WIPp 014 Rosie McCarthy from Badass Careers: From Human Resources to YouTube to Career Coaching Artwork

Work In Progress Podcast

Work In Progress is a podcast interviewing guests who successfully changed careers. We talk about the struggles and lessons they learned along the way. We believe that life is a never-ending journey where one needs to constantly reinvent themselves and the same goes for careers. Based on this belief, we started our blog, in which we write about transitions in career and life and this led to the birth of our podcast in 2019. New episodes are published every other Wednesday! Contact us at workinprogressblogs@gmail.com

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Work In Progress Podcast

WIPp 014 Rosie McCarthy from Badass Careers: From Human Resources to YouTube to Career Coaching

February 12, 2020 • Dana & Angela

Resources

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Today's episode is on how Rosie transitioned from working in corporate to her own career coaching business, Badass Careers. In the past, Rosie had a successful corporate career in Human Resources and a YouTube channel Not Even French (she is still active here).

Rosie grew up in New Zealand and soon after starting a career in Human Resources, she met her French boyfriend (now husband) and her world turned upside down. In a matter of 6 months, she decided to move to Paris to be with him — but that didn’t mean she went without a plan. She got into a master’s program which allowed her to advance her studies in HR and intern while being paid. After that she found roles in various sized companies from startups to big corporate giants like L’Oreal, all in the field of Human Resources. This is when she got excited at the prospect of starting a business online, which prompted her to start a YouTube channel “Not Even French” about two years ago. In mid 2019 she left L’Oreal to start Badass Careers, an online career coaching business that combined her passion in HR and expertise in running a successful YouTube channel. Currently her income is made 100% online and she is able to travel between France and New Zealand and have autonomy over her own schedule.

Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? How did she do it? What obstacles did she overcome in order to achieve a balanced lifestyle and maintain a good living standard? We go over all these, plus some networking tips and tricks for the networkers out there. So stay tuned!

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spk_0:   0:00
turns out that aligning what you do to your personality and your values and who you are as a person, really, really works. Then I was like, This is exactly what I want to do. I want to help people thrive in an area off their life that happened to be in the workplace. I want to use science and the principles of psychology everyday in my work, and here we are. I found

spk_1:   0:21
it. This is the work in progress Podcast and welcome back to another episode. Are you ready for some inspiration? Today we're talking to Rosie. Rosie has a career coaching business and every successful YouTube channel called Not even French. The funny story was that when efforts contact rosy based on the research, I did, knowing that she had recently switched from corporate to online business, I didn't make the connection that I'm actually a subscriber to her other YouTube channel. I only realized this after I dug a little deeper, and it is so nice to be able to talk to someone that I've been following for years. This is such a small world. So before coaching and a successful YouTube channel, Rosie actually worked in corporate for about 10 years, and she had been spending time between her home in New Zealand and France. Were her husband's from Why does she move although it across Globe? And how did she get into different careers? And how did she manage all of these while X selling at her day job, We're here to find out just like you are. And before we dive into the interview, I want to mention that Rosie has a free many course that aims to help people find the why in your career. And it is important to know the why before you begin. So I will have the leg in the notes and without further ado, please welcome Rosie. Hi, everybody. Welcome back to the working parkas

spk_2:   1:59
the day we're talking to Rosie and the story behind how we found her is very interesting. So the other day I was just researching online on who I want to talk to you about career transitions, and I came across Rosie's profile, and I thought she was super interesting. She'll also looked a bit familiar, but I was in the I was in the research. Most didn't think too much about it. So I just put that thought in the back of my head, and then it just moved on. I contact a rosy and luckily issue, a super friendly, and she said yes to this interview. So here we are today. Rosie is on our podcast, and the reason why we wanted to talk to Rosie is because Rosie has had a lot of experience in terms of career changes. She worked in HR for about 10 years, and she then had a YouTube channel that she started, where she talks about the expect experiences of living in France. And now she's back in New Zealand and she transitioned to a career to coach. That's a lot of changes and talk to Rosie today. So before we get started with the questions right away, Rosie, I was wondering if you could give us a little bit of introduction about what you've done in the past, and we'll go from there.

