I Love My Job: Brandon McCollough

We are excited to introduce the I Love My Job campaign! Each month, we will feature a different professional who has found their niche. The Niche Movement's mission is to help young professionals discover what they're passionate about and to inspire them to find a career they love. 

Meet Brandon McCollough, founder and CEO of Generation Next in Washington, DC. Brandon, a New Jersey native, left his position at the National Society of Black Engineers in October, 2014 to launch his own company. Last month we had the opportunity to sit down with Brandon and pick his brain about his change in career and how he found his niche. 

Why Did You Become an Entrepreneur?

"I actually was just thinking about this a few weeks ago, so it’s funny you ask. Throughout my life, I’ve always had the ambition to do something on my own. It wasn’t necessarily that I wanted to become an entrepreneur; I just wanted to start my own thing. I was a little bit of a tech geek when I was younger. When I was in middle school, I remember a friend and I decided that we wanted to build our own video game. We drew out all of the characters and started to learn what it meant to build a video game. That’s what kind of drew me into the tech space. Then in college, when my friends and I would have events, I would be in charge of the operational aspect, bringing people together and building things out. Professionally, though, everything I’ve done has been in the space of community development. The job that I left was at the Society of Black Engineers and I kind of see my work here as a continuation of that. They were both community oriented in terms of creating a pipeline for talent and helping people find their passions."

What is Generation Next?

“We are a social enterprise that helps young Millennials in the DC area connect to job opportunities, advance their careers or launch their own businesses. That’s what we’re into, trying to help people find out what they’re great at and what they love. I would say our real birthday was last year in November. That is when I started doing this 9 to 5. Before that, we started with just a few folks who like to connect people and have events in their spare time. Now we are in the position to have two people full time and we’re looking to add some more team members."

Who is Your Demographic?

"Definitely Millennials, that’s our sweet spot, that’s the age range we’re targeting. We help folks that have two years of experience onto five to seven years of experience, so about 20-years old to 35-years-old is our sweet spot. They’re a whole range of folks in terms of backgrounds and industries. You know, we get a lot of people in DC from the Federal background that either want to transition into the private sector jobs or folks in the tech space. That’s kind of our niche within our niche because DC is a growing hub for technology."

What Has Been Your Biggest Success?

"Yeah, I’d have to say the Millennial Job Summit. It was our first big Generation Next Sponsored event. We were able to connect about 400 registrants to startups, businesses and Millennials who are looking for a job. We also had an entrepreneurial panel to give registrants information about starting their own thing. We got a lot of good feedback. Even though it was on a smaller scale, the registrants were able to make a lot of good connections whether it was finding co-founders for their own organizations or taking on new employees. It was great to play a role in the economic development of young folks, that’s what we’re all about, that’s the space where we’re trying to make a big impact."

What Advice Do You Have For Young Professionals?

"I like that this generation has come to embrace mistakes and failures and can learn from them. You can’t have people who are scared to try something different or try something new because that’s when the best things are created. Have the tenacity to put your ideas out there. Especially for the DC area, there are so many resources and Meetups or groups, you should always try to meet new people and make new connections. It’s really important in a “Who You Know” kind of city like DC. Don’t be afraid to go outside of your own expertise. I didn’t study computer software when I was in school, but I go to hack nights and code for progress events where they teach you how to create your own website from scratch. There are folks in there who’ve never written a line of code in their life, but they’re building websites better than people I know who when to college for it. Do something outside of the box because you might find something that you’re good at that you would’ve never known. Definitely get out there and meet new folks. Every week I try to set up coffee or lunch with three people that I’ve met. A lot of times you’ll go out to an event in DC and have this whole collection of cards but most people don’t follow up after that. If you don’t tap into that, what’s the purpose? By following up, you build a good personal brand and as long as you’re selling something dope, something that people understand, they’ll be your brand ambassadors."

What Are Your Favorite Places in DC?

"Aw man, well I’m a foodie so… I like a lot of places. I like the whole 14^th street district because they have everything in there you could want within walking distance. There’s this place on 14^th and T street called Tico that I really like and my favorite bar is down there too; it’s called Pearl Dive Oyster Palace. My favorite restaurant is Fogo de Chao which is a Brazilian steak house. They bring by every cut from filet mignon to sirloin and they just keep chopping, it’s awesome."

