Speaker 1: Aba, fam, we are back with another episode of Brown Ambition.
Speaker 1: Thank y'all so much for all of the lovely messages
Speaker 1: and soft welcome backs ever since we started doing these
Speaker 1: guest hosted episodes. As you guys know, Tiffany is still
Speaker 1: on hiatus and we send her all of the love
Speaker 1: and virtual hugs and kisses and all that stuff. Maybe
Speaker 1: not the kisses that would be weird, but anyway, shout
Speaker 1: out to Tiffany, and we continue to miss you a lot.
Speaker 1: But today I thought it would be fun to bring
Speaker 1: back the BAQA. We have not had our regular Q
Speaker 1: and A segment in so so long, and I thought
Speaker 1: today would be the perfect day to bring that back.
Speaker 1: But I couldn't do it alone. I thought about it
Speaker 1: for a hot minute, me sitting here in this chair
Speaker 1: and my therapist Tan Turtleneck talking to myself as the
Speaker 1: question and the answerer, and I decided that that would
Speaker 1: just be silly. So we have a very special guest today. Hey,
Speaker 1: Amber Jones, what's up?
Speaker 2: Hello? Hello? Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: So you guys have never had the pleasure of seeing
Speaker 1: Amber's adorable face, but you have seen her handiwork all
Speaker 1: over Brown Ambitions Social channels because Amber is our social
Speaker 1: media manager. Yes, and her business is called My Social Gourmet,
Speaker 1: So tell Amber, so just say a quick hi, Hello
Speaker 1: to be a fam.
Speaker 2: Hello, be a fam. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 2: I am brown and ambitious, so I'm just excited to
Speaker 2: get started.
Speaker 1: She's on brand, and thank you Amber for all of
Speaker 1: the great content you create. And Amber and I are
Speaker 1: always collaborating on social media and she's like, Mandy, give
Speaker 1: me your notes, Mandy, where are you? What's going on?
Speaker 1: But she does a phenomenal job, and I know that
Speaker 1: she is going to do a phenomenal job today. So Amber,
Speaker 1: not to put you on the spot, but did you
Speaker 1: listen to last week's episode? Majority of it is yes,
Speaker 1: because oh yes, it's right. You have to do the teaser.
Speaker 1: Look at me trying to catch you in a lie,
Speaker 1: like you don't listen to the show that you do
Speaker 1: social media content for so last week. If you guys
Speaker 1: haven't heard last week's episode with Chris Browning from Popcorn Finance,
Speaker 1: Wait now I'm having flashbacks of the social media Like
Speaker 1: I had the bright idea because we make you guys
Speaker 1: guess our co host. I was like, instead of doing
Speaker 1: Chris's silhouette because he's just like it has a bald head.
Speaker 1: He wouldn't mind me saying that. You guys see, I
Speaker 1: was like, let's do a silhouette of a popcorn bucket
Speaker 1: and can you make the popcorn colonels pop? And Amber's like,
Speaker 1: it's called my Social Gourmet, not my social magic show.
Speaker 1: So that didn't work out.
Speaker 2: It did. It helped a little bit though, because you know,
Speaker 2: they kind of knew as soon as we posted the silhouette.
Speaker 2: I don't know how, but yeah, I think it.
Speaker 1: Was attention to the shapes of our heads, apparently in
Speaker 1: a way that I did not know they were doing.
Speaker 1: Oh man, Well, that episode last week touched in a
Speaker 1: good way, touched a lot of you guys. And it
Speaker 1: was me and Chris literally putting everything on the table
Speaker 1: about what it's been like for the two of us
Speaker 1: in our own separate lives to transition from nine to
Speaker 1: five workers to full time entrepreneurs. And Chris is like
Speaker 1: ninety five percent of the way independent now. He's still
Speaker 1: working a couple days a week at his previous nine
Speaker 1: to five job. And I've been independent for eight nine
Speaker 1: months now. So if you haven't go back and check
Speaker 1: out that episode, but I didn't want to share this
Speaker 1: sweet message that we got from listener Sherry, who said, Hi, Mandra,
Speaker 1: Yes you can call me Mandra. I really enjoyed this
Speaker 1: week's episode. I have recently begun my entrepreneurship journey. I've
Speaker 1: sent you messages about that before, and you and Tiffany
Speaker 1: gave me such great advice, and so much of what
Speaker 1: you guys discussed resonates with me. I definitely also found
Speaker 1: myself hoarding my business income, and I was in a
Speaker 1: rut about starting my self employed retirement fund. But I'm
Speaker 1: going to work on that in Q one, please please
Speaker 1: keep the small business discussions coming. She also asked if
Speaker 1: you wouldn't mind sharing resources like your bookkeeper or how
Speaker 1: you found them, lessons you've learned maximizing profit using business
Speaker 1: expenses to the greatest good. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: taking us along on your journey. That is so sweet, Sherry,
Speaker 1: It's so nice, And of course she wraps it up
Speaker 1: saying praying for Tiffany and her family, We thank you
Speaker 1: for that. Yeah, A couple of people reached out, they
Speaker 1: want to know my bookkeeper, So how did I find
Speaker 1: I think, first and foremost it's more important to talk
Speaker 1: about how I found my book my bookkeeper, because obviously
Speaker 1: we all have to go on that journey Amber. Do
Speaker 1: you have a bookkeeper or do you keep it?
Speaker 2: I do it myself. But someone told me the same
Speaker 2: thing that you were saying, like five hundred dollars just
Speaker 2: to get it all along, and I was like, I
Speaker 2: need this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I maybe I cheated a little bit. So
Speaker 1: the same accountant who's worked on Brown Ambition for years
Speaker 1: and he's been Tiffany's accountant for a long time. So
Speaker 1: that's how I found Carlos. Shout out to Carlos. His
Speaker 1: wife Tianu, has a bookkeeping business on the side, so
Speaker 1: they are like a power couple. All it is in
Speaker 1: their household is just spreadsheets. They love it. It works
Speaker 1: for them. It keeps a relationship exciting, I guess. But
Speaker 1: so I work with Carlos's delightful wife, Tianu, and her
Speaker 1: business is called nil Tech Finance nill Tech Finance based
Speaker 1: in Jersey. But the point of this story is not who,
Speaker 1: but how So the way that I found my bookkeeper
Speaker 1: was through a referral of who we all know and
Speaker 1: love Tiffany. But if you forget about Tiffany being the
Speaker 1: Budgetista Superstar and also co hosted Brian Ambition. She's a
Speaker 1: friend of mine. She's a friend of mine in my circle.
Speaker 1: So I always say, asking friends of yours in your
Speaker 1: circles who they work with to get personal recommendations is like,
Speaker 1: there's no better way. I think word of mouth. And
Speaker 1: I also interviewed another accountant and she was wonderful And
Speaker 1: I actually found her because I asked Jenny's Torres Rodrigez
Speaker 1: from Jokio Dinero, who we've had on the show. She
Speaker 1: and I were just chatting up after the episode about
Speaker 1: you know, I was new to this and just as
Speaker 1: a newbie, I was like, who do you go to
Speaker 1: for your accounting advice? So and I interviewed that accountant
Speaker 1: and she had a team of bookkeepers that she worked with.
Speaker 1: So maybe even interviewing with one accountant can help you
Speaker 1: find a bookkeeper because typically they work like closely together,
Speaker 1: you know, or you can do you like Amber and
Speaker 1: what do you do then? Do you have like quick
Speaker 1: books or something?
Speaker 2: No, Well, see I've been using wave app Like okay,
Speaker 2: I have never heard of it. I don't think you
Speaker 2: like it? Yeah, well we tried to use it one
Speaker 2: time and we didn't like it. But I used that
Speaker 2: and I use like an ex sale sheets. I had
Speaker 2: one of my friends he would like he was an
Speaker 2: accountant for like a business or whatnot, and so he
Speaker 2: just did my exceale sheet and I just been kind
Speaker 2: of like keeping up with the numbers. But I know
Speaker 2: it's wrong, so I need to get it done.
Speaker 1: Get it. You have to know other entrepreneurs in your
Speaker 1: circle you could ask. And also I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: going to post a link to the main the the
Speaker 1: there is a national organization for accountants and book keepers.
Speaker 1: I'm going to post a link in the show notes.
Speaker 1: I'm going to go find it after the show, just
Speaker 1: as a starting point for you guys, because you can
Speaker 1: at least look in your own like zip code or
Speaker 1: whatnot and find but I recommend it. Tianu has been
Speaker 1: wonderful to work with, and thank you Sherry for that
Speaker 1: sweet note. All right, Amber, are you ready?
Speaker 2: I am ready?
Speaker 1: Are you ready for the task of reading questions out loud?
Speaker 2: We're going to see We're going to see what my
Speaker 2: skills are. Okay, all right, Juliata as our first question
Speaker 2: of the day, So oh my gosh, did you ladies
Speaker 2: hear about the Navy settlement today? Am I saying that correctly?
Speaker 1: You are?
Speaker 2: I think na Navian okay settlement today? I am shook
Speaker 2: and I am trying to call a Navy now to
Speaker 2: get an update. Can you discuss this on the show?
Speaker 1: Absolutely? So this happened when a couple of like was
Speaker 1: it a week a time? Is so weird right now.
Speaker 1: Recently it was announced that Naviant, which is one of
Speaker 1: the largest student loan servicers in the country, will be
Speaker 1: canceling the debt of sixty six thousand student loan borrowers.
Speaker 1: And you're so right, Julietta. I mean, I think if
Speaker 1: whether you're a Naviant customer or not, your question is like, wait,
Speaker 1: how can I get on that list? Please?
Speaker 2: Please?
