282. Despite Upward Career Trajectory, Nothing Sparked His Imagination

Both of Josh’s parents are entrepreneurs who took non-traditional approaches to their work lives. So, Josh went the other way, at first, taking a conventional path: high school, college (earning a dual degree in computer science and electrical engineering), then employment at a company. One of his employers was acquired by other companies multiple times, and Josh noticed that he was learning many different areas of responsibility. He sized up his prospects for a long haul at the same company and, “That made me a little bit antsy. Sure, my pay trajectory would more or less follow a line that went up and to the right, but I wouldn’t control my career very much. Because of having watched my parents do their own thing and have control over their own fate, I just wasn’t that interested in doing that for 30 years.” He started considering other options.

“In 2009, things started to calm down (at work), so I went back and did a part-time professional MBA program at the University of Florida. I was thinking, OK, what’s the next move for me here? How do I get up to speed on business? It felt like the right thing to do was to take the shortcut and get the crash course of an MBA program. You don’t usually go too deeply into any one topic in an MBA program. You get a really good survey of all the different components that a business might entail. It took me from zero to pretty competent in business in two years.” Josh began to see many options, including an entrepreneurial path. He considered the job activities he had enjoyed the most and the interactions that had given him the greatest satisfaction. It became clear to him that he wanted to venture out on his own and find ways of helping others make the most of their careers.

“People ask me why I wrote the book on salary negotiation. My answer is, a lot of people were asking me about this stuff,” Josh explains. His interest in salary negotiation started out a lot like a hobby. “Most people have something they love to do on the side that they may not even tell people about. Maybe they tinker on the guitar, or mess around with home audio recording, or they draw or do digital design. Finding the next step can come from looking at those hobbies and asking, ‘Is there some way this hobby could benefit other people?’ Or, you might ask yourself, ‘Have other people already told me they’re interested in a benefit that my hobby could offer them?’ Looking for those clues is a really good first step to finding new opportunities.”

1. Accept new responsibilities as opportunities to learn.

2. Even on a traditional career path, you can find ways to expand your knowledge and skills.

3. Pay attention to your hobbies, interests and avocations. They are clues to your passions.

4. Listen when friends and co-workers remark on your talents, skills and abilities to see if their comments resonate with your ideas about yourself.

Fearless Salary Negotiation: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Paid What You’re Worth, by Josh Doody

The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future, by Chris Guillebeau