This is Episode 4 of the Digital Downshift Podcast. With this episode continuing the series, "Bring It".

If you would like to comment on this episode (or any others) please subscribe to the Digital Downshift YouTube Channel and drop in the comments there!

Here are some of the ideas covered in this episode...

This episode "What I Brought: 3 Stories" explores the idea that personal qualities, capabilities, and past experiences can directly influence and shape professional circumstances. I share three examples of how unique skills and experiences can lead to different forms of success in different professional scenarios.

• Personal interests and relationships can lead to unexpected and unprecedented career opportunities
• How music and strong core values led to a job offer and a completely different career path
• A startup, a series of acquisitions and a 10 year run at a global investment bank
• Personal qualities — being persistent, ability to work autonomously, and trustworthiness — go a long way

• Previous work experience and friendship with a coworker led to co-founding a fintech startup
• Shared work history and trust (and self-knowledge) were key assets that readied us for the venture
• History and partnership have value beyond the sum; we've grown stronger since

• Finance led to an unlikely interest in data and numbers (and informed my quantitative approach to marketing)
• Kyle Roof (the secrets of ranking are on page one) and Doug Cunnington (Keyword Golden Ratio) were early influences
• But my capital markets experience set a high bar for data quality and helped identify the problem with marketing tools
• Creating a micro SaaS, SERP Sonar, was my attempt at a solution (WIP)
• Stitching together collected skills and leveraging the expertise of others made it possible

Everyone has unique skills, knowledge, and perspectives, and can develop new strengths along the way. We can leverage existing assets more than we think and gain the ones we don't already have.

================= Fine Print: Opening/Closing Music - "Dreamin' " by Danijel Zambo Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/danijel-zambo/dreamin License code: W94TFFIQZH46VZJJ