If you or someone you know is working at a job they love and would like to be featured on our blog, reach out to us at kevin@thenichemovement.com.

Starting Your Own Business Is No Joke: 3 Lessons for Anyone Taking a Leap of Faith

April marks six months since I left my full time job at Rutgers University, moved to Washington, DC, and launched my business full time. Let me correct myself, businesses. Today, as I sit here on April 1st writing this post, I am sharing this on my first day from my new office space at WeWork in the middle of DC. Ever since I went all in and to be an entrepreneur, I’ve been tip toeing the line of living the life of a digital storyteller (social media strategy & content creator) and the other, as the founder of The Niche Movement, a community to help young professionals find their passion while applying unconventional career search practices in the real world.

Since I took a leap of faith, even though the two businesses on paper were two different offsprings of my work over the last eight years, they have actually started to blend together in a weird but serendipitous kind of way. For example, from cold emailing conferences in DC last November, I landed the amazing opportunity to photograph for VentureWell, an ed tech conference full of like-minded higher ed colleagues and students who see things differently. As I photographed this conference over the four days, I personally met individuals that have created co-working spaces on their campuses all the way to Aneesh Chopra, Obama’s former CTO. Along with other work I have completed since October 2014, it’s moments like this that I know all of this will lead to something bigger and to have patience and most importantly, trust the process.

As I am weeks away from finishing my book, funded on Kickstarter last summer, I can say that the last six months has been the most rewarding but challenging months. However, each subsequent month has provided a lot of clarity and created a vision in how I can bridge the two businesses together. More on that to come later this spring.

I’ll admit, this is the first post I have written in 2015 partly because I have been head-down focused on bringing on clients and creating strategies and content for them. Next, I spent the end of 2014 interviewing inspirational people for the book including Nancy Lyons, founder of ClockWork and featured on NBC Nightly News in November 2014. Finally, it has been difficult to find any energy at the end of the day to write for a few minutes in order to thread the book together.

The good news though, I have loved every minute of it and have worked with some amazing people along the way.

The three pieces of advice I want to share with you whether you are starting your own business, in the middle of your career, or looking for a job you love is the following:

1. Take a deep breath and hold on tight - Finding a job you love or starting your own business is a long, bumpy, and untraveled path. If you are looking for instant gratification or a quick solution, you are headed down the wrong path. With the right amount of planning, guts, and trusting that everything will “be ok”, it’s best to view this journey as a marathon and not a sprint.
2. Put yourself out there - If you have something you want to share/promote or a service (big or small) to help others, you have to let people know. But don’t forget, have tact and be genuine with a touch of creativeness. I have found by just introducing yourself (digitally or in-person) and then leaving with “If I can help, please let me know” or “How can I help you?” goes a long way. Also, don’t forget the follow-up. Most of the people interviewed for the book and many of the projects I have worked on came from the simple follow-up both over the phone and through email.
3. Care about the people first, work second -  When you're starting out in a new job, career, or launching a new business it is so easy to get wrapped up in administrative tasks, finances, personnel, next-steps, etc. If you can find even just the smallest sliver of what you love about your job combined with 100% genuine effort, your reputation will sky rocket.

Do the work.

Ask questions.

And add more value than asked of you (within reason - don’t be taken advantage of).

One of my clients earlier this year was strapped with a deadbeat developer (which I have very little experience with), however, I made several contacts in NYC and DC and also knew of 5 resources they could check out. Without hesitation I got on the phone and helped them out. It had nothing to do with social media but I knew I could help.

There are a lot of people to thank over the last six months, including every one of you reading this and following me along on this journey.

I also appreciate every single person I wrote about in my blogging journey over the summer for their continued support.

In addition to my wife Courtney, my parents, and close friends, I really want to thank the following businesses and clients for choosing to work with me, seeing the value I can add, and sometimes giving me a chance.