Speaker 1: Can I refinance into naviatet loans? So the good news
Speaker 1: is that you don't really have to do anything to
Speaker 1: find out necessarily if you are one of those sixty
Speaker 1: six thousand borrowers. As per it settlement, Naviant is in
Speaker 1: charge of reaching out to those borrowers. But what I
Speaker 1: like about your question, Julieta. Julieta, is that you said
Speaker 1: you were calling them directly because Honestly, I would be
Speaker 1: on the phone with them right now if I had
Speaker 1: a Naviant loan, just to see if I qualify. It's
Speaker 1: my understanding, like I was just doing some googles, and
Speaker 1: you have to have a particular type of loan taken
Speaker 1: out within a particular period of time. And I don't
Speaker 1: want to get y'all confused by sitting here and reading
Speaker 1: out the list of eligibility requirements. What I can do
Speaker 1: is put a link to the articles that I have
Speaker 1: been reading that have that information and just tell you guys,
Speaker 1: to call Naviant. If you see that you may qualify
Speaker 1: based on these eligibility requirements, then I would say, pick
Speaker 1: up the phone and call. If not, they've got until
Speaker 1: July of twenty twenty two to call you or reach
Speaker 1: out to you in some form or fashion. So if
Speaker 1: you just want to hang out and chill and wait,
Speaker 1: you can do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, who's waiting?
Speaker 1: Though, I mean, listen, I would be if I had,
Speaker 1: you know, Navvy a loans. It's it's really disheartening. I mean,
Speaker 1: I feel like we're at this time now where you
Speaker 1: were two years in since Biden was elected, and you
Speaker 1: do you. I was hoping that by now there would
Speaker 1: at least be an announcement of some debt cancelation. And
Speaker 1: I mean, I know there was all this like back
Speaker 1: and forth about what he wasn't going to do the
Speaker 1: full amount that progressives wanted me he would do like
Speaker 1: ten thousand something like that. But there's been nothing, you know,
Speaker 1: so something is better than nothing. But in the meantime,
Speaker 1: this news, which is a whole different like case. This
Speaker 1: is a lawsuit that was filed by several states against Naviant,
Speaker 1: So this is a settlement from that lawsuit. This is
Speaker 1: an entirely non government related, you know case right now.
Speaker 1: But at least sixty six thousand borrowers will get some
Speaker 1: relief for their loans. So call your call Naviant up
Speaker 1: if your loans are from Naviant and find out if
Speaker 1: you're one of those or like we said, you can
Speaker 1: wait until you know, check your inbox, check your mailbox
Speaker 1: till July.
Speaker 2: I'm going to be checking for sure because you still.
Speaker 1: Have student loans, are you?
Speaker 2: I do, but I don't have that much.
Speaker 1: It's only like thirty k, only thirty k compare.
Speaker 2: To everybody else. I was like, that's not that bad.
Speaker 2: I thought it was bad, But no, that's true. When
Speaker 2: is your graduate I still paying down twenty nineteen?
Speaker 1: Okay, I know, baby, full ten listen, you're right though
Speaker 1: thirty k is not as bad as it definitely could
Speaker 1: have done. So you'll get them done.
Speaker 2: I don't have to pay right now. We're still good
Speaker 2: till May. I think.
Speaker 1: I think you're right. Yeah, payments are I know payments
Speaker 1: are paused until May. At least that's something. Yeah, alrighty,
Speaker 1: let's so now we can get to miss Irene if
Speaker 1: you want to read a question. The next couple of
Speaker 1: questions are career questions, which are my favorite.
Speaker 2: Miss Irene. I'm currently an active duty military member living
Speaker 2: in Maryland with an enlistment ending in August of twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two. But I'm applying for a clinical psychology program
Speaker 2: that would allow me to stay in the military for
Speaker 2: at least twelve more years and provide me with a
Speaker 2: doctorate education without student loan deb The issue here is
Speaker 2: that if I do not get into the program, I
Speaker 2: will have to join the civilian workforce without any experience
Speaker 2: in the field that I will be entering, and the
Speaker 2: field is industrial organizational psychology. I will have my masters
Speaker 2: in this field, but yet again, no experience. How do
Speaker 2: you suggest that I make myself desirable for employers? That's
Speaker 2: the first question. Is it worth my time and money
Speaker 2: to get related certification from learning platforms to show my
Speaker 2: willingness to use valuable resources and to learn and develop myself?
Speaker 1: Ooh, this is a ticy question, so forget all the
Speaker 1: details for a second. I get this question so often,
Speaker 1: as you guys know, through Mandy Money, I offer money
Speaker 1: and career coaching, and I have been doing it pretty
Speaker 1: much NonStop since July, and so so often I'm listening
Speaker 1: to women who want to know do I need this certificate?
