Feeling stuck in your career? Salary, quitting, freelance & what to do next | Solo Episode & Q&A

0:06Hey, my loves. Welcome back to Wish I Knew, the podcast where we talk about how to build a life and career that you truly love. We are back with another solo episode today. I am so excited to catch up with you all. I feel like it's been a whirlwind Q1. How are we already in Q2? So we're going to do a little bit of a life update and then we're going to go into a Q &A and today's Q &A is a real focus on career dilemmas. I feel like the start of Q2 is when everyone starts to sort of take their reflections and their pain points and then starts to think about taking some action and so I feel like just generally the chat that I'm hearing at the moment is very much like people are starting to question things and starting to take action.

0:50so we put a little call out on Instagram and had so many questions in so I'm so excited to get into that with all of you now before we get into it just a quick heads up that we are nearly at the end of season one I don't know how that's happened and gone so fast so first of all huge huge thank you to anyone who has listened subscribed liked shown us any form of support it really means the world this is my first time doing this so honestly I'm so grateful for it and also to all the guests who have taken the time to come and hang out with me and chat with me on the show so yeah we have got big plans in store for the next season if you're not already subscribing please take the time to do that takes you two seconds it's free make sure you subscribe on youtube follow on our socials but also on spotify give us a review give us some comments if you have any suggestions of themes or topics you want more of guests you love to see please let us know because it really helps to shape the future of this show so huge thank you and more to come and so it is officially Q2 we are out of Q1 I feel like we're feeling the spring vibes everyone's got a bit more of a pep in their step the weather's been great or at least brighter not necessarily warmer in the UK that is um I had all these big ambitions for Q1 and for 2026 and I feel like some of them I've definitely given some time and some focus to but I definitely haven't been this superwoman that I set out to be at the beginning of the year it didn't help that I actually got ill at the beginning of the year for like two months straight so I couldn't actually physically do a lot of things but I'm feeling better I'm back on track I'm going to use April as my reset month I saw something somewhere about taking April out to like go quiet, reset and basically set yourself up for the rest of the year.

2:46I feel like it's the perfect month to do that because not that much goes on. So I am going to be doing that. I'm focusing on my goals. I'm going to be doing some proper goal setting, focusing on my health, which has been a big thing that's kind of fallen away side and really just get back on track. So that's my focus. And if you're feeling the same, I would definitely urge yourself to think about what could a reset look like for you right now I actually just started working with a coach which is something that I've never really properly done before but always been curious about and I've already started to see with that how it's opened my mind up to things that are so simple and so straightforward but just helping me take that next step on my path and one of the things I really learned about actually today was the fact that you can't do a hundred percent of everything and so going into every new year I feel like we always say we're going to do the gym we're going to work out four times a week we're going to eat really healthy and cut out carbs or whatever it might be we're going to be on it with work we're going to read a book a week you know but actually the reality is you can't take on all of those new changes to your lifestyle at once and so something that I was talking through with my coach was that I basically analyzed every area of my life and like where things are and where things need to be but actually there's usually just one or two really important priority ones that kind of prop all the other ones up and so I recognized what those were and then now I need to like now I understand that I need to then focus on those moving forward.

4:30So that's been a huge shift for me. I feel like I have had all these different feelings about work and podcasts. I'm spinning loads of plates at once, which is amazing in so many ways. But for someone like me, it also can be really overwhelming. So I'm definitely excited to be having this reset and trying to get back on the right path and then prioritize the right things at the right moments. so yeah if you're thinking about feeling lost or feeling stuck or feeling like you're overwhelmed I would really urge you to think about what's that one thing that you could change or you could focus on that would then snowball into everything else and we had our first ever live recording at Advertising Week Europe which is insane if you haven't heard of Advertising Week it's one of the biggest and most prestigious advertising events.