spk_0:   3:13
Yeah, absolutely. And thank you so much for having me on your podcast. This is the very first interview I've done under that Oscar is my current picture. Jean a side of things, so yeah, is really cool toe check to you today. So for me, I, um, wish I start maybe with my studies. So I always thought that I was going to study medicine, become a doctor like that was what I was aiming for. Diddle the sciences and I I got into first year medicine and I kind of got hit by a train because I realized Oh, my gosh, I can't do this like I just had this. I remember two months out from starting thinking I just can't do it. I can't do, um I can't see people every day that, you know, when you go to a doctor, usually there's something wrong. There is a problem that needs fixing. You need help with something. And while I found the idea of the proficient so rewarding as an impact, I was just like, there's no way I could do this job and not take it home. And so I was like, I want to help people and I want to work with people. I want to connect and help them live better lives. I just don't think I could do it in this context. And I had a bit of the quarter life crisis break down. Long story short, I went to university with no idea what to study. I just chose my university by still when my most of my friends were going And thats is a New Zealand. So it's not like we have a huge amount of choice of universities. Anyway, there are only about five of them, but, um, I was okay. What am I gonna study? I actually ended up going to the Korea Services, then working with a career coach. And she, um didn't Myers Briggs type indicator test with me. And she did some others. That sort of psychometric testing and the future cells, tears and all this kind of stuff. And basically long story short, it came out. You should be a cart. You should be. And a chap professional. You should be a psychologist. And I was like, I don't know what any of those things are, but I'm gonna do a degree in business Major in HR. I'm going to do a degree in science majoring in psychology and allowed me to kick some of the science going as well. In terms of biology came a stray and stuff like that. So I was like, Let's give this a go. Um, turns out that aligning what you do to your personality and your values and who you are as a person really, really works because I had never heard of these things before. But I started studying them and I became obsessed, and I was like, This is exactly what I want to do. I want to help people thrive in an area off their life that happened to be in the workplace. I want to use science and the principles of psychology everyday in my work. Um, and here we are. I've kind of found it. And so I started off in human resources, and my first job, Well, I actually started working part time in recruitment while I was studying, had a 20 hour put weight job while I was studying, which is a really good idea to get that practical experience under my belt. And then I got into a human resources graduate program, and this is probably one of the most amazing starts to an HR career, and that it was a two year long programme. Every six months I moved to a different function of human resources. So I was um, and training and development. And, um, I was I was in talent management, which is an area that helps us. Yes. You know who the high performance and high potentials in the company and how can we make sure that they're engaged and they are developed in this saying within the company? And how are we gonna make sure that they are being prepared to take on some of the most exciting positions we have? And then in a completely different area of the business, I was in the middle of nowhere on a manufacturing site and a plant helping factory workers for six months. And anyway, it was just absolutely incredible. And everything was going just swimmingly until I met my fridge husband, um, in Auckland, New Zealand. And he threw a bit of ah, fridge boyfriend, obviously at the time. And he spent his been pay, threw a spanner in the works because suddenly I met this guy and we were only dating for six months. But I knew I just wanted to be with him, and I was like, I've got to find a way to get to France s. So it was. This was probably my first big moment in my career where I was like, I call an oh, shit moment because I was like, what am I going to dough? Um, long story short for visa reasons. And because I don't speak any French and all these kinds of things, I decided to do my masters over in Frantz. Um, it was incredible you, the way they do masters over there. That's always an internship component. And there are several schemes with the company actually pays your tuition face. So I got my masters of France completely free. My company, which was Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy Group. So huge French like luxury giant who owns brands like Dior, Givenchy, obviously Morris and Sean Dong, uh, Louis Vuitton basically do your like a lot of the big French luxury brands you can think of. They own on day paid for my master's degree and and they paid me a monthly salary while I was working for them and writing my master's thesis for them. So that was incredible. That was also an HR I carried on an HR, uh, I had a few different pivots, and I ended up spending four years working at Loreal again the headquarters of Paris. And then, Ah, my French boyfriend and I decided to get married. And this was another big oh, shit moment because I realized I couldn't continue down the corporate path. Um, mainly because I can't be sort of anchored to a job anchored to a location and sort of be big in my manager. You know, every year can I please go home for three weeks missing in bring of in every birthday, every wedding? Um, and I was like, I have I have to find a way to work for myself and this kick. This gave me the kick up the bum to start my YouTube channel, which, um, I originally thought, could be a way to start working for myself and start a sort of side hustle business. And it was successful beyond my wildest imagination. So listen, two years, I correct 100,000 subscribers just talking about my life in France, the French culture and all of that kind of stuff. Um, And while I realized that that's not what I want to do long term for a Korea. I'm so glad I did it. And I'm so glad I tried it because it gave me the inspiration for the next phase of my life, which is I'm I'm creating a YouTube channel and an INSTAGRAM account all around Korea coaching and sort of your HR behind the sames how to succeed in the workplace. So sorry, that is probably a little bit long, but I think it gives you an insight into some of my key moments that I end decisions that I've made along the way.

spk_2:   10:18
Absolutely. That is so exciting. And I feel like it was, um I don't know. So for me, I kind of I grew up in in one country, and then I moved to this country. So it's been like I spent huge chugs of my life in one location, and then I moved to the next cunt country. But I staying there for, you know, the next 10 or so years. So it's hard for me to imagine like you going, you know, from New Zealand and then, you know, three years later, or I don't know how long, how long after you met your boyfriend now then you decided you have to move, so it's really, really hard for me and it's not. It's not a small move. It's not like you move within Europe. You move from New Zealand to, uh, to France,

spk_0:   11:00
right? I couldn't get in a little bit of a any feather. No. Which is why it was really problematic for May. I had a bit of a crisis moment when I was getting married. No, I mean cold. You know, they say everyone gets a bit of like cold fate. It wasn't about him, but it was just like while this lifestyle. How are we gonna make this work? Um, you know, given that it's getting harder and harder for me to keep seeing my friends get married or they have babies or something happens and I'm not there and I can only come back for three weeks a year, and it just didn't feel sustainable, which is but it gave me a huge why and a huge reason for starting the side hustle and exploring this crazy world of online business.

spk_2:   11:45
Yeah, that is so great. And I think having a strong why is a very important factor in how How I guess house firmly want to achieve this goal. You have a strong Why and I think that's very instrumental. And you're all your moves. Mm. Absolutely. Yeah. So were you scared when you moved from New Zealand? Yeah.

spk_0:   12:10
Yeah. So I I look back now, and I think, Wow, she was so naive. I didn't know what I didn't know. I didn't on quite honestly, I thought yes is gonna be I was, like, very naive. I was like, Oh, that's gonna have They're gonna have such great food over there, and there's gonna be so much history, And I'm gonna be able to travel around Europe every weekend, and the flights will be like, $15 go. Oh, no. You've got all your stereotypes in mind Dry. And I was only thinking about that, and I sort of think I think there's this ignorance around. Well, I'm going to just another rich, developed, Westernized country. So what could be different? You know, life's life's exactly the same, apart from a few little things. I mean, it's gonna be pretty, pretty seamless. And, boy, was I wrong. I mean, it was bumpy and, um oh, my gosh. Like even in the even in the workplace, the way the French communicate the their tolerance for risk, The way they make decisions, the way they hold meetings, the way they get work done, everything is different. And I just wasn't prepared for that at all. However, the genuine shock off that I was actually able to channel and turn into my YouTube channel, you know? So it kind of came full circle, but I was differently, not prepared. So I wasn't scared at all. Just because I probably should

spk_2:   13:39
have been. Yeah, that's amazing. And do you feel like by dating someone who's friends? You kind of got a glimpse of, You know, how French people work and how they hold the meetings like you mentioned? Or is this still a huge is still very different from, you know, personal relationships.

