6.10 Writers Revealed Recap: Joshua Ferris & Michelle Goodman
Another terrific show! Joshua Ferris and I talked about office life and how it’s possible that the people we spend 9-12 hours a day with, how we know all these incredibly personal things about these people, we may not actually really know these people at all. We talked about groupthink and how it was essential that varying characters emerge from the “group” so we get to learn about them all, so there is more authentic truth of how offices really work and how we are all really distinct from one another.
Also discussed: boundaries at work, workers and are they office property, Chris Yop and the chair, Tom Mota’s rants, is the office their home? the furniture really theirs? the need for truth, the anxiety of layoffs, hysteria in the workplace, and why we call conversations in the office ‘gossip’ rather than communication and dialogue. Also, although the office can be rote and soul-sucking, it can also be a refuge, a place that some could call home.
Click Here to Purchase Joshua Ferris’s When We Came to the End
Michelle Goodman jumped in and we chatted immediately about how she left the 9-5 world and how she escaped being a wage slave. She offered great tips on how to make the leap and change your career:
1. Calm Down. Don’t Jump off the Ledge
2. Do Your Research. Don’t just browse the web and read books. TALK to people in the field in which you want to enter. Pound the pavement
3. Get Real with Your Finances and set realistic financial goals and budgets for yourself
4. Learn More about Business. Take classes, learn online, immerse.
We also chatted about how to find the career you’re passionate about, how to deal with procrastination, how to work at home and not go crazy, and how to make the leap from one industry to another…
Key websites to visit:
-score.org: great info for small business owners, learn about and take affordable classes
-anti9to5guide.com - Michelle Goodman’s website. Read the stories of other women who made the leap, how they did and how you can too.
-nolo.com: all the scary legal stuff translated to a language you can understand
-mediabistro.com: terrific resource for freelance writers
Click Here to Purchase Michelle Goodman’s The Anti 9-5 Guide
Missed the show? Click here to listen to the podcast of Writers Revealed.
michelle here, chiming in to add a couple more points on negotiating what you’re worth:
-do the market research, again, not just via sites like salary.com. talk to people doing what you do or aspire to do, and check with industry associations, which often do salary surveys.
-instead of coming right out and asking another professional their salary or rate (which can come off as rude), ask what salary or fee range they think someone with five (or however many) years experience in the field can command. or call your competitors and pose as a potentially interested customer. or check their site; some professionals will post their rates online.
-before you negotiate, figure out what amount of dinero you need to get for the gig in order for it to be worth your while, of course factoring in what the going rate is for someone with your experience level in that industry and geographic region. if that amount is $50K a year (or $50/hr), tell the hiring manager you want 10% more. that way if they haggle with you, you’re not starting at your “no way i am doing it for less” amount.
A great show, and thanks for all the advice Michelle - especially on procrastinating.
Regarding your last point here about asking for 10% more than what you’d need/your lowest quote would be, I can’t agree more. I think a lot of people will be pleasantly surprised as well that they can get that extra 10% quite easily. People undersell themselves, especially women I feel, all the time.
[…] had a blast yesterday doing an interview on Felicia Sullivan’s web radio show, Writers Revealed. (Podcast here.) I loved that I was on the “cubicle edition” of the show, right after […]
I just listened to Michelle’s half of the podcast (I’ll go back and listen to Joshua’s later I promise) and it was awesome. Chock full of exactly the kind of savvy and useful advice Michelle dishes in her book. Thanks for having her on Felicia!
Emira,
Thanks!!! for listening. She was amazing. Perhaps we can have a roundtable in the fall of smart women in business!
Cheers, Felicia
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