Countless employers are currently using the current economic climate as an excuse to take advantage of their employees. Just because they don’t want to pay their taxes doesn’t mean you should get screwed.

This post should help you distinguish between being classified as an employee vs. an independent contractor.

• Does your boss tell when what hours to work? How to do the work?
• Is the work you do dependent on the day to day operation of the business? Does the success of the business depend on this work being done? (i.e. Are you the point person for significant accounts?)
• Do you have to do the work yourself (as opposed to hiring someone else to do it for you)?
• Does your boss set your hours?
• Are you paid hourly? Or even salary? Maybe called a “fixed-fee” consultant? On set dates? (bi-weekly perhaps?) Fixed amounts?
• Do you have a work e-mail? A company phone? Company supplies?

If you answered YES to many of these questions, but your employer is treating you as an independent contractor then chances are you are a misclassified worker.

Maybe your circumstances require you to grin and bare it, but that’s not the case for many deceived young workers who are merely uneducated about this commonly used manipulation tactics. If you think you’re in this scenario you owe it to yourself to understand the law and what you can do when put in these unfortunate circumstances.

For instance, you may be entitled to lost wages (i.e. overtime that wasn’t paid, etc.), unemployment insurance, have social security withheld, and more.

Most of the time the employer knows exactly what they’re doing. But sometimes the employer is just incompetent and asks the accountant, “It’d be cheaper to have ‘em be a independent consultant huh!?” They don’t realize that all the money they’re saving is money you’re now paying.

If you think you’ve been misclassified here are my recommendations:

1.) Learn as much as you can about the various rules. Here are some good resources to get you started:
Independent Contractor or Employee? How Should You Be Classified?
(IRS): Independent Contractor (Self-Employed) or Employee?
Twenty Factor Checklist to Determine Independent Contractor vs. Employee Status
Be Careful Who You Classify As An Independent Contractor

2.) Be honest and upfront. Politely tell your boss you have a concern and ask them if they understand the rules and ramifications of you being classified as an independent contractor. Sometimes helping them understand the implications or just letting them know you’re wise to what’s going on is enough to get you back on track.

3.) Explain to your boss that if they’re going to treat you like an independent contractor that you’d like to make your own hours provided the work continues to get done. They might not go for this, but you might decide you like being classified as an independent contractor and start taking on additional clients in the evenings/weekends. Perhaps you can achieve escape velocity.

4.) Grin and bare it. Maybe the job still pays pretty well, you’re still learning, you enjoy the actual work and most of the people you work with. If you’re okay with your situation and are grateful for a job, have a family to feed, etc. you might choose to not take action. Or you might choose to keep working while simultaneously looking for something more rewarding.

5.) Find someone (like a lawyer) who really understands the process, and turn your employer in. This should be a last resort because it likely means you’ll lose your job, you could have to re-file your taxes, and it could reflect poorly on you to other organizations that don’t understand how you couldn’t resolve the issue another way.

Have you ever been misclassified? What approach would you take if were being treated like an employee, but paid like an independent contractor (i.e. no vacation, no matching FICA, no health insurance)? Do you think employers are trying to intentionally manipulate the system? (ps. The IRS is cracking down!)

[Your boss should also be able to spell your last name after a year.]

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We’ve been called out lately, by some pretty intelligent people no less. My initial reaction, particularly with Todd Defren’s post, which I read first, was to call bullshit and to write a rallying cry for my peers. Often my initial reaction is to feel backed into a corner and come out swinging, but then cooler heads prevailed and I re-read all of their posts. And you know what?

They’re right. Maybe not about everything, but it’s hard to account for the infinite amount of scenarios young employees inevitably find themselves in. You see, I just quit my job after only 16.5 months so I felt as though they were speaking directly to me. Am I just some entitled brat? In retrospect could I have toughed it out a while longer? In re-reading their posts I’m as confident as ever I made the right decision.

Here’s my evaluation of some of their key messages:

PR Prof Bill Sledzik — “Dear Millennials: Your parents lied to you.”

“Millennials were raised by parents who showered them with praise and awarded them athletic trophies for just showing up. Their lives were over-programmed, their parents hovering.”

Of course this isn’t applicable to EVERY Millennial, but it’s true, there’s no refuting that. Especially the kids from privileged backgrounds, the ones who think $60K and a corner office after 2 years is reality.

“All their lives they’ve been rewarded for effort more so than results.”

Working hard and having passion about what you’re doing should be a prerequisite for getting a job. It should be like having a high school diploma. Impact matters more than output, and doing your best doesn’t matter if you can’t execute.

I genuinely think Bill’s message was spot on.

Todd Defren — “Open Letter to Millennials (PR Industry Edition).”

“My advice then — and you may see it as biased — is to stay put for a while. I am talking 3 – 5 years, at least. There is no such thing as a perfect fit. You must create the perfect fit. This is your apprenticeship period. It is supposed to suck. There are supposed to be crummy days when you feel under-appreciated. Such days will occur no matter who signs your paycheck.”

This is the passage I initially took issue with. In my mind life is entirely too short to feel handcuffed in a position that ‘sucks,’ as Todd puts it. But read it carefully and you see that he says there’s supposed to be ‘crummy days,’ not consecutive crummy months. You DO have to create the perfect fit, and there will always be days where you have to find the silver lining.

I like that Todd explains further a few days later:

First, the clarification: it is up to the employer to offer competitive compensation and a satisfying work environment. Period. However, no employer will be able to offer competitive compensation and a satisfying work environment every single day, for every single employee.

So my point in last week’s post was to suggest that employees who encounter a rut or rough spot try to see it through, rather than throw in the towel.

That doesn’t mean “shackle yourself to the desk,” it means, “make sure you calmly alert the agency to your issues — and be a little patient as they suss out the solutions.” It won’t always work out. But it may be worth the attempt. That is Loyalty.

And just like that we’re back on the same page. There’s always going to be another company willing to lure you away for more money; however, if your present company is offering competitive compensation and you’re learning, growing and working on stuff you’re passionate about then enduring the bad days is just part of it. Sucking it up when you get yelled out every once in a while (though probably not necessary) is part of it.

And again, being honest about the things you have issues with and trying to come to a resolution IS being loyal. If you hang on for four months with no resolution in sight, and you don’t feel that you’re being challenged/learning/growing, then by all means you tried to accommodate the company and you can leave. Just try not to fall into a similar situation with your next position. Keep reading.

Jason Calcanis – “Red, Jackson, Gen Y & Loyalty.”

First, the scenario Jason describes is probably an accurate scenario that happens more than we care to admit.

Second, his advice for how to resign is solid, and there are some important caveats:

“If you’re not learning, enjoying yourself or developing, you probably shouldn’t stay in a company. On that, I think we all agree.”

“Tell your boss everything truthfully. Tell them why you’re leaving, where you’re going and what you’ve loved about working at the company. If they ask, tell them what you think could be improved.”

“If you would rather stay at your company, but need to make more money, be straight with your boss and let them know you would like them to match, or come closer to a competing offer.”

See a theme yet? They’re not telling us to stay no matter what. They’re essentially asking us to be rationale in our approach, to be respectful, to learn from the experience, and to try and avoid it again in the future. Speaking of which…

Mark Suster – “Never Hire Job Hoppers. Never. They Make Bad Employees.”

First of all, I like that Mark lumps all job hoppers and doesn’t single out Millennials as I’m hesitant to lump people together based on how many birthdays they’ve had.

“Quitting 1-2 jobs early when you’re young is acceptable. I get that when people are young they’re exploring life and work. But 6 times is a pattern.”

“ You’re in it more for yourself than your company. OR … you make bad decisions about which companies you join.”

Ding. Ding. Ding. Mark is right too.

So what would I say to these guys?

1.) Thanks. They’re obviously all smart, talented professional that have infinitely more world and work experience than I do and I actually appreciate their insights (for free) where I can consume them, digest them, and apply them to my own life.

2.) And they know this, but loyalty is definitely a two way street. Millennials are significantly less loyal than their parents were, but part of that is because companies are less loyal as well. If a company isn’t giving you a chance to learn, grow, and compensate you fairly then you need to be upfront and honest with them about your intentions. If they can’t resolve it, at that point you probably have every right to do what’s best for you. *Learn and grow doesn’t necessarily have to mean work on awe-inspiring projects. There’s lots of ways to learn.

3.) Most of us aren’t trying to make mistakes. And a situation that works out probably isn’t a mistake if we learn a lot from the experience. My Dad likes to say, “I’m 57 years old and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.” I can assure you that graduate school didn’t teach me how to know enough about myself OR how to interview in a way that enabled me to learn enough about the company to ensure a good fit. That’s something I’m still learning.

It’s easy to glamorize a ‘big name’ company or a cool industry like sports or music, but if those institutions don’t mirror your values you might end up in a precarious situation. Sometimes the best way to learn is through trial and error.

4.) My grandpa likes to say, “they call it a job for a reason,” but one of thing I admire about some of my peers is that they are out there in search of that something that will inspire them to do great work every day. YES, they should try to make what they’re doing a perfect fit, but life is short and being happy is important. It takes a long time to realize that being happy comes from within instead from the external forces that surround our lives.

What do you think? Are Millennials taking their criticism out of context and getting bent out of shape over nothing? What is your stance on job hopping and company loyalty?

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It seems to me that there are some people who go, ‘All right, I’m grabbing the bull by the horns. Let’s do this…,’ and there are some people who it takes a while to figure out. It’s an everyday struggle to be able to go, ‘I’m going to follow my own instincts — I’m going to try and hear my own heart, regardless…’

I mean, there are things that I want in my life. You can hide in your work, I guess I’m saying, or you can be alive and free and live in your work. You can pretend the people that you’re going to work with for however many months are going to be the family that’s going to be forever. But the truth is, they’re not. And no matter what relationships you make along the way – which have been occasionally really, really influential on my life — ultimately I choose all the mishegoss, and all the complications and confusions of life, which takes courage and patience to sift through. Over the temporary moment of ‘Oh, I’m comforted in the womb of this family.’ I choose the other. I hate to say this, but ‘it’s time to jump.’ — Jake Gyllenhaal – GQ May 2010

So I did the unthinkable. I gave my two weeks notice to SMC, in a down economy no less, before having another job lined up. The thing is I know what you’re “supposed to do” I know that they call it a job for a reason. I know that countless people would be ecstatic to have the job I had, and many others would be happy to have one at all.

I also know that I rarely follow the status quo, and I’m entirely too young to have my job adversely affecting the rest of my life on a daily basis. The day I quit there was an overwhelming sense of relief and I got the first good night sleep I’d had in nearly 2 months.

There were a number of contributing factors that led to my departure but suffice to say that it just wasn’t a good fit any longer. Sure I could go through the motions, keep doing good work, and keep collecting a paycheck, but that’s not fair to my employer or to my future. I want to be intensely passionate about doing great work every day, and they deserve someone who can provide that.

I had a good run, and I think I brought some good changes, some new business, and made a positive impact during my time at SMC. More importantly I got the opportunity to work with some incredibly talented people (see below), and I probably learned more about myself in the last year and a half then I ever have before.

So What’s Next?

I’m very fortunate that I’m the most frugal person you’ve ever met, and I’ve saved up over 9 months of living expenses. While I certainly don’t want to deplete my entire savings I do have a bit of a cushion to find something that is a good fit for me – case in point I’ve already turned down one job that would’ve been a solid raise within 3 months time. (Though I didn’t have another job lined up, I did open some doors before leaving).

In the last 4-5 months I’ve been fortunate to interview with 2 companies making great strides in this space, making it very deep in the selection process for one of them. Both have phenomenal leadership, and though I didn’t receive either position I’m very grateful for the experience I acquired going through the process and feel confident that I’ll remain on their radar for future positions as both continue to grow. Besides, what’s life without a little adversity, right?

To be candid, I feel a wide range of emotions: excitement, fear, relief, apprehension and few hundred others. But I’m also feeling reinvigorated and so in my quest for a great fit (if you have recommendations by the way I’d love to hear them) I would also like to get back into consulting/freelance work.

I haven’t done any significant projects in a few months now, but if you need help with understanding the value of social media, integrating social into your traditional marketing and business frameworks, relationship marketing, etc. please feel free to reach out. And if you know someone looking for similar services please let them know I’d be happy to help.

At the risk of missing someone I’m not naming names (save for Lauren, Teresa, Sydney, Jake, and Jackie) but a huge thanks go out to all my friends and colleagues in the space for their continued advice, help and support. I wouldn’t be where I am without the relationships I’ve developed with all of you over this last year and a half.

[Also, my family is the most amazing and supportive presence I could ever hope for.]

