While Gen Y is known as the most entrepreneurial generation in the media, their reality is quite different. Over at US News and World Report today, I share why, instead of opting out of corporate life, young people have opted out of risk. Read it here.
Generation Y does not need permission to fail. We got medals and ribbons for that very reason as kids. Gen Y normalized failure. Failure is not scary. It means you get to stay in the status quo, which most of us are very comfortable in. You get to keep being who you are, and that isn’t all bad.
It’s success – that’s scary. Indeed, we’re not changing stuff up because we’re afraid to fail, but afraid to succeed. We need to let people know, “It’s okay to succeed.”
Part of the reason we are so obsessed with normalizing failure is that we want to feel good about ourselves. And that’s hard right now, no doubt. It’s hard to find a job, to get out of debt, to pursue meaningful work. It’s hard to make time for family, get away from our computers, and engage face-to-face. It’s hard not to compare our bottoms to everyone’s top on Facebook.
So, we embrace failure. In its call for speakers, the Dare Conference says, “If you’re willing to be vulnerable, admit your failures, and share what you learned from them, we want to hear from you.” Apparently people aren’t doing that enough on the Internet?
So, we court failure. This guy goes around trying to get rejected on a daily basis. He intentionally tries to fail as if that’s an accomplishment.
So, we sleep with failure. We dream of failure. We live with failure — as a point of pride.
I don’t want to fail. Failure is boring. Failure usually means you didn’t try something; you didn’t follow through; you didn’t finish. Most people don’t really fail. They succeed at being lazy, and call it failure. But at least they tried. Er, right?
Lazy is not failure, it’s just lazy. Practice moderation, instead of binging on inspiration. Practice patience, instead of quick wins. Start something, but then finish it.
Marc Andreessen, co-founder of the modern web browser, Netscape and leading venture capitalist, said pivots used to be called fuck-ups and begged for the startup community to put a little more stigma back into failure.
“We joke around the office that the worst is the fetish for failure,” Andreessen said. “You don’t want people to be intentionally encouraged to fail. Maybe it’s time to add a bit more stigma. The entrepreneurs I admire — I admire the ones who pivot but I really admire the ones who have persisted.”
Persist. It’s okay to succeed.
Ever wish someone would tell you exactly what to do and say in awkward conversations? I do, all the time. Over at US News and World Report today, I share a simple, but effective script I’ve used over and over again to negotiate salary. Read it here.
You didn’t get the promotion and are totally bummed. But were you worthy of a promotion in the first place? Over at US News and World Report today, I share the seven reasons you didn’t get the corner office (yet). Read it here.
I met long-time online friend Allie Siarto, co-founder of a social media analytics company, the creator of Entretrip, and a wedding photographer on-the-side, at a DC coffee shop near my apartment. She ordered the Yared, a large mug of orange juice steamed with lemons, limes and honey, and we talked business, careers and life. One of the questions she asked was, “Does stuff have you stuck?”
Allie told me the story of how she and her husband bought a house in East Lansing, Michigan, one that needed a bit of tender loving care, but was generally a great house. There was one room in the house, however, that she really wanted to renovate – the kitchen. Of course, anyone that has a house, or watches HGTV, knows that the kitchen is the most expensive to renovate. And yet, Allie really wanted a new kitchen.
So she kept working. She kept working at things she didn’t like to do, and let one deal go so far that there was little room to back out. The more claustrophobic her work became, the more the kitchen came into focus. Clippings were saved, ideas were paved. And the closer she got to new granite countertops, the more she wondered. For the sake of a future kitchen, should she be so unhappy now?
There’s something to be said for sacrifice. But you should also look at your needs and wants, your values and desires, and ask yourself, “Does stuff have you stuck?”
Allie backed out of the deal with no room to back out. She and her husband rented their house, kitchen and all, and moved to the East Coast; it’s temporary, but with opportunity. They found an apartment in Dupont Circle, a two-bedroom on the cheap, a favor from a friend-of-a-friend. All of the apartment owner’s things are still there; she uses his umbrella when it rains. And someone else is living with all of her things in Michigan.
She shrugs. This is where her story ends.
She smiles. This is where her story begins.
Crowdsourced-invention platform Quirky accused household gadget-maker Oxo of copying one of their products last week, specifically “appropriating a feature from a product called the Broom Groomer, which was submitted to their community in 2009 by an independent inventor and launched in 2010. Their product includes ‘rubber ‘teeth’ on the back of the dustpan [that] … quickly and easily comb out dust bunnies,’” report Oxo executives on their blog.
Oxo then fights back, explaining Quirky’s inventor wasn’t the first to come up with a dustpan with teeth. And neither was Oxo. In a brilliant reveal, Oxo shows that inventor Addison Kellley patented the idea in 1919, and goes on to methodically school Quirky on how patents work, and the idea that very few ideas are original.
