You can be more of who you are! - Step up to a Startup

“You cannot be anything you want to be – but you can be a lot more of who you already are.”

From our first experience with a classroom, we devote more time to our shortcomings than our strengths. Most self-development programs try to make us what we are not. Moreover, in many ways our culture is built around overcoming deficits. However, this is the path of most resistance. We are motivated by this idea that “You can be anything you want to be if you try hard enough”. The reality is that a person who has always struggled with computers is unlikely to be a great programmer. Build upon what you can already do. You may not be the best programmer or CEO-material but you may be the rock star salesman any startup team needs.

If you want to be challenged…

If you want to work where you and your unique strengths are celebrated!

Then consider working for a startup company!

Check out My Career City. The experts on staff help students and recent graduates find jobs in the fast-paced and rewarding world of start-up companies. Join today and see the great job opportunities they have available for someone just like you!

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Formula for Success - Step up to a Startup

Talent: A natural way of thinking feeling or behaving

X

Investment: Time spent practising developing your skills building knowledge base

= Strengths: What we excel in.

Most self-development programs tries to make us what we are not and focuses on the weaknesses. “From cradle to cubicle, we devote more time to our short coming than our strengths”. This is the path of most resistance. The reality is that a person who has always struggled with numbers is unlikely to be a great accountant or statistician. The key to human development is building on who you are already. You cannot be anything you want to be – but you can be a lot more of who you already are. Having the opportunity to develop our strengths is more important to our success than our role, our title or our pay.

If you want to be challenged…

If you want to work where you and your unique strengths are celebrated!

Then consider working for a startup company!

Check out My Career City. The experts on staff help students and recent graduates find jobs in the fast-paced and rewarding world of start-up companies. Join today and see the great job opportunities they have available for someone just like you!

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Go where you are celebrated – Why 99% of people aren’t satisfied with their jobs.

For many students walking out of University the future seems simple but not satisfying. We are presented with a degree program that promises more potential than it delivers. Soon the need for money, the opportunity for the dream job or the chance to please our parents has us at a job that we aren’t happy doing.

Over the past decade more than 10 million people were surveyed by Gallup. Only one-third “Strongly agree” with the following statement: “at work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.” In a poll of 1,000 people who disagreed with this statement, not one single person was emotionally engaged on the job. Through this study is was found that people who do have the opportunity to focus on their strengths are six times more likely to be engaged in their jobs and 3 times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life in general.

It’s clear that if you want to reach your potential you must work somewhere where your strengths are appreciated and your abilities are left unrestricted. Early-Stage startups are a prime example of this for one simple reason… they don’t have much resources. The average startup founder isn’t going to hire you to twiddle your thumbs and fetch coffee. They want you there so you can achieve goals for them. The only reason they’ll want you is because you have the strengths to achieve those goals. This may seem harsh but it explains why startup employees willingly pull all-nighters. They are operating within their “Strengths zone” where they are simply doing what they do best.

If you want to be challenged…

If you want to work where you and your unique strengths are celebrated!

Then consider working for a startup company and check out My Career City. The experts on staff help students and recent graduates find jobs in the fast-paced and rewarding world of start-up companies. Join today and see the great job opportunities they have available for someone just like you!

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Success or failure is in your hands - Step up to a Startup

If you consider that you are the determinant to your success, isn't it motivating to know that success or failure is in your hands?

There are only two constants to life.. change and yourself. Constant change in this situation means that irrelevant of geographic location, 'position' is never a constant. Our 'position' in relation to our goals or fears is always changing as a factor of time, resources etc. Want proof? Your friends, your financial position, your partner, your education or even your goals and fears have changed in some way over the last year, month or even week! Thus we cannot look for certainty in our environment, we must look for it within ourselves.

You can tell me what you want and you know what is required to achieve your goal. However, I ask you this: Your confidence, does it stem from your environment or from within? Do you believe you can achieve your goals because of what you have or will it be because of who you are? If you are the only constant in your life, then I ask you: are you making the necessary investment in yourself to be able to thrive in what ever environment you find yourself in? Is your character right? Are you motivated by the right things? Are your goals in-line with your principles? And do you even have core principles from which you go out into the world?

Begin searching inside yourself. Understand what you can bring to the table and where you need to improve.

If you want to get more for your effort

If you want to push yourself and be rewarded

Check out My Career City. The experts on staff help students and recent graduates find jobs in the fast-paced and rewarding world of start-up companies. Join today and see the great job opportunities they have available for someone just like you!

