Speaker 1: Hey everybody, welcome back to another video. I'm Craig and as you know on this channel we like to talk about things related to professional development from time to time and over the course of the past few days I've been grateful to have had the opportunity to interview Brandy who has been sharing with us her certified professional talent development journey. I'm talking about a product that she developed. So in this video I invited her back for at least one more time. I'll try to rope her in for some other ones, but she's going to be talking about her career journey. So let me show you her LinkedIn real quick just in case you haven't caught those other videos or just as a reminder. Okay, so as you can see from her LinkedIn profile, she is currently working corporate, but she has had this really varied career in the K-12 education system. She has a master's in education, she has a PhD in leadership studies, And so for a lot of you out there, I know that you're pursuing master's degrees, you're pursuing PhDs, primarily in the field of communication. But as you know, I'm a big proponent of having a side hustle. I'm a big proponent of looking at other career opportunities beyond say higher education. And as you know, I myself am a career coach. I do some training consulting. So I thought I would bring Brandy back just to ask her, what are her thoughts on where is the industry going? What are some things that, if you're in these types of programs, you should be doing now to kind of get yourself ready? And so, yeah, I'll just leave it with that. Brandy, welcome back. Thank you for being here.

Speaker 2: Oh, it's my pleasure as always. So I have five tips for you and your listeners, Craig. The first one is to find a mentor. So find somebody who's walked the jury that you want to walk and they've walked it well, and then ask them how they got from point A to point B and what advice they have for you. The second is to follow your passion. Do what it is that you love. You want to be able to wake up every morning, put your feet on the floor, and know that you're going to be doing something that you absolutely love. So figuring out what that is, and I have teenagers right now, and I talk to them about this all the time. My youngest, since he, or my oldest, he's 17 right now, and he, when he was young, he used to take his bologna sandwiches to the construction site and watch the excavators. And I'm like, Riley, I think that's the industry you need to be in. Do what you love and follow your passion. The third is to be brave. And so to do something a little bit different, and Craig mentioned side hustles, I think that is a fantastic idea. Being willing to walk to the end of that high dive and take that final step because you have something the world needs. Everybody does. Something that's a little bit different, a little bit unique, a little spiky about you, as Marcus Buckingham would say. Figure out what that thing is and then figure out how you can give that to the world, because the world needs you and they need your ideas. Then the last one that I wanted to share, I've got two. The next one is to choose your leader wisely. As you're moving into a new career, make sure that that interview goes both ways. It's them interviewing you, but you also interviewing them, because that leader is going to open doors for you, that leader is going to help you step through doors. You want to make sure that they're going to be an advocate and a champion for you. And then my biggest piece of advice, biggest piece of advice is to put your family first. Your family is going to be where you leave your legacy. We think that we're gonna leave it in all of these external ways, but that's not the case. You're going to leave it inside of the four walls of your home. So make sure that you're pouring into your children, pouring into your partner and leaving a legacy there because that's gonna last for generations to come.

Speaker 1: Yeah, awesome. Yeah, I think that's a really good point that don't get too hung up on, you know, chasing the ladder, so to speak, because I remember Stephen Covey, one of his famous lines is you work so hard climbing that ladder and then you realize it's against the wrong wall, right? So. Yeah, absolutely. Now, I think your career history is really interesting and I think that because you've been sort of on this CPTG journey, You've also changed jobs and even careers. You went from public schools or K through 12 to a company. What are some things that people should be thinking about about where industry is going? And if they're currently getting a master's or PhD and they can't sort of rely on education or higher education, being a faculty member, for example, or even going into teaching positions, what might they do to have a career following that passion? Because their passion, I'm guessing, is probably like teaching related.

Speaker 2: Absolutely. And that's my passion, too. I worked in the higher ed space as an adjunct. Absolutely loved it. And I think, really, it's getting comfortable in that online space. I started in the online space in 2002. And I remember my husband saying to me, so you're going to take this job, and you're going to be able to teach in your pajamas. It sounds a little hokey to me. Before you buy the desk and get the whole thing set up, let's wait until you get your first paycheck. And I remember saying, no, it all seems above board. It totally was above board. But it was something that wasn't even heard of back then. And so it's really getting comfortable in that online space. I think that's the way we're going, especially with this pandemic and the craziness that we're in in the world. It seems like corporations are going that way. It seems like education is going that way. Everybody is going that way. And if you wanna move forward, you need to be comfortable in that space. So that's learning the tools and techniques, also learning how to engage people within the tools and techniques. So not just sitting and getting and talking to them, but actually creating those engaging learning experiences for people, I think that's key. And then finally, the last thing, a gentleman sat down with me one time and he said, Brandy, the best piece of advice that I can give you is relationship, relationship, relationship. Bring value to people, create that relationship, slow down and make sure that your customer service is the best customer service that they've ever experienced and they're gonna become a raving fan. and that's how I've built my whole career and my whole life to this point.

Speaker 1: That's awesome, yeah, thank you for that. And just as a reminder for those of you that have followed the past couple videos with Brandy or those that are even new to this, I want to make you aware that she has developed a learning system for those studying for the CPTD but would be valuable, I think, for anybody, at least for techniques for those studying for any type of certification. This one is specifically oriented towards CPTD, but I think her point about learning sort of how to teach online, how to be engaging, she's really very good at this, so I would recommend you go back and watch that video, even consider purchasing her system, even if you're not going for the CPT, just to see how she has designed it because it just becomes a really good tool, I think, for educators. I've had some time to spend with it, and I'm thinking, man, I could really amplify how my students learn by sort of copying or modeling sort of what she's doing in her book that she's produced or her application she's produced. So go check that video out. I will have a link to it somewhere on the screen to her LinkedIn page, so you should check that out. And then I will have a video at the end that links right back to that video so that you can watch it. Again, my name is Dr. Craig Engstrom, and I cover a variety of things on this channel. One of them is professional development, so I appreciate you all tuning in. Brandy, thank you so much for your time over the past few days. I really do appreciate it.

Speaker 2: Oh, my pleasure, Craig. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1: Yeah, you're welcome.