And finally, before I thank my SMC co-workers, if you’re an employer in need of a resilient, passionate, strategic minded marketing professional who insists on challenging himself and the organization he works for to continue improving and striving for excellence then by all means I’m all ears.

———————
As for my former SMC colleagues:

Matt – One of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. He’s so polite that it might come off patronizing to someone who doesn’t know him. To this day I often use his mantra of “What can you do about it now?” if I mess something up or find myself on the receiving end of an attack. Also, he introduced me to the great state of South Carolina.

Brittany – Knows more about college football (and sports in general) than virtually any female you will encounter. She’s stubborn and strong-willed in a way that keeps the office on their toes, and I definitely think she sometimes flies under the radar in her ability to create compelling strategy.

Hannah – We jokingly refer to Hannah as tax break because of her ability to always spill coffee on herself, but she’s gifted at finding the balance between work and play. She liked to remind me to ‘work smarter, not harder,’ and we had a lot in common outside of the office. I definitely miss our lunches where we talked about everything but work.

Linda – Our office admin always had the ability to brighten the day whether it was bringing in fresh cut flowers from her garden or catching you off guard with her quirky laugh out of nowhere. She brought worldly experience to an office full of 20-somethings, and lightened our loads by taking on a lot more than just admin work.

Bill – A very talented developer, one of few I’ve encountered who has the ability to speak in plain English about the value and business application of our proprietary software without confusing people with garbled tech lingo. Besides, Bill is a fellow Texan!

Jackie – Because of our mutual affinity for the social media space, and our ambitious drive to keep reading, learning and challenging ourselves Jackie and I grew pretty close during our time sitting next to each other in the office. His efforts to keep adding skills to his arsenal have made him an indispensible employee.

Jake – Without question, I learned the most from Jake over the past year and a half. He’s moved on to Fleishman-Hillard now, but as I’ve mentioned before you’re never working ‘for” Jake, you’re always working “with” him. He is a gifted leader who understands people as much as he understands business and his level-headed approach often kept our team calm during storms. In addition, his efficiency output is virtually unparalled.

Kathleen – I appreciate her taking the chance on a new grad from Texas, and accommodating me when I knew I had to return to my home state after the first year. I’m grateful for the opportunity and wish everyone all the best.

When anyone asks me how to enhance their job search I tell them to stop submitting their resume to the black hole that is online job sites (Monster.com, etc.) and starting cultivating their brand online. (There’s much more to it than that, obviously, but I won’t get into that right now).

The point is that while some of you reading this post have already built up your online presence or have taking the initial steps, many of you haven’t, and worse yet you don’t know how to get started.

And that’s where the team over at Brand Yourself.com comes in…

By providing a step-by-step road map the Brand Yourself team (a bunch of good guys FYI) make it very easy to have an online web presence up and running in a very short amount of time. There’s no excuses anymore.

Once you’ve signed up their system will take you through the process of building your very own website, LinkedIn profile and Twitter account. It will teach you how to optimize each to ensure you’re getting the most bang for your buck. Finally, it will show you how to promote your brand/content in the right places effectively.

Another neat feature is their reputation feed that makes it very easy to monitor your brand and stay up to date on industry news, and current trends.

My Verdict: I think this is a valuable, pretty inexpensive service for people looking to bolster their online brand, but aren’t sure how to get started. However, for people that already have good command of how to create a blog and feel they have a strong social media presence it probably doesn’t make as much sense.

If you’d like to give it a try and see what you think the Brand Yourself team has graciously given me 25 free premium memberships for one month to give out to my readers. That should give you more than enough time to acclimate yourself to the features and determine if it’s worth it for you to use the service.

If you’d like one of the memberships please leave your name and the best way to contact you in the comments below, and I’ll send you the promo code. *Please do not e-mail me your request or information as it will likely get lost in the shuffle.*

Finally, these guys provide a lot of value so be on the look out for (and I’ll link to it here once it’s live) their upcoming ebook, “From Tweet to Hired,” which features industry professionals like Gary Vaynerchuk, Brazen Careerist’s Ryan Paugh, Millennial Branding’s Dan Schawbel, myself and more.

Disclosure: – I received free access to the site in exchange for contributing to their upcoming ebook. They asked that I share my experience of their system with my audience, but there was no formal obligation to do so. I wouldn’t recommend anything that didn’t make sense for my readers or something I didn’t believe in.