CircusTalk

Equalman Studios

Lenore Horton & Ketnoi Group

GWU Business School, Lemonade Day DC students, David Ruda & Alex Boessetta

ACPA

Lost Rhino Brewery

VentureWell

Relay Rides

See What Sticks: Recovering from Perfectionism

Hi everyone, Amma Marfo here. Two quick things about me that you’ll need to know before we begin: (1) I am a reader. I am a library-loving, constant tome-carrying, unapologetic bibliophile. (2) If there’s anyone you will meet who can connect what she’s reading to the world around her, it’s me. As such, I want to dedicate my time in this space to sharing with you what I’m reading, and how it could inform a budding professional’s daily life.

Starting this post with yet another confession shouted out into the void: I am a recovering perfectionist. It's easy to see how we come to the notion that perfection is the only acceptable option; we're graded for sixteen years of our lives with the goal of getting 100%, we wear braces to fix the flaws in our smiles, and are bombarded with images of what we could be doing better. I bought into that for a long time (and, as the title implies, still do at times). But a few years back, I took a long hard look at the life I was leading because of it; it was a stress-riddled, anxiety-driven, hard to enjoy mess. So when I read Elizabeth Grace Saunders' "Letting Go of Perfectionism," an essay from 99U's Manage Your Day to Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind, it sang to me a little louder than several of the essays around it.

She defines perfectionism in her piece, but I'd prefer to share the work conditions under which a perfectionist works with you; if this sounds like you, you may want to consider reading on:

From a perfectionist's point of view, if you manage to force yourself into producing at the level you envisioned in your head, you feel on top of the world. If you can't measure up to those standards, you're crushed [...] At best, it can make you hesitate to immerse yourself in a new project. At worst, it can lead to you abandoning your creative pursuits because of the toll they take on you physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Does this sound like you? If so, you're in good and plentiful company. And as I continue to take my own recovery one day at a time, I found myself really appreciating Saunders' approach for managing the fear and pride that she believes are the root of all aspirations toward perfectionism. That creeping pair of emotions can attack at any stage of our work, but she gives great advice on how to thoughtfully fight back.

Stuck at the Start According to Saunders, the perfectionist gets stuck at the start because of a mindset that shouts, "I can't start until the ideal moment, meaning I have a large uninterrupted block of time, no other distractions, a strong level of motivation to work on the project, and the ideal plan for how to optimize the entire process." I'll grant, these are not altogether impossible conditions to reach in unison. However...it seems pretty unlikely, doesn't it?

This can be true of any pursuit that inherently holds uncertainty: applying for a job ("I don't know how to do all the things they're asking, should I go for it?"), leaving a job you don't like ("I don't have the perfect opportunity lined up yet, so I should probably stay put."), or asking for a new challenge ("I've never done this before, am I sure I'm ready?"). The paralysis of being presented with ideal conditions kills more dreams than actual criticism from those that surround us.

Saunders encourages the recovering perfectionist to replace the statement above with "I know there will never be an ideal time to begin so I set aside time to get started on one part of the process [...] I get started on what I can do now." The storied Google 80/20 rule (in which employees were given freedom to use 20% of their time at work just to create and design based on their own ideas and inclinations, is an example of the value of scheduled ideation time.

It can also be helpful to remember that ideas don't come out fully formed. Taking some of that time to determine what you already have to be successful and what you still need can help you fight the perfectionism. Identifying "known unknowns" helps us focus time appropriately and direct efforts toward elements of our process that could be better. Between setting aside time and acknowledging points of weakness with the goal of improvement (that "goal of improvement" piece is what prevents despondence), we can break the cycle of giving up on something that lacks perfect conditions.

Lost in the Middle

Saunders voices this worry in this way: "I must obsess over every detail of the piece, regardless of whether anyone else will notice. This leads me to revise and edit myself at every step instead of giving myself permission to bang out an imperfect first draft." When I was working on my book, I spent a long time avoiding a complete first draft. I wrote in disconnected tidbits, I researched obsessively, I strung together those shorter passages into chapters, and then finally put them together consecutively to create a 140 page first draft...that I was terrified to read. I had no idea if this version of the final product would make sense, or even be good or helpful to anyone who read it. But sometimes we forget that first drafts are designed for precisely that.

