For this week’s value proposition, I wrote a letter of inquiry (LOI) and a sample cold email.
This was my first time writing an LOI and I learned the basic structure of one. If you work for a non-profit or are looking to fundraise, LOIs outline the why you need money from a donor and gives a quick preview of your project.
An LOI is like an introductory letter before sending out a full grant proposal, and it also saves your time and that of the funder to determine if you’re a good fit for them.
LOIs are between one or two pages and it’s faster for funders to read through them, instead of a detailed grant proposal. It’s also great way to make good first impressions.
You can view my sample LOI I wrote for the Foundation for Government Accountability here.
I learned how to write one by reading this article here.
A few weeks ago I was headhunted on LinkedIn by an insurance agency called Financial Leadership Group (FLG), but I uncovered shady business practices from them. It turns out they were a multi-level marketing scheme (MLM).
How They Reeled Me In
The director of FLG (we’ll call him Rob) messaged me on LinkedIn expressing how he was impressed by my experience and skills and asked if we could meet at his office for an interview.
Naturally, I had to check this out since since I didn’t want to miss an opportunity. It couldn’t hurt to do an interview and besides, I needed to practice doing them.
Capitalism and other libertarian principles are difficult ideas to market to others outside the liberty movement, but what can libertarians do to present their ideas in a better way?
Recently, I was in a webinar hosted by Dan Sanchez of FEE, the Foundation for Economic Education and he went over some do’s and don’ts of communicating capitalism to everyone, including socialists.
Here were some of the ideas Dan discussed.
Don’t act condescending and don’t be like Dwight Scrute or like Ben Shapiro talking over people. There’s no doubt that Ben Shapiro is well versed in logic, reason, and debate but even he is prone to committing errors like the smokescreen fallacy.
Don’t be like Ben and bombard your opponent with lots of verbiage and considerations thrown in, and not giving them a chance to sift through.
One of the libertarian stereotypes, which has turned into an inside joke, is the neckbeard. He acts condescending and is socially unaware of how others feel and think, and is quick to dismiss any points they make.
Have some emotional IQ and don’t immediately judge the other person’s character based on their economic and government views.
Do appeal to shared values and other common ground opinions. Presume the other person has good intentions, just a different way of solving problems.
Another interesting point made was being able to pass the ideological Turing test. The Turing test engages computers with humans and the machine has to emulate human responses. If it’s responses are indistinguishable from a human then it passes the test.
Similarly, if you engage in a debate, be able to know your opponent’s argument better than they do.
The CEO of BriteBee posted a list of projects for Praxis students so that it’ll take the guesswork out of figuring out what to do for a value proposition.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted a value proposition, which is a work project showing prospective employers what I can do for them.
The project I chose was a four page blog post from one of BriteBee’s partners and the goal was to turn it into a visual of some sort. So I decided to create an infographic.
The article had lots of facts about the pros and cons of mammograms. I picked out only the facts so that the data would be easier to visualize. Turning a long blog post jam-packed with facts makes it difficult and honestly, really boring to read. So I created this infographic with the help of Visme.
James 4:1-4 King James Version (KJV) 4 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Today’s Scripture Sunday focuses on why we pray and things we should avoid asking God. If you’ve been following my blog for a while now, I’ve created a series of posts called Scripture Sundays in which I focus on strengthening my faith and inspiring my fellow Christian readers.
What is the meaning behind James 4:1-4? How do we apply it?
Last Sunday I posted about the Lord’s Prayer which tells us the do’s and don’ts of praying. James 4:1-4 adds a few more guidelines.
In short, we are told not to pray for self-centered reasons like winning wars, lusting after someone, or other worldly desires of the flesh.
Praying for these worldly desires can lead to temptation and sin.
We’ve all heard how asking questions helps us learn and it’s especially important during interviews. This is your chance to shine and it allows your prospective employer to know you better.
Asking questions signals to your future employer that you’re interested in them and it increases your chances of hiring.
However, be sure to ask questions that don’t have obvious answers that you can find on their website. For example, if you’re interviewing in a software sales role don’t ask about what their pricing plans are. Asking questions with obvious answers shows you haven’t done your research.
So what sort of questions is recommended you ask? Here are some to help you get inspired.
What is your culture like?
Do you plan to expand in the future?
What drew you to work for this company?
How did you become (CEO/HR recruiter/COO/etc)?
Could you describe the expectations of this job in greater detail?
I had another exciting opportunity and this time it’s with Classical Conversations. I have a lot to thank my Praxis advisor and career coach, Johnny Roccia for finding these opportunities for me.
I interviewed with the COO of Classical Conversations, Keith Denton. It was also an informal interview and Keith described what I will be doing in my job, which is a systems-based role integrating HubSpot and then teach everyone how to use it.
I’ll also report to IT since this is a systems-based role but I’ll also be working closely with the marketing team. Keith explained why they want to switch to HubSpot because Insightly is user unfriendly and difficult for their directors to use. I would be expected to document my learning process and turn it into a training manual.