Speaker 1: Do I need that certificate? I'm wanting to break into
Speaker 1: this new industry and I don't necessarily have a ton
Speaker 1: of experience, So how can I make myself more like
Speaker 1: she says, desirable to employers and show them that I've
Speaker 1: got at least the training, if not the on the
Speaker 1: ground experience. So we're all start right now. Is by
Speaker 1: saying education matter? You know you have the education here
Speaker 1: and the field industrial organizational psychology. I'm hearing more and
Speaker 1: more about this, but basically this we're talking like the
Speaker 1: operations of companies, like human resources departments. How how companies
Speaker 1: and their people work together. So this is a fast
Speaker 1: growing industry and it's fascinating to me in general. As
Speaker 1: far as like certificates from online learning platforms, do I
Speaker 1: think that those are necessary? I struggle with this because
Speaker 1: I have heard from so many of my clients who
Speaker 1: have gotten those certificates. Whether it's what's popular right now
Speaker 1: is like project management certificates, there are product product management certificates,
Speaker 1: DE and I like diversity, equity and inclusion certificates. Like
Speaker 1: they sell them through platforms like Coursera. They also sell
Speaker 1: them through like Google has on like a Google Academy
Speaker 1: or something like that, where you can get these certificates.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't necessarily put my money up for those types
Speaker 1: of certifications unless I had examples of people in my
Speaker 1: field that had success getting opportunities through having those certificates.
Speaker 1: I mean, these certificates like not only the money that
Speaker 1: they take, they also take time because often there'll be
Speaker 1: a multi week or multi hour commitment for you to
Speaker 1: take the course and then do whatever is required of you.
Speaker 1: So I wouldn't want to invest that much time and
Speaker 1: money unless I knew I was going to potentially get
Speaker 1: their return on my investment right. So I think the
Speaker 1: key here is for you to make connections with people
Speaker 1: who are in that field and ask their specific opinions
Speaker 1: or look for examples from them of people who were
Speaker 1: able to break into it by getting these certifications. In
Speaker 1: my personal opinion, I think way far and above in
Speaker 1: terms of value for getting experience is a personal connection
Speaker 1: to someone versus a piece of digital paper or a certificate.
Speaker 1: I think the more personal connecttions you can make, so
Speaker 1: that can be through your program. Like right now you
Speaker 1: say that you're in a clinical psychology program, it could
Speaker 1: be making connections within that program, with your with your instructors,
Speaker 1: with alumni. I tell people a lot of times when
Speaker 1: I sit across from my coaching clients and I ask them,
Speaker 1: you know, have you reached out to any of your
Speaker 1: peers from your college or from your you know, master's program.
Speaker 1: So often the answer is no, you know, it's been
Speaker 1: a few years since you graduated, maybe longer you've lost
Speaker 1: those connections. I think that's really important for you to
Speaker 1: maintain or rekindle those personal relationships because that can be
Speaker 1: a great source of knowledge for you when it comes
Speaker 1: to how do I get my foot in the door
Speaker 1: and I think for anyone who's entering into a new
Speaker 1: field with relatively little experience, you do have to accept
Speaker 1: the fact that it may take a little bit of
Speaker 1: extra time for you to find that opportunity, especially given
Speaker 1: right now what we are in with our labor market.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you and or even know it's a lot
Speaker 1: of people like hiring right now, but it's also a
Speaker 1: lot of people applying. Competition is fierce, it really is,
Speaker 1: and some of my clients have been applying for jobs
Speaker 1: for months, months and not able to break in. It
Speaker 1: genuinely may not have anything to do with you not
Speaker 1: being qualified. It just is that there is a ton
Speaker 1: of competition out there, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: that's why I'm saying, you know, trying to connect with
Speaker 1: people who are in that space and ask them, hey,
Speaker 1: did you find that this certificate gave you an edge?
Speaker 1: I would be genuinely curious to hear what you hear back,
Speaker 1: And even more so, what I think will give you
Speaker 1: an edge is any kind of personal relationship you have.
Speaker 1: There is so much value in having people in rooms
Speaker 1: with decision makers who say your name like there is
Speaker 1: that is where the power lies. So how can we
Speaker 1: get Irene on the radar of people in those rooms.
Speaker 1: Anyone who's like, I know someone Irene. She's amazing. You know,
Speaker 1: she's in this program. She's potentially gonna get her doctorate.
Speaker 1: But you know I would vouch for her. That is
Speaker 1: really going to be a game changer and potentially give
Speaker 1: you that extra like push that you're gonna need. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get back to these questions.
Speaker 2: Alrighty, So our next question is from one of our listeners.
Speaker 2: We're gonna call her Jasmine, and she states the following question.
Speaker 2: I currently work for a pretty stable company on communications,
Speaker 2: but it is a nonprofit and it's a career area
Speaker 2: that I'm not particularly interested in. I'm just beginning the
Speaker 2: interview process for two communication jobs with a newer tech
Speaker 2: company that admittedly have had some growing pains lately, but
Speaker 2: it still seems like a good fit. I assume I'll
Speaker 2: get more money if I take on this role. But
Speaker 2: this is where it kind of gets messy. I have
Speaker 2: a six figure student loan debt, and my current role
Speaker 2: seems to be covered by the forgiveness program that I've
Speaker 2: been with for five years. However, my husband and I
Speaker 2: are trying to have a baby and I know that
Speaker 2: the maternity leave at the tech company is better in
Speaker 2: addition to making more money, that would allow me to
Speaker 2: quit my side hustle and work from home full time.
