lot of time tweaking a resume
Speaker 1: or changing words that may make you more appealing for
Speaker 1: higher paying jobs. It really comes down to your skills.
Speaker 1: Do your skills align with higher paying jobs? Are you
Speaker 1: finding open roles? And are you interviewing for roles that
Speaker 1: are paying you higher than what you're making now and
Speaker 1: that you have the skills to match. That's really what
Speaker 1: it's all about. And and if what you're finding, I
Speaker 1: mean you're in an operations role in banking, that can
Speaker 1: mean a bunch of different things, but your interview process
Speaker 1: really look at that sort of as like a researcher would.
Speaker 1: You're gathering data. So what are the companies that you're
Speaker 1: interviewing with, What are the recruiters telling you they're looking for?
Speaker 1: What skills? Are you hearing a time and time again?
Speaker 1: And are there any Are there any parts of the
Speaker 1: interview that make you feel uncomfortable because you don't feel
Speaker 1: like you're able to offer what they want? And that
Speaker 1: is where you're going to find your opportunity for growth.
Speaker 1: And that's where you're going to find out where is
Speaker 1: your skills gap? And then how can we start to
Speaker 1: close that gap. Sometimes it's not actually a skills gap.
Speaker 1: It's just that sometimes we haven't ever had experience articulating
Speaker 1: our experience in a certain skill set. Maybe it's something
Speaker 1: that comes so easily to us that we didn't even realize,
Speaker 1: Oh that's a skill, Like I know it sounds silly,
Speaker 1: but it's true. Oh you know, calendar maintenance, product efficiency testing,
Speaker 1: user experience testing. Like, oh, I just do that anyway,
Speaker 1: But those are skills and it may That's why I
Speaker 1: like the idea that you're interviewing, because it gives you
Speaker 1: a chance to see what are people asking me? And
Speaker 1: anytime you feel uncomfortable or you're like, damn, I really
Speaker 1: should have said this differently, you can practice. You can
Speaker 1: create a little, you know, loose script that you can
Speaker 1: follow so you can really drive home the fact that, oh,
Speaker 1: not only do I am I competent in this skill,
Speaker 1: but here are the here are the key examples for
Speaker 1: my career that I can point out to show you
Speaker 1: how I've demonstrated my competency with that skill set. Okay,
Speaker 1: you say, should you look for jobs that sharpen your
Speaker 1: skills for the business. Well, that's where I would say,
Speaker 1: like skills for the business. But I'm not sure you're
Speaker 1: clear yet. On what type of business offering, like what
Speaker 1: kind of consulting you want to do. Of course, any
Speaker 1: job that you take, I imagine you'll take away some
Speaker 1: you know, some learnings that you can use for your
Speaker 1: consulting gig. But I don't know that it makes sense
Speaker 1: to like look for a job just because you think
Speaker 1: it will make you a more like a better consultant.
Speaker 1: I would focus more on finding work that you can
Speaker 1: excel at and that pays you what you want to
Speaker 1: be paid, and it would be great, like if your
Speaker 1: business was in alignment with at least the industry that
Speaker 1: you're working in, Like if your business is and this
Speaker 1: is often what happens with consulting businesses is that you're
Speaker 1: getting paid by a company to do something all day,
Speaker 1: and consulting is and then you develop an expertise. So
Speaker 1: if you've been doing that for ten fifteen years, it's
Speaker 1: a good you know baseline, but it could be less,
Speaker 1: you know whatever. Don't get too caught up in how
Speaker 1: many years on the job you've had. But when you
Speaker 1: have an expertise in something, then yes, people will hire
Speaker 1: you to share that expertise and boom, you're a consultant.
Speaker 1: But you need to have the expertise you need to
Speaker 1: be doing the work, and without knowing everything about your background.
Speaker 1: I think sticking to focusing on finding a role that
Speaker 1: can really leverage the skills that you have and maybe
Speaker 1: even help you acquire some new skills that are going
Speaker 1: to be capable of getting you those juicier paychecks down
Speaker 1: the line that can all feed into your consulting down
Speaker 1: the role. And I just want to caution you because
Speaker 1: in the parathetical you say this may mean taking less
Speaker 1: of a salary since I don't have as much experience
Speaker 1: here as I do with banking and finance. Don't sell
Speaker 1: yourself short before you even get out there and start
Speaker 1: getting considered for these roles. I think if this is
Speaker 1: like a hard pivot, I'm not quite sure what you're
Speaker 1: talking about, going from banking into something else that is
Speaker 1: a mystery to me. But even if it is a pivot,
Speaker 1: don't discount your experience and go into it already expecting less.
Speaker 1: There's no reason to talk yourself out of getting the
Speaker 1: pay that you deserve before you've even like heard it
Speaker 1: or seen it, heard it from recruiters, or seen it
Speaker 1: in job listings for roles that you want to go after, Like,
Speaker 1: just just try to avoid doing that. Just because you're
Speaker 1: making a career pivot doesn't mean that you are, you know,
Speaker 1: less valuable, or that your experience is not applicable to
Speaker 1: the role that you're taking, or that it doesn't transfer.
Speaker 1: Of course, there are specific skills that you just can't
Speaker 1: learn on the job, and yeah, if you want to
Speaker 1: go become a brain surgeon, you're going to have to
Speaker 1: start from the bottom. Like, I get that, But it's
Speaker 1: all about the story that you're telling yourself and telling
Speaker 1: a recruiter or a hiring manager to make them get
Speaker 1: excited about the skills that you have obtained and make
Speaker 1: them see the connection to their biggest pain points and
Speaker 1: how you're going to solve their problems for them. So
Speaker 1: just think about the story that you're telling yourself before
Speaker 1: you even get in front of these interviewers so that
Speaker 1: you don't go in there selling yourself short, you know,
Speaker 1: or expecting less, and then you end up getting a
Speaker 1: low ball offer and you're like, oh, I should be
Speaker 1: grateful it actually happened. I'm actually getting to pivot, So
Speaker 1: let me just go ahead and take less because this
Speaker 1: was all I wasn't sure it was gonna happen anyway,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to rock the boat. No no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: don't do it, okay, And that's why, you know, that's
Speaker 1: one of the reasons I exist, is to just be
Speaker 1: here to remind you who the f you are and
Speaker 1: what you are worth, so that you, yeah, you don't
Speaker 1: sell yourself short. Okay, Natalie, that was a big, juicy question.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for answering it. If y'all want
Speaker 1: to check out my Career Pivot Masterclass, you can. I
Speaker 1: don't know when the next time I'm going live will be,
Speaker 1: but go to Mandy money dot com Slash career Dash
Speaker 1: Pivot Dash Masterclass, and I'm so glad Tiffany is not
Speaker 1: here to give me shit for not buying the domain.
Speaker 1: A nice little snazzy domain. But mandymoney dot com google
Speaker 1: it career Pivot. You'll find it if you really want
Speaker 1: to find it. You know, if you wanted to, he would,
Speaker 1: and if you wanted to, you would find my Career
Speaker 1: Pivot master Class. It's entirely free. I love doing it.
Speaker 1: Thank y'all. Be a fan for listening, and we will
Speaker 1: see you next Friday for our next ba QA