Here’s how I’ve been successful in my life so far: I copy. Some of my first classes were in art and design, and the first thing they teach is: there are no original ideas. So start. Start by copying. Imitate the masters, make the same brushstrokes, write in the same meter. We like to believe we are all unique snowflakes, but a chair is a chair is a chair. Art is manufactured out of reverence first. Which is not to say that blatant replications should not be examined in a harsh light, only that the road to innovation is paved from imitation.
(via Oxo)
2012 was the year of money. I made a lot of it.
Making money is easy, making meaning is hard. Making money is finding it where you can get it, and last year, I found it everywhere. I had six different sources of income (eight, if you’re the IRS), that made me more than six-figures. Mostly from my pajamas at home, sometimes with a sandwich at a coffee shop.
Making money is fantastic. People that tell you otherwise, I don’t get them. Money feels good, and earning money feels real good. There’s something particularly great when you earn it directly, without a middleman, something about proving your worth.
Especially when your main activity prior to bringing in the cash was the torture of “What should I do with my life?”, “I want to do something meaningful!” and “I’m not living up to my potential.”
Making money after a constant wringing-of-the-hands is freedom. At least in the beginning. Making money after a career in non-profits and startups (my first job out of college paid me $26,500), is all the more amazing to me. No background in banking, no experience in sales. Just desire (and if it’s not obvious, a lot of work, positioning and connections, lest I perpetuate the myth of the American Dream).
Salaried jobs have a ceiling. You work, and “get a salary and a status bump with every sideways leap… flightiness is the new aggression,” argues New Yorker’s Nathan Heller. After job-hopping, you work and make more when you do more. And then finally, you work more until you realize you can’t make more. You hit the ceiling. Maybe with some maneuvering you could earn an extra $20K a year. But most people hit the ceiling and then settle.
I hit the ceiling and looked for a window.
It started with a dinner party. I met the owner of a small business, followed his company, and noticed an opening for a full-time marketing professional. I pitched him the idea that I could do everything in his job description for two-thirds of the salary and half the time. The next day, I still had my full-time job, and signed my first client.
“Today, careers consist of piecing together various types of work, juggling multiple clients, learning to be marketing and accounting experts, and creating offices in bedrooms/coffee shops/coworking spaces,” argues the Atlantic.
Creating a portfolio career, where we have more than one job/employer/client at a time is not for the feint of heart. Many of us have employers, precisely because we don’t like what we do. It’s easier to shift personal responsibility to the organization. It’s easier to play a pre-defined role instead of create your own. And despite being the most entrepreneurial generation, for many Gen Yer’s it hasn’t sunk in yet that a salaried job carries just as much risk as a do-it-yourself career.
Regular emails from young graduates land in my inbox, frustrated by their Starbucks career, anxious for “real work.” Their search for the elusive dream job lacks any real direction or enthusiasm, except for an insistence that they don’t want to be part of the sixty percent of America who can’t put a finger on what’s holding them back from their goals. Not knowing our purpose in life, it’s unbearable. “My insatiable desire for more money, knowledge, time and freedom leaves me perpetually unsatisfied,” argues blogger Ryan Stephens.
Gen Y’s overwhelming anxiety began long before the recession, and has only deepened after being forced into jobs we should feel grateful for, but instead only make us feel claustrophobic. Pile on the generation’s massive debt and unconscionable unemployment rate, and we’re at a loss to do anything but ask, “Now, what?”
I chose money, at least for the short-term. I paid off my student loans, maxed out my Roth IRA, built a six-month emergency fund, bought a new wardrobe twice, nested our new place, and paid for a two-week European vacation (with real beds and adult dinners). I chose money over settling. But I also chose it over meaning.
It’s here I’d like to say I proved my hypothesis – that you should make money, and do what you love on the side. But jobs that pay well require your full attention. And insatiable desires to change the world don’t just go away (darn it).
So 2012 closes how it started, between making money and creating meaning, a rock and a hard place. I’m relieved to have my finances in better order. I’m proud to have proved “my worth.” And I’m still desperate to do something with my life.
How do you reconcile your dreams with a paycheck?
I am an inbox zero fanatic. I like organization, and no clutter – at home and at the office. As a result, I manage to clear all my emails every few days. Over at US News and World Report today, I share the five strategies I use to do it. Read it here.
Did you know? Healthy employees are nearly three times more productive at work, which translates to 140 working hours versus 45 working hours. Over at US News and World Report, I talk about five healthy habits to build your productivity and career. Read it here.
While most of us dream about working from home, many who have experience with telecommuting discover it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. And once you start the challenges can start to outweigh the benefits. Over at US News and World Report, I talk about five issues to look out for, and how to mitigate the damage. Read it here.
People are willing to try anything to stand out nowadays, but baking cupcakes probably shouldn’t be one of your strategies. Over at Brazen Careerist today, I talk about the pros and cons of using gimmicks in the job-search, and how you can really separate yourself from the crowd. Read it here.
When both partners in a relationship work, it can be difficult to balance love with career. Modern romance often means no one is home to make dinner, and quality time can be hard to find. Over at US News and World Report today, I talk about the ten ways to still find success as a couple while pursuing a career. Read it here.