Formula for Success - Graduate to 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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4 reasons you should be an intrapreneur first - Student to 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 work for a startup and be an intrapreneur first! 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 - Graduate to 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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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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