Article at a Glance:
The second step towards experiencing more success and fulfillment is about how you view your career.
Your career is a business, and you’re the product.
Know your product (you).
Identify and understand your customers.
Identify and understand your best market fit.
Create a brand and marketing message.
Create a product service and maintenance plan.
How to begin:
Dive deep into better understanding your product (you).
Step 2 of creating a fulfilling and successful career
“You’re the product? Wait, what!?” My client exclaimed after I told her that she’s the product and making a job transition is a sales and marketing process. She was about to embark on a new job search, but the concept of “you’re the product” and “your career is a business” applies to any phase of your career, whether you’re looking for something new or wanting to have more success in your current role.
If you truly want to experience a fulfilling, high-performing/successful, and resilient career, it’s time to continue reframing how you view it.
In the previous blog post, we talked about shifting from the belief of: “I just don’t have time and energy to work on my career right now” to “spending time working on my career will give me more time and energy and by doing so, will make everything else easier and some of it unnecessary.”
The second step in reframing how you approach your career is to begin taking ownership of it. Your career is a business, it’s your business, and it’s time to start running it like a business.
Like it or not, you are your own boss. Your career is a business, and you are the product. But most of us don’t fully realize this concept allowing circumstances to direct our careers. Instead, take ownership today and start seeing more success by embracing the entrepreneurial mindset, becoming the CEO, owner, entrepreneur, and founder, and seeing more success by viewing and running your career as a business.
“The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are working for somebody else. Job security is gone. The driving force of a career must come from the individual. Remember: Jobs are owned by the company, you own your career!” -Earl Nightingale
Understanding that “I’m responsible for my career and not my employer” is where this starts. Your career is the bigger picture beyond your daily job that your employer has hired you to do.
As a business owner, it’s critical to have a deep understanding of your business to be successful and be willing to wear all of the hats. You’ll need to be the CMO, CFO, COO, CSO, etc…
Let’s start with what the product of your business really is.
You’re the “Product.”
Your career is your business, and that makes you the “product.” As an entrepreneurial business owner, understanding your product is critical. Where does this product perform the best? What are its strongest attributes? What is its purpose? In what environments does it thrive? Where is its best market fit? What kinds of pain points or problems does it solve? Go back and replace the word “product” with “I/me/my,” how would you answer those questions?
Who are your “Customers?”
Entrepreneurs have a deep understanding of their product. They also have a deep understanding of their customer. Your customer can be your company, your boss, your coworkers, the actual company clients, or even the hiring manager you have an interview with next week. Identify and understand their pain points. What are they looking for? What is the value that you provide? What problems are you solving for them?
Where is your best “Market Fit?”
By understanding the intricacies of the product and customers, you can then find the best market fit. This means having the ability to make better decisions regarding the industry, role, your daily projects, the types of people you choose to work with, and the office/work environment that supports you the best.
What is your “Brand Image/Marketing Message?”
Knowing your product and understanding your customers helps you develop a brand and consistent message. This is your professional brand, what makes you unique, what you’re known for. Your professional brand is the sales and marketing side of your business, and this is how you message your value to your customers. Having a consistent brand message will bring opportunities to you. People will seek you out as the solution, work, and projects you enjoy will come to you, reducing the need to spend time finding them.
A professional brand has four main components:
- Descriptors- who you are.
- Skills- What do you know or do better and with more passion than almost anyone else?
- Approach- how you work – work style, personality, and leadership style.
- Mission: What’s your desired impact? What’s your purpose?
Create a “Product Maintenance and Service Plan.”
By understanding the “product,” you also know how to keep it performing at its highest level, day in and day out. What specific maintenance does it require, daily, weekly, monthly? You’re the product. What do you need to do daily to be resilient and maintain the high levels of performance you were born to do? Being resilient, bouncing, and not breaking means eating right, sleeping right, thinking right, and moving right daily in ways that work best for you, the product.
You’re the CEO, plus all the other roles under the CEO.
Your business (career) doesn’t and won’t run itself. Remember, you’re the CEO, the one in charge, and are needed to make the decisions. This requires, like any business, that you work on it. Work on it daily, weekly, monthly, yearly.
Your overall success in your current job is directly connected to how much you work on your career. Working on your career is part of your current job. However, most people put developing/running/working on their careers on the back burner to be done when “I have time.” “When I have time” never happens, and you end up experiencing a career that lacks the levels of fulfillment, success, and resilience that most people want.
The previous blog mentioned starting with creating time to reflect on your career and how to do that. Now that you’ve (hopefully) done that, here’s the next step towards your goal of creating a fulfilling, successful, and resilient career:
Set aside time to reflect on yourself as the product:
- Where do you perform the best (types of environments do you thrive in)?
- What are your strongest attributes (skills and talents that give you energy)?
- What are you passionate about?
- What is your sense of purpose?
- Where is your best market (industry/role) fit?
- What kinds of pain points or problems do you enjoy solving?
- What is your leadership style?
- Keep going, keep exploring these types of questions.
And remember:
Whatever you want in life, start today. Not tomorrow – today. Let it be a small beginning – a tiny beginning. Your happiness depends on starting today – every day. -Jonathan Lockwood Huie