Category: millennial

Millennials Hate Risk, Here’s Why

Scott Asai5 Comments

This article stated Millennials aren’t Entrepreneurs which got me thinking…how do we really interpret risk?

With a title like this one would assume criticism will follow, but you’re wrong.

Of course startups tend to be started at an older age. Life experience can be a catalyst for great ideas.

The risk Millennials hate is: lifestyle risk.

Why work a corporate job you hate, just to support the life you want?

If you dread waking up in the morning something’s gotta change.

Entitlement can be viewed in two different ways: deserving special treatment or not settling for second-best. The former is a stereotype, the latter is a motivation.

Companies like Uber, Airbnb and Nexflix resonate with Millennials because they tap into a deeply embedded value: if you don’t like what’s being offered (monopolies), disrupt it by creating a new category.

The irony here is Millennials aren’t the only ones supporting the above companies. They are just the pioneers.

Risk is defined as being exposed to danger, harm or loss. In business-terms, smart companies/entrepreneurs look to avoid risk as much as possible.

Society interprets living adventurously as risky, but every generation in their 20’s prior to having a spouse/kids travels (as well they should).

By not purchasing homes, cars and staying at companies past a year Millennials have turned risk upside down. Carpe diem.

Don’t ignore the future, but enjoy the present. If you plan too far ahead you risk creating memories now.

Act Like A Boss, Not A Friend

Scott Asai2 Comments

Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

If you have never been a manager before, you may feel as if you’ve been thrown into the deep end without a paddle. Becoming a manager for a group of people who you once worked alongside can be very stressful, it can feel incredibly awkward and first and you may feel guilty giving orders. The important thing to remember is that this is your career and you have been given a wonderful opportunity to spread your wings and prove what you are capable of as an individual and to grow your professional skills even further. If you don’t know where to start and how you are supposed to act as a manager, here are some tips:

Don’t become smug

The worst thing that people can do when they earn a position of slight power is to let it go their head and play it off as if they are better than everyone else. You are not better than everyone else, you have simply proven qualified and experienced enough to handle the responsibility of looking after a group of employees.

Act like a boss, not a friend

The important thing to keep in mind when you move up in the workplace is to balance your behaviour in a professional way. While you don’t want to buy yourself a crown and walk around the office calling everyone peasants, you also can’t have that same friend-to-friend relationship as you did when you were a lower member of the team. Now that you have found yourself responsible for the running of an office and you have to delegate tasks, you need to learn to distance yourself from the rest of the team in a way where they respect your authority without thinking of you as a dictator.

Discuss your new role

When you get promoted to the position of manager, make sure that you take some time to sit down with your boss and talk through the duties, responsibilities and actions you should be taking as a people manager. If you are worries about how to treat your staff and what to do in terms of talking to them and holding team meetings of your own- voice these concerns with your boss and they will be able to give you some advice on how you need to act in your new role. Take the time to also discuss what your goals are in terms of sales or KPIs within the office, and how best to delegate tasks amongst your team.

Learn the culture

Every company has a different way of working and different views. In order for you to find your place within the organisation and allow it to function well, you will need to take the time to work out how the body of the business works. Where is the brain, the blood and the heart of the business? What makes it tick and who are the key players?

Think back to your old managers

You may have had several managers in your time in the working world, and hopefully there will be at least one of those managers who you looked up to and saw as a good role model. Take on their ways and incorporate them with your own as you find your flow and get used to the role. Over the years you will develop your own way of running things- but when you start out it is helpful to have a role model to look up to.

Get to know your employees

If you have simply been promoted to the role of manager within the same team, then you will already know your colleagues pretty well; however, if you are moving to a new company to be a manager, you will need to take some time to get to know your employees. Make sure that you hold regular staff meetings when you first join and let each of your team members explain a little bit about the role they take on in the office and any projects they are currently working on. Continue to hold meetings each week or month to catch up and make sure everyone is happy with what they are doing and they aren’t struggling with anything. It may also be a great idea to take out some time to go on team-building exercises or even take the team out for dinner at the end of the month to get to know everyone on a more personal level. Although you do want boundaries, it is much easier working with people you know trust and respect.

