Consistent. Glue. Focus. Ruthless prioritization. Boring.
These probably aren’t the words you thought I’d open my annual CEO letter with, right?! But after the doozy that 2020 was...I’m gracefully (and cautiously) tiptoeing into 2021.
Before I share what’s next for Career Contessa in 2021, let’s review 2020—and all her glorious pivots which I’ve been sharing along the way in my monthly Lauren Letter (hint: now’s a good time to join our newsletter list!)
Goals Versus Reality: The 2020 Edition
I made some pretty big goals—and 2020 laughed. Here were some of the big goals I set at the top of 2020, how they were shaken to their core, and what I learned from it.
Goal: A mini-makeover to the Career Contessa website.
Reality: This totally went on the back burner after we survived a ransomware attack, an almost completely lost revenue stream (brand partnerships), and shifts to our team. While we didn’t lay anyone off, we had plans to backfill a position that we still haven’t been able to do yet.
However, a Career Contessa website makeover is still in the works, so keep an eye out!
Goal: Launch my book Power Moves with an awesome cross-country book tour.
Reality: A virtual launch with balloons and champagne for one (me!) while I virtually celebrated with hundreds of you...and had my husband play DJ in the background because I really wanted it to feel like a “party.”
You can watch all the fun here and check out the incredible book website Aliya and I put together, but more importantly...this virtual party was still one of the most special times in my professional life! I was able to celebrate with people near and far and I’m so thankful for the messages of support and how Power Moves has changed your lives.
Goal: Hit 200K Instagram followers.
Reality: Why? Why was this a goal? The honest answer is that it was and is a vanity metric that someone once told me when we hit we’ll enter a new “category.” Vanity metrics like Instagram followers also tend to feel good and there's nothing wrong with that.
I still don’t know what that means but this is the year that we were also pushed to stop tracking metrics that don’t move the needle—and get clear on what exactly the needle is.
Goal: Double our online course library.
Reality: We squeaked in two new courses—Remote Control and The Confidence Crunch—after we totally pivoted our production process to 100% virtual. Because of Covid, we started to work 100% remotely and that meant we lost the ability to film new courses in our perfect ready-to-film office space in addition to not being able to film in-person together.
We also lost our office space, which I was very sentimental about, in September. BUT—our team is safe. The office with the long commute is no more, and we (as a team) have Figured. It. Out. Without sacrificing quality.
We're Made of Glitter + Glue
This led to the biggest learning of 2020: Glitter vs. Glue.
I’ve talked about this a lot because I think 2020’s biggest gift was helping many of us to see what we truly value. Seeing so clearly how our time was being spent before vs. what really matters. And experiencing how acting on our values can and does make a difference
What's Glitter?
Let me explain. Glitter in a business is the beautiful branding, the PR opportunity, and the Instagram follower counts.
Don’t get me wrong. These items feel great, look great, and they are the glitter on top of all your hard work that makes people “ooh” and “ahh.” In the workplace, these are the cool clients, even cooler work trips, and that job title at that company.
What's Glue?
But then you have the glue. The glue is way less glamorous.
She is the process you have in place so you’re not falling into the trap that busyness = importance or more money. She is the consistent yet maybe boring (?) service that you offer at an affordable price because it works and makes a difference. She might not have the “shininess” of a new launch—or for those non-entrepreneurs—the thrill of an exciting new project each month.
The glue is what allows you to be flexible without feeling like you’ve failed or like you need to give up.
What I Realized About Glitter Versus Glue
I think 2020 was a year that we pulled back the curtain on the glitter companies, products, and people.
We realize that antiquated systems weren’t being changed, we saw (on a world stage) the role privilege plays with opportunities, and how turning ourselves into 24/7 DIY human improvement projects led us to more self-doubt than self-confidence. Many of us finally accepted that maybe the dream job doesn’t exist…and that it's actually a good thing. Perhaps we'll start to embrace the "good enough" job instead. (Psst. the “dream job” myth is something I go in-depth about in my book, Power Moves!)
With a pandemic, a revolution, and with women (especially WOC) losing or being forced out of work at staggering rates, we learned how much of the glitter falls away while the glue remains essential. We need the glue to stay focused on what really matters when nothing is certain.
We need the glue to fight for equality, to head toward a better future, and to fix all that continues to be broken.
When you look back over 2020, maybe your glitter and glue items have been illuminated for you, too?
What This Means for Career Contessa in 2021
While Career Contessa has always been a brand driven by expert career-advice and not personality-driven, even we have felt the pressure to add more “glitter.” However, it's the glue parts of our business that kept us going for this long. It's the last 7 years of consistently sticking to our career advice lane that helped us be the trusted resource you turn to when your careers made unexpected pivots.
What I’m trying to say in a very long-winded way...is that Career Contessa and this letter aren't here to proclaim all the envious goals we hit in 2020. We're not here to "unveil" the super-secret projects we have for 2021. Why? Our #1 focus remains steeped in glue—it's making sure that you have access to answers to your career questions.
We're not a multi-million dollar company. We're not spending time going after funding. We're not hosting digital summits or launching glamorous and sleek WFH loungewear (but we wish we were!) We are here to continue to do our best to help our readers build their careers, find support, and chart their own paths in a world that can seem cruelly unforgiving.
In 2021, our mission has more clarity than ever.
We exist as a company to help women build successful and fulfilling careers—careers we can create, grow, and keep.
While our mission has never been more important, "recovery" is not enough. This isn't on women to "fix." Society depends on the unpaid labor of women and it's time for us to have real support otherwise women will feel these effects for much, much longer, and progress will be delayed for decades. It’s time to really acknowledge these issues and prioritize fixing this.
This means we’ll continue to publish daily service-based career advice that you can read, watch, or listen to that uses research, experts, case studies, and even a template if needed to help you move forward.
It means we’ll help keep you informed with free tools like The Salary Project™.
It means that if you need 1:1 support or step-by-step advice, we’ll continue to over-deliver with affordable solutions and pre-vetted experts that suit your unique goals and learning styles
Our jobs board will continue to get updated weekly with new opportunities.
Most importantly, we’ll consistently show up each day and work to make sure we’re living up to your expectations of what a career resource should be. You can let us know what we're doing well—or what we might be missing—anytime! Thank you for being part of the Career Contessa community, and for always evolving with us—especially when we’re not surprising you on the daily with funfetti and glitter!
Let us know what you think by emailing me at lauren@careercontessa.com or by sliding into our DMs. We're here for you.
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