Keith and I had an hour-long conversation and I asked him about how CC’s program works. I also tried to create value for CC by offering them free books and resources from FEE and Mises.
Never miss an opportunity to create value for an employer.
Keith said I asked a lot of questions that he couldn’t write all of them down, so I take that as a good sign. He also set up a second interview with the head of their IT department, Chris Sanford. This surprised me since I never had a business do two consecutive interviews in one day!
Second interview was more specific, making sure I understood that this is more than just a marketing role but it’ll involve some coding and website building too. Pretty cool stuff.
I’ll be talking with the rest of the team next Friday.
Feel free to check out the resources Classical Conversations offers to homeschooling parents here.
Actually I landed two interviews this week, one today and tomorrow.
Today’s interview was with Keagan Henson, the CEO of BriteBee and tomorrow’s will be with Keith Denton, the COO of Classical Conversations.
The BriteBee interview was interesting in an unconventional way. Right off the bat, Keagan made it clear about his views on the interview process, “I hate formal interviews.”
I was actually relieved when he said that because it’s a good sign when the CEO of a startup walks the talk. What do I mean by this?
A lot of startups like to say they’re pioneers and make themselves to be an industry changing force. A break from rigid, traditional corporations. But some still hold on to outdated methods, like the formal interviews that Keagan mentioned. He explained how formal interviews don’t bring out the best in candidates and that it often causes people to put up an overly polished face.
Instead, Keagan approached our interview with a getting-to-know-you mindset.
He asked me a few questions pertaining to where I’m at in terms of career, what I’m doing currently, and where I see myself in five years.
BriteBee is looking for someone who has copywriting ability and has graphic design skills. Keagan also said don’t expect this to turn into an opportunity yet because his team is still deciding if they need new hires. They want to be sure they’ll grow after hiring someone instead of letting them go because the company plateaued or experienced a downturn.
However, I was told to put BriteBee on the table as an option. If it goes anywhere I’ll let you know.
Podcasts are a great way to learn on-the-go and it’s perfect for busy people. If you haven’t listened to one yet I highly recommend it to supplement self-led education.
Podcasts are basically radio shows except they’re more entertaining and you can listen to it whenever you want.
I also recommend them for people with ADHD, dyslexia, or other learning disabilities.
It’s a fantastic option for those who are learning English, like my dad.
I like to listen to them on long road trips and these are the ones I’ve subscribed to.
It’s all in your head. Really that’s all there is to the imposter syndrome.
That tiny voice telling you “You’re not good enough.”
The Doubting Thomas that lives in your head making you second guess yourself.
Do you feel imposter syndrome often? It’s particularly insidious in the way that it sneaks up on you and kills your self-esteem.
Imposter syndrome nags at your soul trying its darnedest to convince you, “You’re a fraud and you fool nobody but yourself.”
Whenever you make progress in life it comes back to knock you down saying, “You don’t belong here.”
I had these same exact thoughts that I wasn’t good enough or I don’t belong here. In fact, I experienced imposter syndrome throughout the Praxis boot camp.
It seemed like everyone else in my class had better technical skills, better work ethic, better knowledge of sales, better accomplished. On and on this nagging voice went.
Imposter syndrome caused me to not speak up and add my two cents during class discussions because I feared I would say something dumb or uninsightful.
I felt I wasn’t smart enough compared to my peers.
So I closed myself off.
Let me tell you this is the last thing you want to do when you’re learning. You need to build social capital among your classmates because eventually you’ll need help and support from them.
In the words of my wise advisor, T.K. Coleman, “Stop trying to prove the voice of resistance wrong!”
He’s right, those nagging voices are not worthy of your time or energy. These defeatist arguments get you nowhere and might even stunt your intellectual growth.
Even if those voices are right, you’re still attempting to be what you’re trying to accomplish and that’s a good thing. Despite my setbacks and giving in to those voices, I still worked hard to be a Praxian and I learned what it meant to be your own worst enemy.
So how did I get over the imposter syndrome? Learn the lingo, learn to navigate your new environment, learn the skills, learn to apply it.
Be adaptable.
You’re not the only one in your group that has imposter syndrome and I can guarantee someone else feels the same. It was the case within my class, at least a handful of us had doubts about our abilities.
Do you see how imposter syndrome questions your worthiness? Honestly, I haven’t a clue if I’m worthy of my lofty goals and dreams.
Why do I say that?
For starters, worthiness is so arbitrary and subjective. Everyone has a different view and every culture defines it in so many ways. There will always be a group of naysayers who say you’re not good enough.
Here’s the antidote to those Doubting Thomases in your head and in real life.
You have the right to try new things, learn new skills, improve yourself. That alone creates new opportunities and open doors for you.
T.K. Coleman addressed this common fear amongst my class.
