May 14, 2024 • 12 mins
Maximizing Success Through Work Ethic and Networking Without a College Degree
In this episode of 'Winning Without College,' host Stuart Takehara shares insights on achieving success through developing a strong work ethic rather than relying on luck.
He emphasizes the importance of a positive first impression in the workplace, smart work over luck, and building a professional network.
Stuart also discusses the significance of seizing quick wins and the necessity of time management and prioritizing tasks. He offers personal anecdotes and advice, including handling relationships with colleagues effectively to mend departmental divides and the importance of networking.
The episode is a guide for those without a college degree to create success paths in their careers by leveraging hard work and strategic actions.
00:00 Introduction to Winning Without College
00:44 The Power of Hard Work Over Luck
02:29 Embracing the Journey Beyond College
03:33 Maximizing Your First Days at a New Job
05:43 Building a Strong Professional Network
12:21 Final Thoughts and Call to Action
Contact Us:
stuart@winningwithoutcollege.com
5 Hard Truths You Need To Win Without College:
www.WinningWithoutCollege.com/HardTruth
Submit Your Question to Be Answered On The Podcast:
www.WinningWithoutCollege.com/Podcast
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Stuart (00:00):
And welcome to winning without college.
(00:02):
The podcast that helps you developyour mindset, habits, and skills.
You need to get aheadin business and in life.
Hey, my name is Stuart.
Takehara your host, your coachand fellow colors dropout.
And if I can ask you a favor.
When you're done listening to thisepisode, if you could just go into,
however, you're listening to thispodcast, whether it's apple podcasts
or Spotify, or maybe you're watching uson YouTube, if you just go in there and
(00:25):
give us a review, tell us what you think.
Can you get something out of this episode?
The recommendations and the ratings goa long way and being able to help get
the show out to more and more people.
So if nothing else, can you just do that?
And it costs nothing, andit means the world to me and
everyone that works on the show.
So thank you for doing that.
Let me ask you a question.
(00:46):
Have people ever said,oh, you're just lucky.
And that's why you've been so successful.
Isn't that kind of annoying.
If anyone thinks thatwhat you do is just luck.
I mean, that's totally insane
today, we're going to talk about howyou can show everybody what you're
made of and how to make friendsthat will help you along the way.
Having the big win.
(01:06):
When you start a new job isvital to your future success.
And part of that big win is lookingfor the right opportunity and
developing an extremely strongwork ethic right out of the gate.
It's key to every good thingthat will happen to you.
It's not luck.
It's by design.
Now some people tell me,oh, you're just so lucky.
(01:27):
You get so many chances.
And I respond to say, The harderI work, the luckier I get, it
has nothing to do with luck.
It has everything to do withhard work and smart work.
Okay.
So maybe.
All right.
I know what you might be thinking.
Maybe luck does have something to do withit, but it's only because you might be
in the right place at the right time.
(01:48):
That might be lucky.
You just might get that lucky break.
However, it isn't necessarily luck becauseyou have to put yourself out there.
You have to show up and getting upoff the sofa after a long day to go
to that business mixer or driving allthe way across town through traffic
requires a certain level of dedicationto be able to be put into that right
place at the right time, to be able togenerate that so-called luck was what
(02:12):
everyone else says is looking at it.
It's not luck.
It's just a strong workethic and it's perseverance.
We need to capitalize on every opportunityto set ourselves apart and showing up
and ready to make our mark is crucial.
And you know what the difference is.
Between us and a college grad,when it comes down to this, see.
(02:33):
Uh, college graduate.
We'll get a new job.
They're going to sit in their newchair and their new office and
they're going to think, wow, I did it.
I made it.
And they're going to givethemselves a little pat on the back.
Whereas us, those that don't havethat college degree and those who, who
came up from a traditional upbringing,we understand that the new job.
(02:54):
Is the beginning.
Of our journey, not the end.
Remember the college graduatewho was told all their life.
You work hard, you go to school, you getgood grades so you can get a good job.