Understand individual needs

You will be managing a group of people who are all unique in the way they think, work and who have individual personalities. You may find that you end up working with someone who suffers from dyslexia and struggles to read, or suffers with anxiety and struggles to talk. Making arrangements to accommodate and help these individuals will be what sets you apart as a good manager. Certain members of the team such as accounting may require a private office to work with sensitive information, so make sure that you cater to everyone’s needs.

Discuss your role with your team

When you are promoted to a level which is higher than your peers, it can be awkward and a little bit uncomfortable for everyone to get used to. Instead of staying quiet and beginning to act like a manager straight away, take an hour or so to sit down with your new team and talk to them about the new role you’ll be playing. They will understand that you have new duties and will be able to help you adjust to your new role with encouragement. Working with your friends is helping in this way because they can help you to air your concerns and feeling and reassure you that it won’t change anything with your friendship. You will then be able to transition to the role of manager with the full support of those you once worked alongside.

Working In A New Country – Survival Hacks

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Moving to a new country is a daunting and exciting thing, with, probably the hardest task is getting a job. Or if you already have one secured, it will be the language and cultural barriers that you must cross. If you have moved to a new country that speaks the same language as you, then you have a good step up, but there are always new things to learn in a new country. Before you move, prep. Use the internet to research where you’re going, have a vague idea of the layout of the town or city, and start to get to grips with the money, laws and traditions.

Language

The language is going to be the hardest barrier to face. The hope for most moving to a new country is to learn it and be as fluent in it as their mother tongue. And living in a different country is the easiest way to learn a new language, if only because you have no choice but to learn to speak it. You can find schools and teachers in any country, and, hopefully, they will do as the Effortless English Club in the US do, and teach in a modern and flexible way, and not like going back to school. You can also kick off your learning with apps like Babel so that you can get the basics down before moving.

Socialize

With neighbors, colleagues and anyone else you meet – make an effort to socialize, not only will you become more fluent when speaking, but you’ll learn more about the place you’re living. There’s no point moving somewhere new and shutting yourself away all the time. Explore and enjoy the place that has become your new home, don’t let work take over. Hanging out with people gives you the chance to learn about the local culture too – about the socially accepted rules, and the things to avoid. About any festivals or celebrations, any national holidays that you can get involved in and enjoy. One of the easiest things to do in a strange place is to shut everything out, causing you to feel homesick and even depressed.

Help

If you’re struggling to grasp an aspect of your new job, having a problem with the language barrier, or an issue with anything really – you just need to ask for some help. Ask your boss or one of your new found friends. Don’t sit there and let it become a much bigger issue down the road. There is no harm in asking.

Live Like A Native

There maybe things you’re used to back home that are very different in your new country; rather than buying your food at a store, you might have to go to a market. Cooking might be different, the food you’re used to not available. And where you might miss it, think about the new skills you’ll learn, the exciting prospects of trying new things, and how amazing food will taste when you visit home again. Try and integrate some local culture into your daily life and appreciate the new land you live in.

3 Requests From Millennials To Managers

Scott Asai3 Comments

Millennials get a bad rap.

Sure, some of the stereotypes are true, but what about taking an empathetic viewpoint?

Technology has changed the game forever, therefore management needs to step up accordingly.

Here are 3 ways managers can maximize Millennials:

1. Show me, don’t tell me

Coaching works. Micromanaging doesn’t.

According to research, auditory learning is the least effective yet traditional education teaches us otherwise.

Modeling correct behavior is more efficient than any handbook, Powerpoint presentation or lecture can ever be.

Millennials need mentors, not bosses. The difference between a leader and a manager is how they deal with people. The one size fits all approach is dead.

Managers need to approach supervision like a tutor. How to show the content is more important than knowing it. Customizing a message to fit the receiver is more work, but it also gets better results.

2. Learning is more valuable than perks

Free food, remote work and ping-pong tables are nice amenities, but they don’t increase retention.

Millennials care more about developing their careers by learning new skills than being enticed by external rewards. In fact, companies who base their culture around perks are promoting fool’s gold.

If you want to retain your best young talent, you need to invest in them. Similar to teenagers, if you want to teach independence you have to give them responsibility then respond accordingly.

The reason semi-annual and annual reviews don’t work is there’s too much time in-between feedback. Daily to weekly feedback may sound overwhelming as manager, but without it you risk quality control.