If you’d like insight on how I would employ similar techniques for your small business feel free to shoot me an e-mail at ryanstephensmarketing (at) gmail (dot) com.

Enjoy!

1. Let’s assume you just opened a martial arts studio. You’re ready to begin classes. You have no students. What are the top three things you’re going to do to get the first fifty?

The problem with this question is the assumption that you should open a martial arts studio prior to acquiring any students. I think the first thing you’d want to do is start having conversations with other martial arts influencers and people wanting to learn the practice. Begin developing a reputation as someone who is knowledgeable about martial arts and then start providing value and building a community. Whether it’s offline, online, or both, the key is to get a handful of true fans that want to learn from you, and are willing to spread the word about your brand. Then you open the studio.

2. Do you think Twitter is a good tool for martial arts schools to be using? What do you think would be the best way for them to utilize it?

That depends. Are people who are interested in martial arts participating and having conversations about the discipline on the platform? A quick glance at http://search.twitter.com/ reveals quite a few people talking about martial arts so yes, it’s probably a sound tool. The important thing (unless you have a tiny niche) is to go where people are already talking and join the conversation – WHEREVER that is.

There’s countless ways to utilize Twitter. The BEST way is probably to engage people interested in martial arts that could potentially become your customers. You could also build Twitter lists of martial arts influencers, students, students by geographic location, etc. You can share links to good articles, videos, etc. I won’t inundate readers with examples, but there’s hundreds of ways to utilize Twitter provided it’s a medium your audience responds to.

3. Do you have any insight into how instructors could take your advice on building their personal brand, but not on what others want/think/expect?

All I mean by that is that people shouldn’t let others influence the path they want to take. So many people follow this unwritten protocol where they insist on being politically correct and ridiculously agreeable because they don’t want their personal brand to suffer. The problem with that is you become ordinary, and you don’t stand out to anybody. A lot of people think Dane Cook is hilarious. Plenty others think the guy is a total douche. The key is to be whoever you are without worrying about what others think. Define your brand on your terms and you’ll earn your true niche of fans.

4. Tell us about the tagline of your site: Building Intimate Business Relationships.

I think relationships (and ideas) are the foundation of good business so I’ve tried to create a platform where I can wax poetic about how important relationships are. People don’t associate with a logo the way they can a person, and people want to do business with people they like. Nobody wants to push 1 for the menu and the automated voice. I’m probably oversimplifying it, but that’s what it boils down to for me. Being genuine, helping people, and cultivating reciprocal relationships that ultimately help both parties achieve their goals.

5. Martial arts competes a lot with soccer, baseball, football, and other youth sports. What would you do to hold the competing sports at bay and retain more students?

I don’t think I’d actively try to hold other sports back. I think I’d do my best to tell compelling stories about martial arts. I’d try to highlight the benefits and unique selling propositions both for the sport and for my particularly school/studio. In lieu of competing with other sports, you might even try marketing martial arts as a supplement to other sports. Increase your concentration for baseball, discipline for football, quickness for soccer, etc.

6. Where would you place your focus more in 2010: Print Ads, Online advertising, or Other? Explain?

Again, it’s really dependent on the audience you’re trying to reach. Where are they? What do they respond to? There’s something to be said for a company, big or small, that can bring people together and engage in personalized and meaningful way. Personally, I’ve found this to be easier online. I don’t think it’s a coincidence a lot of money is shifting away from traditional advertising methods and towards the online stratosphere. I think it’s all about evaluating what you’re trying to accomplish and using the tools, mediums, channels, etc. to connect with your target audience in a way that makes sense (to them).

7. We like unconventional. What’s your top unconventional marketing tip?

Being yourself. Too many people, companies, brands, etc. want to follow others, to imitate rather than innovate, and to stick with what’s work for others, what’s worked in the past. I have a lot of respect for companies like Crispin Porter + Bogusky that aren’t afraid to take risks.

The truth is that I’m not the most creative person in the world. I like executing the simple things at a very high level. Put it this way: If I were a chef I wouldn’t use really fancy techniques. I would try to cook simple flavors better than everyone else.

If that’s not your approach, try to use the element of surprise to do things nobody else is doing. If it’s been done before, chances are it’s not that unconventional. Andy Nulman is the master of leveraging surprise.

