Interview with Belma McCaffrey: 3 Steps Process on how to Fall in Love with your Career

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Welcome to professional seduction the place to find,flirt and fall in love
with your career. I'm your host Chanel Caraway. Business
leaders and industry experts will share tips and advice to help push your
professional life forward and if you're trying to figure out a career we'll help
you out with that too. Joining us is Velma McCaffrey she is the founder and
CEO of Work Bigger Velma,thank you so much for being here, I really appreciate
your time. Yeah thank you so much for having me. So first off tell us about
Work Bigger. What exactly is this? Yeah, so work bigger is a platform with a focus
of challenging the status quo and redefining work. So that work is really a
vehicle for creativity, Making a difference and also living an awesome
life and we do that in three ways. We have our programming and education which
helps and gives women a framework for finding a career that they feel
connected to. We have a really amazing community to help facilitate connections
and the third piece is content. We have a platform where we provide resources and
content to make that career transition easier. Excellent tell me how Work Bigger
has evolved. Just an hour conversation,I came to understand that
this has been sort of a labor of love it's kind of grown and evolved as you've
immersed yourself in this. So Work Bigger started as a blog, In
January 2016, I decided to start writing I was actually transitioning out of
another company that I had been working to build, I was also focused on the
career space and focused on women, I was also working at The Associated Press
full-time and business development and my son was a few months old but I had
these entrepreneurial ambitions and writing was the only way that I could
pursue my mission in a way that felt healthy. So, as I started writing I
launched the blog and was very consistent with it I would put out about
an article a week and from there I accidentally started to build
programming. I tapped into what it means to find your mission and what it looks
like to work from a mission place and we launched the first pilot
program in the fall of 2016 and when we did that we had sign ups right away and
that's where I knew that was you know my proof of concept and everything. Yeah,I
was like okay there's something here. So from there we started working on the
community aspect because I saw how pivotal community is to our work lives
and our lives in general. It's so important to have a place where you can
feel safe, have shared values with other individuals and also make those
connections in a way that doesn't feel awkward. So with the programming, the
community and then the content we're now working on relaunching the platform from
what was originally Boeing McCaffrey.com because Work Bigger didn't exist
when I started writing to now Work Bigger.com. So you're indeed working bigger it's
living yeah I think you have a three-step process to sort of help
people love their work and in fact work bigger without giving too much away
because I want people to go to your site and really immerse themselves in the
content so without revealing too much tell us a little bit about how this
process, the three-step process works. Yeah so there's three questions that I
always encourage everyone to start thinking about when you're thinking
about wanting to find more meaning in your work. The first piece is what do you
care about and why? So we talk a lot and first I'm actually gonna take a step
back because what I've noticed is that we talked a lot about finding your passion
right? that's something I grew up always hearing what is your passion? and always
thinking I don't know what my passion is so that must mean I'm completely lost
and I don't know what I want to do with my career. But what I started to think
about as I started doing this work is that there's really three questions that
we should be asking and it's really about finding your mission. Your mission
is so much I think that's really what anchors you to your work whereas a
passion is fleeting right you could care about something today yeah
but not necessarily about it tomorrow but when you're working from a mission
driven place you're working from a place of service and you're anchored to your
work in a deep way. So that three-step process to find your mission includes
getting clearing your passions and interests so passion is a piece of it
but taking that a step further asking yourself why?Why am i passionate about
cooking as an example, What experience does that come from?
so really understanding the deeper side of that the second step is values what
do you stand for right? So our values should govern every
single aspect of our lives whether it's how we spend our money, who we hang out
with, who we date right? And it should also govern the companies that we align
ourselves with and if we're entrepreneurs the kind of business that
we want to bring into the world. And the third piece is strengths and
I'll even add weaknesses to that so what are you really really good at?And then
also what are your opportunity areas? like where is your growth edge what can
you focus on to continue leveling up as a leader so if you're doing all these
three things or working to answer these questions then you're on your way to
building that mission driven career. Definitely food for thought and prior to
you saying this I had never even really thought about sort of separating a
mission from a passion and because I've always heard pursue your passion,
Chase your passion, Be relentless about fulfilling your passion but as you just
said that can be so fleeting it changed. it can change as we age circumstances
and situations arise that make all of a sudden change our passion so that's
really some food for thought for me and I'll start to think about what my
mission is because like you said that's that's the constant that's what really
will anchor you and Center you so that everything else can kind of evolve
naturally. Yeah very interesting so we'll definitely find out later how
to get more information about the three-step process. But, before we do that
talk to me about your professional paths if you will because you've had the
privilege of working at you know major companies, fortune 500 companies,but
you've chosen to sort of step away and really pursue your mission.