So you don't have to livedown in the van by the river.
You remember that?
Well, They did just that they worked hard.
They went to school andthey got good grades.
They got the job mission accomplished.
(03:16):
For them.
See for them, they think that they're atthe pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
They think they completed their lifegoal and the rest will be easy, but no.
No, not us.
We have to be all about actionand we can't rest on our laurels.
You see what?
I started my job as headof marketing at the casino.
(03:37):
Some can say I was in over myhead and perhaps I was, but I
didn't let that get me down.
What I did is I worked my ass off.
When I started, I was there earlymornings, late nights, weekends
holidays, 10 to 12 hours a day.
Six to seven days aweek for my first year.
Cause I had some catching up to do.
I was behind the eight ball and thebest and fastest way I knew how to get
(03:59):
caught up to speed was to focus and learnas much as I can as quickly as I can.
It kind of reminds me of oneof my favorite TV show suits.
Now I've been watching suits eversince it was on the original time when
it was on HBO way before it came out,or it wasn't even HBO was on a USA
network way before hitting Netflix.
This thing is maybe 10 yearsold or so, but there's a scene.
(04:21):
I remember.
Where there's this hot shot, lawyer,Harvey specter, if you've never seen it.
And he's talking to hisnew associate and he says,
Look.
You were giving me shit this morningbecause I come and go when I want
to, you know why you can do that?
Because when I got here, I dominated, theythought I worked a hundred hours a day.
Now, no matter what time I get in, nobodyquestioned my ability to get the job done.
(04:45):
Get it through your head.
First impressions.
Last you start behind the 8 Ball.
You'll never get in front.
Then that may be a fictionalquote, but it's highly accurate.
You see when you're starting a newjob or you're coming into a new
company, even a new team, it's in thesame company, you have to remember.
These people have beentogether for a while.
They, they know how each other operates.
(05:06):
They know their touchpoints, they knowtheir work ethics and their, their drives.
They don't know you.
And they're watching, evaluating, judging.
Is this person better or worse?
Than the last person is my life.
Just get better or worsewith this new person.
So now is not the time totake your foot off the gas.
Now is the time to put your head down.
(05:26):
And dig in.
You see, there's a few reasonswhy this is important first.
It's because of what I just said.
They're watching you, if youwant the freedom to come and go
like Harvey specter, you needto dominate first impressions.
Last second.
And this is one of my hard truths.
You are building yourprofessional network.
You see, there are five hard truths andgoing through life without a college
(05:49):
degree and not accepting these fivehard truths will get you nowhere.
You can have great accomplishments andyou can have your big and small wins,
but if you're a ignoring, these hardtruths, or if you choose not to accept
them, unfortunately you may not havethe life or the career that you want.
So I want to give you thesehard truths . What they are and
why you need to accept them.
(06:09):
All you have to do is just logonto my website, winning without
college.com/hard truth and signup and I'll send them to you.
Absolutely free one a dayfor the next five days.
No cost winning withoutcollege.com/hard truth.
Or you can use the linkin the description below.
Again, that's winning withoutcollege.com/hard truth.
(06:30):
Building your professionalnetwork is key and advancing
your career and your reputation.
If you're naturally lazy, fine,but The lazy later now is not
the time for laziness now.
Is it time for action.
So, how do you know if youhave a strong work ethic?
It's hard to put into words, but let me.
(06:51):
Give it a shot here.
See, when I was in high school, Iwas in this media production class.
We produced music videos, mock newscast.
Uh, on the scene reportingjust about anything, any video
production studio could do.
We did and our instructor, Mr.
Peckham.
Becca would call the class toorder and the bell would ring.
And he'd say today's a production day.
Use your time wisely.
(07:12):
Now.
This is high school.
I'm 15 and a sophomore.
And I remember thinking, whatthe heck does he mean by letting
us just do whatever we wantin class doesn't even know.
We're just a bunch of misfit teens, but Ihad 45 minutes in class to get work done.
