THANK YOU FOR READING THIS BOOK

Youve taken the rst step toward nding your dream job. Theres
a lot of advice packed into this book, and Im excited to share it
with you. But before we dive into the theory and advice, Id like to
share what this book is about.

HOW THIS BOOK IS ORGANIZED

ABOUT ME

The web is full of useless eBooks and information that only

discusses why you should do something. Everybody loves to
be happy, have an awesome relationship, travel the world,
and swim in money. But HOW do you do it? Thats why I
made exercises for every chapter of this book.
Every chapter signifies a step that will bring you closer to
finding your dream job. I cant guarantee you will find a job,
no one canyou decide your destiny. I give you the tools.
I will give you 6 simple, but hard steps that will start your
journey towards finding your dream job. I will discuss what
makes other people successful. But this information is
useless without action. So put everything you learn into
practice and feel free to reach out to me if you need help.

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR

This book is for anyone who is looking for a new challenge. It
doesnt matter whether youre a college grad or a seasoned
sales professional who is looking to switch their career: this
book is for you. This is for people who are unemployed,
students, and people who have a job for years. To get a
dream job, you need a special skill setI hope to teach you
those skills with this book.

When I was 15, I told my economics teacher, one

day Ill own a big company and will take it public.
I no longer want to do that, but that thought at 15
did give my life direction. At the time, I didnt know
whatkind of company I wanted.
So Ithought to myself: you can grow any
company as long you know how to do marketing
(later I found that its not that simple). Hence, I
decided to study Marketing, Psychology, and
Persuasion for the next decade and a half. Of
which 6,5 years getting two degrees at two
universities.
In 2008, I got my Bachelors Degree in Marketing
Management from a Dutch College (NHL). And in
2011, I got my Masters Degree in Business
Administration from The University Of Groningen.
Ive started several companies, one of them is still
successful.You could call me an entrepreneur,
but Ive also worked for large corporations such
as ING and Gartner (where I learned about HR,
office politics, persuasion, office romance, and
way-way more).
Now, Im on a mission to transfer everything I
learned to others. Like me, you also dont have to
do work you hate for the rest of your life. Life is
too short for that.

So it becomes and endless cycle: I learn,

I teach.
www.dariusforoux.com

/DariusForoux

/DariusForoux

dariusforoux@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION

Statistically, theres about a

WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK

50% chance you are unhappy

Ive been in your shoes. Ive been unemployed.

Ive been miserable at my job. Ive chosen the
wrong career. But I also overcame all of those
things. And now, Ive committed my career and
life to help others find their dream job.

with your current job.

In the US, 48% of workers are satised with their
jobs (Source: The Conference Board). The global
number of unhappy workers is 48% (Source: Kelly
Services annual survey). Thats 1 out of 2 workers.
Furthermore, the unemployment rate is 5% for
America and almost 10% for Europe.
Sounds depressing, right? But theres good
news! We live in an abundant worldwith
enough jobs for everyone. You might hate your
job, but that can change.
In this eBook, I will unveil the best practices of
todays job market. I will tell you exactly how
others landed the job of their dreams. All you
need to do is follow the same path as many
other successful peoplethe steps are simple,
but the actual work is hard. So are you ready to
get to work?

We spend so much of our time at work. We cant

waste our time on something we hate, just
because we need the money. We no longer have
to be slaves to companies, and we no longer
have to exchange our time for money. You
deserve a job you like, so you can add value,
develop yourself, and be great.

Choose a job you love,

and you will never have to
work a day in your life.
Confucius

#1

ADOPT A GROWTH MINDSET

Without continual growth and
progress, such words as
improvement, achievement, and
success have no meaning.
Benjamin Franklin
One of the biggest myths is that work is something
we are forced to do. Work is stupid, boring,

Our education system stems from the industrial

revolution. The sole purpose of education was to
mold people into factory workerspeople who
do what they are told. This system still exists.
But the problem is that the world has changed.
We no longer need sheepwe need people
who solve problems and add value to other
peoples lives. You can do this in multiple ways:
entertaining people, making products, offering
services, writing books, teaching, etc.

How do you change your mindset? The answer is

easy: Adopt a Growth Mindset. Such a mindset
you are one of those people who looks forward to the means you always strive for growth,
weekendit might be time to change.
improvement, and progress. Ive researched the
brightest minds in history. Think of Richard
You spend most of your time on this planet
Branson, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, Ariana
sleeping and at work. You need sleep, but you
Huffington, Mark Zuckerberg, Helen Keller,
dont need a job that destroys your happiness.
Thomas Edison, Henry Ford. Ive studied them all
Before you even start your job search, pause, and they have a lot in common.
think about the work myth.
compulsory. In contrast: weekends are fun. TGIF! If

THE BRIGHTEST MINDS IN HISTORY ARE:

THESE ARE THINGS THEY DONT DO:

Problem solvers
Open to new ideas and people
Optimistic
Fully present
Forward-looking
Leaders

Complain
Worry
Blame others
Get angry

YOU LIVE IN AN ABUNDANT WORLD, FILLED

WITH OPPORTUNITY.
There is no reason to complain, worry, blame others, or get angry. Instead, focus on growth, and be
forward driven. Adopt the characteristics of people with Growth Mindsets. Companies are looking
for those character traits. If you can solve a problemsomeone would be crazy not to hire you
(unfortunately, there are a lot of crazy people, but its their loss if they dont hire a problem solver
like you).

EXERCISE #1

GETTING THE RIGHT MINDSET

If you want a new job, act that way. Look at finding a
job as a job.

Your job is to nd a job.