One of my favorite writers, Paul Jarvis, is a tremendous advocate for "sharing your messy process," or shying away from the instinct we all have to hide when something isn't going perfectly. He believes that people appreciate final products more when they know what went into making it. Share your messy process with people you trust to be honest with you- close coworkers, family members, or even friends that have no idea what you do- their uninformed opinion can be the most valuable when you're deep in the weeds on a project. It's scary at times, but the freedom it affords you to work toward a better final product is invaluable. Paul shares his ugly process often, as does Austin Kleon, a writer I've written about here previously. Follow them for great examples of what other messy processes entail; it can be comforting to know that even successful people struggle!

Refusal to Finish

"If the work hasn't attained the ideal set in my head at the start, it's inaccurate to say it's complete." We all have goals in our minds that occasionally, if often, fail to live up to the final product that our hands, voices, or other contributing parties have created. This can be demoralizing for some, pushing them to keep working without "shipping," writer and consultant Seth Godin's term for releasing a final product to the public.

But squirreling away our talent for fear it won't meet our high standards ignores the needs of those who could benefit from it. You could be a great fit for a proposed job, but not applying for a lack of a "perfect fit" could leave them with someone far less effective. Perfect is the enemy of great. And being prepared to ship doesn't mean that you can't go back to the project at a later date; Saunders is quick to point out, "Saying something is complete doesn't mean that it can't be improved upon or elaborated on in the future. It just means that I can submit it and move on to other work." Other projects that require your greatness could suffer for your lack of attention to them; don't let a goal of perfection on one task hinder your effectiveness on others.

Dread of Feedback

So you've made it through all the other steps prior to this, and found yourself (mostly) comfortable with delivering a less than perfect product. Congratulations! That's a task in itself that you should be commended for. How do you handle any feedback that you get from it? By this, I mean "constructive criticism" that may come from a coworker, mentor, headhunter, or other person overseeing your work. The perfectionist struggles to incorporate this additional information, seeing it not as an assessment of their work, but of them. Saunders voices this worry well: "I worry that my expertise and respect is in question and that others will think I'm incompetent and an impostor." 

Consider, instead, this counterpoint: "I appreciate feedback because it helps me to test and refine my work." A colleague of mine, speaker and consultant Winni Paul, feels that feedback is a gift. As she puts it, "Accepting feedback is about looking beyond your own reality and seeing a bigger picture." Unless you're in a performance review (whole other scenario that I won't address here), the product being critiqued is not you; accept any ideas for change accordingly. See feedback as a question or concern voiced that a consumer of your product or idea won't present to you as nicely, and find ways to address the concern if you find it valid; acknowledge it gracefully if you don't. Practical gifts are designed to make your life easier and you better; think of feedback as a practical gift from someone with your best interests in mind.

As with any addiction or bad habit, it can take a lot of time and practice to unlearn the rituals that brought you to your perfectionist state. But abandoning perfectionist inclinations for your "realistic best" unlocks possibilities to be more efficient and less anxious when pursuing opportunities. I encourage you to challenge the perfectionist tendencies you've cultivated for so many years; you'll be surprised how good "just being great" can feel.

A Paint Brush And Work Gloves Helped Me Find My Niche

I am no expert, but I am a young professional, and I found my niche! My niche is my passions, my happiness and how I turned my interests in volunteering and philanthropy into a career. Currently, I am the Foundation Associate for The Provident Bank Foundation. Getting to this place in my career has had ups and downs, but every day I walk into my office I know I am where I need to be. I have always enjoyed being that sounding board to family and friends, giving advice when I could or just an ear to listen to. I liked helping people, making a difference whenever I could. This is a part of me that has been in my blood for as long as I can remember and a quality I think I’ll never lose.

