Focus The Fire

In part 2 of the Own A Home? series we dive into the decision to rent or own. There isn’t always a simple right answer to this question. In this discussion, we explore the pros, cons and other considerations you should weigh when deciding whether you should keep renting or buy/build a home.     Question of the day: Do believe it’s better to rent or own?   Essential financial advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources available at www.dalanvanterpool.com/podcast   Connect with host on twitter @dalanv www.twitter.com/dalanv   Connect with show on twitter @focusthefire www.twitter.com/focusthefire       Help us create more great content: patreon.com/dalanv

Owning your first house can be a challenging and intimidating idea for young professionals. In this series, we walk you through the process from mindset to closing the deal, with insights from bankers, builders and real estate agents.   Making this first move correctly can trigger the start of a building serious real estate wealth and a set of assets that produce money for generations in your family.   If you have specific questions about homeownership send them to dalan@focusthefire.com or on twitter @dalanv. This may also get you a shout out on the podcast!   Question of the day: What’s the biggest thing stopping you from owning your first home?   Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources available at www.dalanvanterpool.com/podcast   Connect with host on twitter @dalanv www.twitter.com/dalanv   Connect with show on twitter @focusthefire www.twitter.com/focusthefire       Help us create more great content: patreon.com/dalanv

Today we hit pause on the usual conversation to amplify a pressing message that is rocking countries around the world. For centuries unjust practices around racism and colonialism have allowed empires to be built on the backs of oppressed people. The recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin and countless others in the United States have boiled to the point of global protests.    Problems of police brutality, income inequality and racism are certainly not unique to that country. In the Caribbean and further abroad, the remains of these systems continue. Internally people of colour also wrestle with colourism where lighter shades are viewed or consider themselves superior to darker hues.    Today our message is simple. Equality, not Pity.    Our hope is that all shades and colours of humanity come together to rid our societies of these foolish beliefs and the systems they fuel.    #podcastblackout    Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other r

How do you rapidly increase your ability to deliver excellent work and get enough traction to earn the attention of the people who need to notice?    You can spend loads of time thinking, studying, planning and theorising about the best practices, or you can start producing. The tough part is accepting that all the work you produce especially in the early stages will not be your best. It may not match up to the other masters of the craft that you admire. You may not be 100% proud but to grow faster, create and produce more.    Question of the day: What will you commit to producing more of this year?      Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources available at www.dalanvanterpool.com/podcast   Connect with host on twitter @dalanv www.twitter.com/dalanv   Connect with show on twitter @focusthefire www.twitter.com/focusthefire       Help us create more great content: patreon.com/dalanv

This is an important message for everyone at risk of losing hope in their dreams. If you’re frustrated with the pace of progress and wondering if the success you long for will ever become real, take a few minutes and listen to this message.     Question of the day: What are you believing for? (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources available at www.dalanvanterpool.com/podcast   Connect with host on twitter @dalanv www.twitter.com/dalanv   Connect with show on twitter @focusthefire www.twitter.com/focusthefire       Help us create more great content: patreon.com/dalanv

In case it’s not obvious yet, remote work and online meetings are now a larger part of doing business. The extent of this may very well reduce when(ever) things calm down, but right now video calls via platforms such as Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Cisco WebEx and others are connecting the world. Today we teach you how to avoid some huge fails and present yourself better than the average person online.   Dress like a professional - Let the context of the meeting dictate or attire, not your location. Manage the camera angle - A laptop on a desk with a camera shooting up your nose may not be the most flattering angle. Get a box or stack some books to get the camera closer to eye level so you can sit up straight and look at the camera. Consider ditching the built in camera for a decent web cam with 1080p or at least 720p resolution. Look at the camera when you speak, not the screen - To make eye contact with your audience on a video call, look at the camera rather than eyes of whoever you’re

Let’s talk about why you’re still underpaid and how to negotiate pay and benefits to earn your worth.    Are you being paid what you’re worth? Have you thought about asking for more but the idea of that awkward conversation makes you scared or nervous? If you want to learn how smart executives negotiate better compensation you need to listen to these tactics from Denise Liebetrau.    She explains how negotiating for more rewards is so much wider than a single conversation, and gives bonus tips on how to boost your executive presence and move like someone that actually deserves serious compensation.    Who is Denise Lebetrau?   Denise Liebetrau is a HR Consultant, who partners with business leaders, to get the people and performance metrics in place to maximize profit and impact. She is also a  Career & Salary Negotiation Coach that helps professionals get paid what they are worth and have careers aligned to their values.   Connect with Denise for more coaching, resources and tips   Website and services: P