spk_0:   13:58
Yes, I think it's really, really different because when you're in when you're in a relationship, this culture playing, but this personality, there's all sorts of different things. And I guess with, um, with meals that sort of like, Well, I meet him while he was a student and he was, you know, doing his get get here. And he had a you different right. Let your abroad for a limited amount of time you're open minded. You want to travel, you're soaking it up. And all he wanted to do was learn about New Zealand and New Zealand culture and speak English. And, you know, it wasn't at all about me learning about Frantz or the French language or anything like that, Obviously. Then when you go back to see him and context back calling with his original friends and family and stuff, it's actually quite different. So yeah, that was That was really interesting, But no, I didn't. Hey, doesn't help. Help me. It all, Really? In terms of giving me a perception of what life might be like?

spk_2:   14:55
Yeah. So you had to figure that out on your own. Totally. It was pretty good that you were able to finish your master. Me start your master's degree in the relevant field and me, including the internship, was paid off. That was amazed. Pay for me. I was amazing. Um, how long was that period?

spk_0:   15:17
Yes. So that was just just over one year, actually. So, um, so I did you know, to get your master's degree, you need to study for five years in France. They call it the back proof sunk because it means you're Beck, Alaya, your baccalaureate or your your high school degree plus five years. So I had already studied for four years in New Zealand because I did a double degree and, uh, sort of post Post grand a certificate. And And if you've done a four years, four year long American bachelors degree, for example, that counts as four years study as well. Um, so either you do the four years bachelor degree or you do three year bachelor plus an additional year, you know, like a on his year or a post grad year. And that would be your four years. So you, if you don't If you've got that, you can go directly into the final year of a master's degree, which is that 50 year and in the 50 year, Um, what's really cool about France as well? Several things, But they've got the employment law that you absolutely have toe pay interns and people doing their printer ships and everything, which is really cool because it means that I was earning 1400 euros per month for a year. And while that might not might not seem like that much you know, it was minimum wage at the time. Um, I could pay my rent and what was absolutely crazy. As even while I was studying at school for four months straight, my company was still paying me. So they would they start paying you before you're even interning with, um, it's really part of the scheme on co ordinate called in apprenticeship or an Aponte Osage system in France. Um, so it was just absolutely incredible being able to do that. Um, but anyway, so it was just it was just a one year program. And how it worked is I would study for 34 months full time. And then what you do is you go to your company on do you work for them for three weeks, and then you're back to school for for one week, and then you go back to them for three weeks and you're back at school for one week, and you do that for another few months. Um, and then you just go full time in the company until you graduate. And that's when you're writing your master's thesis based on a practical problematic for them,

spk_2:   17:32
E c. And so you took you one year when doing the apprenticeship and afterwards did you see him with the company?

spk_0:   17:40
You know, I didn't eso afterwards. By that point, I was really quite elementary in French. I could get a work round. I could understand more and more. But I was, um, incredibly shy when it came to speaking. And I just felt I was I was the world's worst language student because I felt too embarrassed to speak. And that's obviously the number. One thing you have to get over if you want to learn a language and it is hot. So I was quite elementary, my French still by then and so they offered being roles in London and in Glasgow. Working for like, you know, was luxury busker whiskey. Brands were there was a confession brand in London, and although they were amazing job, I didn't go, you know, all the way around the world. T not bait in Paris. Basically. So, um and and at the same time, I had experienced a very traditional, hierarchical sort of old school French corporate environment, and I really wanted to try it something a bit more modern and the startup. So what I did after that as I went into a startup environment and, um, I found a job in English. I was really lucky, actually, because basically, they were, um, an online music streaming service. Think a computer to Spotify and they were just starting up, um, specialized in music and European languages. So if you're in Bulgaria, you'd be able to have a huge music library and Bulgarian, for example, which is really cool, because it's true that Spotify is super Anglo Saxon and, you know, catered to light more set more so than the mainstream markets. So I wanna work for the them and, um, because they were headquartered in France because they were French by startup. They were based in Paris. However, they were really came to expand internationally, and they had, um, employees and contractors based all around the world. So I joined as an HR manager for everyone based outside of France, meaning that I could work in English every single day, which was absolutely fantastic.

spk_2:   19:46
How long were you at this startup?

spk_0:   19:49
Yes. So what I did, I was an international exchange generalist. So I was just here to cover someone's maternity leave, so I was only there for nine months on bond. What what I would do Concrete Lee on the day to day basis. It is a recruitment or hiring people on boarding people. So getting them set up in the system, making sure they knew everything they needed to know about the company, signing them up for any relevant trainings they needed to go on and being just helping manages with performance management. It meant so either helping them to engage and and motivate tell very talented employees or on the other end of the spectrum, it might be helping them, you know, work with employees who are having performance problems. A swell. So there was that kind of stuff and then this day today kind of generalised stuff, which is around, you know, holidays and internal campaigns like we would launch, you know, events. And there'd be internal communications and and that kind of stuff as well, eso you know, and as well as kind of designing you policy so the employees might tell us over and over again just one example. But you know, in the tech industry, in the startup world, it's really common to have the day off on your birthday. Why don't we have that here, for example, and so would look into that and make sure that it was compliant with, like, employment regulations. And we could We could manage it from an administrative perspective and would get that signed off by the board, and then we could roll that out and implement that. So it just like a tiny example. Andi, What was really interesting about this experience is that I saw a badly wanted the startup experienced because I'm not your corporate girl who likes to get super dressed up high heels like pencil skirt, full face of makeup every single day. You know, some people drive on there, and some people really love, love, that aspect of off getting dressed up and going into the office and being there and everything. What I liked about the Senate culture is that you turn up to work, and it's about how the value is on the work you do and how good you are at your job and not any of the other stuff. So you can rock upto working your James in the sneakers and smash the presentation. And, you know, it's just like That's what kind of appeal to May and I really, really did love that side and everyone was very laid back and super cool. And the officers obviously handle the, You know, the Foods Bull and the and the TV's playing music videos on the free cookies. And it was really, really cool. But the job itself wasn't stretching me and most challenging me and I room. And I remember thinking, I've got to get back into corporate, Which is why I went to Loreal afterwards because the resource is that these huge companies have. It means you've got entire teams on task Force is dedicated to the coolest projects and they've got budget and they can be innovative and they can create new things. Where is where I was in the startup? I just kind of felt like it was always a shoestring budget. There wasn't even any money for development or new things, and everything was very, very tired. Him It was almost like you had Teoh just do the beer minimums. Everyone was under resourced and everyone was just making it work with what they had. Eso that's kind of wife. I was like actually, you know what? Corporates. Not as bad as I say.