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The 4 Secrets to a Great Career - Step up to a Startup

I had the pleasure this week of going to lunch with a family friend. It’s always great to speak with someone who’s come from a similar background, there’s something that just clicks. On top of that, the food was damn good, but the food for thought is what nourished me most. Somewhere in between catching up and sharing my stories of the past couple of months, she began to share some advice…

Failure is inevitable, but it helps guide us to the right choice: Regardless of which direction you chose, you may not choose the first road you take may not be the right road. Embrace this as help not a hindrance. You’ll fail before you arrive at the wrong destination… that makes the cup look half full to me! If you keep your eyes open and take calculated risks, you’ll get signs on which path is best.

Distractions are all around us, choose the ones that will support you: Any time spent not working on your goals in my opinion is time you’ve spent distracted. Now there’s a difference between a healthy distraction and wasted time. An hour spent with a good friend is much better spent than an hour playing flappy bird. You have to find balance between work and play, but what play will help your work? Going on a date at restaurant and going out for lunch with your business friends will be two very different experiences.

The best option is usually at the compromise of knowledge and experience: The more you study and research is the more you gain knowledge of a subject, meanwhile, the more you observe is the more experience you have of the subject. When it comes to making a decision, the best option is where these two meet. You may not know or you may not have experienced, but someone or something has, find them or it and you’ll make better decisions.

Work for you, not the paycheck: This website is focused at entrepreneurs but there’s an unfortunate moment where your need for money will temper your desire to build your business. That is the unfortunate day you have to get a job. However, it’s very different when you look at it from this perspective. "I’m hiring your company to teach me and in return I’ll pay you in my services".  The paycheck becomes secondary and your self-improvement becomes the primary focus.

If you want to get more out of your student years. 

If you want to grow professionally and gain vital character strength. 

If you're bored with classes. 

Then check out My Career City. The experts on staff help students and recent graduates find jobs in the fast-paced and rewarding world of start-up companies. Join today and see the great job opportunities they have available for someone just like you!

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Choose the distractions that support you - Step up to a Startup

Distractions are all around us, choose the ones that will support you

Any time spent not working on your goals in my opinion is time you’ve spent distracted. Now there’s a difference between a healthy distraction and wasted time. An hour spent with a good friend is much better spent than an hour playing flappy bird. You have to find balance between work and play, but what play will help your work? Going on a date at a restaurant and going out for lunch with your business friends will be two very different experiences.

So when I advocate to you that you should sign up for My Career City and go work for a startup you may respond by saying you don’t have enough time or you have too much things on your plate. Those are valid responses although I’m not forcing the idea upon you I’m simply inviting to open your mind to the opportunity and check it out.

Take a moment to look at everything you’re doing and ask the question: What benefit does this give me? Give an honest answer. Look into the hours you spend every week and ask that simple question. The truth that will become very present to you is that there is a disproportion between what you’re doing and what benefits are coming into your life. Distractions are all around us, choose the ones that will support you.

If you want to get more out of your student years. 

If you want to grow professionally and gain vital character strength. 

If you're bored with classes. 

Then check out My Career City. The experts on staff help students and recent graduates find jobs in the fast-paced and rewarding world of start-up companies. Join today and see the great job opportunities they have available for someone just like you!

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Work for you, not the paycheck - Step up to a Startup

In this economic reality, the knowledge economy, the value of a work is on what they know and can do, rather than themselves. Way back in the day in the industrial revolution, what determined success was whether or not one could assemble the factors of production like labour, land & capital. After this period, one could become very wealthy by working hard in factories or in almost any field. Nowadays, we’re stuck in the same mindset that work or effort equals money. The truth is as I said, the new economy rewards what we know and what we can do!

The mass thinking is to find a way to argue for higher wages in jobs where they can exert the least possible effort. However, look around at all the greats of the new business age… Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, any Hedge Fund Manager, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. They don’t try to minimize their effort or maximize what wage they’ll be paid. All on the list were willing to work crazy hours, to sacrifice sleep, to bet the bank on their ideas and they don’t report to a boss begging for a wage. What strings all these wealthy people is not their desire for money, it’s their desire to make an impact.

Too many people focus on making money without trying to make an impact where they go. They don’t realise that by making an impact, the money will follow. Facebook has made Zuckerberg billions because it had a worldwide impact, likewise how Steve Jobs & Bill Gates changed the world with personal computers. Moral of this story is, when you get your job, look at it from this perspective:  "I’m hiring your company to teach me and in return I’ll pay you in my services".  The paycheck becomes secondary and your self-improvement becomes the primary focus. Don’t focus on trying to make your boss happy, rather ask: what need can I meet? What service can I provide? Work for you, not the paycheck.

If you want to get more out of your student years. 

If you want to grow professionally and gain vital character strength. 

If you're bored with classes. 

Then check out My Career City. The experts on staff help students and recent graduates find jobs in the fast-paced and rewarding world of start-up companies. Join today and see the great job opportunities they have available for someone just like you!

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Talent search vs. Passion search - Step up to a Startup

What do you want to do is more important than what you can do!

