a rant about millennials, jobs, and a lil about me…

i started this blog out in an entirely different direction. i renamed this post, but i’ve left the core post alone. i still plan on discussing the things that i mention towards the end. those things are still important to me, especially regarding mental health and burnout in the workplace.

I grew up in a small town and worked some normal teenage jobs, but I always felt I could do something bigger (which probably held me back some). I started off a bowling alley owned by a local man and I learned a lot about running a business from him and the managers there. I can attribute my desire to own a business from working here because I saw how rewarding it can be, plus I was a major bowling geek. After that, I was a waitress, I worked retail at the small JCPenney (and hated every second of it), and I was a bartender. The most experience I received about how it was to own a business and be a professional as a teenager/young twenties was working for a couple who owned three businesses in one. I was a personal assistant and general front desk clerk. They taught me important lessons on how to write a formal email to how to generate lifelong customers. It was a sad day when I put in my two weeks because I was moving to a big city to work for a corporate business. I had never worked for corporate before, I had never worked somewhere that had more than 20 employees before. This was a life-changing move and man have I learned a lot of lessons. I have been working for that same corporate business for six years now and it is wildly different than what I experienced previously.

I am not the typical cubicle corporate headquarters person you see in marketing campaigns or imagine in general. I have stretched ears, many tattoos, and prefer to not wear a pantsuit of any variation. So, that’s where this section comes into play. I want to share with you the lessons I have learned. Lessons on how I have survived six years (and counting) working for corporate not losing my identity, how I have managed to climb as high as I have on the corporate ladder, the leadership lessons I have learned that work and how to avoid those that do not work. There are things people do not want to talk about that I will share with you such as how burnout actually feels, how to tell your boss you're struggling with life in general and not feel bad about it afterward, explaining that this just is not working out for you anymore and you would like to move into another position (I moved from one department to another), and how hard it is to manage a team of people when you sometimes feel like you cannot even manage yourself. I have experienced so many terrible “bosses” and vowed to never be that to my team when I received that opportunity, so I will be sharing how sometimes I struggle with that and celebrate the successes of when I don’t.

This will, by no means, be a self-help leadership blog. One thing I cannot stand is a typical leadership book passed down from management that is literally a migraine on paper. I will share with you books that are interesting (hello Sophia Amorosu and Nicole Lapin). I will not guarantee anything and I will not preach anything at you. In fact, if you agree or do not agree please let me know in the comments. I love feedback and I always want to learn and expand which is why I wanted to share these cubical land lessons with you all. And, if you have any questions or seeking advice, shoot me an email and I will do my best to answer or write about it in order to let everyone know, because if you are experiencing it…trust me others are too.

Much love,

B