5:22They had all these insane speakers from Tiny Temper to Louise Redknapp to Daniel Sturridge to Graham Norton to Charlotte Crosby. Who else did they have this year? They had so many people. Patricia Bright, love Patricia, as well as some of the smartest minds in marketing and media that there is. So it was a real privilege and it was a bit of a sort of full circle 360 moment I ran into Riyad who is one of my guests on the show if you haven't checked out his episode go watch it it's insane he is so open and vulnerable I definitely shed a few tears throughout that and it's just a really really nice um nice interview and he is the sweetest person ever with the most interesting story ran into him there and we had a little 360 moment because we met at that same event like four years ago and I said to him I want to do a podcast and you need to come on so that was a really special moment to be there and to be back with people and out and about and so many people came up and very complimentary of the podcast which was amazing and the live show was so good so it was the first one we've ever done.

6:37We had an amazing guest who is Abigail Foster. She is a chartered accountant and a personal finance expert. She is so intelligent, but she also just breaks down finance in a way that makes it feel fun and cool and accessible. And as someone who is really like honest about the fact that I'm terrible at math and terrible when it comes to finances, it was really reassuring to hear the way that she was speaking about things and I had so much feedback from the audience saying that her session was really useful and it was a really great reminder of a lot of different things one of the key topics that I took away was this concept of the FU money pot so every woman or every person should have this FU money pot which people call a freedom fund you know they call it savings or emergency pot but she was saying it's in the sense of it could be if you're on a date and you want to leave and you need to get a taxi home so you're safe or if you're it could be as extreme as you're on holiday with your friends and you don't want to be there anymore or something happens and you need to get home and you have the cash to be able to do that or it could be that you're dealing with the toxic boss at work and you don't want to have to deal with them anymore and you want to be able to comfortably leave and make a decision and you're not relying on that job for your livelihood.

8:00And so that was definitely something that I took away, a lot of other people took away the sense of you need to build up this FU money pot to be able to feel secure and also take actions from a place of what you actually want and desire in life. And it was just so great to have a live audience. We had so many people, we were on one of the main stages. I was a little bit nervous, to be honest, because although I do a lot of live shows and public speaking and I've done a lot of conferences. This was all kind of confirmed quite last minute as sometimes these things are and I was nervous. It was one of those like situations where I was like oh god is anyone going to come?

8:39But we had a great turnout, great energy in the room, really great questions and things like that so it was just a really really nice moment and it's actually given me a lot of confidence in the fact that I think we could do some more live shows. So if you have any suggestions for guests that you would want to see or hear from live, please let me know because I love nothing more than getting great people together in a room and connecting other people. So I think that a live show is definitely something that's going to be on the cards very soon. And something else I've been thinking about lately, I mentioned earlier, I've been out and about a bit more.

9:17It sounded a bit like we just come out of COVID, but more in the sense of, I think I sort of was hibernating a little bit earlier this year and throughout the winter to like just get my head down and then I'm now sort of starting to come out and be you know that little social butterfly again I've had a few nights out with the girls which has been so much fun honestly if you're stuck in a rut or feeling a bit crappy there is nothing better than a night out with the girls and the gays and I've had so many fun nights over the last month or so one the other week I had like one of my oldest girlfriends we went for dinner we caught up first time in ages another friend of mine was in town she dropped in another one of my friends was on a date in the same venue all of us kind of like got together at some point throughout the night and then had this girl's night and it was just so much fun so I'm feeling way better for getting out and about being a little bit more social again as well as focusing on you know my goals and all that sort of stuff I also was doing a lot of international women's day talks and that was really great to be a part of.

10:21I can't believe that Women's Month is already done. I feel like it just comes around so quickly every single year. I got to go to Exeter University, which was really, really special. I actually never went to university, as you've probably heard before. And whenever I do a university talk, it always feels like a real surreal moment because I'm in a room for the people that I feel like I can really connect with and relate to in lots of senses. but also I just find it quite ironic because I didn't study at university so that was really great I also did a talk with a brilliant talent agency called Connect Management and I met this amazing woman called Deborah Joseph who is a it's an editor she used to edit magazines she worked at Glamour magazine and was their chief editor-in-chief for a really long time and she's just so smart and inspiring and we actually had this great dynamic in this talk where there's 20 years between us but we had so many commonalities when it came to certain points of our career and also different perspectives of different parts of the industry and things that we'd experienced as well so that was really great to see and it's just great to be out and connecting with other women who think like you and want to learn and want to grow hi my loves just a quick pause to say if you're enjoying Wish I Knew, please, please, please hit the subscribe button and leave a quick rating or review.

11:45It really makes such a difference to the show and helps us to keep bringing you amazing guests and stories. Now let's get back to the episode. And something else I've been thinking about a lot lately is this concept of success by osmosis. And I think I originally heard this in some sort of Gary Vee video. He keeps coming up in my feed at the moment lately and he was talking about he was talking about actually specifically people going back into the office and the fact that by osmosis and being around other people and your peers in the same environment you're more likely to learn and absorb um and grow together collectively and learn from each other and that's something that's really difficult to do remotely especially for younger people people earlier in their careers new hires it's really really difficult to get that kind of um sharing and learning remotely so um that's something he was talking about but I've been thinking about it a lot more in the sense of uh for my own sense of goals and where I'm at in terms of how can you put yourself in the environments and the rooms and around the tables with the types of people who you want to learn from and who doing the things that you want to be doing as well and I really felt that I went to an event a breakfast event a little while ago and it was one of those weeks where I was just having a hellish work week I was like I can't justify taking a Friday morning out it was like a three hour event but I was like you know what I'm gonna feel better if I go and I went and I had the best time and I sat next to someone who I'd wanted to talk to for ages and met so many incredible women, saw some familiar faces.

13:34And it was just a really great reminder that you are always just that one decision away from a good mood or a good something good happening. And the girl that I sat next to at this event then invited me to a lunch with some other female founders. And at this lunch, it was so inspiring because I was surrounded by these people who a lot of them are doing the types of stuff that I want to be doing. Or they're all female founders and they are running their businesses. They're talking about their team structures, how they're developing apps. I think three of them had all written books and they were talking about their experiences and how long it took and which publishers they used.

14:11And it just made me think that everyone needs to be around the types of people that they can grow with or grow and learn from and that's not to say that your friendship groups have to be that table your friendship groups can and probably should be completely outside of your industry and outside of work but if you want to achieve big things surrounding yourself with people who are doing those things in a really nice and you know not necessarily a strategic or transactional way but just in a sense of commonalities of where you want to go. And it's made me realize that throughout my life, I've had different chapters and phases.

14:50And I feel like I'm entering this new phase now where I need that different sense of a support group around me. And so I'm kind of more intentionally going out there and building that myself. So that's just a little something to take away and think about. And moving into career dilemmas and having a bit of a Q &A with you guys, we had so many great questions so let's get straight into it. The first one is such a good one. I've just been made redundant and want to go freelance. Where do I even start? First of all breathe. Redundancy is tough and you should give yourself some grace so I really hope that you're taking some time even if it's a week, a couple of weeks, a month to like just reset after that because it can really be something that can knock your confidence massively.

15:43But you have to remember that it's a reset and it's not a rejection. It's actually sometimes, and I feel like most often for people, it seems to be the biggest blessing in disguise. So I hope that you're feeling positive and ready. And it's so exciting that you're going into freelance. I think that where you should start is thinking about what's your core service offering that you want to pitch out to people and so one of the things that I probably struggled the most with when I first started working for myself was really clearly explaining what my offering was to people because I didn't quite know so I'd say sort of in the early stages definitely think about what are your like top three things that you can do for people and how can you really simplify that so that people really understand what you can do or what's your core focus area that you can focus on that'd be where I would start um personally I didn't come up with like a company name or anything like that I just did it all in my own name for ease so you don't necessarily have to come up with a company wrapper unless you've already got a great idea so don't stress about that too much some of the things that I would say I um prioritized too early on with things like building a website having great assets getting headshots done like I think all of that stuff is really useful but actually going and speaking up to your network and announcing that you're going freelance is probably the biggest thing that you can do so I would go and do a post on LinkedIn I would reach out to people I would grab coffees with people and I think especially in moments like this it can be really difficult to ask people for help or for guidance or for direction but you'd be surprised at how many people will genuinely come and support you in any way you know it could be referrals it could just be advice it could be that they become a client so I would go and speak to as many people as possible and just get yourself out there and have fun with it the other thing I'd say is get really clear on what your day rates are going to be when it comes to how much you need to earn there's a great website called salary bot I believe where you can basically go in and calculate what's the amount that you want to earn on an annual basis and then what would your daily equivalent rate be based on how many days a week you want to work for example um so i would go and look at that and think about what what day rate do you want um there are a lot of freelance recruiters that are great to talk to as well around like where does the average day rate sit in market um and so speak to other people and see where that kind of sits with other people because there's pros and cons to having different day rates so I've definitely noticed that having a higher day rate is great for shorter term projects but then for longer term projects people often want to go that little bit lower or sort of go to more of a manageable place so think about where you're going to sit for short term projects longer term projects how many days a week do you want to work all of these types of things there's tons of resources online but it's a really exciting time And I think the biggest thing I would say from an advice perspective is just be really ruthless with your time.

