Biggest Lesson of My Career

I received the most painful shock of my life as I heard the head of my department say, "I didn't know you wanted a full-time permanent gig?"

How could that be?!

This was at the beginning of my career, at Disney, in a company where I started in a temporary position. I worked there for a year, going above and beyond in hopes of earning a permanent position.

I even came in for a few hours in the middle of the night to work extra hours and address questions from international partners. This reduced the back-and-forth related to time zone differences, slicing multiple days off our tight timeframes. Nobody asked me to do this. It was a solution I developed to meet our deadlines.

I knew I was doing the right thing - but there was nothing to show for it. I never got a raise. I was not even given a permanent position in the company - despite my dedicated hard work.To add insult to injury… a friend I brought in - who was hired (as a temp) under the same group - was moved into a permanent position within a few months. And I was overlooked.

What the heck?!

I viewed myself as a solution seeker, a person committed to constantly learning for the betterment of the company I worked for, and for those I worked with. How could I have been passed up for this promotion I thought to myself. So, when a co-worker told me about a permanent position at another company, I applied and was hired.

It was in my exit interview with my head of the department, that I learned the lesson that would wake me up and change the trajectory of my career.

In the interview I shared that I had really wanted to join the team but was seeking something more permanent. "I didn't know you wanted a permanent gig," my soon to be former boss stated.

Though it was obvious to me that I was hustling to land the permanent position, it was not obvious to him - Not until I told him.

My lesson…

We can't assume someone else knows our aspirations and intentions.

I never made that mistake again. In fact, it changed how I “played the game” and after that jolt of a career and life lesson, I went on to become an executive before I was 30, increased my income by over Sixteen times in 15 years, and earned enough and learned enough to leave corporate America.

Using this lesson and many others gained through consistenty learning and applying what I have learned. I built a replicable system that got me to where I am today. I've taught others this same strategy to fast-track their careers.

After my first frustrating experience at my initial “career” job I resolved I wasn't going to leave anything to chance. I took control of my career.  I became a student of fast risers, studying those whose career trajectories I desired and applying what I learned along the way.  I started consuming books that would give me an edge and I began getting mentors in my corner. 

That was when I realized there was a method to the career advancement madness. I quickly made up for the lost time and became an executive before turning 30. And as I stated earlier, I increased my earnings by 16X over 15 years, advanced from an independent contributor to manager, to executive, and global leader and had the opportunity to work at sought-after companies (Disney/Netflix).

What a sweet career, huh? The most amazing part of this is that the process to achieving these awesome career results is replicable. By methodically plotting your path, you can take what I dd and what many of my students have done too and apply it to supercharge your own career.

To save you the time of reading as many books as I did to get my results and identify patterns and habits that will take you to your next level, I have distilled much of what I have learned in my ebook where I share 7 key strategies that gave me an edge.

YOUR ULTIMATE GUIDE TO GET PROMOTED, MAKE MORE MONEY AND GET THE RESPECT YOU DESERVE

If you haven’t already, you can get it for free here: https://www.thevelocitylabs.com/ebook

One more thing: Don't just download with the "hope" to read it because the books you don't read won't help you. It’s only 50 pages. It should take less than an hour. Then, use the strategies inside to fast-track your career. Here’s some feedback I’ve received from readers:

“It opened up my eyes to things I wasn’t even thinking about.” - Paul

“I wish I would have had this earlier in my career.” - Melissa

“The piece about exposure was eye-opening!” - Ryan

Want to see how I helped Dan add $800k to his income over a 4 year period? Read his story hear.

Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisIstheWaywithArtinMichael