Career: Sans The Manual

My post-collegiate career consists of online startups, entrepreneurs, social media, community building, expanding users and marketing.

Recently, I was thinking that the two jobs, since graduating, both were brand new positions. When I jumped into them no one had had this position before. There was no path for me to follow. No manual. Little-to-no guidance. A crash and burn or wildly succeed option.

I think with our generation, the expansion of new kinds of marketing, and new fields that this type of job option is more viable than ever. Also, if you opt for a new company, there’s a lot of paving and paths to be created, period.

So many of my good friends started new jobs this year. I’m not sure what was in the stars, but I was fascinated in learning how these positions challenged each of us and what was involved (structure-no structure, etc.)

At my current position, I didn’t have an official job application process – I didn’t even see the job description upon accepting the job over beers. However, since I help run our company blog I noticed part of the job description they had posted on the blog (after I started) and this last paragraph stood out to me:

More than anything, this job requires a desire to achieve and a desire to make things happen. Start-ups are exciting because you create a business from nothing, and as we grow our sales & marketing operation, this job will be in the center of that action. At the same time, there will be no employment manual to assist you; you have to be comfortable to enjoy figuring out challenges on your own and the thrill of having carved your own path of success every day. We measure our success by how many customers and how much revenue we earn; you must have a strong desire to personally push those metrics forward.

I mean, my second day on the job I was on a sales call with a customer. By myself.

I believe these jobs are the ones that challenge us. Sam Davidson wrote recently, “you won’t grow until you stretch.”

I find myself frustrated sometimes and wish I could reference someone that did it before me, what they built, their answers, their steps…but I also step back and realize, that this is the kind of position I’m thriving in. 

I’ve realized these things in the sans-manual, sans-training job world that:

• You create your own questions and subsequent answers
• You thrive in quicksand-situations and think on your feet
• You can make decisions that you know benefit the company
• You know what you don’t know
• You learn to exercise faith and ride the risk wave with eloquence
• You make it easier for those who come in after you, as you build your own manual, how-to’s and guidance (they will appreciate you so much)
• You are a sponge; learning is unlimited
• You know when to ask for help and when to lean on mentors (KEY POINT HERE)

What else do you think? Have you ever started a position OR a business where you were creating your own path?