19:00And I saw it was actually Nicola Gumby who was on the podcast recently. She did a post the other day that said, I quit my nine to five to work 24 seven. And I feel like that is so true, especially when you're freelance. So it's not for the faint hearted, but the freedom and the autonomy is so worth it. So I'm very excited for you and hope some of that helps. okay number two this is a bit of a spicy one my boss keeps taking credit for my work how do I manage upwards without blowing it up I mean that is a tricky one I'll be honest with you though when it comes to your visibility it is your responsibility so as harsh as that sounds it's true in the sense of like you need to take ownership of speaking up for yourself you need to be the person that's promoting your work internally and externally and if your boss is doing that then they're essentially doing what you should be doing and they're just promoting the work so I would take a step back I think in these situations it's always so easy to take it really personally but often these things aren't personal it's just a case of your boss has got goals your boss wants to present this amazing work externally or internally and they're not necessarily thinking I'm taking credit for this person's work they're thinking how can I promote this because this ultimately makes me look good which you should be doing the exact same of so what I would think about is in future going forwards how can you have like clear paper trails how can you promote your work more visibly internally I would actually go to your boss and say that you're really keen to do something like for example a wrap-up email at the end of every project that gets shared to everyone internally in the business and you can credit and mention everyone that's been a part of that project and use that as a way of building your own brand and your own name in the business so I do think when it comes to visibility promoting yourself think about what you can do internally before you go externally and then make sure that externally where possible you can share your own work and you take that initiative to go and do that and do it quickly I would do it as soon as that project's wrapped up or as soon as you've achieved that goal and you can talk about it go and post about it because there's only a limited time window when you can do those things and it's actually one of the things that I regret not doing enough of when I worked agency side and I had loads of client projects all the time I didn't go and share those externally enough and I feel like I really should have done because it's just great to show the great work that you're doing externally because no one knows if you don't promote it and the other thing I would add to that as well is think about when is it worth addressing it with this person directly versus going a little bit around it so is it worth having a one-to-one conversation and then explaining to your boss that perhaps maybe not accusing them of taking credit for your work, but saying, hey, I'd really love to be credited or mentioned in future.

22:09Or could you go around it, which I think would be my preferred route and speak to your boss, but say, hey, I'm looking to promote more of our work or I really want to get, you know, our work out there. What I'd love to do is take that off you. and at the end of every project cycle whatever it might be I'm going to take it upon myself to go and do a report or wrap up email or whatever it might be and credit everyone and tag everyone are you okay with me taking responsibility and ownership of that so I think that you can go and basically put yourself forward in a way that your boss is thinking you're taking something off their plate but actually it's you just being in control of that narrative so I hope that's helpful and I hope I've taken the question in the right way but ultimately I think sometimes you have to help people perceive like help people in a way that you're taking something off their plate and you're not adding something to it and you're not causing conflict or direct kind of confrontation in that sense you're just looking to help and work together not work against each other because ultimately you could end up in a cycle where you're constantly kind of competing with your boss and you don't want to be caught up in that one thing I didn't fully appreciate before running my own business was just how much mental energy everyday decisions take when you're spinning a lot of different plates and always thinking a few steps ahead even the small things can start to feel surprisingly draining after leaving corporate to set up my business last year I realized if I wanted to stay focused and make good decisions consistently, I needed to simplify wherever I could, especially when it came to my health.