Far too many students believe that the key to success requires knowing more than the next person. We are reminded that it’s not always the strongest or the smartest but the person who wants it the most. Burning desire is often more valuable than a brilliant mind, solid networks or experience.  Those things may get you the job but they don’t suggest that you’ll be a success once you’ve been given the opportunity. This is exactly why I advise you begin with a passion search not a talent search.

Let’s say you don’t know a thing about an industry, or you have no technical skills in that field, but you have an indescribable passion for the work. I am certain you would be far more willing to run up the learning curve. More importantly, no matter how steep the curve is, you would be happier as you progress.  In any field of work you choose; Innovation is rewarded. Execution is worshipped! If you work with passion, you’re far more likely to feel compelled to make an idea a reality and follow through on the execution of your ideas.

I invite you to search within yourself first:

What work do you do best?

What kind of environments do you enjoy working in?

Are your goals in-line with your principles?

And do you even have core principles from which you go out into the world?

What are you passionate about? … Take time to answer that question with integrity.

Finally, are you making the necessary investment in yourself to be able to thrive in whatever environment you find yourself in and to make your passion a reality?

Invite you to read more about this here. Hopefully, at the end of this process, you may find that you were already on the path to a profession that you’re passionate about.  However, some may find that the corporate world isn’t where their passions lie. Maybe entrepreneurship is where your heart is. Whatever they case may be, I invite to consider the exciting world of startups. The jobs on offer in the startup community are so diverse it’s likely you’ll find a role you’re not only capable of filling but also passionate about. So check out My Career City. The experts on staff help students and recent graduates find jobs in the fast-paced and rewarding world of start-up companies. Join today and see the great job opportunities they have available for someone just like you!

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4 reasons you should be an intrapreneur first - Step up to a Startup

I had the pleasure of interviewing an upper student who was on his way to starting his 3^rd business venture. We had a long discussion about motivation, future goals and then entrepreneurial landscape. Of course we came to the obvious questions:

“What advice would you give to anyone who wants to try entrepreneurship but hasn’t started?”

“Just do it. The upside is there is no roadmap or template like how there is one for a resume or something. So you aren't really wrong, it just may not work.”

“Ok so then is it this freedom that holds everyone back?”

“Probably, but if you can’t deal with uncertainty then you probably shouldn't be an entrepreneur.”

Get your feet wet

The startup life is in no way easy. Late nights and early morning are a given. Sacrifices will be made. So wouldn't it be smart to experience the trials and tribulations first in a low risk situation? This way if you find out it’s not for you, you won’t have disappointed investors, employees or customers. Take a job at a startup to just dip your toes in, you get to experience the life without the risk of absolute failure looming overhead.

You don’t have the resources

Working for a startup is a great platform to help build your networks and meet people much higher up the food chain. Often, we have ideas but not the means to make them a reality. By working for a startup you’ll experience the pleasure of seeing your plans become a reality, while building the resources you need. Some startups are internships only while some offer equity, some offer pay based on performance and in some rare cases you may even get a salary. More than that, you’ll build up the mentorship, connections and friends in high places you may need in the future.

You don’t have an idea or the business sense to execute it yet

In this case, it might be rewarding to work for a startup in the industry you’re interested in so that you can gain experience, expertise contact and have time to incubate your idea.

You’ll learn more on the front lines than you’ll ever learn in a classroom or a book.

There’s no shame in working for a bigger fish

I’ll sell this point with an anecdote. I had an idea to start a social venture and after my partner and I spent 8 months developing the idea, writing the business plan and entering competitions. We found TWO startups doing exactly what we planned to do… word for word. If you’re entrepreneurial minded it would be wiser to go to these startups and offer your ideas, expertise, research and performance than try to scrap resources together and compete. 

If you want to do more than your peers...

If you want to be more than your peers

If you want to meet people your peers will never meet

If you want to accomplish was your peers never will

Then check out My Career City. The experts on staff help students and recent graduates find jobs in the fast-paced and rewarding world of start-up companies. Join today and see the great job opportunities they have available for someone just like you!

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Wanting vs. Doing a Job - Step up to a Startup

What do you want to do is more important than what you can do!

Far too many students believe that the key to success requires knowing more than the next person. We are reminded that it’s not always the strongest or the smartest but the person who wants it the most. Burning desire is often more valuable than a brilliant mind, solid networks or experience.  Those things may get you the job but they don’t suggest that you’ll be a success once you’ve been given the opportunity. This is exactly why I advise you begin with a passion search not a talent search if you want to step up to working at a startup!

If you want to do more than your peers...

If you want to be more than your peers

If you want to meet people your peers will never meet

If you want to accomplish was your peers never will

Then check out My Career City. The experts on staff help students and recent graduates find jobs in the fast-paced and rewarding world of start-up companies. Join today and see the great job opportunities they have available for someone just like you!

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