In this conversation with Chris we get deep into how:

• Take off some of the pressure by learning the difference between a startup and an income generating project.
• Learn how a side hustle is different from being a full blown entrepreneur.
• There is nothing wrong with you if you don’t want to quit your job tomorrow and take a big risk to start your own thing. You have other options.
• Not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur but that doesn’t mean you can’t have your own thing on the side.
• Learn how to decide what kind of side hustle is right for you.
• How you can use your power of observation and curiosity to find possible side hustles that fit you.
• Learn the steps to identify and execute an effective side hustle.
• Learn how to truly identify and get specific with your ideal customer.

I remember in 2006 I had just been fired from a job that I hated.

I was pretty determined to not have to go back to “just another job” where I would spend my days just waiting for the weekend as I grinded it out in meetings that had no meaning to me.

So I began learning everything I could about people who get well paid AND love their work. Let’s call these people “Happy High Achievers”

One of the things that I observed right away is that Happy High Achievers don’t often get jobs by traditional means. When you’re outside and looking in it almost seems random. It’s not though.

It also doesn’t have anything to do with applying 200 plus times on Indeed or LinkedIn.

So how do they do it?

Well we’ve talked in the past about the importance of prioritizing what you want. That’s step 1, you must understand where you’re going to make it easier to get there. That said Happy High Achievers realize that people hire other people (not companies and not computers) which means that the very biggest short cut to finding work that fits you (or even getting positions created for you) is through relationships.

Now over the years I personally have found the very fastest way to begin a relationship with someone else isn’t networking events (and it definitely isn’t speed networking!) It’s also not social media.

Instead it’s through something far easier: introductions.

THE MOST POWERFUL RELATIONSHIP BUILDING HACK YOU ALREADY HAVE IN YOUR TOOLBOX

ABOUT EMILIE ARIES

Emilie Aries is the Founder and CEO of Bossed Up, an organization that promotes a program that helps thousands of women step into their own power as the boss of their lives and careers.

After having fought career burnout herself, Emilie made it her mission to share her experience and continue to educate women on how to craft happy, healthy, and sustainable career paths that focus on preventing burnout by providing support to help women navigate pivot points in their careers and lives.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

• You’ll learn the 3 core variables to help fight burn out
• We discuss how breaking away from “the norm” and changing your mindset will help you see and value your self-worth
• Why we should all stop chasing those “merit badges” if we want to truly thrive in our careers and prevent burn out
• Investing in yourself and why you should ALWAYS put your oxygen mask on first!
  • The power of saying, “No.”

• Learn why it’s important to be authentic and honest during the interview process and how it can put you a step above the rest.
• How can hard conversations lead to better opportunities?
• Learn how defining the lifestyle you want and including that want into your job search can make all the difference.
• The fear of money may be holding you back from making a change. Learn how to overcome that fear and get clear on your money situation.
• Could staying in your current situation actually be costing you money? Listen and we will tell you how to find out.
• Maybe that great accomplishment shouldn’t be on your resume - Learn what should and shouldn’t be on your resume when making an industry switch.
• Hear how not taking yourself too seriously and joking around can lead to more connections and more opportunities.
• Find out how interviews can not only help you learn about a particular job but can help you define what kind of environment you will truly excel in.

What if you could have a system to rely on to make all your important decisions?

My friend Pete Mockaitis and I had a great conversation on the podcast today about how our decisions and needs evolve over time, and he shared a decision-making framework with two critical questions you can use as “mental weightlifting” to help make smart decisions faster.

I love his framework because it allows you to be less reactive and more intentional and proactive, which is very helpful in all areas of life (not just career stuff). I’d love to hear what you think, too!

Let me tell you about a great problem to have -- and a question that came from one of our students inside of Career Change Bootcamp, our signature program.

Laura said:  

“I'm really interested in a particular company, and I've now spoken to four people who work there. I've gotten really good at being genuinely interested in learning about roles and companies without actually "asking" anything...But now I want the job... so how do I graciously and not awkwardly shift the conversation from tell me about what you do, to... you should hire me because?”

Curious to know the answer? Or, have a hypothesis of your own?

Find out the exact strategy I recommended for Laura in today’s episode of the podcast.

• How to make potential  employers  feel like they are making the decision to hire you without any selling on your part.
• How to go from researching and exploring a company that you think is a right fit to getting hired.
• Learn how trust and relationship building are the foundations for landing your dream job.
• Understand how humans don’t make objective choices based off of resumes but instead on knowing, liking, and trusting you.
• How important it is to be a partner with the company and people you are seeking out because it makes the decision a shared responsibility and gives it weight.
• Move from being a job seeker to the researcher, the interviewer, and a partner in the process.

• Walk through the four questions you must ask yourself before giving yourself permission to make a substantial life change and leave the work that doesn’t fit you.