Speaker 2: So on the one hand, I have the chance to
Speaker 2: clear myself of all of the debt in five years,
Speaker 2: but at the cost of making more working from home
Speaker 2: full time, having one job, having enough time to spend
Speaker 2: with my future child, and potentially enjoying the job more.
Speaker 2: What should I do? Also, I'm not even sure how
Speaker 2: to negotiate to make sure that I maximize the most
Speaker 2: of my potential career switch.
Speaker 1: Okay, miss jazz Man, not your real name, but JAZZMN.
Speaker 1: I love this question. So a lot of you guys
Speaker 1: like Jasmine are working in jobs that could potentially qualify
Speaker 1: yoursuent loan to be forgiven through the Public service Loan
Speaker 1: forgiveness program. I get that. So she's been in there
Speaker 1: for five years. I think in total, you've got to
Speaker 1: be in that job with the right types of loans,
Speaker 1: in the right type of job, and you have to
Speaker 1: like reapply each year for ten years. So she's saying,
Speaker 1: do I give this job? Which, if I go back
Speaker 1: to the beginning of her question, she says that she's
Speaker 1: not particularly interested in it. Should she stick with that
Speaker 1: job for five years just for the promise of maybe
Speaker 1: having her student loans forgiven and give up the opportunity
Speaker 1: to work for a tech company that could pay her more,
Speaker 1: give her more time off for her maternity leave, let
Speaker 1: her work from home full time, and most likely pay
Speaker 1: her more.
Speaker 2: What should she do?
Speaker 1: I mean, this seems like a really difficult question, but
Speaker 1: I'm going to make it simple. You and your career
Speaker 1: are what really matter here, and you and your family
Speaker 1: are what really matter here. And when I lead from
Speaker 1: that place, like when I lead from a place of
Speaker 1: is this the best for my family? Is it the
Speaker 1: best for my career? The money will follow? Okay, So
Speaker 1: I honestly wouldn't worry so much about you missing out
Speaker 1: on this public service loan forgiveness boat necessarily when you've
Speaker 1: got an opportunity to make what could be a really
Speaker 1: amazing career move for yourself. You're not even enjoying your
Speaker 1: job right now. You gave you said one of the
Speaker 1: words that whenever I hear it in my coaching clients,
Speaker 1: I just cringe. You said stable oo. Stable. Stable is
Speaker 1: for horses, Stable is for when you mount your TV
Speaker 1: the wall, you want those brackets to be stable. But
Speaker 1: stability in a job, it's it can be sexy. I
Speaker 1: get it like stability, especially if you've had you know,
Speaker 1: financial insecurity, if you grew up in that space, or
Speaker 1: if you're just a human being, like we all like
Speaker 1: to know what we're going to get in our paychecks
Speaker 1: week after week, and there is a sense of Okay,
Speaker 1: it's one less thing for me to have to worry about.
Speaker 1: But it's a lie. Even that quote unquote stable job
Speaker 1: in communications. They could fire you tomorrow, Jasmine, Like they
Speaker 1: could lay all off. They could decide that they want
Speaker 1: you to work in a different state, and you don't
Speaker 1: want to move, so we're gonna let you go. Like
Speaker 1: it's not exactly stable, is it? When you think about that,
Speaker 1: you are still at the mercy of someone else's budget,
Speaker 1: someone else's bottom line, someone else's business needs. So that
Speaker 1: is why I'm always reminding people you've got to put
Speaker 1: yourselves first. So the fact that stability is the only
Speaker 1: thing this job seems to have going for it, because
Speaker 1: it ain't pay and it's not your interest level in
Speaker 1: the job, doesn't seem like you're really getting a ton
Speaker 1: out of it. I think you are definitely at a
Speaker 1: point where you could really benefit from a new opportunity.
Speaker 1: If this new job in tech is something that would
Speaker 1: be interesting to you, it would be challenging to you,
Speaker 1: and it meets you where you want to be financially. Hells, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the perks, those perks, don't you know? Those are nothing
Speaker 1: to like bat an eye at. Like you've got full
Speaker 1: time working from home privileges. You know, you could be
Speaker 1: potentially earning enough so that you wouldn't have to work
Speaker 1: a side job, a side hustle, as you say, plus
Speaker 1: the time off to spend with your child. I mean, yes,
Speaker 1: you've got to put yourself first here. So that's I
Speaker 1: guess where I'll leave it. But again, just a reminders
Speaker 1: to y'all, Like I know that those government programs like
Speaker 1: the Public Service loan forgiveness. My husband himself, like we
Speaker 1: made a decision, what it is it like five years
Speaker 1: ago that we would just go ahead and pay off
Speaker 1: the rest of his student loans because we had the money,
Speaker 1: and I didn't want to be I didn't want to
Speaker 1: like feel as if we were waiting for a government
Speaker 1: program which the last administration, like the last president made
Speaker 1: very clear that any program that the incoming president doesn't want,
Speaker 1: they can just get rid of it, you know. And
Speaker 1: and honestly, things change so quickly. It doesn't seem like it,
Speaker 1: but things can change quickly when it comes to politics
Speaker 1: and government programs. So we always just put ourselves first,
Speaker 1: like what's best for us financially, what's best for our
Speaker 1: careers and money has seemed to follow. And as long
Speaker 1: as you continue putting your career first and moving in
Speaker 1: this direction for bigger and better opportunities, the hope and
Speaker 1: the expectation is that you will be earning more so
Speaker 1: that you can pay on that debt on your own volition.
