CFD 423 – From Career Planning To Entrepreneur

November 16th, 2017

Martin Yate talks about how being tenacious with your goals and focusing on building a career instead of just going from job to job is the best way to achieve your dreams.

Martin Yate is the New York Times bestseller of the “Knock Em Dead” series of books, which are collectively published in 63 foreign language editions and awarded as the best career planning books in the world.

Podcast Highlights

  • Who is Martin Yate?

Martin started out with three goals in life. Be a pastor, or become an actor, or write the great American novel. None of those panned out but out of those mistakes, Martin’s career evolved.

Martin spent twenty years writing and couldn’t get published. Martin landed a job as a headhunter, parlayed that into a position as a trainer. Martin started writing manuals and was eventually turned down by 65 publishers, but the 66th publisher bought the book and Knock Em Dead is now on its 32nd edition.

  • Where does your tenacity come from?

Martin is an immigrant to America with ADHD. Instead of looking at ADHD as a disorder, we should see it as a superpower that has to be managed.

Multitasking is one of the most used words in job posts, ADHD is multitasking with focus.

  • Why did you keep writing?

You have to pursue your dreams and put juice into your life. Once Martin found success with his first book, the publisher basically demanded to keep the relationship going. Books became Martin’s primary method of income generation.

  • What would you say to people thinking about building a business but are afraid of hiring?

If you can not hire employees effectively, you will not be able to manage them productively.

We live in an uncertain world. You have a job until your company can replace you with someone cheaper. Odds are you are going to be pushed out of your career at some point so you need to have an entrepreneurial attitude when it comes to work.

Technology has destroyed the traditional career. It has changed every job in every industry and made going into business for yourself infinitely easier.

Look at your career as training for your future business.

  • What does career planning look like today?

Once you get out of school, get a job in a big stable profession. That’s where you will develop the skills that will help you be successful as an entrepreneur.

The skills that appear in job postings like communication skills and critical thinking are the skills that determine success in every area of life, not just on the job itself.

Statistically, you will have around three different careers over the course of your working life. Put an emphasis on skill development.

  • What is your new mantra?

We look at the corporation as a new mother and father. Take everything you have learned and apply it to ME Inc.

Live up to your expectations and dreams and not your income.

Reference: Knock Em Dead’s The Ultimate Job Search Guide 2017, Martin Yate

  • Martin’s Takeaway

Start thinking in terms of calendars and not clocks. Keep your job and work towards pulling the trigger on starting your own business because that job is under writing what you need to be successful.

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