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25:04That's WISHINew20 for 20 % off your first month. I hope you love it just as much as I do. Number three, I'm in my late 30s. I have kids and I feel like I've fallen behind. Is it too late to pivot? I mean, behind for whose timeline would be my first question. Whose timeline are you on? Everyone is on a different timeline. I can totally see why this is a really common feeling. I think especially after people take time out of work when they're having their children to then coming back into the workplace, it can feel like you're stepping backwards or not progressing because you've missed out on time.

25:49From what I hear from other people, you will never regret taking that time out with your kids and spending that time with them. I think when it comes to overall in your life though, I would take a macro zoom out and think about what is important for you in this next chapter. Is it that you really want to accelerate in your career? How can you do that? What are going to be the pros and cons? What are going to be the forfeits that you might need to make in terms of having additional childcare to help step in? Or can you, will you be able to work from home or will you have to be in the office every day?

26:21You know, I'd think about those types of things logistically that are going to help you, but ultimately everyone's on a completely different timeline we had joe good on here who was talking about the fact that she's never been as booked and busy as she is at 71 so there is literally no age limit or no ceiling or no limit to how late or early you can start anything in your career so i think yeah just start start to think about what do you want from this next chapter if you really want to accelerate and if it's going to mean that you're going to have to forfeit some things at home or you're going to have to work long hours or work in a different way how can you logistically be able to do that and remind yourself of the amazing successes that you have had and have got because the older I get the more I realize that everyone is on such a unique and different path I've got friends who are in their foresees and don't have kids I've got friends who don't want children I've got friends who do have children and are going back to work.

27:25I've had friends who are business owners, had children, never took time off and regret that. So I think everyone is on a completely different trajectory and path and there is abundant opportunities for everyone. So taking a little bit of time out to have kids is an amazing thing and you should be so proud of yourself for that. And don't worry too much about what that means in your overall path or trajectory based on your age. Also don't get caught up in a trap of comparing yourself to people of other ages. I feel like we all compare ourselves with our direct peers in terms of age and I just don't think that's ever a really healthy thing.

28:10I think social media doesn't help that either. We're seeing like 21 year old influencers who are making millions and being CEOs and that's great but that's not everyone's timeline and that's not everyone's life and that's probably not the case for 99 % of the population so we've got to be a little bit realistic and think about where can we get positive influences from as well so are there people that you can either speak to in your network that have been through similar things and are doing something great that you want to go and almost like aspire to learn from or are they even people that you can follow that you can relate to maybe it's someone who's had children around a similar age or has a similar number of children and then they've gone back into the workplace or they're doing xyz I would just think about how can you bring those really positive influences into your life in a way that's really productive and healthy for you I hope that helps okay next one how do I grow my network when I don't know where to start that is such a good one because I think growing your network is something that has to be done intentionally but then also organically at the same time I think that it just starts with just showing up the best way to build your network whether it's your network in your job or whether it's making friends or whether it's going out to events just showing up is the number one thing that you need to remind yourself to do because it's always the way with networking events or whatever it might be you get invited to the day comes around and you think oh my god like I've had such a long day at work I don't want to do this I'm so tired you might feel ill you always feel better if you go and if you go you can always leave so I would just start showing up to places find interesting events that you can go to there is literally depending on where you are in the world if you're near a city there is literally an abundance of events that you can always go to at any given time just start showing up and start showing up in different communities if it's not going to to things physically online there are so many different events and communities I would basically take a proactive not reactive approach to going out there speaking to people both online both in real life and following up with people as well so following up is the biggest thing that's going to get you to be remembered by someone so I would for example if you went to an event and you met three people and had conversations with them and exchanged details or their LinkedIn or whatever it might be follow up the next day don't wait any longer than that even if you're not asking for anything or you feel like you're not adding any value just yet just say hey it was really lovely to talk to you I enjoy talking to you about xyz um hopefully we can cross paths again in the future or something like that you know or if you actually genuinely want to continue on and you know learn something from them or connect over something you can ask them for a coffee or whatever it might be but you might not need that just yet but doing that is really what will take you from being someone that they once spoke to briefly at an event to a name that they can recall and remember because it's in their mind the next day and then the next time that you go in and you might need something in the future or you want to ask something or you have something to offer them they'll remember you and so I've been really interested in this sort of compound interest kind of theory or method that applies to so many areas of our lives recently and networking is definitely something that builds over time and it definitely is something that develops with a compound interest approach.