But the question is what kind of work.
I could use this time tostudy for my Spanish test.
I had next period, or I couldsneak off campus for a bite to
(07:35):
eat after all I was hungry and itwas the class right before lunch.
Use your time wisely.
That's it?
No outline, no roadmap,no set of instructions.
Just four little words,use your time wisely.
And the same goes for the real world.
On all levels.
A new president of the United States isjudged on their first 100 days in office.
(07:57):
You probably hear it inthe news all the time.
The first 100 days.
And you and your new job, you're goingto be judged to much quicker than that.
And most likely much harsher.
What are you going to do?
And will it be right?
So let me give you a few tips thathave helped me during this phase.
First off.
You really need to find tuneyour time management skills.
(08:17):
You don't want to ever miss a deadline.
Not at all.
Especially when you first start, ittells people subconsciously that you
don't manage your time very well, oryou don't take deadlines seriously.
And secondly, don't let your team down.
Don't miss a team deadlineand don't miss a deadline that
may have been set by her boss.
That's also sending a verybad first impression, second.
(08:40):
You need to prioritize properly.
What is the most importantpart of your job?
And what's the second most part.
I guess I can say, what are the keygoals for your role in the company
and how long did they give you totry and make progress on these goals?
See, these are all questions youshould be asking yourself and pushing
forward on all of your work priorities.
(09:00):
. You don't want to spend a disproportionateamount of time on something that
will make a small difference.
You need to make a big differenceand fast and working at getting
that small wind quickly.
Maybe that might be finishing up aproject, your predecesor, or started,
. Or performing an internal departmentaudit, or unfortunately this can be
required to maybe you need to eliminatesome poor performers in your department,
(09:23):
but you need to get a win quicklythat shows you're pushing forward.
And to make sure you're just not alltalk because the work you're putting out.
Should be solid, should behigh quality, well thought out.
Another thing to consider, andI'm sure you've heard all of
this on day one about your job.
Who in your company?
Did your predecessor.
Not get along with who foughtwith that person the most.
(09:47):
And you want to find thatperson and reach out to them.
Maybe take them out to lunch.
When I was at the casino.
That person was the casino manager.
And for this example,we're going to call her.
Patricia now.
She fought like cats and dogswith my predecessor, they
disagreed just to disagree.
One could say the sky is red.
The other would say, no, it's not.
(10:07):
The sky is green.
They just love to spar in publicand private, behind closed doors
out in the halls, anytime theirpaths cross, they just went at it.
It was like, it was their hobby for now,from the stories I heard, I never got
a chance to see this for myself, butfrom the stories I heard, it sounded
like it was quite a sight to see withraised voices and tons of aggression.
(10:28):
So when I started.
One of the first things Idid was I reached out to her.
And we had lunch together.
I didn't ask her to lunch to get thegossip or why my predecessor was fired.
I reached out because it wasa burned bridge between the
departments that I could fix.
And that could be seen by everyone else.
You see, by fixing this relationshipbetween the casino manager and the
(10:48):
marketing department, it meant that thefood and beverage department didn't have
to pick sides when there was an argument.
And it meant the HRG didn't have to bein every meeting that these two were in.
It meant that that stress andanxiety and that negativity was gone.
And I fixed it.
And the entire casinofrom the ground up saw it.
(11:09):
So having a strong work ethic meansknowing where to spend your time.
And make the biggest difference.
You need to win and you need a fast,so look for those opportunities.
They're very easy to find andthey're very quick to accomplish.
Also look at otherdepartments and get with them.
See, I was, when I came in, I was adepartment head, so it was easy to
(11:31):
meet with other department heads.
And one thing I would ask them, Isif there's anything that they would
like to see from my department doingmore of, or less of, or better at
that can help them in their job.
Some would say this as beinga kiss ass, but it's not.
It's network building at its finest.
This is working to developa strong leadership team.
