How much are you worth?

When I thought to myself how much I’m worth the first answer that came into my mind was “One billllllllion dollars!” (Imagine me saying this in a Dr. Evil voice) I’m not trying to be cocky. I’m not trying to be rude. And I’m definitely exaggerating! That’s not my point, though. My point is that if you want to be worth one billion, you have to think your worth one billion. If you want to be worth a George Washington… well… not much thinking is required to achieve that goal.

A lot of this comes down to your attitude. Do you portray confidence or fear? When someone looks at you do they see a leader or follower? Do you have potential to climb higher or will you be stuck at the bottom forever? I’ve been telling you that I would post about my new jobs… so here you go. I’m going to tell you all how I proved my self worth and landed two amazing jobs in the past month.

The first job that I landed I had discovered on Craigslist. I would recommend checking this site regularly if your not already. The job is with a brand new start up company run by two entrepreneurs, Cecile and Michael DeMartini, called Beach Butlerz. (you can check out their Facebook page as well) In a nutshell, we rent items that all beach goers would like to have including lounge chairs, umbrellas, all the way down to sand toys. We also organize beach parties for kids and adults alike. As a butler, I will be helping set up these loungers and parties and acting a butler to our clients. We are able to deliver food and non-alcoholic drinks to the beach. We set up and clean up after the beach goers are done. Best part about the job… IT’S AT THE BEACH! I can work with my shirt off 🙂

So, how did I land it? Simple. I talked myself up. When Cecile interviewed me she asked if there was anything else I’d like to add before she left. Now, a lot of times people just stay quiet. They say “oh no, that’s it.” Not me, though. I added in that not only would I make a great butler and blogger, but I could also bring along my new handy dandy Nikon D3000 and take pictures for the clients. I could offer them an extra service. I even went as far as saying even if Beach Butlerz didn’t hire me that I would still enjoy coming out and taking pictures at special events. By saying this, I proved I have self worth. I proved myself as a valuable asset that they could utilize. And guess what, they did! This past weekend we started our training and did a photo shoot on the beach. If you look on the Beach Butlerz Facebook page… you’ll now see some of the pictures that JOHN PRANJIC took.

Second job, and I’m not sure what I can and cannot say about it after reading our employee manual last night. They seem very strict on not using the company name  in any sort of social media. So, I’ll leave it out for now. If you want to know SPECIFICS just ask me. Anyway, my boss at NiiTes.com, Dustin Ryen, had forwarded me an email he received from a different company looking to hire in the San Luis Obispo area. I opened the email, didn’t really understand why he forwarded it, and then closed it. The next day, I reopened the email and read a little more carefully. It seemed like an amazing opportunity. The email talked about becoming a manager and lead promoter representing a distinguished alcohol brand. I figured, heck, I’m already working at the bars for one job why not add another? So, I put together a resume and sent it on it’s way.

Last Tuesday morning I got a phone interview, sort of. Later that same afternoon, I had a second phone interview! Things were looking pretty good. The manager interviewing me was calling me from San Francisco. He was asking me why I think I would be good a candidate for the position and all those silly interview questions. He explained a little bit about what the job is. Basically, I would be in charge of a promotion team (models) and we would be handing out samples of our product at bars. The promotion team would need to be supervised and the samplings would also need to be photographed. Wait… photographed?… I KNOW HOW TO TAKE PICTURES!!! As soon as this was said I pounced on it. I went to town talking about how I already have contacts in most of the bars through my other job at Niites.com, that I’m already familiar with the targeted area, and that I have TONS of experience taking pictures in this location!The manager must have liked something I said because he drove down from San Francisco last Friday to interview me, again.

Before leaving for the interview I was at a friends house preparing some notes and writing down questions I wanted to ask. A friend of mine, Tyson, was talking to me about being confident. He read me a bible verse and told me don’t be nervous. So, I took his advice. I went into the interview thinking that I already had the job! Instead of the interviewer asking me questions it was more like him and I were discussing when, where, and how we’d be getting started. I never let it get to the point where it was a question/answer format. If anything, I probably asked more questions about the company and what the job process was like. I proved my self worth by 1) Letting them know I had established contacts and 2) I can take great photos for all of the events. I didn’t say it one time, though. I repeated it. Over and over again. Long story short… I left Starbucks that day with a smile… and a new job.

My new job will be managing a team of promotion models and promoting an alcohol brand in the downtown SLO area. Like I said earlier, I can’t really say names and places, yet. If you want to talk more about it let me know and we can find a way.

So, go ahead and ask yourself now. How much are you worth? How much does that dream job mean to you? How confident are you? How much potential do you have? How can you sell yourself? My story is just a small one, but in twenty years when I have fricken sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their fricken heads while I’m sitting on top of my ONE BILLLLLLLION DOLLARS… I’ll be glad I asked myself all of these questions.

Self portrait.