spk_2:   23:11
Yeah, you realize that after you go start up differently The way you approached all these changes, you didn't seem to be too nervous about them. And somehow you are able to, um, you know, try something out and come to a conclusion whether you liked it or not. And what you realize that you don't like about this what you don't like about this and you move on to the next thing where you know, you take your lessons with you and I think that's pretty, um, interesting. And I feel like I don't see that in a lot of people. Honestly, I think a lot of times people when they are, you know, in a job that they don't really like or they don't enjoy, they kind of just suffer for longer than they have. Teoh, you know, and I feel like that's very interesting. Um, I wonder what you think about that. And do you think that there are other things that you do personally or, you know, some other traits you have that helped you navigate through all these transitions so smoothly? Yeah.

spk_0:   24:12
I mean, I've always been given a lot of positive feedback around myself. Awareness. So just able to know who I am, what I like, what I don't like it and and where I'm displaced kind of thing. And that's not something that you're, you know, that that just comes natural. Eight, something you build up over time. But I think for May, in my Korea, I always had my why, which is I want to help people thrive and be happy in the workplace. That, to me, was clear. And then the next question is OK, so how you going to make that happen so you could make it happen in a variety of different professions? Obviously, this human resources is organizational psychologist. This workplace counsellors this I mean, you could you could think of a 1,000,000 different things. So I had my why and then my how waas I'm gonna work in human resources, not the firing people and redundancy side. But I really wanna work in what I ended up working in, which is which is the developments of up Skilling them helping them reach the potential, helping them take their career to the next level. That'll the positive thing. So I got quite clear on that. And then the next day, just like Okay, so what do you concretely do and where you working in that kind of thing? So because I had a couple of those down and I had that clarity piece and I kind basically, I was able to look at every next move is an experiment and be really and true as to okay in this context in this role, what's working for May? What what plays to my strengths and what feels really draining. And what kind of tasks do I keep procrastinating on over and over again. And, you know, And I started to kind of take note of all of these things, and I'm just view I wouldn't view any role as, like, a success or a failure. It was just like another, um, opportunity for me to get one step closer to the job. That feels like a really perfect fit. So then I went to the startup and I tried to get out and look some more new things about me and I kind of. And each day I had a hunch about what might make me feel happier and perform better and just feel all round better within my work context. And so I would I would take take that hunch and I would try it out again on heaven hypothesis. And then I'll try out it out as an experiment. And as I went a big noting down Okay, I want more of this, and I want less of this and over over time, I sort of carved out, especially in my lost role at Loreal, like a riel dream job for me because I was very, very clear on where I would add the most value, but also really what I wanted and and when I wanted list of in a role.

spk_2:   26:53
I see. And what do you do if, um I don't know if that's the case for you, but I'm just thinking about, um um, like, you know, circumstances. So have you ever had the have ever been in a situation where you say, you know what you want to do? I Loreal But maybe you didn't have all the experiences. That or skills that they're looking for. How did you, um, or in other past jobs that you had How did you convince? Convince them that um, you know, you're capable or convince them to give. You try. Yeah.

spk_0:   27:29
Differently, sir. Um, I guess I mean, where it's an internal move, for example, that Loreal Um So what I would do is I mean, firstly, you've got to be awesome at your job. You've got to be really fantastic at what you do, even if it's not the one that you think you want to be in long term. So even if you're feeling stuck and frustrated, there's no point, sort of, um kind of, you know, taking the stick bet and leading that I know, I know. I know how that infield, but living that kind of misery, let's say drag you down and stop you from being your best self because your reputation will talk. And you know, if you if you have any challenge that's thrown at you and you can make the most of it and do your best, I think that's Step one, and then I would, um, what I'd say people doing what I've done myself. A swell is you may not have the formal qualifications. You may not have all the experience that they're looking for, but you do have your strengths, which you can apply to. Multiple different contexts are getting very, very clear on what you're sort of top five. Strengths are on, and I help people to do that. And I've actually, it's part of a free course that I have, actually, if your listeners might be interested in on, but it helps you identify what your strengths are. If you haven't done exercise like that, it's just bad. US. Korea's dot com slash free course Anyway, um, so getting crystal clear on your strengths, your edit value and what you can do in every context Because, yeah, maybe you haven't had the exact work experience is, but you'll have the strength that you can rely on to get you through. So if you're a natural communicator and you know how to find the words and you know how to build relationships really quickly and you go into a new role and you actually don't know anything about the function, is your very, very first time working on it. Well, you can use that that those strengths to connect with as many people as as you can and ask them, you know, what do you expect for me in this role. What would a successful working relationship look like? And you can actually make your tone your strengths and something that will help you toe find that success. Um, so there's that as well. Um, and I think is and what I saw people doing, which was really good and what I've done myself when I wanted to agent to a different team is actually asking them on top of the day job, which are already doing a great job of a job. Bet to join set of meetings and help on certain projects. But see if you can find any over let with what you can offer in your skill set and your strength. Andi, what they're doing and you can you can kind of get in there by basically, you know, having a networking conversation with a colleague. Good. You can take someone from the your target department out, you know, for a coffee and and say you want to, you know, understand the business a little bit more and check to them about what they do and what the biggest challenges there are are and what projects they have on. And if you say something where you could really add value and you see yourself contributing to something even at the lowest level. You could say this is actually something I'm I'm really fascinated, um, on. So if you if you would like me to help you with X or to proof, read that or to have a brainstorming session with you on first, I'd happily volunteer. So they kind of start volunteering, putting the hands up, doing little extra things and just meeting and talking to people from different teams and departments, understanding the challenges and suggesting and helping out on ways that they can solve them. And that's saying people studying to like it invited toe toe task force meetings or other meetings and just kind of us to getting started that way so that when that a vacancy does come up in that team or in their department, they're able to sort of shimmy shimmy on in there, even though it may not be the most natural kind of continuation of what they've been doing. But I think when it comes to the externally, it's the same kind of concept because when you're job hunting externally, it could be really hard sometimes to tell the story off, why you who you are and why you want to change and why you do such a good job and a completely different context. So, of course, on your CV, you can highlight your transferrable skills. Of course you can. You can make the links between what you've done in terms of based competencies and in the competencies that they're obviously seeking in the job description. But at the end of the day, if you're going for a Project manager role and there are 100 people applying with Project Manager already as their existing job title on the TV, that probably going to get presidents. Because, unfortunately, recruiters are overwhelmed. And I'm not saying that all that recruiters are lazy. It's the is the absolute opposite that overworked, overwhelmed and sometimes they'll make short cuts, which is okay. These five people are already project managers, so let's consider them for the Project manager role rather than this girl who's a communication manager. And she wants to be a project manager but shouldn't have actually done it before. Sometimes it is really tough. So what? I always try and do with my clients as we have, like a networking plan where you can contact people who are working in the area on like din and have like informational interviews with them. And basically, I'm I'm a big fan off networking when you don't need it. So just building at relationships of people figuring out what it's what the the job in the day, the day and the work looks like connecting with them, asking for a 15 minute chat, you know, in in sort of target companies and and kind of building up your network and keeping in touch with these people. And ideally, over time, you'll have people starting to say, Hey, you seem really, really passionate about this. Should I forward your CV on toe HR and that kind of thing, I think, uh, word of mouth and referrals is still a hugely powerful resource when it comes to pivoting into a new industry or function.