When it comes to investing, you need to be clear on your goals for each dollar. Before you put a dollar to work, determine the job description. This is the only way you can really assess whether it doing what you want it to do correctly.    In investment banking, the first conversation with a client usually involves some form of the question: What are your objectives? To put it another way, what goals are you trying to accomplish here and what’s your timeline / investment horizon?   In this episode we discuss the three (3) main reasons people invest. Cash flow Value appreciation Leverage      Question of the day: What's your main investment goal right now: cash flow, value appreciation or leverage? (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources available at www.dalanv.com/podcast   Connect with host on twitter @dalanv www.twitter.com/dalanv   Connect with show on twitter @focusthefire www.twitter.com/focusthefire      

Are you working remotely? The current state of affairs in the world has many office goers figuring out the fun and follies of working remotely. As much as people complain about Mondays, traffic and annoying coworkers, it’s interesting to note the mixed reviews around this new found freedom.    Today we discuss the quirks for working from home and reflect on a related article from Bloomberg describing the plight of people trying to preserve boundaries between work life and personal life. This was recorded with a live Twitter/Periscope audience.     Article: Three Hours Longer, the Pandemic Workday Has Obliterated Work-Life Balance       Question of the day:  What do you like or hate most about working from home? (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources available at www.focusthefire.com   Connect with host on twitter @dalanv www.twitter.com/dalanv   Connect with show on twitter @focusthefire www.twitter.com/focusthefire    

You’ve seen or heard it before. Some colleague in the office starts reading self-development books and too many fake deep quotes on instagram about living life on your own terms and being an entrepreneur versus a lame employee. They may even listen to podcasts like this and take things slightly out of context. Yea…don’t be that person in the office.    Today let’s do some house keeping about how you can share your enthusiasm and enlightenment, without disrespecting the choices others make about their career.     Question of the day: What’s the biggest mental shift you are making this quarter? (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources available at www.focusthefire.com   Connect with host on twitter @dalanv www.twitter.com/dalanv   Connect with show on twitter @focusthefire www.twitter.com/focusthefire       Help us create more great content: patreon.com/dalanv

With COVID-19 gripping the world, many countries are ordering voluntary and in some cases involuntary home quarantine to slow the spread of the virus. This extreme social distancing creates many new challenges for economies, businesses, school and people. It also opens up excellent opportunities for people who leverage the time wisely. Some persons are complaining about being bored, but starting today and into the following weeks we are giving you 20 ways to maximise social distance time and come out of this mess like a boss. Here are 5 more, plus a special free bonus resource at the end.   16. Update your resumé 17. Actually write down your goals and a game plan 18. Make a career development plan for the next 3 years 19. Use the disruption to show your value as a leader using technology 20. Earn promotion points by still delivering results for your team   Question of the day: Which tips are you executing first and what would you add to the list? (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for amb

With COVID-19 gripping the world, many countries are ordering voluntary and in some cases involuntary home quarantine to slow the spread of the virus. This extreme social distancing creates many new challenges for economies, businesses, school and people. It also opens up excellent opportunities for people who leverage the time wisely. Some persons are complaining about being bored, but starting today and into the following weeks we are giving you 20 ways to maximise social distance time and come out of this mess like a boss. Here are 5 more, plus a special free bonus resource at the end.   11. Replace the time you would spend getting dressed or sitting in traffic with specific tasks 12. Shut-up and meditate 13. Work on YOUR business 14. Fix your LinkedIn and other social media profiles 15. Network - Call, message and reconnect   Question of the day: How are you using your quarantine time? (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other

With COVID-19 gripping the world, many countries are ordering voluntary and in some cases involuntary home quarantine to slow the spread of the virus. This extreme social distancing creates many new challenges for economies, businesses, school and people. It also opens up excellent opportunities for people who leverage the time wisely. Some persons are complaining about being bored, but starting today and into the following weeks we are giving you 20 ways to maximise social distance time and come out of this mess like a boss. Here are the first 5, plus a special free bonus resource at the end.   6. Write and publish an article related to your craft or industry 7. Record a video or podcast about a relevant topic (for example the one you just researched in #5) 8. Keep a daily quarantine journal to document the experience, new ideas and insights 9. Learn a new skill that can generate money or be a hobby (coding, photography, graphic design) 10. Develop a regular home exercise routine   Question of the day: How

With COVID-19 gripping the world, many countries are ordering voluntary and in some cases involuntary home quarantine to slow the spread of the virus. This extreme social distancing creates many new challenges for economies, businesses, school and people. It also opens up excellent opportunities for people who leverage the time wisely. Some persons are complaining about being bored, but starting today and into the following weeks we are giving you 20 ways to maximise social distance time and come out of this mess like a boss. Here are the first 5, plus a special free bonus resource at the end.   Take a free or paid online course Work on a professional certification Re-discover the lost art of reading Listen to audiobooks and podcasts Research a topic and go deep on developing a robust understanding     Question of the day: How are you using your quarantine time? (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources availab