32:01So what I mean by that is you can start with just going to an event once, speaking to a few people, then you go to another event, you speak to a few people, you might meet someone who invites you to another event and then it just starts to build over time. What you might also notice if you start going to similar types of things or similar industries or people of a similar kind of interest to you, you'll probably start to cross over with different people and then your network just starts to build and build and build so it's definitely not a short-term thing but I think the first step is just putting yourself out there my number one tip when it comes to networking as well it's really not easy but to always go on your own to these types of events and the reason why I say that is because first of all I feel like it's a real confidence booster to go to something like that on your own I think it's also like a bit of a like not power move but people will see you as being someone who's really confident like oh she's turned up here on her own she looks really confident and she's going and chatting to people I think it's something that builds a lot of confidence for you but also gives you that perception to other people but also you're way more likely to speak to other people if you're on your own than if you're with someone else or a group of people because often whenever I've been to an event with a group of people we end up speaking to one another and we don't end up networking or speaking to other people externally.

33:24So I would say that is my number one tip. Always try and go on your own because you are literally putting yourself out of your comfort zone and you're more likely to go and speak to other people. Okay, next question. I want to move into tech, but I have no idea where to start. This is such a good question. I feel like a lot of people have these similar thoughts of wanting to move industries, but don't necessarily know how. The first thing I'd say is what transferable skills have you got? So if you literally looked at your CV or your job description, what transferable skills could you take to any other industry?

33:58Let's ignore tech for now. And I'd almost like print them out and highlight them so that you can start to get a feel for what area you're in and then how can you go and navigate that pivot into the next thing. And so for example, as a practical example for me, when I was pivoting industries I worked in sales so I wanted to take my experience from what I was in at the time which was finance and then move into the creative space so I moved into the creative space from a sales perspective what I also did and what I'd always encourage to do is something extracurricular that can add to that industry so if it's tech for example are there courses you can do are there communities that you can be a part of are there things that you can teach yourself could you go to hackathons?

34:47Could you teach yourself to code? Depends what side of tech you want to go into. But if you have something that's a direct benefit to being in that industry, that you are proactively going and seeking out and doing, it's going to help add context and colour and just that additional richness to your CV that is going to set you apart from someone who potentially has got all the experience but maybe hasn't got the passion so I think about what extra things could you be doing right now that don't stop you from working that will help you to navigate that transition the other thing is ask people for coffee like literally just go and speak to people that are in that field and say hey I'm looking to get into this field what advice would you give to someone like me you'd be surprised the amount of people that would be willing to do that if you just buy them a cup of coffee for 20 minutes and the final thing I would say is start to assess like qualifications versus experience and where are you at in your career right now and is there anything that's potentially missing like do you need additional qualifications like for example if you want to go into an engineering role but you're currently I don't know an accountant it's going to be a little bit difficult to make that transition without going and taking those additional steps yourself so I think you've got to think about what area of tech do you want to get into and then how can you realistically step into that in a way that you can pivot and then navigate upwards and it might be a case that it's a five-year path you know it might be that you do a sidestep in wherever you are now and then you once you get in the door you then create this kind of path to where you want to get to but ultimately it's notoriously difficult to get into tech businesses.

36:37But the tech industry is very vast. It's very wide. So don't necessarily just put your hopes up on one company or one segment of it, for example. Okay, this one's quite a good one. My manager says a pay rise isn't on the table. What else can I negotiate for? I feel like this is such an interesting conversation and topic because I feel like when we're told we can't get a pay rise we almost just think like that's it that's the end of where we're at but actually there's so much more beyond pay that you can always negotiate for in your role so I really really like this one so I would start with almost writing down to yourself a bit of a shopping list of like what are the additional things I think would be really valuable to me either in my life for my career right now.