8. Online video is getting big and will probably overtake many other forms of advertising in 2010. How do you use online video in your hypothetical martial arts school?

I would probably just show them the wise ways of the West Virgina Ninja.

Kidding aside. I would test a variety of different segments and see what people were responsive to. You could host very short videos where you demonstrated a move, discussed a mental aspect of martial arts, gave a tour of your studio, showcased student sparring matches, etc. The possibilities are endless.

I suspect there’s plenty of proud parents that would love to go online and watch little Johnny perform his moves on YouTube. It would give them something they could send to their friends, who could show their kids, who could become interested in your studio as well.

9. Lots of martial arts schools have trouble differentiating themselves from the other schools in their area. Facing this reality, what do you decide to do to make sure your school is the purple cow?

Pick out one thing (or a couple of things) that you want to be the fabric of why you do business. Execute relentlessly. Maybe it’s some of the strategies and/or tactics mentioned in this interview, and maybe it’s something totally different, but find something you can be the best at it. Then do that everyday with as much passion and as much respect for your students as possible and the rest usually takes care of itself. It sounds simple, but it’s the truth.

10. What is your first reaction regarding martial arts or the martial arts industry?

I know virtually nothing about martial arts aside from a few bloopers I’ve watched on You Tube, but I have great respect for people that have the discipline to hone a craft that has the ability to positive influence both their mind and body. That said, I’m pretty sure I could take Chuck Norris is a street fight.

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I probably read about 50-100 blog posts a day. A good half of these are probably business/marketing/social media related; down from nearly all I read about 6-8 months ago. In truth, that’s still too many, but I live in constant fear that someone is reading more than me, thus knowing more than me.

[In reality, there are lots people that know more than me. There will always be people who read more. And the doers not the readers are probably learning way more anyway.]

Carlos wrote a great post on this phenomenon.

The point is there’s an ebb and a flow to everything. I can’t read enough to know more than everyone any longer than a great blogger can consistently put out top quality content. I know this because I used to put out a top posts from around the blogosphere (of what I was reading) each month.

I remember months when Chris Brogan was stellar, others where Valeria Maltoni’s writing stood out, or David Armano’s. (For the record, Amber Naslund’s on fire right now). Bloggers who put out so much content will be better some months/weeks/days than others the same way baseball players go on hitting streaks or get in slumps.

Sure, the best players are usually near the top; but those top spots, they fluctuate.

That’s why most people settle into a niche.

And I believe it may be why many Gen Y writers are shifting away from writing about business, marketing and social media.

Seth Godin’s Linchpin talks about having the ultimate combination of high passion vs. high wisdom. And if we’re being honest, most of us who are Gen Y simply haven’t been in business long enough to necessarily have high wisdom.

If we stay with the theme of honesty, most of our elder peers would be reluctant to put us in the top stratosphere of business bloggers anyway.

The solution?

Get out of the echo chamber and write about our own lives.

Sydney is a great example of this shift that I’ve been witnessing for awhile now. As she was finishing school and scouring for an internship/job Syd wrote about a lot of social media and digital marketing topics, but shortly after becoming full-time at Weber Shandwick she altered the theme of her blog and made the transition to a much more personal route.

I can’t speak to Sydney’s reasons, but here’s my rationale on why so many younger (I’m trying to get away from the whole Generational labeling thing) bloggers are transitioning to a more personal approach:

1.) We blogged about social media marketing as we were learning about it, but we have the foundation now, which leads to…

2.) It’s so tough to break through the echo chamber day in and day out in order to stay near the top of such a crowded space. Sure, you can write an incredible post one day, but the next 3 you’re probably just adding your $0.02 to what Jason Falls already said.

3.) We’ve realized that social media isn’t this ridiculous craze, but that it’s part of the fabric of a lot of other things we do with respect to business. With the shine gone, perhaps we’ve grown a bit burnt out by all the chatter. Maybe our heads are down and we’re trying to get results, new things to talk about.

4.) With an increasing emphasis on relationships, transparency, and ideas we actually find reading about the everyday lives of others and the challenges they go through more pertinent. We still don’t give a crap about what anyone had for breakfast (unless we’re reading a fitness blog, right?), but we do like witnessing how other people our age are navigating similar career and social situations. Especially once we’ve grown to know these people.