spk_2:   33:42
What if I feel like I don't really know what to say or there's no burning questions I have at the moment, but I feel like I need to keep a relationship going and, you know, to to keep, keep in touch, basically what do you have any suggestions for that?

spk_0:   33:58
Yeah. So when you first reach out, I think some simple questions. I just around, you know, what's the company culture like, where you are, What is a day in the life look like for you? And you know what would someone doing your role? What kind of skills would make them super successful? And what kind of person maybe wouldn't suit this kind of work and that kind of thing, and you can have a nice rich conversation with them at the first connection of a coffee, all that 15 minute phone call and then keeping in touch A really practical tip is just making use of your linked in notifications every day, looking into Lincoln for five minutes. And they tell you if someone's had a birthday, if they're celebrating a work anniversary, if they've changed positions, all of these air really, really good opportunities just since I'm a quick message to say congrats or, you know, and and keep keeping a life. So I'm like, I recommend almost going into lengthen every day, which we don't because people a lot of people just go to lengthen when they need a job. all of a sudden again. Expect to admit working when you don't need it and just been named five minutes and say every day on lengthen every work day, I'm gonna send three little messages, you know, and that can either be in response to someone's post on the feed, or it can be in response to these notifications that I talked about. That's a good suggestion. Yeah, you can also use I mean, key key moments in the year. You know, it is the sound of a new year. There's the end of the new year. We consume that your thank you email and say, You know, you've played a part in my year or my career development this year, so you know, a thank you email. Um, And then, of course, the years broken into quarters and you can, you know, touch beckoned with people and say, Hey, hey, Sean, just chicken and that's the end of Cuban. And I remember you telling me about some exciting things that you had going on in the first half of this year. Just wondering how your projects are going and and, you know, whatever. It just depends on the conversation you had, but there's also just yet, and you'll, I guess events as well. Tell me about

spk_2:   36:06
your YouTube, General.