Leadership is about making those around you better, not priding yourself on being the best. Look no further than team sports to know your value increases as your team wins.

3. Listen, before judging

Entitled. Lazy. Narcissistic. Millennials have heard it all.

Before you judge a book by it’s cover, open it.

As a manager if you don’t get to know your workers, you default to believing stereotypes. That’s called ignorance.

Millennials may struggle with interpersonal skills, but peel back the skin and you’ll get down to the root of the issue.

People are people. Sometimes we over-trivialize that. The most effective thing any manager can do is listen.

If you don’t know the story, you’ll never be able to positively impact it.

In the end it’s the connection between the manager and Millennial that determines results.

People don’t leave companies they leave managers.

Sincerely,

Millennials

Ways To Enrich Your Career

Scott Asai3 Comments

Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

We all want to do well in life: whether that be in the traditional sense of getting married, buying a house and having children, or getting ahead in our careers. For many, a career is much more than just a way to make some extra income for their family; it’s a way of life. People choose jobs that they love, because they love to be doing a job and adding some value to society. We all want to be able to work at a place we care about doing something we love, and make the world that bit better in the process.

But how do you go about enriching your career? You might feel like you’ve hit the dreaded wall and cannot progress past the point you are at right now, but that isn’t the case at all. There are plenty of ways that you can make the most out of your job and make it work for you. Here are a few ways to improve and enrich your career this week.

Prioritize Your Tasks

The first step in improving the way you work is to learn how to manage your time in the most efficient way. If you have 10 tasks that need doing each day, make sure that you write them down in order of priority so that you do the most important things in the morning when you are fresh minded and have more time. It will mean that you won’t waste a huge chunk of your workday doing menial tasks which really aren’t that important.

Talk To Your Boss

Find out what your boss would prefer you to spend your time doing each day in order to make the most out of your working hours. It may also be useful to discuss different ways of completing certain tasks and exploring whether you could half the time it takes you to complete something specific.

If you feel like you aren’t progressing, talk to your manager and share your concerns. The likely outcome will be that your boss will offer you some sort of training or extra duties to broaden your knowledge and experience. This could open up doors for you in the future too and mean that you are able to climb up the career ladder or explore new avenues later down the line.

Find Ways To Automate Tasks

If you find that you spend half of your day just importing data into a spreadsheet to make a report, you might want to look into ways that this task can be completed automatically by using a piece of software, saving you from spending hours doing one thing, and freeing up time for other ventures.

There are often some great software applications that can handle things such as reporting, data input and even accounting to free up your time to focus on much more important tasks. By finding ways to automate tasks for the whole company, it will mean that you along with your team will be able to branch out into new areas and carry out more of the work that you love.

Enrich Yourself

Enriching your career isn’t just about what you do in the working day- it is also about going the extra mile with the rest of your life. To really push yourself in your life you can start a side project at home or even go on a course to widen your knowledge within your industry. It will not only be a great experience for you, but it will also open a lot of doors in your career path.

Alternatively, if you want to really challenge yourself and go above and beyond, you can take a few months out of work to travel. Travel not only broadens the mind and the soul, but it can also give you chance to see what it is that you really want in life. You could go and volunteer with endangered animals for a while and do some conservation work, or you could even go to a third world country and help give aid to poverty stricken people. There are always people in foreign countries who wish to learn English, so why not use your knowledge of your mother tongue and teach English to a group of children or foreign nationals? It will not only give you a lovely experience living and working in another culture, but you will bring back with you public speaking skills which are invaluable in any career path you want to explore.

Millennials, Get Your Finances Under Wraps!

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While most Millennials will have received a thorough education in various areas of knowledge, many will have complained about the same thing at some point or another: we aren’t taught enough practical things. Yes, we may well be able to do trigonometry, or analyze a short poem by Christina Rossetti. But when it comes to taking care of the must-do tasks that we face in adult life, many of us are left clueless. Finances and accounts tend to be a couple of these areas. Sadly, we are launched into the grown up world and expected to just know how to do these things. But not to worry. That’s where we can come to the rescue. Here are a few necessary pieces of information to help you get your personal accounts and business accounts under wraps in no time.