5.) We’ve come to understand that with so much information at our finger tips virtually anyone can find the information they’re looking for online (how they organize and synthesize that information is a whole different story for a whole different post), and so maybe one way to stand out is via our ideas and our personalities. This is the goal of Brazen Careerist.

What do you think? Is the climb to the top a difficult one until you reach a certain point in your career? One that probably demands you’re a little older?

Are the reasons I’ve mentioned responsible for younger bloggers writing more about their personal lives and their own experiences than social media?

Have you made a similar transition in your own writing?

Photo Credit: Twiga269

Tweet This: (Copy & Paste into Twitter):
Staying on Top & The New Gen Y Blogging Trend –> http://bit.ly/75QCj0

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The Sundance Film Festival is about a week away. As a self proclaimed film snob, one of the films that I know will be phenomenal and that I eventually want to see is “Blue Valentine,” starring one of my favorite actors, Ryan Gosling, and the very talented Michelle Williams.

This isn’t a post about the film, it’s a post about Gosling and his approach to his career.

Ever since he slayed the role of Danny Balint in “The Believer” he’s acted in about one film a year, and none since 2007 until now. And guess what? He’s been great in all of them and most have enjoyed considerable praise. (I haven’t seen Stay).

In fact, I’m not sure anyone picks better save perhaps DiCaprio (since The Beach of course).

That’s an admirable trait of someone who takes great pride in their work, especially in world where Matthew McConaughy, Gary Oldman and Kate Beckinsdale’s agents all read a script like “Tiptoes,” and said, “You know what, you SHOULD make this film?” Wait… WTF?

And then there’s people like Eugene Levy who can’t wait to attach his name to anything that will claim him. And there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. He was a fixture in the American Pie films, and he’s probably made his fair share of paper along the way.

We hear a lot of advice in the online world about taking tons of chances, failing fast, and learning from your mistakes. We’re advised to try countless different things and to determine what works for us. People will not remember your mistakes, only when you succeeded and made a profound impact.

I liken this to Levy’s approach. Depending on your definition, he’s probably pretty successful, and nobody remember “The Man,” and “New York Minute.” Well except the Olsen Twins. But everyone remembers the awkward Dad from American Pie.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with this approach, and it’s a philosophy I’ve subscribed to and used in my own life. But then, isn’t there is also something to be said for the person who carefully picks each project with the utmost patience and discipline? How about the person who intricately maps out and defines their career path in such a way that they always seem to jump ship right before it starts taking on water, landing on another barge right before they find buried treasure?

My point is that both approaches can work.

Whether you want to make one film a year or juggle writing for five blogs in five different niches, the choice is yours. And here’s the fun part: There’s thousands of ways to obtain success, and hundreds of thousands of ways to define what success means to you. Don’t get bogged down by the details, and don’t think you have to choose an approach today. But when you do, make sure you have some fun.

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University of Texas head football coach, Mack Brown recently leapfrogged other prolific coaches Pete Carroll, Urban Meyer, John Calipari and national title opposing coach Nick Saban to become the highest paid collegiate coach.

Which begs the question? How much is enough?

In Seth Godin’s most recent ebook, “What Matters Now?” (a great read by the way), writer, speaker and thought-leader Merlin Mann shares his thoughts on enough:

How do you know when you’ve had enough?

Not everything, all the time, completely, forever. Just enough. Enough to start, finish, or simply maintain.

Unfortunately, foodbabies only appear after it’s too late. And, if your satiety’s gauged solely by whether the buffet’s still open, you’re screwed. Like the hypothalamus-damaged rat, you’ll eat until you die.

Before the next buffet trip, consider asking “How do I know what I need to know – just for now?”

Then savor every bite.

UT professors certainly think the salary is ‘unseemly,’ citing it doesn’t make sense with some lecturers, teaching assistants and staffers facing job loss.

It’s a fair criticism I think.

The opposite end of the coin would argue that Mack has helped build the nations’ highest earning athletic department.

“According to university officials, football revenues have quadrupled under Brown, from $21.3 million in 1997 to $87.5 million in 2008,” (ESPN.com)

Others will argue that coaches live and die by their performance, and that it’s easier to rally around a stalwart football program than things like academic research.

This is probably a reasonable juxtaposition.

Back to the question we started with…

How much is enough?

Does Mack Brown need $5 million dollars? Wouldn’t you expect that you could live a pretty luxurious lifestyle on $3 million a year? What kinds of things could you do with the additional money? Is pride a factor? Have you ever envied your neighbor? A fellow classmate who got a higher starting salary?