spk_0:   36:08
Yeah, sir. Um, my YouTube channel was a, uh, was something that completely turned my career on its head, Actually, because I had a very traditional corporate Korea Up until this point, um, and I decided that I want to try out this world off online business slash Side hustles less. You know, every man and his dog is starting up a side hustle, right? They rented out the spare room on Ambien. Bill are an instagram influencer. Oh, that. You know, and I really I was got really excited by this, but the prospect was I can't believe that these people are able to earn a living. Um, just, you know, like, just doing these these things. You're like, this is such a good idea anyways, Started to look into What? What could I do? What can I talk about? Basically, that's where it all starts. What could I talk about? What do I know? Um, and a lot of people listening might be black. A Well, Yeah. Okay. She's a career coach, and she worked in a child you know that that makes sense. So, yeah, you've got the question number. One question is, what am I already being paid for? And how could I turn that into working for myself? Okay, but the YouTube channel was something quite different. That was me talking about my life in France as an expat and really exploring cultural differences. Uh, between yeah, New Zealand and Francois, US and Franz and just general French lifestyle and culture shocks. Um and so I decided to start up this this YouTube channel on the weekends on top of a very busy corporate job. But Loreal and uhm, at first I was just overwhelmed by how much I loved it. And I just realized Oh, my gosh, I got it. First. I was like, How am I gonna come up with video ideas? This is impossible. You know, I like how I but I've got nothing to speak about it, but I think to share my life is so normal. My life is so boring. Um, and then you stop brain still made, and you're like, actually, you know, that would be interesting to share. Um, how how hard it was to open a bank account in France and there might be interesting to share. You know, how I met my my French boyfriend or the cultural differences I found in dating Frenchman in particular. Or, you know, And then you start brainstorming now all these different things you can talk about. And before I knew it, I had at least 50 video ideas, and I was like, If I put out one video per week, I've already got one year's worth of video ideas here. Let's let's do it. I originally wanted to actually do a blawg, and then I was riding Takes too much time. I'm just going to sit down and make videos a little that I know how much time videos took film and it and everything, but anyway, that was my thought process. At the time, they weren't many YouTubers out there. There was 11 American expert in France who had kind of made it big. But her channel wasn't frame shows like who like So I was like, Oh, this is quite exciting. And then they were like three or four, um, other English speaking expats who were doing YouTube. But, you know, and those scwill Yin's of off expect bloggers cells. Okay, let's try out YouTube. Um, and I waas maybe two or three months of two my YouTube channel, I put out a video weekly consistently, and I had probably around 300 subscribers. Something like that. Pretty pretty good, pretty good for for three months, but no shocking. And then I one of my videos, kind of went viral, which was around dating the Frenchman. And then a few excited. I had another video that did really well, which was around the French diet culture and the cumulative effect of those two videos. All of a sudden, I had, like, 7000 subscribers, and I was four months and I was like, Oh my gosh, what has had made? And with YouTube, it's really is a snowball. It's so slow and it's so long to get started. Like anything I think on online business. It could be podcasting. It could be blow gain. It could be instagram feeds. It could be so many things, and you have to put in so much grit and so much if it upfront really is a game of faith, right? You like this is gonna work. You have to say optimistic, This is gonna work. It's gonna work out. Um, and you just keep going and you're hearing crickets. And then all of a sudden you get shared by the right publication. The bright blog's someone, you know, someone say something to sit like People start telling their friends on, and all of a sudden in the Oregon, she had to Facebook and and you're away. And this is really what happened to May ends. So in my first year, I cracked 50,000 subscribers. Um, which I was just, like, like, shocked by. And it meant that, you know, when I got about 14,000 subscribers, I started earning money, and I was like, Oh, my gosh, I'm earning money on YouTube And I was like, I can't believe it. Like I've known list of these videos. The work's already done there already online. And while I'm sleeping, people were watching them and the ads airplane on them and I'm earning money. And that was my first taste. I think off like, wow, people do make money online. You know, it was like it. It's not. It's not just a rumor, and you know, you start off really small in your earning $100 a month and then maybe 100 and 20 and then, like, Oh, I had a good month. I went all the way up 1 80 But then suddenly it 300 it's 500. And at my absolute peak, it was like, you know, sometimes $1000 a month on my AdSense, and they knew doing sponsored videos on top of that, and I was like, Oh, my God, like I got to a point where I was like, if I really wanted to, I could go full time on this like yeah, the earning minimum wage. But if at the moment I'm im investing 10 hours a week on this so if I'm investing 40 hours a week in this and I'm putting out two videos a week and I'm spending time contacting brands and getting spots, it deals, I could actually like replace my corporate job with YouTube. And that was just such an unexpected career trajectory over the past few years, you know, is absolutely crazy. And while I never ended up going full time on not even French, I'm going to apply the same principle to me. My new YouTube channel, which will be starting around career coaching.

spk_2:   42:26
So you started. Let me see about 23 years ago, right? I'm not

spk_0:   42:34
even French. I said it two years ago. Yeah, just over two years ago. Yeah.

spk_2:   42:38
Okay. Okay. So that's pretty significant. I feel like for someone who I'm just thinking, I'm just This is probably just for me. But I think for someone with a corporate job, you know, to go from a corporate job and then in two years, you realize that you can completely switch your career and your lifestyle. Obviously, if you're making money online, then your your work, you know, no longer looks the same. You can well, anywhere for from any country. And you get paid or maybe even more. I don't know how much, but that's that's Ah, that's a huge change. Are you happier with this new lifestyle?

spk_0:   43:19
Yeah. So? So today my life looks quite different and that I can you know, I make 100% of my income online. Eso all of my career coaching clients are international, and we just made over Zuma's equivalent of Skype and we have our career coaching conversations, that waste I do career coach chain Andi. I've got my not even freaked YouTube channel, of course, which I still upload to and I'd responsive videos with and that kind of stuff. And I'm also freelance consulting Azan HR professional. And I'm still actually working with Loreal as one of my clients, doing occasional a check and Sultan and honestly, I've, like, never been happier. Um, because I can. I've got complete autonomy over my schedule. I could make my days as packed auras light as I want them to be, depending on what I've got on in life. You know, at the moment I'm doing something so small and insignificant, but I just makes me it puts a smile on my face. I'm doing it a running challenge using at cold Couch to five K. And I love being able to just, like stop work at three, go for a run and then come back to it. You know, I love being able to go down to the waterfront and work in a really cool hipster cafe overlooking the border for four hours, go for a walk at lunchtime, do a bit of shopping oaks have been two hours. Oh, well, it's my life, you know, and and and and get back to work. And I'm not saying that's easy, because I probably work more hours than I worked at Loreal. But everything I'm doing it feels like I'm building my thing, you know, let my drink. And I just set flexibility, which I wouldn't trade for the world. I think I'm not only do I love my work streams, but and yes, it's more insecure And no, you don't get benefits. And no, you don't get retirement. And no, you don't get holidays and that you're gonna be you gotta be smart. You've got you've gotto take responsibility for a lot of things. You're gonna hire an accountant, you've got to plan for your future financial. You've got to do lots of stuff. But the fact that I can you know, we're going to go to France bet to France for a month in July and the fact that I can keep working and do my thing and if and you know, the long term dream is to live in New Zealand for six months and in France for six months of the year, and I'll absolutely be able to do that with my business. So, um, that kind of thing just makes me wake up every morning thinking, you know, I can't believe I get to do this.

spk_2:   45:55
That's amazing. I do agree with you that autonomy is so, so important. Initially, like the older you get, the more family you're gonna have, your runs, the family are gonna have more, more family. So you will have more different different people. More people you want to see. You wouldn't want to spend more time traveling. And it's really good to have that flexibility. Like you said that to be able to to just go to wherever you want to be. Absolutely. You switched, um, two full time coaching sometime last year. Is that correct?

spk_0:   46:27
Yeah. And in September last year, sir, Hey, okay.

spk_2:   46:33
And but you were already accepting coaching clients before them?

