What I wish I’d known in my late 20s/early 30s – advice to younger self?

What do I wish I’d known in my late 20s/early 30s – advice to my younger self?

Hi, I’m Janet Granger, answering the question: “As someone who’s had a career in marketing, what do you wish you’d known in your late 20s/early 30s that would have been helpful”

This is a great question. Everyone you ask will have a different answer, that’s totally personal. So I’ll tell you mine. 

First, I wish I’d known that a career in marketing would be totally different every five years. I started off with an early career in cable television, at Nielsen, then I was in direct mail for years,  and then the internet happened. That changed everything. 

At first, everything was web-based, then email, then social media, then chats, messaging, texting. I wish someone had said to me: what you’re doing now will be really quaint in five to ten years. The world would be totally different. That’s the reality. Think about how much e-commerce has changed in just the last ten years, in terms of sophistication. 

So my advice to you is: whatever you’re doing today – you’re doing today – and you can get as good as you want. And just know that, at some point, things will change. 

The fundamentals of marketing don’t change. What are the fundamentals? 

• Understanding your buyer/ your consumer/ your client 
• What their pain points are 
• How you solve those pain points
• Good copy
• Telling a good story/storytelling 

Those things don’t change. What changes is where and how you do that. In what channels? 

I wish I’d known – but the good news is, it’s been exciting! It’s always changing. It’s always something different. 

I find that fun and interesting. Some people find that as chaos – and they don’t like it because, as soon as you’ve figured something out, the rug gets pulled out from under you. That doesn’t bother me as much as it does many people. 

The second thing is – sort of a corollary of the first one – that things don’t have to be 100% perfect to be good or even great. Or even 95 – 90%. You don’t have to hit a home run every single time.  

I’m not saying you shouldn’t swing for the fences and try for home runs. But what I’ve learned over my career is that, sometimes, the singles and the doubles and the triples (to push this baseball batting analogy) work. They’re good enough. 

So while everybody wants the home runs – who doesn’t? I’ve learned to love and to help my clients appreciate non-home runs – the singles, doubles, etc. 

Most of the time, good and really good is good enough. 

The last thing that I wish I’d known, in hindsight, is about “planning my career.” I didn’t really pay much attention, or think about, what my career path looks like. 

I’ve had other people look at my resume and my LinkedIn profile and say, “You’re a Generalist,  aren’t you?” Meaning I didn’t stay in one industry; I hopped all over the place: for-profit,  not-for-profit, different industries, B2C, B2B. I’m a generalist. 

One person took a look at my resume and said: “Wow! You just kind of did what you wanted, didn’t you?” I don’t think that comment was necessarily a compliment at the time they said it. 

I didn’t do myself any favors by not staying within any particular industry. So my advice now is, if you find an industry that you really like – or you find interesting – stay. Build a career there. 

Because after you’ve been there for a while, people will peg you and cubbyhole you. They’ll see that you specialize – in travel, in B2B, in the marine or aviation industry, or hotels, whatever it is. You name it. 

People like that, in terms of hiring you, or getting a new job. People like an industry- specific background. If you’re in the medical device industry, they want people in the medical device industry, etc. That can serve you really well, if you find an industry that you find interesting and that’s changing and growing. 

If you don’t find an industry like that, or you kind of want to be a rebel, or you just never want to settle down in one particular area – you do what I did,  jumping around – just realize you’re going to have to explain yourself. And get in front of the right people, which sometimes isn’t easy to do if they’re screening with software, online. 

You’ll have to say why you’ve jumped around and done all these different things, and all the different experiences you have um. 

I will say that, the good news for me is that, being a generalist and hopping all over the place and doing all these things put me in the position now where I can do this.  I can provide mentoring opportunities and advice. Because I have done so many different things, in so many different interesting industries and areas. 

I’ve done in-house marketing; I’ve done agency marketing – in a number of different places. So I  have a depth and breadth of experience that allows me to be able to talk extemporaneously about different industries – and the things they have in common (from a mentorship perspective). 

Steve Jobs was giving a commencement speech and he said that sometimes career paths don’t make any sense at the time you’re in them. You’re sort of zigging and zagging. It’s only when you get to be 40 or 50 (or older), when you look back and you realize, “Wow. Every decision that I made is what got me to where I am right now.” Connecting the dots. 

He did a lot of zigging and zagging in his career that seemingly didn’t make any sense, but that allowed him to be Steve Jobs and do what he accomplished. 

So I would say, continue to do and move towards what’s of interest to you. What you really enjoy. 

And not to move out of fear – just grabbing at something, or taking a job because you’re afraid of not having a job. All the people that I’ve seen that have done that – gone towards something out of fear, instead of out of interest and intrigue or enjoyment – it’s not turned out well for them. 

I’m Janet Granger, answering the question: “As someone who’s later on in their marketing career, what do I wish I’d known when I was in my 20s/30s that would have been helpful?”