I’ll leave you with two articles to think about in context with this discussion.

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Ballard writes this gem speculating what would happen if LeBron signed somewhere in 2010 for the league minimum. Not only would it generate world-wide buzz, but the team signing LeBron could get at least two other high impact players. If LeBron was saddled with Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade is that not a guaranteed NBA title?

And then there’s CEO Derek Sivers who sold his company, CD Baby, to charity. Take a second to read about how he created a charitable trust to benefit music education. He had what most people will never have, enough.

I’ll leave you with this anecdote from another of Sivers’ recent posts, coincidentally entitled ‘enough’:

At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut tells his friend, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history.

Heller said, “Yes, but I have something he will never have: Enough.”

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Some of my other thoughts on teamwork and posts that might help you harness a bit of the secret for yourself:
You Can’t Lead a Team Unless You’re In It
There’s No “I” In Team. That’s Just Bullshit!
How to Guarantee People Want to Work For You
6 Ways to Build Better Relationships Wtih Co-Workers

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Unchecked Ego

Unless you’re LeBron James you’re brand probably isn’t bigger than that of your company (unless it’s tiny). Even then, you still need to be able to rely on the other member’s of your team in order for the company to succeed. How many championships does LeBron have with that supporting cast?

Sometimes employees’ side projects make them supremely confident in their abilities (this is good), but sometimes that confidence turns into an unchecked ego in which an employee feels that he’s somehow bigger or better than the company he works for.

As a result he/she might try to use their status to make unfair requests, slack on the job, and take unnecessary risks under the assumption that if the company doesn’t adhere to their behavior, they’ll just go somewhere else or start their own gig.

In fairness if their efforts to grow and become a better employee outside of regular office hours does indeed make them more knowledgeable, more skilled, etc. AND THEY’RE BUSTING THEIR ASS, then sure the company should try to accommodate them to retain the value they provide.

That’s not what we’re talking about though – we’re talking about blunt force ego that is toxic, and detrimental to what matters most: The Team.

Disrespect for Company Time

I’m a firm believer that what you do on your lunch hour is your time, but the first time you start using office time or resources to work on a project for another client a side project then you’re out of line.

This also goes for working until 4 am to finish something for a side project and it adversely affecting the work you do for your organization the next morning. It’s pretty much on par with getting drunk at lunch on Friday and playing Sporcle all afternoon.

The scenarios above are pretty blatant, but where do you draw the line? If Frank Eliason just answered 12 customer service requests and wants to rest is weary typing fingers can he read an article in his Google reader about the ROI of customer service that will aid him in a side consulting gig he’s doing for the local Elks Lodge? Maybe he clicked on it because it appealed to that gig, but clearly the knowledge acquired in that article could also help him with his day job at Comcast, right?

Stealing Clients

Personally, I don’t know of any instances where this has happened. I don’t know how you could keep it a secret, but I don’t think side projects should EVER be an excuse to swipe clients (“I can do the same thing for cheaper on weekends”) or even take on clients that could potentially be a good fit for your organization.

Case in point. I haven’t done any side projects (aside from little residual online web spaces) in awhile because I’ve been really busy, but when I did – it consisted solely of friends who ran small businesses who just wanted to learn the ropes of social media. Most paid what they could, which was great compensation for me as I simultaneously acquired more experience, but I don’t know if it would’ve turned the lights on in our office for a day. The one time a potential client came to me with a larger budget I disclosed to them immediately that I’d love to help them, but that I thought they’d be a better fit for our organization as a whole. More people = more knowledge, more resources, better execution, etc.

Though wrong, I could envision how the first two scenarios could slowly develop over time. But this last one (and again, I can’t speak to instances where it’s happened, though I’m sure it does) there’s no excuse and I wouldn’t want to with anyone that would sacrifice their integrity over something like that.

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Please weigh in. I know I’m missing other scenarios, but as someone who lacks the managerial experience of having employees do side projects I can’t think of any realistic and/or glaring situations I should add to the list. I’d appreciate your insights and would love to hear about situations you’ve encountered.

And after hearing the side both for and against side projects, which side would you take if you were a manager and your employees wanted to participate in side gigs. What rules/limitations/policy would you put in place for employees side projects?

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