Passion Pioneers

Where you work & where you live should be within 20 minutes of each other. That’s all you need to know. Whether you drive, walk, cycle, ferry or fly to the office, 20 minutes is the sweet spot. I HEAR YOU NOW: “But there’s no jobs in my area!” “I get stuck in traffic!” “The train is an express & only takes 1.5 hours… one way.” “I have to work in the city!” These are all stories you tell yourself to justify your own suffering. Trust me - I know. I grew up in Frenchs Forest, Sydney, & worked in a cafe one suburb away. On weekdays, it was a 20 min walk to work from school. That was ok. But on the weekends, without any reliable buses, it was over 45 min walk to work… and on Sundays I’d work 7 hours. LET’S PUT THIS IN PERSPECTIVE A 20 min walk for a 7 hour shift is 5% of my working hours. Back & forth = 10%. A 45 min walk to work for a 7 hour shift is 11% of my working hours. Back & forth = 22%. Which means on the weeke...

Many clients I work with are dissatisfied with their current job. It no longer interests them, it doesn't pay enough, they've got a bad manager or a bad team, they work too long or too hard. Bored, tired & frustrated... but they stay in the job. Why?  Here's some reasons I've heard: - “I don't have time to look for a new job!” - “It's not bad enough... yet.” - “I won't be able to get another job with this flexibility (or pay).” - “I need to do training or get experience first!” - “I have a family & can't afford to risk going after what I want!” Whatever the reason, the role you're currently in is destroying you. It's draining your time & energy, maybe making you lash out at loved ones, maybe demotivating you to go to the gym, or maybe just eroding your self-confidence. Something needs to change. The Right Job Now, I’m an advocate of finding a job you LOVE: one that switches you on & invigorates you. ...

"When the attitude is there, the action will follow." This is a personal saying of mine, because I truly believe more & more it's about how you work than what you know. I did a Media & Communications degree, and by the time I'd finished my 4 years at uni I had done 3 unpaid internships. By my last year, I decided I wanted to get paid for the skills I had, and applied at small creative agencies for roles. I was lucky enough to get some awesome first steps into my paid profession with Vitamin X (thanks Tania and Alex !) and Republic of Everyone (thanks Matt & Ben !). At the time, I thought it was critical to get real world experience in the workplace to lay a foundation for a MarComms career. Now I do believe work experience is important & valuable, especially with the high numbers of university graduates struggling to find full-time employment ( in 2014 this was around 40% ). You might need more than a piece of paper to land your first j...

Remember Jenga? It’s that game with the wooden blocks that you stack in sets of 3 into a tall tower. You and your opponent each take turns carefully teasing out a block one by one to place on top, stacking the tower higher and higher. Until… a slight imbalance, one stable foundation piece taken too soon, a gust of wind, a sly underswipe from your friend... and CRASH! BANG! BOOM! - the whole thing comes toppling down, wooden blocks asunder and you left frozen amidst your shattered dreams of victory. Well my friends, your career is NOT like Jenga. We often talk about climbing the ladder when it comes to our careers. Taking step after step in the right direction, usually up, occasionally sideways, but rarely straying far from the rungs we know. We build a foundation, and start to lay down levels of experience, one on top of the other, to reach ever-dizzying heights. Yeah - sort of like Jenga. But what happens when it’s not working for you anymore? What happens when the foundat...