Business

Let’s start with business. Why? Well, because this area is generally where larger quantities of money tend to be involved, and you can consequently get into more serious trouble if things don’t add up properly. If possible, work hand in hand with a bookkeeping firm who will be able to keep on top of all of your internal and external reporting. This removes issues and ensures that someone who is fully qualified and competent is taking care of things. However, it’s always good to have a general idea of what’s going on. There are several types of accounts that you can have when it comes to business, so let’s quickly differentiate between the different types before we go any further.

Checking Account

A checking account will take centre stage when it comes to your business accounts. Profits from sales are deposited in here, wages are paid out of it, and expenses such as bills are taken out of it. You may have heard others talking about cash flow within their businesses and its importance. Well, this is where it all happens!

Merchant Account

If your company accepts payments by credit card, you’ll need to set up a merchant account.  This goes for those who deal with online payments and payments through third parties such as Paypal too! This is great for attracting more customers. After all, the more forms of payment you accept, the wider the audience you invite in!

Accounts Payable

Accounts payable are exactly what they sound like: a record of all of the money that your business owes out to others. This can include things like mortgages, company car payments and any other form of credit you may well have taken out. This is a purely informational account for the sake of keeping on top of your records.

Accounts Receivable

Accounts receivable are essentially the opposite of accounts payable: this is all of the money that others owe to your company. If you have extended credit or let out a loan to customers these amounts will be included in this category. Much like accounts payable, this is again a purely informational account for the sake of your records.

Payroll Accounts

If you have employees, you will need a payroll account. All worker’s wages are deposited into this account, ready to be distributed out to individual staff members’ bank accounts.

Personal

Your personal accounts solely deal with your own, personal income. Anything to do with business accounts or corporate accounts shouldn’t overlap here. This is your personal banking. Essentially, you will open up one of these accounts at a local bank branch. To work out which to choose, take a quick look here. Different banks and branches will have different strengths and benefits, so be sure to compare around the market before choosing one. They will have different interest rates on savings accounts, will offer you different overdrafts and some will have extra benefits if you take up their own branded credit cards. Your personal wages or salary will be deposited into it and you will use it to pay for personal expenses such as rent or mortgage payments, bills, food, and entertainment. Your personal tax will also be paid out of this account at the end of each tax year. Make sure not to go over your credit limits or agreed overdrafts, as this will result in you being given fines and receiving charges. Keep your statements too. Nowadays this is a little easier, as most banks encourage you to have online statements, which are cheaper for them and more environmentally friendly.

So, there you have it. The basics of business accounts and personal accounts. If you haven’t organized your own yet, it’s time to get on top of things. The sooner you take action, the better, as it helps you to get organized and avoid charges or further problems down the line.

The Truth Behind Millennials & Avocado Toast

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Real estate mogul Tim Gurner recently took a shot at Millennials by telling them to lay off the avocado toast in order to afford buying a new home.

Of course he took heat on social media for it, but instead of getting involved with the debate let’s get deeper: what does avocado toast really represent?

Fact: it takes an exorbitant amount of money to afford a home (in a favorable city) and your dining out habits do add up.

From someone who works closely with Millennials, avocado toast is more about lifestyle choices.

Anyone in their 20’s and early 30’s prior to having kids wants to travel. It isn’t Millennial-specific.

Companies like Whole Foods 365 have capitalized on convenience over budget with products such as ready-made food that saves time (not money).

Living a nomadic lifestyle means spending less on housing while splurging on amenities like coffee, massages, etc.

In ways, what’s going on here is minimalism 2.0 – where travel meets technology and experiences.

No one wants to look back on life and have regrets, plus what’s important to one generation isn’t to others.

For instance home buying: Boomers and Gen X’ers value having a place to call their own while Millennials welcome it, but won’t sacrifice dining out and travel in exchange for it.

Millennials are disrupters and the best example of that is: Uber.

Instead of purchasing a car and having monthly expenses, the alternative is to pay only when you need transportation. This avoids gas, repairs and insurance. Besides taxi drivers, this invention has given a desirable option for both riders and drivers alike.

Air B&B is another example of not accepting the norm: hotels while paying less for housing in different cities/countries.

Avocado toast itself is an overpriced indulgence. But what it represents is choosing lifestyle and experiences over possessions.

Millennials want to have their avocado toast and eat it too.

There’s nothing wrong with that as long as it aligns with your personal values.