My adventure into the non-profit sector and corporate foundation:

My journey to get where I am today took hard work, mentors and influencers and self-motivation. I wanted to give up so many times and take the easy way out but through networking, talking to the right people and pushing myself, I was able to get through the tough challenges life through at me. My network started small with personal connections, such as my parents and some teachers and tutors who truly believed in me. They all gave me the push to step outside of my comfort zone and get my hands dirty. Spring semester of my sophomore year at Fairleigh Dickinson University, I got onto a plane with a few dozen other college students from across the country and landed in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Spending a week in the gulf coast and seeing the devastation made by Hurricane Katrina changed my life. I was in disbelief on how Mother Nature can be so beautiful but can take everything away in seconds. I returned from my first Alternative Spring Break with the determination to graduate with a degree and experience I can use for my future. I jumped on any opportunity to volunteer or take on an internship at a local non-profit. I graduated with a Bachelor in Communication Studies and ready to take on the world.

My next adventure didn’t happen the way I had imagination and I ran into a few forks in the road, but ultimately it was those forks that got me to where I am. As motivated and determined as I was to find my perfect job at 21 years old it did not work that way. I started working part-time at local public relations firms focused on women’s health. I was overall happy I had some type of job after I graduated but it wasn’t what kept me motivated. I still kept my head high as much as I could, continued to connect with those in my network of mentors and kept on looking for the job that got me excited. I decided to apply to grad school and hope it would open more opportunities for me. Luck was on my side; during my time studying for the GRE’s a door did eventually open. For the next two and a half years, while going to grad school Rutgers University School of Public Affairs and Administration I worked at a few different New Jersey based non-profits. It was during my first semester at Rutgers I went to a networking event where I had the opportunity to listen to Nancy Lublin, CEO of Dosomething.org and Founder of Dress for Success and Adam Braun, Founder of Pencils of Promise. Both of their stories are very different but they found their niche and impacted the world in ways unimaginable. I was drawn into their stories and influenced by their words. It was after the event I went back to my everyday life and knew I was heading in the right direction and maybe one day I am able to share my story on how I changed the world.

This networking event was just the beginning for me; I was like a sponge, taking in all the knowledge and advice from anyone I spoke to in the non-profit sector. I made sure I had the skills, commitment and expertise in this field to be as professional as possible. I aspire to do something great every day, not because I need to or it’s the “right thing to do”. It was a choice that became a passion that turned into my day-to-day.

Corporate..not a negative word!

I never really put two and two together on corporate philanthropy or corporate foundations. I only saw and thought “the corporate world”, this negative working world and said to myself I do not want to be a part of that. However, I was at this point in my life that I felt I can use my skill sets for better use, I needed new challenges and overall wanted to make my way up the ladder in my career. I again, stepped out of my comfort zone, broadened my job search and came across The Provident Bank Foundation. The job description and responsibilities sounded exciting, challenging and rewarding, I was hooked and knew this was the job for me. Working for the Foundation has been not only awe-inspiring, but working for a financial institution that is so committed to the community is encouraging and motivating and makes my day-to-day work worthy.

I found my niche in philanthropy and the non-profit sector but I am still a young professional and still have new knowledge to gain, skill-sets to learn and dreams to make come true. I still volunteer when I can, network at every opportunity that comes my way and try to influence other young professionals and the younger generations to find their happiness and their niche. My goals are to someday make that life changing difference, but for now I can just share my story, advocate my passions and help others throughout the community.

Over the past year working at The Provident Bank Foundation has been an amazing eye opener to how a foundation can make an impact to the community. Every day brings about new stories, new challenges and successes. My niche is my adventure in the non-profit sector and I could not be any happier.

Your homework:

I leave you with a task- volunteer! It does not matter if you are able to commit to once a month, once a week or only a few times a year. As young professionals, volunteering gives you so many opportunities to network. You not only make a difference in your community but you meet a variety of people, from different walks of life and you never know who or what their connections are. I welcome you to reach out to me and happy to network with you.

Day 30 - I Found My Niche

Have you ever worked on something that you become so passionate about that you can’t put it down? You know, the projects and pieces of “art” that don’t feel like work. After writing 29 blog posts over the last month, I can answer this question confidently saying “Yes - I know exactly how this feels.” During this entire journey, I looked forward to writing each post. All of the people I talked about are incredible and have taught me two major things:

1. Hustle and

2. take the risks to go all in.