Speaker 1: Oh one last thing, though, did you say tech? I
Speaker 1: like tech jobs. I don't know why I am er
Speaker 1: signing bonuses or not just for NFL players. Okay, listen
Speaker 1: when you negotiate, because her last question is I'm not
Speaker 1: even sure how to negotiate to make sure I maximize
Speaker 1: the potential the most out of this. If this is
Speaker 1: a new career area, I would definitely do your due
Speaker 1: diligence to find your market rate. So of course you
Speaker 1: can go to like your glass doors, yourpayscales, dot com
Speaker 1: to find what is the market rate for this job title?
Speaker 1: But even more importantly is start shaking that network. Shake
Speaker 1: them up. See who you've gotten your network? Who can
Speaker 1: help you figure out what you can expect salary wise,
Speaker 1: what type of company you're working potentially working for? Do
Speaker 1: you know anyone who works? Are already? Do what you
Speaker 1: can to find personal connections who can help you start
Speaker 1: to develop what your market rate should be, what you
Speaker 1: should be asking for, And then you don't ask for
Speaker 1: it right away. You get them really excited about you
Speaker 1: late in the job process, and when it comes time
Speaker 1: to start speaking about salary expectations, you know where you're
Speaker 1: you know what you're aiming for, and you're also going
Speaker 1: to ask for a signing bonus. Because they don't need
Speaker 1: to know, Jasmine, that you don't love your job right now.
Speaker 1: They don't need to know all that. They don't need
Speaker 1: to know that you've been waiting for someone to scoop
Speaker 1: you up and rescue you for months and years. No,
Speaker 1: they don't need to know all that, Okay, All they
Speaker 1: need to know is that they really want to work
Speaker 1: with Jasmine right and that they would love if they
Speaker 1: could poach Jasmine. But oh, Ooh, Jazzmine's already got a job,
Speaker 1: and oh she's got you know, four one K that
Speaker 1: she's been investing in through her job, and you know,
Speaker 1: maybe there's some money on the table. Jazzmin will be
Speaker 1: leaving behind if she were to leave, and they need
Speaker 1: to know that so that they can give you a
Speaker 1: signing bonus. And with that windfall, you know, think about
Speaker 1: the dent you could be putting in your student loans
Speaker 1: with that windfall potentially. So that's just some food for thought. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: you got to do what's best for you, what you
Speaker 1: feel comfortable with. But I think that the fact that
Speaker 1: you were interviewing is amazing. Keep doing it, whether or
Speaker 1: not this job works out or the next one, because
Speaker 1: if you're not happy and feeling challenged and financially, you know,
Speaker 1: paid your worth at your current job. I would not
Speaker 1: continue to suffer like that just for the promise of
Speaker 1: like a government handout essentially, like that loan forgiveness. It's
Speaker 1: just not how I roll.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'll also say like LinkedIn for me will
Speaker 2: probably be like the biggest thing that I use for
Speaker 2: the network piece that you were talking about, because.
Speaker 1: I didn't really have any as the best.
Speaker 2: I didn't have anybody that I knew and not like
Speaker 2: even if you just want to ask them questions and
Speaker 2: you could see their titles, their roles, if they work
Speaker 2: at the company, if y'all have mutual friends, and then
Speaker 2: you can try to get that connection there too, So
Speaker 2: that would really help a lot with the network.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. I mean, you may not hear back, or
Speaker 1: you may get a cold response, but it's not going
Speaker 1: to hurt you. Like people can say no, I don't
Speaker 1: want to talk to you, they can ignore you. But
Speaker 1: the fact is, just keep sending messages, keep reaching out
Speaker 1: to people, keep trying to find those connections. I mean,
Speaker 1: it could be, but so like it just so happens
Speaker 1: that like a lot of people, we don't even say
Speaker 1: out loud that we're looking for work. So how can
Speaker 1: we let our friends, our network work for us if
Speaker 1: we're not telling them, you know, what's happening. So I
Speaker 1: would use the fact that you're interviewing as a good
Speaker 1: excuse to reach out to people and to get their feedback.
Speaker 1: Right now. But very exciting, very excited for you. Good
Speaker 1: luck on the new baby. I hope you guys, you'll
Speaker 1: figure it all out, Okay, all right, last question and
Speaker 1: last question, what have we got?
Speaker 2: Less one? All right, so we are going to call
Speaker 2: her Linda, and the question goes as followed. I am
Speaker 2: a thirty one year old living in the DMV and
Speaker 2: I make fifty two thousand a year. Here's my situation.
Speaker 2: I was not looking for a new job. This black
Speaker 2: woman reached out to me on LinkedIn.