This is setting the groundwork sothey can help me just as much as
(11:51):
I can help them having workplaceallies and enemies for that matter
can come in many different places.
But the more people you've beenable to sit down with chat and have
a cup of coffee or a beer with.
Are all people who are buildingthat relationship with you.
Now remember one of the hard truthsis you need to continually be
building your professional network.
(12:13):
And you haven't signed up for myfive hard truths yet you should
do so now at winning, withoutcollege.com/hardtruths, or you can use
the link in the description box below.
. Until next time.
Remember your success.
Doesn't come with a syllabus,forge your own path, break the mold
and keep winning without college.
I'll see you in the next episode
And welcome to winning without college.
(00:02):
The podcast that helps you developyour mindset, habits, and skills.
You need to get aheadin business and in life.
Hey, my name is Stuart.
Takehara your host, your coachand fellow colors dropout.
And if I can ask you a favor.
When you're done listening to thisepisode, if you could just go into,
however, you're listening to thispodcast, whether it's apple podcasts
or Spotify, or maybe you're watching uson YouTube, if you just go in there and
(00:25):
give us a review, tell us what you think.
Can you get something out of this episode?
The recommendations and the ratings goa long way and being able to help get
the show out to more and more people.
So if nothing else, can you just do that?
And it costs nothing, andit means the world to me and
everyone that works on the show.
So thank you for doing that.
Let me ask you a question.
(00:46):
Have people ever said,oh, you're just lucky.
And that's why you've been so successful.
Isn't that kind of annoying.
If anyone thinks thatwhat you do is just luck.
I mean, that's totally insane
today, we're going to talk about howyou can show everybody what you're
made of and how to make friendsthat will help you along the way.
Having the big win.
(01:06):
When you start a new job isvital to your future success.
And part of that big win is lookingfor the right opportunity and
developing an extremely strongwork ethic right out of the gate.
It's key to every good thingthat will happen to you.
It's not luck.
It's by design.
Now some people tell me,oh, you're just so lucky.
(01:27):
You get so many chances.
And I respond to say, The harderI work, the luckier I get, it
has nothing to do with luck.
It has everything to do withhard work and smart work.
Okay.
So maybe.
All right.
I know what you might be thinking.
Maybe luck does have something to do withit, but it's only because you might be
in the right place at the right time.
(01:48):
That might be lucky.
You just might get that lucky break.
However, it isn't necessarily luck becauseyou have to put yourself out there.
You have to show up and getting upoff the sofa after a long day to go
to that business mixer or driving allthe way across town through traffic
requires a certain level of dedicationto be able to be put into that right
place at the right time, to be able togenerate that so-called luck was what
(02:12):
everyone else says is looking at it.
It's not luck.
It's just a strong workethic and it's perseverance.
We need to capitalize on every opportunityto set ourselves apart and showing up
and ready to make our mark is crucial.
And you know what the difference is.
Between us and a college grad,when it comes down to this, see.
(02:33):
Uh, college graduate.
We'll get a new job.
They're going to sit in their newchair and their new office and
they're going to think, wow, I did it.
I made it.
And they're going to givethemselves a little pat on the back.
Whereas us, those that don't havethat college degree and those who, who
came up from a traditional upbringing,we understand that the new job.
(02:54):
Is the beginning.
Of our journey, not the end.
Remember the college graduatewho was told all their life.
You work hard, you go to school, you getgood grades so you can get a good job.
So you don't have to livedown in the van by the river.
You remember that?
Well, They did just that they worked hard.
They went to school andthey got good grades.
They got the job mission accomplished.
(03:16):
For them.
See for them, they think that they're atthe pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
They think they completed their lifegoal and the rest will be easy, but no.
No, not us.
We have to be all about actionand we can't rest on our laurels.
You see what?
I started my job as headof marketing at the casino.
(03:37):
Some can say I was in over myhead and perhaps I was, but I
didn't let that get me down.
What I did is I worked my ass off.