37:29So that could be things like more flexible working hours. It could be a bonus that's maybe performance related or whatever it might be. It could be shares if you work in a company where that is a potential option. It could be navigating to understand where you are on the path to a promotion. So typically if a pay rise isn't available, depending on the company in the sector but from my experience a lot of the time that's been that you're maybe at the top of your sort of bracket for where you're at right now but you need to step up into a new one so you almost need to be in a new bracket to be able to get a pay rise and you almost need a promotion to like trigger that so I would think about what is that next step in that promotion like is there a possibility for you to be working at a more senior level someone once told me very early on that in order to justify even asking for a promotion you need to be doing that job beforehand so think about like if I'm a manager and I want to get to senior manager what do I need to do above and beyond what I'm doing currently that's not just nailing my job like being really good at your job is probably 80 % of it the additional 20 is what's going to take you to the next level and what's going to make it a no-brainer for your bosses so I would think about that write down what you want are there any additional things that you can do additional responsibilities is there anything else in terms of bonus shares those types of things could you have additional resource so is there someone that you need to hire in the team what you want to hire is there a particular area of what you do that you want to take on additional responsibilities for like for example is there an event or marketing part or need that's not being fulfilled at the moment that you could then take on as part of your remit and responsibility in order to grow another thing that's really interesting is also budgets for things like learning and development so is there a course that you want to do that they would be able to pay for you know think about other things beyond just your pay at the end of the month but I would also take everything into account with the fact that you need to understand why is there not a pay rise available at the moment and how do you get there with a clear path and I would really make that quite clear with your boss as well of okay you say that it's not a no but is it a no or is it not right now?

40:13And if it's not right now, what can we get to agree to in terms of a timeline? And I'd get that in writing. Get it in writing, follow up on email, always document everything and then do the work in between or agree on what's required of you in between to be able to get to that part. I hope that's helpful. I started my podcast here at Cube in The Frame, their flagship podcast studio, and it changed the game for me. With my membership, I work alongside a professional production team, so it looks polished and sounds incredible as soon as the cameras start rolling. They also have smaller self-service podcast studios with different set options, so you can choose the vibe that fits you.

40:52Membership here starts from£145 a month. If you've been thinking about launching a podcast, visit thecube.com or click the link in the show notes below. Oh, this one's really good. I can actually relate to this in some of my previous corporate roles. So I'm an individual contributor. How do I get visibility with senior leaders? So for anyone that's not in the kind of tech world, it's a very common phrase that they use, but I see individual contributor is basically someone who has a sole remit, but isn't necessarily managing a team. So you could still be really senior, but you basically are responsible for your remit on your own and you're not a dedicated manager.

41:34And so that can be tricky because often these IC roles, you're kind of over here floating off, you know, working on your own a lot of the time and maybe you're not exposed to all of the team dynamics or you're not contributing to some of the bigger projects, but the stuff that you're doing is still really meaningful. I would think about like, first of all, where are the senior leaders that you need visibility with? Is it the fact that you need more visibility on email slack on calls is it face to face like who are those people I would sort of just pinpoint them out yourself first of all and then I think about like what's the path of least resistance to be able to subtly get visibility without being without being too obvious in the sense of like is it a case that at the end of everything that you do or if you wrap up a big project or you deliver something could you send an email to that leader to say hey I just wanted to give you a heads up on xyz I was able to fix xyz and the result was this I thought that you might find this useful granted I would maybe sense check with your direct line manager like is this something that's relevant and interesting to this particular leader so I think about things like that where it's quite easy for you to just get your name out there and that's the thing especially if you're working for a big global business it can be difficult if you're not all in the same country or same place so even just getting your name out there is something that's really important the second thing I would do is try and speak up on calls so ask questions give feedback don't be afraid to put your hand up even if you don't know something don't be afraid to speak out and also put your sort of hat in the ring to be able to promote certain things So whatever your remit is, can you put yourself forward to be pitching or presenting on this call?

