I’ve hesitated about writing this post a number of times because:
1. Someone at Freshbooks might actually read and think I’m a nut.
2. It’s more personal than anything I’ve ever blogged.
3. It’s kind of embarrassing.
But what the heck, it’s more important to me to make a personal connection with my readers and hopefully help you learn from my mistakes. So here goes.
In May of last year I had an interview at Freshbooks. If you’ve been following my blog and business for the last few years you probably didn’t even know I was looking for a job.
Here’s how it happened and a few things you probably didn’t know about me:
I’m a single mom to one great boy, Hayden who’s 7. My parents have been a huge help to me over the years in many ways, including watching my son while I’ve worked (when I had a job) and built my business (when working at home). I also live in their (sunny) basement apartment.
I got into a lot of debt due to seriously neglectful money management skills (or I should say lack OF). Even though I made a very respectful income in 2008 I had not much but debt to show for it. Because my parents saw me on a daily basis they saw how stressed out, burnt out, tired and unhappy I was. They insisted that my business just wasn’t working, that I just wasn’t a sales person and that I really needed to go get a real job.
So at a real low point and feeling ashamed of myself for getting into a lot of debt yet again I agreed that it was time to find a job. For a little while I really believed it was what I needed to do at the time.
Not long after I got an email from Freshbooks saying that they were hiring so I decided to apply.
Off I went to my interview. After, I emailed to ask about a second interview and was told that they were looking for someone with ‘‘.
There were many reasons why I think I didn’t get the job, including:
- I was applying because I LOVE Freshbooks and they looked like a great company to work for if you were going to work for someone. There were two jobs that I thought would be a good fit but thinking about it now I don’t think they really suit my personality or overall goals (but at the time I really didn’t know what my life goals even were).
- In the interview I think I mentioned a few times how nice I am – while it’s nice to be nice that just don’t get you a job 
. Without getting into a whole psychological review of myself I think I’ve spent way too much time in my life getting my sense of self-worth from others. In the last year I’ve worked a lot on this and now I don’t need the approval of anyone to know what I want from life (huge accomplishment in itself!).
- While at the time of the interview I really thought I did but deep down in my heart I knew I had to keep at this business thing until it really worked, was truly profitable and I learned how to stop a lifetime of overspending. Plus, the drive would be an hour each way. After I drove down I was thinking that would be a killer daily and just not something I wanted to do.
What Metrics Do You Track?
One of the most embarrassing parts of the interview was when I was asked “” and my reply was ‘Metrics?’ – uhhh, not a good answer for a business owner.
I can’t tell you what a wake up call that interview was.
It really made me question why I had no confidence. Then I took the rest of the year figuring out how to get it.
What I did to grow my confidence:
- Took workshops to find out my true personality type and preferences.
- Read books.
- Blogged more.
- Started working out daily with the Fat Loss Quickie program and taking much better care of myself.
- Got out from behind the computer more often to meet people like me.
If you asked me that metrics question right now I’d have a much different answer:
1. Yes now I track this daily. On any given day I can tell you my income so far this month, my expenses for the month, my profitability and how far to my current monthly goal. Yay!
2. My current goal is 10,000 visitors per month. Last month it was over 3,000. I often check what keywords people have typed in to find my website, or what sites I’m getting traffic from, or what my most popular pages are. This helps me to do more of what’s working and cut out what’s not.
3. I’m an affiliate marketer and I’m planning on making a very good living that way so I often check in on what programs are converting for me and what the actual conversion rates are.
4. One of my favorite traffic generating startegies lately is article marketing. Every day I make a goal to submit as many new articles as I can and then I check the metrics to find out which articles are getting clicks and re-published.
5. My email list is a very important part of my marketing strategy so I check my sign ups often to see how and where I can make improvements.
I feel I’ve really come a long way personally and in my business since that interview. This year I’ve got clear goals and a very determined drive to meet them. I’ve got more energy due to this clear vision and a focus on health and fitness. Best of all I’ve got the confidence to know I really can be or do whatever I want to. A failure here and there is nothing but a learning experience as long as I keep moving forward.
So I really do want to sincerely say thank you for not hiring me – it was the kick in the butt I needed. It’s a point in my personal history where I’ll look back and say: “things changed for me there” and for that I am unimaginably grateful. I still love for all the same reasons I did before and I intend to promote you at every chance I get!
I love Freshbooks for all my time tracking and billing. The company, program and service is unlike anything I’ve found anywhere on the net – that’s why I wanted to work for them in the first place
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