Employee or Firm Owner: The Big Choice For Law Graduates

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When you reach the stage of finally being able to say that you’re a lawyer, called to the bar and able to practice, then it can feel like the end of a long road. This is the result of years of work, effort, and sacrifice– and your legal career can now begin in earnest.

You will quickly discover that your years as an early associate will make your student experience seem like halcyon days. New lawyers work hard; law firms in all areas of law push and test new employees to see if they’re made of the “right stuff”.

Or at least, that’s how it used to be.

Outside of the occasional midlife career changer, the majority of new lawyers are millennials– a generation that values a good work/life balance. While it may once have been standard to work yourself into the ground in the early years of your career, that might not feel acceptable to you personally– and you’re not alone. Millennials are a generation of entrepreneurs, with a “why not try it?” attitude; for new lawyers, now more than ever, that means they may be tempted to run their own firm as a sole practitioner.

This might be an idea you have considered, too. After all, why should you dedicate your life to making money for other people? You’re not afraid of hard work, but you want to be able to enjoy the rewards of that hard work… so do new lawyers really need to join a firm at all?

YES: New lawyers are inexperienced; you need the guiding hand of a reputable firm. You’re still learning the law, never mind learning how to run a profitable small business as well.

NO: There’s no more guarantee of success working for a firm compared to starting your own. You’ve qualified, so you’re clearly capable, and any advice you need can be obtained from the legal community, friends, and even mentors.

YES: You may be a qualified lawyer, but that doesn’t mean you know what goes into running a law firm. Do you know how to find clients? How to choose between cloud computing solutions for businesses of your size? How will you obtain offices? How will you fund your startup? Knowing how to practice the law is one thing; running a business is something entirely different.

NO: Everyone has to learn sometime. If you’re business minded, then why not jump right in and do it for yourself? There’s plenty of advice available for new businesses, and there’s almost certainly a venture capitalist out there who will see the potential of a young lawyer trying to make a mark on the world.

YES: New lawyers have always joined established firms. They may want to branch off into their own practice in the future, but that’s just not the way things are done.

NO: Why not break the mold and branch out from day one?

Ultimately, the choice is all yours. However, it’s important to remember that you do have a choice, and you don’t have to just do what everyone has always done. The way we work is changing, and while the idea of going it alone might seem outlandish now, it might be the new-normal in the future. Why not be at the head of the curve?

Practical Tips for How to Use Surplus Money

Scott Asai2 Comments

Guest post by Grace Frenson

Most people tend to be irresponsible when they have surplus money by buying things they don’t really need, believing that the money is never-ending. While some people are born into fortune, a lot of people are not.

Proper money management is one of the surest ways to secure one’s future and save for rainy days or anything unexpected. There are several things to do with extra cash–the list is unlimited.

Though you may feel the need to spend your money on whatever you want, it is important to have your priorities sorted out. If you consider some essential things you need in life, you can determine the best plan of action to take. Here is how you can use extra money:

Invest in a Business

Businessmen are often preoccupied with the best way to use surplus money to make more money. Investing in one or more business could be the best way to achieve this.

People who are fainthearted in taking business risks would prefer to leave the money in their savings account, but the money would seldom grow when left there.

Investments do not always ensure the safety of the money, but if it succeeds it will bring a greater return than when left in a savings account. If it is really surplus money, it may be worthwhile to take a risk on it.

Use a 10 Year Saving Strategy

You have been working to secure your future, and now you have extra money. it is time to put some mechanisms into place to keep you from overspending.

One way to keep tabs on future events is by creating a 10 year saving strategy. This allows you to save for predictable expenses for the next 10 years.

Such expenses could include predictable costs such as a house, a wedding, kids, and so forth. If you have enough surplus money, you could even set up separate accounts for each of the items.

Stash the Money in an Emergency Fund

Money is not an inexhaustible commodity–unless you are a multibillionaire, you may exhaust the “excess” money in just a few months. If you haven’t already, you need to consider stashing the money in an emergency fund to take care of emergency situations only.

The amount of money you chose to put in it is up to you. However, emergency funds may come in handy in situations such as unexpected and costly health care bills, home repairs, auto repairs, unanticipated travel, and so forth, so you want to save wisely. Besides helping you to deal with an emergency situation, emergency funds could help protect your credit record.