43:25Even if it's not actually your remit, you know, it might be that you have a big monthly team update and you do a birthday shout out. Like, could you take ownership of that shout out? Sometimes it's just getting your name out there and your face in front of people that just starts to get the ball rolling in terms of who is this person and what kind of what kind of impact are they having? And then the other thing I would say with it is it is something that builds over time. But equally, don't dismiss the need for face-to-face relationships. And so something I've always been a big advocate of is just say hello to these people, especially senior leaders in big organizations.

44:06I think people can almost be like, oh, my God, that's so-and-so. And they're so senior, they'll never know who I am. just say hi go up to them and say hi and say my name's Emily and I work in the social department this is what I do um just make them familiar with you and that power of face-to-face beats anything else if you ever do anything like um all team get-togethers or all team off-sites make sure that you get some time to be able to um sit with that person or speak to them that's something I've always been a big a big fan of um there was actually one off-site that I went to once that was in the U.S.

44:48and a really senior like the top person of our organization uh was sat at the front uh for this particular thing that we were doing and no one was sat next to him so and I came in I was like oh I'm just gonna go sit next to him um I actually didn't think anything of it at the time because I was like that's a free seat but that actually meant that through some of the works workshops and sort of exercises that we were doing we ended up talking to one another about certain things and I got to introduce myself formally to him and say hey I'm Emily this is what I do and then he in turn was super interested in certain aspects of what I was doing and the role and was really intrigued to ask specific questions so I think you'd be surprised that those small interactions can have such a meaningful impact when it comes to building rapport and getting those senior leaders to know who you are and know what you do.

45:41So yeah, think about promoting your work, getting face to face with people, putting yourself out there. And if you're not currently getting visibility, you've got to take ownership of going and doing that, no matter how big or small you think that might be. Okay, and final question. This is pay rise related again. I think pay is on everyone's mind at the moment. How do I navigate a pay rise negotiation? and what if they say no so god I could talk about this all day long I won't but I could I think the first thing you have to do is you have to remember that it's not about how long you've been at a company and whether you feel like you deserve a pay rise you have to think about what's the impact that you're delivering are you delivering above and beyond your role and ultimately what is the business case for them to put this investment into you.

46:39It's all about the business case. Something someone told me once which I've always taken with me and I've used this in practice and it's really really effective is to go out to market and understand what your market rate is worth. So if you are at manager level at the moment and you're being paid, I'm just going to say round figures for round figures sake, 50k. And in market, you could go and get another job elsewhere and be paid 60k. That is one point of data that you want to take and you want to store. So you need a document where you're documenting all of this. But I would go and look at two, three, four, five data points to see in market, is there an average salary that's happening that's at your level that's not meeting where you're at right now because that is great data to go and take into them so I think that's something that's really useful it's also great as a sense check for you in terms of where are you in your stage of your career are you where you should be are you below are you about like it's just a really good sense check and I think especially when we've been in roles or companies for quite a long period of time.

47:55We don't do that. We do our job, but we get quite internal. We get quite insular. We think about where we are right now. We don't really look out to see, well, if I was to go somewhere else, am I going to be getting paid more? And if you are, then I think that that's something that you need to take to your employer as part of this business case. It's not the whole case. That's the point. It's not the whole argument, but it's a really strong reference point for them to understand where they sit. And then second of all, I would prepare this business case to make it so compelling that they can't say no.

48:31And the way I would do that is noting down your achievements and accomplishments alongside the impact that they've had on the business. Note down what this pay rise means to you and to them and what are they going to get in return as a business as a result of doing this so it could be a case of you've achieved you've delivered x amount of projects on time which has meant that x amount of customers have returned and they've got great customer satisfaction scores above and beyond your remit you're also doing whatever you're doing it could be that you are um mentoring other people you're managing other people you're taking on ownership of other people's growth you're um contributing to company-wide initiatives you're contributing to things like a women's day event for example what are you doing above and beyond your role that's going to be really beneficial Are there any examples of demonstrations that you're at that next level as well?