14 Things Every Young Pro Should Know About Life & Business
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The document outlines 14 important concepts for young professionals navigating modern life and business, emphasizing the value of time management, asking questions, humility, and adaptability. It encourages embracing failures as learning opportunities, building genuine relationships, and understanding personal finances. Ultimately, it advises setting personal goals and maintaining mental health to succeed in a competitive job market.
14 Things Every Young Pro Should Know About Life & Business
- 1. 14 THINGS should know about LIFE & BUSINESS
- 2. Young professionals are living in a different world than their parents. The world we live in offers both new challenges and new opportunities.
- 3. Too many young people are overlooking and not capitalizing on these opportunities.
- 4. Here are 14 CONCEPTS should know about LIFE & BUSINESS
- 5. 1. TIME IS ALL YOU HAVE. OPTIMIZE & AUTOMATE. CONCEPT Contrary to popular belief, money can buy you time. Outsource the tedious tasks in your life and business and you’ve just bought time to invest in your career and other activities. Time is precious. Use it wisely and spend it doing things that will help you get closer to the life of your dreams.
- 6. 1. TIME IS ALL YOU HAVE. OPTIMIZE & AUTOMATE. PUT IT IN ACTION Use systems that withdraw your savings from each paycheck. Use systems that save you time like Hootsuite or BufferApp as it relates to managing your social media accounts. Invest in a good cell phone that will make your quality of life better with an efficient data plan and unlimited texting.
- 7. 2. NEVER BE AFRAID TO ASK A QUESTION. CONCEPT Sitting back quietly can have serious results. During one of my first meetings with a particular client, I couldn’t stop thinking how he was looking at the wrong target market. Being new to the game and lacking the confidence to speak up, I kept it to myself. Ten minutes later, someone else brought up my exact point. Next month they got a promotion.
- 8. 2. NEVER BE AFRAID TO ASK A QUESTION. PUT IT IN ACTION Ask questions. Raise points. Contribute to the conversation. It’s better to say something to show you’re actually engaged than to sit there and add little to no value to the existing conversation. Sitting back quietly can have serious results.
- 9. 3. REALIZE YOU’RE NOT JAY-Z. BE HUMBLE. CONCEPT We’re a generation that is called narcissistic, egotistic and self-entitled. While it may not be true of the entire generation, it’s not going to be a stereotype that we can shake tomorrow. For that reason, young professionals need to understand the importance of self-awareness.
- 10. 3. REALIZE YOU’RE NOT JAY-Z. BE HUMBLE. PUT IT IN ACTION Understanding your skillset. Truly know your value to an industry or employer. Talk to others in the industry and don’t feel guilty when you go down an interview process to find out how much competitors are paying. Know your worth. Don’t be obnoxious about it.
- 11. 4. FAIL FAST. LEARN FASTER. CONCEPT Most young professionals aren’t tied down with responsibilities for the first couple years of their career. As such, you have the time to work late and put in the hours to take on new challenges and projects that will force you out of your comfort zone. When you do this, you’re able to learn more as you’ll fail at times and be able to look at that failure as a lesson.
- 12. 4. FAIL FAST. LEARN FASTER. PUT IT IN ACTION Don’t get caught up on the act – get caught up on the lesson. Ask yourself why you didn’t reach that deadline. Ask yourself why a client didn’t buy into your work for them. Learn as you go. If you can learn faster than your colleagues and learn about things they’re resisting, you have an opportunity to stand out.
- 13. 5. LEARN WHAT THE VETERANS RESIST. CONCEPT Look closely at what trends are changing your profession. Most likely, there are a handful of industry Veterans who are sitting back getting ready for retirement and paying no attention to them.
- 14. 5. LEARN WHAT THE VETERANS RESIST. PUT IT IN ACTION Watch for trends changing in your profession. Educate yourself on these trends. Make yourself a specialist. These trends could be what differentiates you from being disposable or not.
- 15. 6. WATCH YOUR BANK ACCOUNT WEEKLY. CONCEPT It’s important that you know where your money is going and where your money is coming from. Money management is something that isn’t really taught in High School or University but it’s something that is extremely important for young professionals to understand.
- 16. 6. WATCH YOUR BANK ACCOUNT WEEKLY. PUT IT IN ACTION Stop pretending money isn’t important. Accept the fact that you need to look at your finances. Get your money in order for not only your own sanity but also the sanity of your future partner.
- 17. 7. DISREGARD GRADES. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS & REPUTATION. CONCEPT Business is run on a web of relationships. The relationships with your colleagues, employers, clients and acquaintances will all combine to be a representation of you and your stamp in the professional world.