Speaker 1: Okay, I guess what's important.
Speaker 2: Flock point all right, reached out for me on LinkedIn
Speaker 2: about an analyst position at her organization. The job I
Speaker 2: have now is fine. However, I just got my first
Speaker 2: apartment and I can definitely use the salary increase. But
Speaker 2: if I do well on the second interview and they
Speaker 2: offer me the job, their max budget for this job
Speaker 2: would be a thirteen K salary increase. Should I take it.
Speaker 2: I really like the benefits package that my current job offers.
Speaker 2: The healthcare benefits of the new potential job are kind
Speaker 2: of raggedy, and I don't like the insurance. This is
Speaker 2: a newly created position, too, so who knows what I'll
Speaker 2: be getting myself into if I leave this job. It
Speaker 2: is also remote. Maybe I could leverage it for a
Speaker 2: negotiation at my current job. If they want me to stay,
Speaker 2: I will honestly prefer to stay here for the benefits alone.
Speaker 2: On top of all of this, I feel bad for
Speaker 2: leaving the team because we are very understaffed. The director
Speaker 2: who hired me, a black woman, has been on indefinitely
Speaker 2: since June, but nobody knows what's going on. Another person
Speaker 2: got let go because of a contract mishap with HR
Speaker 2: right before that, and they haven't replaced their position. And
Speaker 2: on top of that, one person is about to go
Speaker 2: on maternity leave. December is our busiest month. Talk about bad.
Speaker 1: Timing, okay, woof alrighty, So there's a lot going on here.
Speaker 1: I can usually tell based on what like the question itself,
Speaker 1: that people when people already know what they're gonna do.
Speaker 1: And honestly, it's not even about the money so much
Speaker 1: right now, it just genuinely feels like you are feeling
Speaker 1: okay about where you are right now. I know that
Speaker 1: I'm the Queen and Quintin and that I talk about
Speaker 1: quitting all the time, but if you listen to my story,
Speaker 1: I did not quit higglety pigglety. I did not quit
Speaker 1: like randomly whenever it just any old thing came across
Speaker 1: my desk. Any old opportunity came across my desk, it
Speaker 1: had to meet a really high bar. It had to
Speaker 1: be a significant pay increase most of the time, and
Speaker 1: it also had to be a really attractive opportunity in
Speaker 1: the sense that it gave me a new challenge, it
Speaker 1: gave me a bigger title, more responsibility. Whatever it was
Speaker 1: that I wanted out of my next opportunity, it had
Speaker 1: to give me something juicy and different and appealing. And
Speaker 1: right now it seems like all this new job has
Speaker 1: going for it is an extra thirteen K salary increase
Speaker 1: for me. To be honest, when you look at thirteen
Speaker 1: K over the course of a year, you know, divided
Speaker 1: up into twenty six paychecks after taxes, we're not talking
Speaker 1: about a life changing amount of money. So I would
Speaker 1: only take this job if you were really, really excited
Speaker 1: about the job itself. I didn't hear you say much
Speaker 1: about that. You may be a little bit too caught up.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's important obviously to look at things like
Speaker 1: healthcare benefit and other incentives, But have you thought about
Speaker 1: the job itself. Do you want it, are you suited
Speaker 1: for it? Is it better for you in your career?
Speaker 1: And it may even be that, Okay, it's a thirteen
Speaker 1: K increase, that's nice, but it's not amazing. But this company,
Speaker 1: this company is incredible. I've always wanted to work for
Speaker 1: this company, and once I get my foot in the door,
Speaker 1: I could see myself ascending and moving and grooving through
Speaker 1: the company to higher positions down the line. I'm not
Speaker 1: hearing that kind of strategic thinking. So I would sit
Speaker 1: with that for a minute and look at that look
Speaker 1: at that potential new job from that lens. You know,
Speaker 1: what is the long term potential of you making the
Speaker 1: switch to your other points about like the job that
Speaker 1: you've got now, you like the benefits. It's obviously it's
Speaker 1: a known entity, like you've already worked there. But it
Speaker 1: sounds a little bit like dysfunction junction girl, Like it
Speaker 1: sounds a little bit like they're a hot mess. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're understaffed. December is your busiest month. I know that
Speaker 1: is obviously January. Now, so this is from a few
Speaker 1: weeks ago when you sent this, But how much of
Speaker 1: that is actually your responsibility to fix? At the end
Speaker 1: of the day, we feel a sense of duty and
Speaker 1: a sense of loyalty to our colleagues, which isn't a
Speaker 1: bad thing. We want to be a good team player,
Speaker 1: We want to help everybody, but at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, you have got to put your own career,
Speaker 1: your family's needs, your financial concerns front and center. It
Speaker 1: sounds selfish because it's supposed to sound selfish. That's what
Speaker 1: I want more people to be. I think selfish has become,
Speaker 1: you know, in a lot of ways, just like this
Speaker 1: demonized word. And typically the people who are punished for
Speaker 1: being selfish, oh just so conveniently, tend to be people