When I started, I was there earlymornings, late nights, weekends
holidays, 10 to 12 hours a day.
Six to seven days aweek for my first year.
Cause I had some catching up to do.
I was behind the eight ball and thebest and fastest way I knew how to get
(03:59):
caught up to speed was to focus and learnas much as I can as quickly as I can.
It kind of reminds me of oneof my favorite TV show suits.
Now I've been watching suits eversince it was on the original time when
it was on HBO way before it came out,or it wasn't even HBO was on a USA
network way before hitting Netflix.
This thing is maybe 10 yearsold or so, but there's a scene.
(04:21):
I remember.
Where there's this hot shot, lawyer,Harvey specter, if you've never seen it.
And he's talking to hisnew associate and he says,
Look.
You were giving me shit this morningbecause I come and go when I want
to, you know why you can do that?
Because when I got here, I dominated, theythought I worked a hundred hours a day.
Now, no matter what time I get in, nobodyquestioned my ability to get the job done.
(04:45):
Get it through your head.
First impressions.
Last you start behind the 8 Ball.
You'll never get in front.
Then that may be a fictionalquote, but it's highly accurate.
You see when you're starting a newjob or you're coming into a new
company, even a new team, it's in thesame company, you have to remember.
These people have beentogether for a while.
They, they know how each other operates.
(05:06):
They know their touchpoints, they knowtheir work ethics and their, their drives.
They don't know you.
And they're watching, evaluating, judging.
Is this person better or worse?
Than the last person is my life.
Just get better or worsewith this new person.
So now is not the time totake your foot off the gas.
Now is the time to put your head down.
(05:26):
And dig in.
You see, there's a few reasonswhy this is important first.
It's because of what I just said.
They're watching you, if youwant the freedom to come and go
like Harvey specter, you needto dominate first impressions.
Last second.
And this is one of my hard truths.
You are building yourprofessional network.
You see, there are five hard truths andgoing through life without a college
(05:49):
degree and not accepting these fivehard truths will get you nowhere.
You can have great accomplishments andyou can have your big and small wins,
but if you're a ignoring, these hardtruths, or if you choose not to accept
them, unfortunately you may not havethe life or the career that you want.
So I want to give you thesehard truths . What they are and
why you need to accept them.
(06:09):
All you have to do is just logonto my website, winning without
college.com/hard truth and signup and I'll send them to you.
Absolutely free one a dayfor the next five days.
No cost winning withoutcollege.com/hard truth.
Or you can use the linkin the description below.
Again, that's winning withoutcollege.com/hard truth.
(06:30):
Building your professionalnetwork is key and advancing
your career and your reputation.
If you're naturally lazy, fine,but The lazy later now is not
the time for laziness now.
Is it time for action.
So, how do you know if youhave a strong work ethic?
It's hard to put into words, but let me.
(06:51):
Give it a shot here.
See, when I was in high school, Iwas in this media production class.
We produced music videos, mock newscast.
Uh, on the scene reportingjust about anything, any video
production studio could do.
We did and our instructor, Mr.
Peckham.
Becca would call the class toorder and the bell would ring.
And he'd say today's a production day.
Use your time wisely.
(07:12):
Now.
This is high school.
I'm 15 and a sophomore.
And I remember thinking, whatthe heck does he mean by letting
us just do whatever we wantin class doesn't even know.
We're just a bunch of misfit teens, but Ihad 45 minutes in class to get work done.
But the question is what kind of work.
I could use this time tostudy for my Spanish test.
I had next period, or I couldsneak off campus for a bite to
(07:35):
eat after all I was hungry and itwas the class right before lunch.
Use your time wisely.
That's it?
No outline, no roadmap,no set of instructions.
Just four little words,use your time wisely.
And the same goes for the real world.
On all levels.
A new president of the United States isjudged on their first 100 days in office.
(07:57):
You probably hear it inthe news all the time.
The first 100 days.
And you and your new job, you're goingto be judged to much quicker than that.
And most likely much harsher.