- 18. 7. DISREGARD GRADES. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS & REPUTATION. PUT IT IN ACTION Find people who inspire you and push you to become and do better each and every day. Spend time with people who challenge your thinking and will push you to do things that are outside of your comfort zone. Nurture these relationships and ensure that they are authentic and pure. Strive to give more than you take.
- 19. 8. DON’T EMULATE KANYE WEST. CONCEPT If you’re actually driving results and offering up clear value through your work – Well done. That’s the goal. But it’s also your job. Don’t forget that. It’s your job to create value. It’s your job to do something right. When you go above and beyond, take note of the humble brag or let someone else do the talking for you.
- 20. 8. DON’T EMULATE KANYE WEST. PUT IT IN ACTION Stop telling people how great you are. It’s okay to self-promote. It’s not okay to make outrageous claims like “I’m the Steve Jobs of this generation.” Let your actions do the talking along with your work ethic. People lie. Numbers don’t.
- 21. 9. BE PATIENT. BUT NOT NAÏVE. CONCEPT It’s important to be patient in an industry you love especially if you’re happy, but it’s not necessary to be patient if you’re like a hamster running on a wheel.
- 22. 9. BE PATIENT. BUT NOT NAÏVE. PUT IT IN ACTION Ask yourself if you see your next step within your existing employer. Is it clearly identified? Do you know how long it will take to get there? Don’t be afraid to look elsewhere if you’re actually providing value to the company and feel you’re getting nowhere in your career. Don’t think of leaving as being disloyal. Think of it as knowing your worth and going somewhere to be compensated for just that.
- 23. YOUR WORD. ALL YOU HAVE IS YOUR WORD. CONCEPT Your reputation is everything. Hold on to what you built to get the job and evolve that into something that allows you to stand out as a true leader in your profession. It’s easy to work your way up the corporate ladder and forget about the things you did to get there.
- 24. YOUR WORD. ALL YOU HAVE IS YOUR WORD. PUT IT IN ACTION Be there for your meeting if you schedule one. It’s called respect. Bend your back to deliver your promises. Focus on keeping your promises instead of brushing off interns or appointments with sales reps. Gain respect by keeping your word.
- 25. THINGS WON’T JUST “WORK OUT.” CONCEPT Everything will not always work out in the end. You have to do things to make them work. Yes, everything happens for a reason, but you can and have to influence what those things are.
- 26. THINGS WON’T JUST “WORK OUT.” PUT IT IN ACTION Spend the extra time to make your work better. It won’t just all work out if you go home early because you’re not interested in working late. Don’t justify laziness with excuses. Successful leaders and professionals work the hardest.
- 27. CREATE MULTIPLE STREAMS OF REVENUE. CONCEPT What would you do if you lost your job tomorrow? It would be the end of your biggest stream of revenue and what keeps the lights on in your home and gas in your tank. It’s important to have more than one stream of revenue, also known as a side-hustle.
- 28. CREATE MULTIPLE STREAMS OF REVENUE. PUT IT IN ACTION Take advantage of the internet’s ease of starting a side hustle. You can rent your home on sites like AirBnB, sell your services on sites like Elance or Odesk, or even sell your homemade arts and crafts on sites like Etsy. Start a side hustle and maybe someday it could become your main hustle!
- 29. SET NO EXPECTATIONS. CREATE YOUR OWN STORY. CONCEPT Society is filled with expectations. Specifically, there are expectations at every stage in our lives. Forget that noise. Focus on what you really want out of life and don’t let external forces influence what you want to do.
- 30. SET NO EXPECTATIONS. CREATE YOUR OWN STORY. PUT IT IN ACTION Don’t try to keep up with the “Joneses”. Take a deep breath and spend some time looking at the person in the mirror. Set short and long term goals. Make the short term goals tangible accomplishments that will help you get closer to achieving those longer term goals.
- 31. MENTAL HEALTH IS NO JOKE. MANAGE YOUR BRAIN. CONCEPT You need to look at your brain for what it is, an organ, and like any other organ, it requires nutrients and exercise to stay healthy. Sometimes you’re lucky enough to have a support system in place to keep you grounded but some people aren’t that fortunate.
- 32. MENTAL HEALTH IS NO JOKE. MANAGE YOUR BRAIN. PUT IT IN ACTION Accept the fact that you have flaws and that nothing is perfect. Understand that it’s okay to be depressed and it’s okay to talk about it. Everyone goes through ups and downs and that it’s just the way life works. Focus on your sanity. Focus on what makes you happy. Focus on you.
- 33. In a competitive job market and at a time when life can be more confusing than straight forward, young professionals are forced to juggle a wide range of roles and wear multiple hats.
- 34. Take these concepts, put them into action, and be well prepared. Set goals, work hard, and reap the successes.