LinkedIn is one of the most powerful yet under used career networking tools available. You get free access to tools and features that can jump start new relationships, build a brand, and help you land that next big job.    To help you get the most out of LinkedIn we called in the expert who literally wrote the book on How to Write a Killer LinkedIn profile. Brenda Bernstein is on the mic telling us how she went from Sesame Street, to Yale, to building a business around helping smart executives like you communicate their career through LinkedIn and professional resumés.     What’s inside? Should your summary be in the first or third person? Biggest mistakes people make on LinkedIn Creating a multi-language profile How should your LinkedIn profile be identical to your resumé? What will make you profile stand out Taking online relationships offline …and much more Connect with Brenda www.TheEssayExpert.com www.TheExecutiveExpert.com www.KillerLinkedInProfile.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/brenda

  It’s no secret that women have been making a serious impact inside and outside the corporate world for centuries. Fortunately, it seems the value of this work is starting to get the recognition, and hopefully compensation it deserves. We’ve been celebrating women on Focus The Fire for many years by making space to share their brilliant stories with the world. Today in honour of International Women’s Day, we flashback to one of those moments featuring Jamila Abston, CPA, partner at EY and true professional rock star.      Question of the day: What can we do to level the playing field for women?  (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources available at www.focusthefire.com   Connect with host on twitter @dalanv www.twitter.com/dalanv   Connect with show on twitter @focusthefire www.twitter.com/focusthefire       Help us create more great content: patreon.com/dalanv

  How do people “suddenly” accomplish great things? Sometimes it seems like they pop up out of nowhere with recorded albums, a thriving business, international awards, powerful careers and even published books. Do they possess some superior intelligence not accessible to the rest of us? Do they have more hours in a day or significantly less responsibilities jostling for their attention?   In most cases I believe the answer is no, or at least they actively make the answer a no. Let me explain. The problem likely is not that you lack intelligence. In fact, your intelligence may be the very thing fuelling your rampant curiosity and ambitions to explore multiple interesting paths. As a result, shifting amongst these mental and sometimes physical excursions eats away at your time each day. You’ve convinced yourself that each one is a worthy cause and eligible for your immediate attention.   To become great at something, to produce brilliant work, for a certain period at least, we have to forsake some other curiosi

Let’s be brutally honest here. Besides the fluffy talk about fulfilling dreams and helping humanity, you’re working because you want to get paid. That may not be the only reason, but it’s a crucial component otherwise you would be running around hunting for a full-time volunteer position. People will keep showing up at a job for years even though their personal or professional aspirations aren’t being fed, but let the money stop and see how quickly things escalate.   But wait a minute, is compensation only about money? Not to downplay the facts here, because money matters. Still, I believe it’s a sign of maturity when you step to the negotiation table demanding more than cash.   I want to challenge you think more broadly about compensation beyond just the usual salary and bonus. In this episode we discuss 4 non-cash payments to consider when negotiating.     Question of the day: What other great non-cash payments would you add to this list?   (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for ambitio

So yes, there’s your job description or whatever. It’s important to hit those points. However, just meeting expectations is a slow path to success. There are skills and talents inside you that just need a little courage and creativity to help you leverage them for career success.    You can spend years competing with people on their own terms, or go around them quietly by creating your own lane. Activate your zone of greatness and use it to add value to the organisation. In today’s episode we offer some real life examples to inspire your own game plan.    Have a listen and let us know what out-of-office skill you can start bringing to work!      Question of the day: What secret skill have you been hiding from your main job?  (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources available at www.focusthefire.com   Connect with host on twitter @dalanv www.twitter.com/dalanv   Connect with show on twitter @focusthefire www.twitter.com/fo

In the game of money, interested rates rule the field. A weak understanding can make you lose big or miss huge opportunities.  A great career is even better when you can take the money you earn and know how to make it work for you.   Today we take you through some common interest concepts that you will encounter when buying a car, a house, investing, or even choosing a bank account.     We included a useful article on annual percentage rates at the show notes page: dalanv.com/166-interest-rate-basics   Question of the day: If you have $10,000 to invest where would you put it? (Comment below or on twitter)   Essential career advice for ambitious young professionals.    Full show notes and other resources available at www.focusthefire.com   Connect with host on twitter @dalanv www.twitter.com/dalanv   Connect with show on twitter @focusthefire www.twitter.com/focusthefire       Help us create more great content: patreon.com/dalanv