The Mintra Group notes how many people created generational wealth based on the time that they got into the oil markets even when there was uncertainty. Mintra group has broken this down into a few different personalities: Innovators, Early adopters, early accepepters, late accepters, and laggards. Along with how you are wired, timing combined with expectations for risk & market returns are to be considered
Another framework is looking at risk management as either a defensive or an offensive strategy when it comes to your career. Being defensive can often come at the price of approaching career growth from a position of weakness vs. a position of abundance & growth.
An example of playing on the defense is someone who was working in private equity who recently lost their job, could settle and take a paycut for a more stable role in the government. The government is a safe place where there’s typically not as many layoffs, pension, good hours, and plenty of vacation. However, the risk to be assumed is a reduction in pay, loss in growth opportunities, and not as much access to outsized returns. The most important risks according to Vistage is
“Lost profits
Lost Market Share
Lost Enthusiasm “
Playing on the offense, means NOT SETTLING. Going Hard or GOING HOME. This same person who got laid off might even take a month off to focus on mental health, travel, learning new skills to achieve higher paying opportunities, or just will relentlessly focus on getting a high paying private equity job. Vistage states these advantages as
Improved profits and competitive position
Increased market share
Heightened enthusiasm among stakeholders
According to CNBC, job hopping has been proven to be the biggest way to get increases in pay quickly especially for GenZs & Millennials. Millennials have now surpassed baby boomers as the biggest population. Job hopping also shows a strong economy. The Muse also states that the timing of the job hop is critical.
Garry Tan has an amazing episode on deciding on if you should LEARN, EARN, or Quit. You can take a paycheck to be able to pay the bills, but it might not be what makes you excited in life or even happy. But we all have responsibilities and need to take care of our bills so we can support ourselves. Unexpected events can also create challenges and set us back. But a positive attitude and patience, can also help in still having a goal ahead of us, and slowly working towards it.
An example of EARNING is:
Working at a restaurant fulltime, so that you can afford to pay for night school learning financial modeling to better skills towards a career in private equity. You are earning on the job, but might not be learning the appropriate skills needed to achieve the true goal of landing a role in private equity.
An example of LEARNING is:
This is doubling down on your down time. If you are in between jobs, this is the best opportunity to invest in yourself and accelerate your career growth. We have seen this with many bootcamps that have miraculously been able to help people break into new industries like web development, design, and now venture capital & PE through the new VC/PE rotational program at www.suttoncapital.co . This is a dedicated effort, and if it’s a part time learning program, you can still EARN while you LEARN which helps to mitigate the risk of not being able to pay the bills.
An example of EARNING while LEARNING is:
The ideal case!! This means, you are getting paid at a venture or private equity firm as a fulltime associate or principal, and you are learning on the job with hands on experience. The Private Equity / VC industry is one of the most difficult industries to break into, so this would be the coveted and an ideal state to be in.
In summary, taking a step back to explore what makes you happy, excited, and what can be done in your current situation to achieve that can help. But keep in mind, doing NOTHING could be a bigger risk of lost opportunities in the long run.