It's true. When you begin your career, you are like a new start-up with limited product offerings - or possibly even a one-product company. That's what you bring to your customer - who is in this case, your boss as well as the company you work for.
The irony is that many fresh graduates think they are in hot demand and expect high salaries. They go into the working world with this "it's all-about-me" attitude when they have little experience. Now, tell me, would a consumer pay a lot to buy an average product with no brand? Of course not. In the business of life, if we want to succeed, we must adopt a "customer-first" approach. It is not about what the company can do for you, but what you can do for the company.
Yet many corporate newbies deceive themselves into thinking that they have a fantastic career in front of them when they find a job with a reputable company and managed to get a high starting salary. But here's the bad news... not everyone gets to climb the corporate ladder. Only the best will progress to the higher echelons of the management hierarchy. It's like the world of business where statistics indicate that a large majority of new ventures are likely to fail in the first four to five years. However, for those who succeed, the possibilities are limitless.
So how do you defy the business law of gravity that drags new businesses down after a few years of operation? You need to know what pitfalls to avoid. You have got to run the business properly and focus on your customer needs! And when you fail, like most start-up ventures, learn from your mistakes but move on. Don't get disillusioned and give up. The worst thing you can do is to switch careers without giving yourself a chance for your "market" to accept you.
So new graduates out there or those who recently started working, wake up! If you want to beat the odds, you have to run your life like a business. The limited products and services you currently offer isn't going to satisfy your customer. You need to expand your offerings by continually improving what you bring to the corporate table. You'd better be really good at what you do. Or do much more and create more value. In the business world, this would mean continuously improving a product or offering a broad range of products. This is because there are tons of competition out there in the corporate jungle. You have to market and sell what you offer that differentiates from the competition!
The truth is that the better product doesn't necessarily win in the market place. There are other factors like brand loyalty, ease of use, perception of quality, etc. Similarly, in the business of life, is your boss loyal to you? Are you easy to deal with? Are you reliable and constantly deliver quality work?
And after you make the sale (when you do your job), you have got to service your customer (your boss and stakeholders) too, just the way a business does where CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is an important focus to enable up-sell and cross-sell efforts.
To grow your business venture in life, you have to constantly improve your products and services while you build a reliable brand. Otherwise, your customers will abandon you for other compelling alternatives. Following a customer-first and a customer-focused mentality will make you humble and responsive to the needs of your customers, allowing you to grow the business of being you.
Enough said - you get the message. For those of you with lots of working experience, why not share with our younger co-workers what is needed to transform their start-up venture into an established business.
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