• How to determine if you can make a clean getaway or if it’s time to find a bridge job to get you where you want to go.
• Find out what can happen if you jump right into an opportunity just because it’s there without first doing the work to figure out what you want.
• How taking a sabbatical, if you can endure it financially, can lead you to the right next steps.
• How to get past the fear that you will just be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
• When is it okay to leave your job with nothing else lined up?
• Learn how much time you should budget to allow you to find your next opportunity that is the right fit.
• Learn about a bridge job and whether it’s a good step for you.

Today’s guest, Dan Cumberland, is a former youth pastor who suffered what he described as a “theological breakdown” early in his career. The power of suggestion took him down a career path that never quite fit him, but seemed right at the time.

(Can you relate?)

In his journey to get back on a path that matched his personality, Dan researched and developed his philosophy behind fulfilling career pathing and founded The Meaning Movement, a business and podcast where he helps folks with this kind of stuff every day.

In this episode of the podcast, we go really really deep into how...:

• The voices from parents, friends, family, and others in your life shape who you are and what you do -- and what to do about it.
• Language decisions and how you describe experiences can shape that experience and your future thoughts around it. (And why the power of suggestion can be so crippling in career pathing!)
• Your love of finding the best pizza can guide you to a deeper underlying theme in your quest for meaning.
• To define your dream job (using the four Ps framework) to discover work that’s more meaningful to you.

Aaaaaand...I’m back!

I hope you enjoyed last week’s message from Lisa and Josh to celebrate our 200th episode of the podcast.

(I still cannot believe it’s already been four years of podcasting. We covered a lot of ground in those episodes!!!)

And don’t worry: there are still plenty of topics that we could do 200 (or more) episodes on.

For example: do you recognize any of yourself in this story?

“If you are someone who is a rule follower, a successful person, we are brought up in these systems and taught if you do the right things, do well in school, pick the right major, follow all these steps then you will be happy. The world doesn’t work like that. It’s like this big insight that hits you. I felt like I had done everything right and ticked all the boxes. Went to skill, got my undergrad degree, top of my class, and got my masters, ready to conquer the world. I took a job with a salary that was less than I could live and commute on. I was commuting back and forth to New York City two hours, each day, to a job that was not a fit for me at all. It was a small environment in a room with three other people, not a lot of autonomy, but I intellectualized it away instead of listening to what I knew about myself - that I needed a high degree of being self-directed in my work.

“I was giving my life, time, power, and energy away. I sat there and was so burnt out - physically, mentally, emotionally. A hair-trigger event could set me off. One piece of bad feedback, a surprise email. I was so low anything could send me into that tailspin. That was my lightbulb moment of saying ‘this is not who I am,’ and that person deep down, that kid that was ambitious filled with hope and positivity and being so excited about the world ahead of me spoke up and said, ‘This is no longer acceptable. You have to start making changes.’ I had to look at all the ways I had let my identity, power and self-worth get wrapped up in someone else approving of me. My boss or sending someone my work, I had become so dependent on my work to make me feel good that I sacrificed everything else. My friendships, relationships, my body. I had to make changes.“ - Melody Wilding

If anything about this experience resonated with you -- and you’re ready to re-claim your own power in your work and life -- then I’m ridiculously excited to share this week’s podcast episode, #201 with Melody Wilding.

Melody is a licensed clinical social worker and career coach who is an expert on the mindset and psychology behind successful careers, and knows that taking a hard look at your life and deciding what you need to say “yes” to and what you need to say “no” to makes all the difference.

In this episode, you will learn...:

• How to have difficult conversations to establish (or re-establish) boundaries and gain control over your life

• How deciding who to bring into your life makes you happier...and more profitable

...and so much more!

Today marks the 200th episode of the Happen to Your Career podcast.

Can you believe it? (We hardly can!)

Scott started the podcast 4 years ago, back when he was also working in a corporate job that he liked well enough...but wasn’t his dream.

He had a WAY bigger vision for what he wanted to create in his life, and how he wanted to help people.

So when you’ve heard him talk about how to transition and optimize your life from good to great on this podcast each week for the past four years(!), he’s not just spewing some BS he read that morning on a career site. He’s lived it.

And, so have the people whose lives he’s touched.

(Maybe you’re one of them?)

Josh and I rounded up some of the people who have been an important part of HTYC back from the very beginning (people like Scott’s wife Alyssa, their kiddos MacKenzie, Camden, and Grayson, and HTYC co-founder Mark Sieverkropp).

Then I grabbed some of the people whose lives have changed because of HTYC, including past coaching clients and team members like Erica, Mike, Tracey, Josh, Kirby, and Jacqui.

I asked them each three simple questions:

1. Where was your life before you encountered Scott?
2. What impact did Scott and HTYC have on your life?
3. What's different about your future because of HTYC?

And their answers Blew. Us. All. Away. So Josh and I wanted to share them with you.

If you’ve been curious about what it’s like to get to know Scott personally -- or to get to work with him -- this episode is a must listen.