Yeah so I graduated from Syracuse University and ended up in media right
after college and was working on the media agency side for a while. I ended up
at an incredible agency I worked at Group M for a few years and then
eventually went over to the publishing side I worked at Conde Nast, working with
a sales executive team there doing negotiations and business development
and then eventually I went back to business school because well yes I was
getting this amazing experience in media. I started to feel a calling towards
business and entrepreneurship and I wanted to also have an understanding of
the bigger picture outside of the work that I was doing in media. After that I
ended up at The Associated Press which is another amazing organization but yeah
so my experience has been in media throughout my whole career and I've been
lucky and fortunate to work at these amazing companies and learn from great
bosses. But, I am stepping away from that to run work bigger because yeah I ended
up tapping into my own mission which is about challenging the status quo and
helping to create a world where we redefine work and where we're leveraging
our work to make that difference, to tap into our creativity so that we can solve
some of the biggest problems and I didn't necessarily feel that I could do
that through these other organizations that I was at so I'm essentially
creating that path and that company for myself and others. Tell me how big a role
do you feel social media plays when you're trying to pursue a passion, a
mission or even to just you know learn how to work bigger where does social
media fall into this? Yeah so for Work Bigger I mean social media plays a big
role so our community lives on Facebook so it I think it's very important in a
way to leverage connections, bring people together but you know I think working
bigger is really about working from a place of service so social media is not
a requirement for that, I see it mostly as a tool to help you make that
transition, to help build those connections. Great,one of the things
about professional seduction that I want to really resonate and sort
of rise to the top is the fact that we can sort of strip some of the stress out
of career exploration and trying to figure out the next step in your
professional life. So, one of the things that I began to think about is what if
we approach work in a similar fashion to dating you know what if we make it more
fun? So what parallels if any can you draw
between for instance a first date and putting our best foot forward on a first
date and doing something similar when we're going on an interview or you know
when we're trying to build solid healthy relationships at work? yes I mean the
parallels I see between dating and work is what's most important is no matter
what it is you're doing that you're coming from an authentic place right?
You're tapping into who you really are and what you really want. whether it's
from a partner or whether it's from your work. So I think it doesn't necessarily
matter but understanding yourself on a fundamental level and being able to
operate from that authentic place is you know that Center that we were just
talking about. That's what will give you that and you know that can translate to
having a successful relationship but it can also translate to having a really
successful career. Staying true to self that's a common denominator I feel in
anything. Anything in life so tell me what advice can you offer to young
professionals who are just discovering their careers or maybe struggling just
trying to figure out which direction they want to head in?Well so I
definitely been there I spent all of my 20s feeling really stuck and really
frustrated because I was looking for that thing in my career so I would say
is try to answer these three questions as you're pursuing different jobs rather
than letting them happen to you right just be mindful pursue them with
intention so try to own in. What is it that gets me really excited and
why like why am i excited by this aspect of this job? Tap into your strengths and
when you really feel at your best at whatever job it is that you have right
now. And also what do you stand for? So the values thing again and if you're not
clear on all those three that's okay as long as you're pursuing
each opportunity with intention and you're seeking out experiences that'll
help you fill in those gaps. Yeah and the other thing I would say so I remember
when I was going out networking and in my twenties early in my career I would
feel super super awkward going out and having these conversations I feel like
like I have to go out and impress everyone. I still feel that way sometimes. Yeah
and I think that's that's putting so much pressure on ourselves so I would
say do away with all of that and really be honest about what you don't know if
there's something that you feel uncomfortable about just share it, say
you know what I had these are my knowledge gaps I don't know anything
about this interests industry can you help me out, and that'll allow you again
to come from that authentic place and make a real connection with someone.
Thank you for that,as I was again just diving into all the content that you
have something really stuck out for me I am guilty of faking it until I make it
you know it's it's something that I feel like I've just kind of heard since youth
if you if you don't know something sometimes you just got to fake it till
you make it yeah so I have been guilty of doing that more times than I care to
admit. But tell me why that's not a good idea. Yeah so I do think that there's a
lot of value and faking it till you making it I've done it too and I think
the reason there is value is 'cause it kind of gives you comfort right it's like
okay well none of us know what we're doing so let's just keep moving forward
and I think that in itself is is really valuable advice I think where we go
wrong is that we don't tap into what's really happening right when we're faking
it totally making it and the reason that came up I wrote about that on the blog
is because one of the work bigger graduates I was on the phone with her
and she was really stressed out she was about to launch her pilot for her
business and I said to her I was like well you know just fake it till you make
it and I saw she had this like just reaction I'm like you know what I'm like
that's not always really good advice is it?
Because what I could sense from her what she needed in that moment was an
understanding of really what was holding her back. So well I think that advice is
valuable I think it's also really important to understand what's going on
when we're feeling that lack of confidence. Where is that coming from?