As for learning to hustle… Writing has been fulfilling, but not easy. After a full days work, I used every last inch of my spare time writing. The comments and encouragement made the difference so don’t ever think your comment, no matter how small it may appear, didn’t matter- it did (and continues to matter). Writing each story about the people in my life that always went above and beyond in their work has inspired me during the most difficult days over the last month. If I learned anything from the people I’ve written about, it’s that if you want to achieve your most ambitious dreams you need to be willing to put in the work.
As for going all in… If you’ve been reading the posts in this series you’ve heard of mentors, friends, and family members that went all in to support me and believe in me. You’ve heard about the brave people I am lucky enough to call friends and family that went all in on their dreams. Writing their stories was exactly what I needed to summon the courage for what I am about to share with you. It’s time for me to go all in.
I want to dedicate my career to helping others find their niche, and here is how I plan to start.

#1 Launch a Kickstarter campaign to fund the first book dedicated to ending employment unhappiness

. The incredible stories I have shared over the last 30 days need to be shared with the world. I will take all of the posts that I have written and string them together by infusing advice from experts, new approaches to career exploration, and inspirational stories from others that have found their niche. The working title is The Niche Movement: The New Rules to Finding the Career You Love. Want to learn more?

Check out the campaign! It is live on Kickstarter until August 12th!

How you can help: While so many of you have helped so much just by supporting this blog series, I thank you in advance for any support you offer as I begin this exciting journey.

• If you feel moved to donate (and are financially able to do so), that is the best way to help.
• Equally as helpful, would be sharing the campaign with your network. To make this easy for, I created this page with four different ways to share including pre-made social media posts and other good links.
• Lastly, we are already working to be featured in a number of publications over the next 30 days, but if you have any contacts in the press/media please let me know how I can best reach out to them with this story.

#2 Help people identify career opportunities they are not finding through conventional career sites and job boards.

The Niche List will be an email subscription that people can join for FREE to receive a curated list of jobs in the startup community and with companies that have a great culture but are not on traditional job boards or recruiting at career fairs. I will also include career advice and identifying additional resources for those in the job search. If you or anyone you know is job searching, signup here.

How you can help: If you know someone job searching, send them the link!

#3 Launch a series of innovative career exploration events.

Starting this fall, I will be collaborating with a variety of organizations to host events and help people find their niche. The events will flip the career fair model, and help this generation find a job they love. Last week, we confirmed the date and location for the first event. We will be collaborating with the team of Bold: Get Noticed, Get Hired on September 17th at Venture for America in NYC. More details will follow in the next month, but this will be the first of several Niche Movement events and programs we hold.

How you can help: If you are interested in collaborating on an event or know an organization that might be a good fit for a sponsorship (we’ll be attracting recent grads and young professionals), you can connect them with me so that we can work together to help people find the career they love.

#4 Help organizations spread their message with high quality social media strategies, photo and video.

This one may seem like a weird fit as it doesn't mention career exploration in the title. However, I firmly believe that businesses, individuals, and organizations on a college campus, all have a message. That message is amplified when you match high quality video/photo/creative with a well crafted social media strategy. If people are going to find the jobs they love, then organizations will need to tell their story to attract those individuals. I want to use my talents in this area to help people and organizations craft and amplify their message to the world.

How you can help: If you know a business, individual or organization that could benefit from high quality video, photo, or social media content matched with strategies to build a sustainable social media presence please connect them with me. Do you believe we can rewrite the path to employment happiness for this generation? If so, join me in creating the first of many potential solutions for young people to find the work they love. https://bitly.com/nichekick

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I truly want to thank all of you who have rallied around this. I met every word and I can’t believe where this journey has continued to take me.

I have to give a huge shoutout to Camille Sennett, a Rutgers alum, that now works at West Virginia University. Camille is an amazing young professional who is not only a Niche Movement contributor, but the backbone of this Kickstarter campaign. In less than 4 weeks, Camille took on a marketing and press plan that will hopefully lead this to successful campaign. If you’re looking for a go-getter who is self motivated and creative writer then please connect with her.

Second, I can’t leave out my wonderful wife Courtney. She was there every single morning and night as I wrote. She was my proofreader, my soundboard, and the fuel to my fire. Thank you.