What are you going to do?
And will it be right?
So let me give you a few tips thathave helped me during this phase.
First off.
You really need to find tuneyour time management skills.
(08:17):
You don't want to ever miss a deadline.
Not at all.
Especially when you first start, ittells people subconsciously that you
don't manage your time very well, oryou don't take deadlines seriously.
And secondly, don't let your team down.
Don't miss a team deadlineand don't miss a deadline that
may have been set by her boss.
That's also sending a verybad first impression, second.
(08:40):
You need to prioritize properly.
What is the most importantpart of your job?
And what's the second most part.
I guess I can say, what are the keygoals for your role in the company
and how long did they give you totry and make progress on these goals?
See, these are all questions youshould be asking yourself and pushing
forward on all of your work priorities.
(09:00):
. You don't want to spend a disproportionateamount of time on something that
will make a small difference.
You need to make a big differenceand fast and working at getting
that small wind quickly.
Maybe that might be finishing up aproject, your predecesor, or started,
. Or performing an internal departmentaudit, or unfortunately this can be
required to maybe you need to eliminatesome poor performers in your department,
(09:23):
but you need to get a win quicklythat shows you're pushing forward.
And to make sure you're just not alltalk because the work you're putting out.
Should be solid, should behigh quality, well thought out.
Another thing to consider, andI'm sure you've heard all of
this on day one about your job.
Who in your company?
Did your predecessor.
Not get along with who foughtwith that person the most.
(09:47):
And you want to find thatperson and reach out to them.
Maybe take them out to lunch.
When I was at the casino.
That person was the casino manager.
And for this example,we're going to call her.
Patricia now.
She fought like cats and dogswith my predecessor, they
disagreed just to disagree.
One could say the sky is red.
The other would say, no, it's not.
(10:07):
The sky is green.
They just love to spar in publicand private, behind closed doors
out in the halls, anytime theirpaths cross, they just went at it.
It was like, it was their hobby for now,from the stories I heard, I never got
a chance to see this for myself, butfrom the stories I heard, it sounded
like it was quite a sight to see withraised voices and tons of aggression.
(10:28):
So when I started.
One of the first things Idid was I reached out to her.
And we had lunch together.
I didn't ask her to lunch to get thegossip or why my predecessor was fired.
I reached out because it wasa burned bridge between the
departments that I could fix.
And that could be seen by everyone else.
You see, by fixing this relationshipbetween the casino manager and the
(10:48):
marketing department, it meant that thefood and beverage department didn't have
to pick sides when there was an argument.
And it meant the HRG didn't have to bein every meeting that these two were in.
It meant that that stress andanxiety and that negativity was gone.
And I fixed it.
And the entire casinofrom the ground up saw it.
(11:09):
So having a strong work ethic meansknowing where to spend your time.
And make the biggest difference.
You need to win and you need a fast,so look for those opportunities.
They're very easy to find andthey're very quick to accomplish.
Also look at otherdepartments and get with them.
See, I was, when I came in, I was adepartment head, so it was easy to
(11:31):
meet with other department heads.
And one thing I would ask them, Isif there's anything that they would
like to see from my department doingmore of, or less of, or better at
that can help them in their job.
Some would say this as beinga kiss ass, but it's not.
It's network building at its finest.
This is working to developa strong leadership team.
This is setting the groundwork sothey can help me just as much as
(11:51):
I can help them having workplaceallies and enemies for that matter
can come in many different places.
But the more people you've beenable to sit down with chat and have
a cup of coffee or a beer with.
Are all people who are buildingthat relationship with you.
Now remember one of the hard truthsis you need to continually be
building your professional network.
(12:13):
And you haven't signed up for myfive hard truths yet you should
do so now at winning, withoutcollege.com/hardtruths, or you can use
the link in the description box below.
. Until next time.
Remember your success.
Doesn't come with a syllabus,forge your own path, break the mold
and keep winning without college.
I'll see you in the next episode
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The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.