This woman in particular who went through the worker program she was
really stressed out because she was transitioning from a nine-to-five
corporate setting to now starting her own business and that's a big learning
curve. Because nine-to-five, there's so much structure built into your day
already. So, going out on your own,you have to create that structure and
discover yourself. Yeah and we're not always allowed to fail in a corporate
setting. So I think for her was really valuable was understanding why she was
feeling so uncertain at the time and I think having some deeper clarity around
that can allow her to move forward versus you know fake it till you make it
like essentially just keep going and like don't ask deeper questions and I
think that's when it can be a little harmful. And I think it's important to be
in tune with the person you're saying it to because you could say it for instance
to me and I'll laughing like okay I know exactly what you mean I'm just gonna
plow through this it'll work itself out but someone else may not receive it that
way I think that's a really good distinction to make and I will kind of
dig deeper within myself and maybe not fake it until I make it so much and
identify some of the things that may be holding me back from getting to the next
level yeah what I'm hearing you say with that too is that you're almost being
kinder to yourself right because I feel like when you're just plowing through
it's like okay well I'm taking action and I'm moving forward. But I'll say yeah
it helps to just be like all right it's okay I'm human like things are not gonna
feel I don't feel really confident right now and that's okay,yeah I thought take
a minute reset and then move home. Yeah so talk to me about some of the
challenges or hurdles that you've had to jump over as you've decided to you know
go from,evolved from just blogging at Velma McCaffrey to evolving into Work
Bigger. Oh my gosh,there's so many,Well one of my biggest
challenges is that or yeah has been that I started, I knew I wanted to be an
entrepreneur I have been very clear on what my mission is and bringing that to
life while I was originally working full time with baby. My son was only a few
months old I would say that felt really overwhelming at first but sometimes I
think our constraints can be our biggest blessings as they push us to be creative
and I said you know what I really care about this, this is really important to
me so I'm gonna find a way to make it happen. So, after we launched the pilot for
Work Bigger and or even actually before that when I decided that we're gonna I
saw that there was some momentum I negotiated a role at The Associated
Press to work part-time and that was so challenging because and I you know we
can probably talk about this but there was a lot of pressure that I felt I
didn't know how they were gonna receive that asked I didn't know how you know
what their opinion was gonna be of me like right she wants to go and like run
another company while working. There was though anyway yeah yeah there was so
much uncertainty but once I did that it was so challenging but once I did that
then I was able to create more space and time in my day to work on my mission and
my business and also be a present parent because that's super important yeah to
me too and I didn't want to shortchange my family life for my work. Both are
really valuable to me and I again that common denominator is; you spoke about
your mission you were willing to sort of be vulnerable in a moment to fulfill
your mission and because you did that space was created for you to fulfill
your mission you know it goes back to what you were saying identify your
mission and everything else will begin to fall into place and take shape right before your eyes. Yeah really powerful
thank you, I have like chills when you talk about it because that's exactly how I feel about
it, it really feels like that is my North Star and if I can tap into that in those
really challenging moments because there's several of them like Building
a team is another one like there's so much fear that comes with that but if I
can tap into what I'm trying to accomplish and why what is the purpose?
What is the larger purpose and I feel like I can make that decision and just
feel a little bit more courageous versus coming from that place of fear which can
be paralyzing. Right ,fear can keep you stuck totally and stagnant. Really
powerful,so what's in the pipeline for you what's next yeah so we are in the
midst of relaunching the website. It's gonna be again go from Velma McCaffrey.com
so we're bigger we are building a team so we have an amazing
team of coaches to start and then expanding beyond that we also have our
programming in place the programming - to me and it's so important to
the mission because that's really what I've seen is lacking in our education
system right like we learn about science and math and all these other important
subjects but we're not really taught to ask the bigger deeper questions that I
think can pay dividends for years to come yeah so the programming the work
for our program is gonna continue to be a pivotal part of work bigger and really
providing participants with that transformation that they're looking for
so they can go out and build a sustainable career path right because
it's not about finding just finding that the next job it's about finding that
work where you feel connected to or you can make an impact and ultimately just
feel more fulfilled yeah yeah so the program does that so we're gonna
continue to focus on that and expand that. That's great and I really am
intrigued by you know learning more about what questions to ask particularly
for Millennials as they continue to grow in the workforce they don't always know
what questions to ask and an interview and you know culture are so critical to
your success and it's like a job interview is as much for you the
interviewee as it is for the interviewer because you want to make sure that it's
a role you'll find fulfillment and can truly be successful in so one more time
for our viewers where can we go to find out more information about the three
step process and work bigger in general. Yeah so you can go to
work bigger.Co that's our new platform and also we're on Facebook so the
Facebook community is open to women only right now but you can go on Facebook
/groups/work bigger if you're looking to join an awesome community of
women that's a safe space to come together excellent Velma thank you so
much for being here we really appreciate your time
Velma McCaffrey joining us thank you for joining professional production tune in
next time we will have Matt Levy who is a strategist and life coach to help you
push your professional and personal life forward. As always a big shout out to
Foreign Brooklyn media for helping to make professional seduction happen we'll
see you next time.

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Interview with Belma McCaffrey: 3 Steps Process on how to Fall in Love with your Career

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