spk_0:   46:38
Yes, sir. Um, I I'm a big believer when you're just starting out, like doing an online business and and doing free co chain and getting testimonials and getting social proof and proving to yourself and to others that you can actually get results. So there are a lot of people popping up. That's that's the bad side, I guess off, you know, being able to work anywhere with an Internet connection. And so there's a lot of people popping up claiming that they can do things for you and coach you. And you know that that word gets thrown around a lot and they just kind of get started without actually, uh, haven't proven proven that. So I actually announced on my YouTube channel not even French that I was taking on, um, client coals. And if people would like to apply and work with me and that kind of thing, I ended up coaching around 20 people for free and and that Yeah, it was a lot. It was a lot. It was probably too much, but it was It was something that I wanted to do. Um, you know, for myself. And I got testimonials from my website and I got up them for my LinkedIn, saying I got people helped people to get jobs at really great companies. Fortune 500 startups like and I also helped people get into really Krista just master's programs that they wanted to get into Ah, lot of them because they came from my noted and French channel. A lot of them are, you know, living outside of France and not wanting to work in Paris or get into Paris Masters programs. So that was quite easy for me, because it's something I've lived through. But there are also people who had nothing to do with Paris or France or anything like that as well. Um, and just basically working with them, landing them interviews, landing them jobs, landing them salary increases and then being able to get that social proof I finally got that confidence. Whereas I Okay, I can stop charging now,

spk_2:   48:31
E c. And how long of a period was that between when you first started accepting free clients And until you fully switch over to full time?

spk_0:   48:42
Yeah, it was three months. So in those three months, I was exclusively doing free clients and working on my website and my business plan, so I kind of had prepared for that. I knew that I would be earning zero money for three months and it was part of my financial savings plan and stuff. By the time I quit, Loreal and I was really happy for that to have that that no pressure, just that have space to breathe and lay the foundations to think and to work with clients without a huge thing over your head. Which is like, Can I really do this? I can't believe I'm doing this, you know, because you struggle with imposter syndrome a lot.

spk_2:   49:23
No, I see. So you quit Loreal first, and then you had a three month period off. Um um, coaching people for free to build up your your your your experiences. And then you went into a full time.

spk_0:   49:37
Exactly. So I was in France until June so that I was still working for Loreal based on France. Still had my corporate life, not even French on the side. Thinking about my business. We got to New Zealand in June. And so from June until September, I was basically moving to New Zealand house hunting, building business, free clients and everything. And in September, I launched on Instagram.

spk_2:   50:02
While that is so many changes to go through and be moving to a different country, probably selling a lot of your belongings and then

spk_0:   50:09
oh, telling everything like we lift and way arrived with suitcases of clothes, and that's it. And, uh, it was huge. It was huge to go from living in the Parisian studio. Um, you know, like like living the court print life and and the commutes in the Mitt Cruz and the big dance busy European city to suddenly in this like medium size city on the waterfront, buying like being able to buy at, ah, home with with actual free bedrooms and the god and stuff. Because it's just a different world, like compared to how expensive Paris's on and then and then you know, my husband starting a new job as well. Like, there's been a lot of change for him and you country new job and then me trying to start a business for the first time we've had we had a big 2019.

spk_2:   50:55
Oh, it was a very full year for the two of you. Yeah. Yeah. So when you were working L'Oreal when you that's when you started your YouTube channel. And how was it? Like balancing the the full time work at a Loreal and your online presence and didn't feel weird at some point that it did? You How do you do? Talk about this with your co workers or what? Were they pretty open to the idea or what was it like?

spk_0:   51:23
Yeah. So I didn't want to have the anxiety of that hanging over my head. So as soon as I started, I launched my first video. I told all of my colleagues about it, um, at the coffee, You know, just having a coffee in the morning, destructing. And occasionally I didn't want I knew already that I didn't want to be six months in and have my boss's boss come to me and be like, Oh, you make videos on YouTube. Like, you know, I just I wanted to be super open about that. So So I waas eso I had a few rules to keep me saying Essar, The 1st 1 is that I would never work on YouTube. Uh, while I was at my corporate job and I'd never work on my corporate job outside of working hours, as I had been doing so I had to make really, really clear boundaries, like I would leave work at 7 p.m. At the absolute latest, and that's it. Like, I never took my work home with me and Um, and it's funny when you make that rule how you can make it work. And I always used to think I used to always look at people with young kids and think, How the hell are you making that? How do you balance the job and having kids? And I think when you've got a deadline and you have to pick your kid up at six, you've finished, you know, at sex and you make it work. So So it was kind of, I guess, the same concept. And then, to be honest, like the YouTube channel itself, it did require a lot of sacrifice. So what I make is social sacrifice, I would say. And that, um, every single Sunday was my YouTube day, and that was the day that I would write videos, film videos, it videos, post videos. But that was my YouTube day. And exceptionally, if there was, like, a birthday brunch or something. Okay, break that. Otherwise, if it was just a casual Hey, can you catch up? It was no sorry my Sundays became really sacred, and then everyone kind of knew about it so would catch up after work or on set of base.

spk_2:   53:16
Could you describe what, like a session usually looks like or how does usually go between Ah, you and your clients? How do you help them figure out what they want to do next?