Job loss is one of the common reasons people end up needing an emergency fund. Say you get injured or sick and have to go on disability, you want to have those supplemental savings in place in case your career or livelihood is threatened.

Increase Your Health Insurance

This may seem obvious, you need to invest in as much insurance coverage as you can afford. If you really have a surplus cash, health insurance is paramount. Health is wealth, and wealth becomes irrelevant and meaningless if the health cannot be secured.

Opting for health insurance is one of the wisest investment decisions you can ever make. This is even much more critical with how high medical bills are today. Medical debt is the single biggest reason people end up bankrupt or in a huge amount of debt.

Putting the money toward health insurance is synonymous to saving it for rainy days.

Obviously, nobody plans on having a critical health condition, but it does happen and you don’t want to be unprepared when it does. Thankfully, you have the cash, and you could make a difference to be prepared for the unexpected.

Create a Budget

You may really be misconstruing the cash as being excess if you have not created a budget and mapped out all of your upcoming payments. A budget will help you keep tabs on your income and expenditures.

It helps you to manage the financial flows and see where your money goes or would potentially go. Creating a budget will help you to make a detailed plan on important necessities like insurance, utilities, food, and housing, as well as miscellaneous activities.

Even extremely frugal people would be tempted to spend money on unnecessary stuff when they have excess money. By making a list of preference and value would help you to know what to spend money on and what to avoid.

A list of preference and value simply shows you items that are worth spending your money on. Of course, the preference and value may differ from person to person but the bottom-line is that it details your highest level of priority and utility.

The highest scale of your value and preferences is the right place to begin spending your surplus money. However, if some items don’t really make it to your list but they are simply critical for life–you need to reconsider your budget and adjust it accordingly.

Be Careful When Spending

When having an abundance of money, it is easy to spend it all quickly. Be careful to not go down this path, and spend your money on what is prevalent in your life.

If you are in a bit of credit card debt, consider paying that off, or paying off your child’s student loans. You want to be sure you don’t spend the money and then not even know what you spent it on once it’s all gone.

Think long and hard about how you want to spend–or not spend the extra cash. You don’t want to regret the decision you make in the long run.

The Ultimate Work Productivity Hack

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There’s no substitute for hard work, but what if I told you there’s a hack to it?

Similar to athletes you and I want to “get in the zone” at work, but believe it’s not controllable.

It is.

Productivity is traced back to mental capacity and energy, but there’s a biological trigger for that: exercise.

Specifically: morning workouts.

Before complaining you’re not a morning person, listen to this: moderate to high workouts release endorphins which not only make you feel good, but boost your mood and energy for up to 12 hours after.

That’s why you’re in a better mood after it’s over and why working out at night before sleeping is counterintuitive (unless you want to stay up late).

Working out first thing in the morning (before breakfast) not only gets your body, but your mind right. Unless you slept less than 5 hours, worked out for the past 3 days in a row or are recovering from an injury disregard how unmotivated you feel. Get up and go to the gym (focus on how you’ll feel after).

Once you’ve completed it, take a shower and eat breakfast. Now your window for optimal work is open.

Take for instance my weekly workout schedule:

Morning workouts: Sunday, Monday and Thursday 7:30 – 8:30 AM

Basketball: Tuesday and Friday 6:30 – 7:30 AM

Rest days: Wednesday and Saturday

This gets me showered, eaten breakfast and working by 9 AM.

What morning workouts also unlock is your optimal working hours: when you’re the most alert and productive.

Since early morning exercise triggers it mine is: 9 AM – 3 PM.

Take it a step further: I do my best (alone) work 9 AM – 12 PM, so 12 – 3 PM is normally reserved for meetings, phone calls, video chats, etc.

I can get stuff done before 9 AM if I run ahead of schedule, but normally after 3 PM my focus drops considerably (use this time after for less-brainpower tasks such as: checking emails, planning your next day, etc).

Factor in I want to go home to see my family, but still this was true ever since sticking to a consistent workout schedule. The actual times will vary based on your lifestyle, yet the important point is to recognize the catalyst: morning workouts.

You and I tend to separate physical, emotional and mental states, but they are deeply connected. If you have time, read Harvard Business Reviews’s The Making of a Corporate Athlete. It completely changed my outlook on work.

Finding your optimal work productivity is simple: workout first thing in the morning and reap the benefits immediately after.