How To Build Financial and Professional Resiliency
One of the best things that could have happened to me early in my career was losing my job just a couple months after moving to New York City in 2010.
I was laid off in a company-wide downsizing. I’ll never forget walking into the conference room and being told I was out of a job. I took the long train ride home in a brain fog, thinking ruefully of the $200 monthly train ticket I had just purchased and would no longer need.
It took three agonizing months before I could find another full-time job and I ended up underpaid and under-employed working a job I was overqualified for.
And I promised myself I wouldn’t get caught off guard ever again.
I had to create not only financial resiliency but also professional resiliency.
Financial resiliency
It was difficult to think about saving at all when I only earned $35,000 a year and could only just afford rent and my student loan payment each month.
I had one credit card with a $1,200 limit that was perpetually maxed out and an $8,000 student loan balance. Both these bills were standing in my way of building a cash savings fund.
I stopped using my card and focused on paying more than the minimum due each month. Budgeting carefully helped me find room for those extra payments.
I recognized I needed to increase my income, however, and I pushed hard for a promotion. I had a micromanaging boss who didn’t like my independent attitude and the fact that I wasn’t at my desk by 8 a.m. on the dot each morning (she would send me an email and if I didn’t reply right away, she would call me out). My future there was grim, to say the least.
It took 15 months, but I found a new opportunity that was a good fit for me and paid $10,000 more and I leapt at it. It was that career jump that helped me finally pay off my student loans and start investing.
I was beginning to learn how to quit my way rich.
Professional resiliency
My ability to budget as well as make big career jumps to increase my income were crucial to my success. But in order to get those juicy job opportunities, I had to create a strong professional brand. When new jobs cropped out, I wanted hiring managers and recruiters to think of me first.
I leaned into my niche as a millennial finance reporter and shared my work regularly on social media and LinkedIn. I learned from my more senior colleagues and acted like a human sponge, soaking up their knowledge and watching how they worked.
One of my greatest weaknesses was my public speaking ability. I was deathly shy and introverted. I mean, there was a reason I studied writing and not broadcast journalism, after all.
But I was smart enough to recognize I needed more than just writing chops to create a resilient career. I needed other skills to bring to the table as well.
I pitched an idea for a video series with 60-second money tips and started writing scripts and getting experience on camera. I was shaky and nervous but I had a supportive team and kept at it. Before I knew it, I was interviewing the likes of Arianna Huffington, Hoda Kotb and André Leon Talley (may he rest in power) and producing one video per week with my own tips.
And, of course, I launched my podcast Brown Ambition in 2015 and added podcast producing to my repertoire.
I wasn’t always a ray of sunshine to work with (we all have our human moments, OK! 😆 ) but I was generally a pleasant colleague, worked hard and left a good impression.
When those career opportunities came my way that offered career growth and significantly more pay, I quit without flinching (OK, quitting is hella awkward and I probably flinched a little but I still got to steppin’!).
All of these moves helped me create a strong professional brand that bolstered my career and made me more confident in taking risks. I also knew if I was laid off ever again, I would have a financial cushion to fall on as well.
The bottom line:
A cash emergency fund is crucial but if you want a bullet-proof career, you’ve got to focus on your professional brand-building as well.
How are you investing in your professional brand?