spk_0:   53:28
Yeah, I mean, it really depends on what the what the with the clients add or what they need for May. But a really typical package of three calls would be would spend the 1st 1st cold, really deep diving. And to hurt the person is their values, their strengths. What they think they've really accomplished recently were kind of work they hope to be doing in the future. Would really justly unpacking the person how they got to where they are, um and, you know, really uncovering yet passions and values and strengths and skills and talents and and hopes and dreams and all that kind of stuff. So there's, like, usually a Korea clarity pace, and then, usually based on that way, we kind of pulled together like a Korea manifesto, which is sort of like the must haves in my next role. So my next role may not be my dream job, but I want to have more of this. I wanna have lists of this. I definitely want this. I definitely want that kind of like your your your wish list, right? And then what we would do is, um, would would be job hunting together so both of us would would go out there. And instead of look for roles that are advertised, I also helped them obviously tap into the hidden job market. But but we stop with the roles and actually advertised. And then based on that, we use that role is a case study to pull together a really killer application. So that would be a cover letter and a CV completely tailored to the to the position. And, um, we usually go above and beyond in some way. So just give a few small examples. One example would be creating a two minute video pitch on your fit for this particular role. Another way might be like a head of client land. A job at 18 a. M. And what she did is she did a consumer survey of all of your friends and family who shop at H and M and asked them about their retail experience. What they liked, what they would change and we put that together and a one page effect to name, for example. So there there are many, many different ways that we go above and beyond. But through that process, it doesn't. It doesn't necessarily matter if I get this job or not, but through the process, I'm teaching them and enabling them, um, how to basically be a high achieving job seeker So way will do that. And then, usually in the third session, we will be pricked preparing for the interview together. So that would be a really, really typical thing. Some people need all three decisions to figure out what they want to do. It just depends where that some people come to me. They know exactly what they want, but they don't know how to get there. So that's when we do OK is them. There's the applying to advertise rolls, and then there's the networking pace. And then there's the um getting the positive attention of recruiters and potential hiring managers on late then and there, so many different things that you can do to tap into the hidden job market. So we might we might really focused on that pace that really depends who I have in front of me.

spk_2:   56:25
I see. I see. What do you mean by the hidden job market?

spk_0:   56:30
Well, uh, 80% of roles are advertised off in general. Yes, So it's rather than targeting jobs, which advertised on job boards. The assumption is that successful companies and often the kinds of companies you think of and that you want to target, they've got a lot of work available. And they have the resources to pay someone to do it, and they can create jobs for people. I've seen it happen thousands of times, and they said they're constantly hiring and this constantly work, help me. But they're not necessarily advertising that to the general public because they always got someone internally who knows someone who could they who they could refer or they promote internally. Or maybe it does get advertised externally. But, um, some of the applicants already have insider knowledge or a connection inside. So I just find this something around, um, giving, getting into the company's connecting with people at the company's getting referrals with companies that sort of teaching people how to a how to play that part of the gang. Teoh have a much better shot at actually getting your foot in the door.

spk_2:   57:38
How do you usually find your clients or they find you?

spk_0:   57:42
Yeah, they find me at the moment. It's just through my instagram account. So through my instagram account, this is something that's also really surprised me. So I have I set up my INSTAGRAM account in September, and, um so it's been what? September trouble. November, December, Let's say for five months now. And, um, I've just been posting like, I guess occasion occasionally, a few times a week, like I've posted 60 times and, uh and I just post a photo or a quote, and I usually give some career advice and tips in this kind of stuff through doing that alone. Um, I've had 15 paying clients who have found me and and come to May and I have to do. I don't do much promotion at all. It's been so busy and that I haven't had time to launch my YouTube channel, which I thought would be would be the client driver. And I can't even get to it because I'm so busy working with my clients. So it's been a huge surprise for me, The power off Instagram It shouldn't be. But for some reason it really took me back. I thought I would need to have thousands and thousands of followers Teoh be able to say, Oh, I've had 15 paying clients and, you know, I've got in the in the realm of 1000 followers, you know? So it is a crazy really what's possible for us these days in terms of Korea's and studying on my businesses.

spk_2:   59:11
I see me use the right hash tags to optimize for the right people you want to target with your post or where did they come from? Maybe they come from your other instagram accounts. No,

spk_0:   59:22
I do use, uh, Hashtags. So I got a whole hashtag strategy behind the same. So I spent probably spent about 3 to 3 days on my hesh tags and research and strategy before I even launched my account. There's a lot that goes into it for sure.

spk_2:   59:38
Well, I have one last question for you, and it's kind of a unique one. I like to ask all my people that interview. So, um, so in the past, you you know, you worked in hr and Now you have your own career coaching business and yours. You obviously will have to YouTube channels with your whole super exciting. And I was wondering, Do you think with all these experiences do you think in the future you could be changing too, or adding two more to your what you're doing? End? What could that look like? Yeah,

spk_0:   1:0:13
So I think for me, um, long term. This is the dream so far. Ah, but yeah, but I would like Teoh. I'd like to be an online course creator. I have really specialized in my track career in learning and development. So that's around creating trainings and and basically teaching people the skills they need to get from point A to point B. And I would like to create my own courses around, um, have it how to find your thing, how to figure out your career purpose. And that kind of thing had a creative, really killer resume and cover letter. How to optimize your your linked in profile so that recruiters are actually coming to you. And I think long term, what I would love to do is yes. Almost the blend off my expertise and my ease with videos and video making and YouTube. It's almost packaging those together and creating video based online courses for people. So, um, that that's how I see it and being my thing that I do all the time. So I don't I don't think not even French is forever. I don't think doing lots of 1 to 1 coaching this for River on Die. Don't think doing my HR consulting for corporate clients is for either, um so. So I'll probably will change again, and that's where I think I'm going.

spk_2:   1:1:31
That's amazing. And then you be able to reach even more people at at once

spk_0:   1:1:37
exactly because I don't have the time to keep up. So it's like, How can I scale? How can I scale what I'm sort of repeating over and over again with my 1 to 1 clients

spk_2:   1:1:46
and look forward to that? Thank you so much. Thank you for answering all my questions and last question really quick. Um, how can people reach you?

spk_0:   1:1:57
Yeah, sure. So I'm just on Instagram at badass Koreas and have a website bed, US Korea's dot com and surprise surprise. My YouTube channel can be found by searching bed. US. Korea's.

spk_2:   1:2:10
Okay. Thank you so much. Rosey. It's been so nice to chat with

spk_1:   1:2:14
you. Yes, you true. Thanks so much for your Okay. That's if this episode and thank you for listening. If you liked this episode, make sure it's your writers and share this with someone who might find it helpful. We will talk very soon by