https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_j1jceWRfQ Whether you're building a business, writing a blog, or creating anything new, it can be easy to think about your customer or audience in aggregate. To work with your market in mind, instead of a particular person. One of the early inflection points in the growth of Praxis came when Isaac choose to focus on one particular customer. Not all the entrepreneurial young people, not a specific demographic, just selling and creating a solution for one …
Actionable ideas to kickstart your career
How to Find Experience Everywhere
From a rigid school-based perspective, I have always been a terrible student. I was the problem child who questioned the work and did things my own way. If it didn’t have a foreseeable real-world application, I argued against the value of the lesson or test, much to the chagrin of my long-suffering mother, who home-schooled me from preschool through high school. My entire mindset was “Unless it seems valuable, get it done and over with as quickly as possible.” Upon graduating high school, …
Content Is King | Forward Tilt Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xRJmQioxU8 When creating something it is tempting to focus on perfecting the small details. Whether it’s production value on a podcast, body positioning as a public speaker, or style as a writer, there are lots of small details to obsess over. But when you are starting a new project you can never lose sight of the most important aspect of anything you create, the content of the ideas. Check out the new episode of Forward Tilt now …
5-on-5: Beginning Your Career in New City
In our 5-on-5 series, We ask five Praxis participants to give their answers to five questions on a single theme. This week’s topic will focus on the rewards, challenges, and lessons that come with beginning a career in a new city. 1) What were you doing before Praxis and where did you move after starting the program? Evan Le, Praxis Participant: I was in Los Angeles finishing up my 3rd year of college and a summer internship when I started my Praxis bootcamp. I went back home to Salem, MA …
Don’t Forget the Free Meal | Forward Tilt Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vlQ8RkxVNg When something goes wrong in a customer service situation, some people will seize the opportunity to berate their server or make an employee feel bad. They use the moment to grab a tiny amount of power. But by using this opportunity to feel important, they give up what is best for them in the long term. They throw away great future benefits for a small hit, and in the case of restaurants, they forget about the free meal. Check out the new …
How to Work Weekends Without Burning Out
My wife and I work at least one day each weekend. Why? As we say regularly here at Praxis, when you are young you have lots of time and few responsibilities. You need to take advantage of that. Amanda and I don’t have kids yet, so we made the conscious decision to spend our time getting ahead in our careers now before we start a family. We both work at rapidly growing companies, so opportunities to advance abound. Work we put in now is a great investment. Given how much we work during the …
Find Similarities, Exploit Differences | Forward Tilt Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3oSiVhlqDA “In a room of 100 strangers, seek similarities. In a room of 3 friends, seek differences.” Popular wisdom warns against creating a bubble of similar friends. You often hear that a more diverse group of opinions and worldviews is better. That you should seek to spend time with people with different values. This advice is overrated and over esteemed. Instead, when deciding who you work and spend time with you should focus on similarities. Not in …
Two Parts Substance, One Part Style | Forward Tilt Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08v67oUvpqQ Building a brand is important. So is sharing what you are working on and creating opportunities with marketing. But when you are working on branding and style you can’t forget about creating more substance. To maintain the balance between substance and style Isaac uses a simple heuristic. Two parts substance, one part style. For every one thing you are sharing and talking about publicly, you should be working on something else behind the …
5-on-5: The Challenges & Rewards of Writing Every Single Day
The five Praxis participants who contributed to this post have all participated in our bootcamp’s 30-day writing challenge. During this challenge, they write and publish something every single day. Here are some of their stories and reflections on the practice of daily writing. 1) What's the funniest or most creative thing you ever did to keep your daily blogging streak alive? James Walpole, Praxis Alumnus (Longest writing streak 110 days and counting): I’ve been going to a lot of …
Don’t Trust Willpower, Shape Incentives | Forward Tilt Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP03gFw_g6g Willpower has limits. If the rewards or punishments are high enough, and you're in a situation long enough, you will eventually reach your limit. But we live in a time where we have massive power to structure the incentives in our own lives. We can find new social circles, jobs, and past times that have incentives in line with our values. We can structure our lives so we don't need to rely on willpower. If you take action and shape the …
5 Superpowers I Got From Month 1 of Praxis
When I first applied to Praxis, I was really focused on the apprenticeship. I was ready to jump in and get to work at a fast-growing start-up. I’ve been in the program for a little over a month, and I now see how the bootcamp is truly an invaluable part of the program. The time, community, mentorship, and skill-building activities the bootcamp offers are crucial to putting me in a position to crush it at my apprenticeship. Here are five “superpowers” the program gave me in month 1: SUPERPOWER …
What Do You Do Best in the World? | Forward Tilt Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MbfPshHl0I What do you do better than anyone? It is a question you should be finding the answer to. You should be looking at your life and your work and asking yourself, what is the one thing that I do better than everyone else? Once you have the answer you have a path forward. A direction to take your life's work. Check out the new episode of Forward Tilt now on iTunes, YouTube, direct download and all major podcast platforms. In this episode: …
Have Your Cake and Eat It | Forward Tilt Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-U4Ig0nMUI “You can be fast and erratic or slow and steady.” “You can have a small remote team, but it won’t work with more than five employees.” “You can think quick and shallow or long and deep thought.” The world is full of common wisdom, dichotomies and life lessons. Some are true and valuable, but many aren’t. Accepting them without question can close down real possibilities in your life. You need to figure out if they are true for you. You …
Ask and Then Shut Up | Forward Tilt Podcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLZyB4uMh84 When you're new to sales or fundraising, you have the temptation to fill space after you make a big ask. It feels awkward to sit there in silence, but no matter how it feels, wait. Sit there and let the other person talk next. No matter what the answer is, asking and then shutting up works because it leads to a clear reply. Even if it is a no, you will know where you sit, and you won’t be left interpreting what a "sounds good" style answer …
5-on-5: Working at a Praxis Apprenticeship
We asked five Praxis participants to give their answers to five questions on a single theme. This edition’s topic will focus on what it’s like to do an apprenticeship with one of our business partners. 5-on-5: The Praxis Apprenticeship Experience 1) Describe the kind of work you do/did at your Praxis Business Partner? Michael Gaines, Praxis Participant: I've worn many hats at GlockStore. No work is beneath me, and that's what I've shown to my boss. If there's a need and I can help, …