Speaker 1: of color, you know, people at the bottom of the
Speaker 1: employee chain, the grunt workers, the worker bees. We're the
Speaker 1: ones who are meant to be loyal. We're the ones
Speaker 1: who are supposed to care about the understaffed team, Like
Speaker 1: all that responsibility is falling on our shoulders. I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: the people at the top don't feel that way. Okay,
Speaker 1: the people at the top are putting themselves first. So
Speaker 1: I want to like relieve you a bit of in
Speaker 1: terms of your career choice. Don't let it be about
Speaker 1: the struggles of the team that you're leaving. You can
Speaker 1: acknowledge that you're leaving would be another hurdle for them
Speaker 1: to overcome. But you are not responsible, as far as
Speaker 1: I can tell, for the dysfunctional management, the dysfunctional planning
Speaker 1: and organization of that company to have gotten to a
Speaker 1: position where it is now, where it has so many gaps,
Speaker 1: and where a person like you is feeling overwhelmed and
Speaker 1: stressed out about it. You know, like, ah, that's above
Speaker 1: your pay grade. I'm going to imagine, Okay, So I
Speaker 1: would relieve you a little bit of that stress, and
Speaker 1: I would not factor that into your decision. I would
Speaker 1: bring it back to what I originally said. When it
Speaker 1: comes to this new job, what do they have going
Speaker 1: for it besides the thirteen K salary increase? Thirteen K
Speaker 1: is decent, But for me, I'm an need you to
Speaker 1: find out more and have more reasons for joining than
Speaker 1: just that thirteen K increase. It's going to have to be,
Speaker 1: like I said, better opportunity for you. It sounds like
Speaker 1: you would like to work for a team that's got
Speaker 1: it shited together. I know, I know that you said,
Speaker 1: this is a newly created position, this new job, and
Speaker 1: who knows what you'll be getting yourself into. But those
Speaker 1: are questions you can ask during a job interview, like
Speaker 1: you can interview them as well, and you can be candid. Hey,
Speaker 1: the job that I'm at right now, I love it
Speaker 1: for these reasons, but one of my pain points has
Speaker 1: been the lack of communication, the sense of being asked
Speaker 1: to do more with less. What assurances can you give
Speaker 1: me that your team will be different and leave it
Speaker 1: like that? You can definitely ask that when you talk
Speaker 1: to a hiring manager during an interview and have them
Speaker 1: tell you what makes them different, How organized are they?
Speaker 1: How many resources do you have? You know, what is
Speaker 1: the support for someone in your role and that may
Speaker 1: be even more like valuable to you than even that
Speaker 1: thirteen K salary increase if it means you can genuinely
Speaker 1: feel like what it feels to work in a job
Speaker 1: where you got some support underneath you. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So I appreciate your question, miss Belinda from the DMV,
Speaker 1: but think about all of that, okay, And I'll just
Speaker 1: leave you with this. The fact that a woman reached
Speaker 1: out to you on LinkedIn tells me that your LinkedIn
Speaker 1: is good. Like you are being found by recruiters and
Speaker 1: if it's not this opportunity, it could very well be
Speaker 1: another one down the line. So if you feel okay
Speaker 1: where you're at now financial, your sound, career wise, you're fine.
Speaker 1: You can deal with the dysfunction junction for a little
Speaker 1: bit longer. Keep your eyes peeled for opportunities on LinkedIn
Speaker 1: like you've been doing, but keep interviewing. There may be
Speaker 1: a job that gives you everything you wanted more. It
Speaker 1: just hasn't found you yet. Okay. The end, poor ambush
Speaker 1: is like, yeah, maybe talks real good.
Speaker 2: All of that, all of that and more, all.
Speaker 1: That, Well, thank you so much for the question, Melinda,
Speaker 1: And I forget Melinda. Oh yeah, Melinda is a pseudonym,
Speaker 1: so don't y'all go look for Melinda and the DMV. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's not her real name. Okay, thank you so much, Melinda,
Speaker 1: Thank you all for your questions. Amber. Do you want
Speaker 1: to take a stab at telling people how they can
Speaker 1: send us a question at Brown Ambition?
Speaker 2: Absolutely so. You definitely can get on Instagram and dm
Speaker 2: us and let us know. You can also visit our
Speaker 2: website and sum at your questions in there as well.
Speaker 2: Is that another way that they can send me a question?
Speaker 1: Email Brandambition Podcast at gmail dot com. You can tell
Speaker 1: it's ten minutes to the hour because I'm just getting
Speaker 1: all my notifications going off about my next meeting at
Speaker 1: two thirty. Oh my gosh, and you learn how to
Speaker 1: silence those. But yeah, we can't wait. I know the
Speaker 1: things give me anxiety too. Well. It felt really good
Speaker 1: to answer y'all's questions again, Like Amber said, hit us
Speaker 1: up on IG at our website, Brandambission podcast dot com,
Speaker 1: send us a note, briand Mbisson podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: B a Q and A is back, So start sending
Speaker 1: your questions in again and we will hope to talk
Speaker 1: to y'all soon. Byba Fam