Smaller goals are easier to achieve, which will

boost your motivation. For instance, you can set a
goal of reaching out to 5 people who can help you
get a job, every day.

so you have to show up every day, and become

successful at what you do.

When you reach your daily goal, your brain will

reward you with dopamine, which gives you a
motivation boost. This is an excellent way to build
a habit of working toward your goal every day.

Youre the CEO of your brand. If youre currently

unemployed, you show up every morning (you
decide when, youre the boss), and youre going to
work for at least 8 hours. If you have another job, this
will be your evening and weekend job.

Dont limit your goals to sending out resumes, or

contacting people. Set goals for learning skills that
you want to develop (more on this in chapter 3).
For example: read a book a week on your topic.

Your rst task as the CEO is this: Set Small

Goals.

When you do small things every day, you will nd

yourself one day with a new job and new skills.

#2

KNOW YOURSELF
He who knows others is wise; he
who knows himself is
enlightened. Lao Tzu

Drucker says:

Most people think they know what they are good

at. They are usually wrong. More often, people
know what they are not good atand even then
more people are wrong than right. And yet, a
Too often, we base the decisions we make about life person can perform only from strength. One
cannot build performance on weakness, let alone
and career on assumptions. There is no such thing as on something one cannot do at all.
a general career path. Degrees dont guarantee job
success. And job tenure doesnt result in promotion. Knowing yourself is the start of everything: love,
happiness, success, career. We need to make
We live our life in the future by saying, If I stay
decisions based on our strengthsonly then
another year in this role, I will get a promotion next
can you make the greatest contribution. Also, set
out on a mission to discover what you want to
year. But that promotion might never happen.
do in life. It sounds heavy, but its not. Im sure
you know the answer to this question. Dont be
Similarly, we believe that degrees give us job
afraid of the answer: even if it means you have to
guarantee. Life is not that simple. But that
change your career, relationship, life, or the place
doesn't mean that life has to be hard.
you live.
Instead of following what other people do, or
what you think you are obligated to do, follow
your inner compass. But the problem is that we
dont know ourselvesthat is why we end up
making decisions that make us unhappy. The
answer to this problem is easy: Know thyself.
Shakespeare said it. Nietzsche said it. And even
Drake said it. All of them successful in their
unique way.
Peter Drucker, one of the most cited
management theorists, even wrote an article
about knowing yourself. Its called Managing
Oneself, published in the Harvard Business
Review (1999).

If you already know what your purpose istake

action. Whats the worst thing that can happen?
Are you afraid that it will be hard? Or that you
will fail? Join the club. Everybody has fear. But
instead of giving in to fear, learn to embrace
struggle and difficulty.
Live your life with passion, with some pride.
Strive for challenge. These type of things will
progress our life, and ultimately will make us
happy. It isnt a secret. Martin Luther King Jr. put
it best: There is no gain without struggle.

CAREER HOPPING

If your job makes you miserable, I say: decide to

quit. Im not saying you should quit immediately
thats irresponsible.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the

Deciding to quit and handing your resignation

are two different things. Once you decide you
are leaving your job, you are free. Then, draw up
a plan that will land you a new job (use this
book).

number of career choices? There are

thousands of jobs you can pickhow do
you know which one to choose?

But theres a big BUT. Dont be someone who

hops from job to job. Someone who quits when
things get difficult. Adopt a long-term mindset
and focus on being the best at what you do
naturally, that takes time.

In his book, The Paradox of Choice, psychologist

Barry Schwartz says too many options results in
paralysis, Learning to choose is hard. Learning
to choose well is harder. And learning to choose Gary Vaynerchuck, a successful entrepreneur,
well in a world of unlimited possibilities is harder and author, says:
still, perhaps too hard.
I was thirty years old before anyone ever saw me.
The grass is always greener on the other side. Its From fifteen to thirty, I was building businesses. I
one of those myths that many believe. Many of
put in actual work. Thats why I encourage you to
us have thoughts that go like this: Did I make
know yourself, and know your passion. Once you
the right decision? And: I should have chosen
figure that out, you can spend all your time on
another career.
turning that into your career.

EXERCISE #2
MANAGING YOURSELF

According to Peter Drucker, the only way to discover your

strengths is through feedback analysis. When you make a
decision or take action, write down what you expect will
happen. 12 months later, evaluate your decision. What
are the results? What did you expect? Feedback analysis
will show you what you are not doing enough, or fell
short on. It will also show you what you are doing well
and outperformed your expectations.

You can use feedback analysis for everything. The

principle is easy: you can only improve things you
measure. For instance, if you decide to change your
sleeping routinegive yourself at least one month to
collect enough information to evaluate whether your
new routine is effective.
I use Evernote to write down my expectations. Then, I set up
a reminder in my calendar in 12 months. If I dont put it in
my calendar, I will 100% forget the most important part
the analysis. Try this method for your next decision.

HOBBY OR CAREER?

For instance, one of my friends likes to play

basketball. He said, I love basketball, but the
chance of me, making the NBA? Quite small.

Im a big believer of Do what youre

You need self-awareness to understand whether

youre good at something. Otherwise, its just a
hobby. If you want to compete with others for a
job, you have to be good.

passionate about, but Im a bigger

believer of Do what youre good at.
The world is a competitive placethis is not
new, it always has been. Fortunately, you dont
have to compete for food anymore, but you still
have to compete for friendship, relationships,
customers, and jobs.
Sometimes you can turn your hobby into a
career. We look at musicians or professional
athletes and think, I should totally do what I
love. But sometimes that is not the thing that
will make you happy, or successful.

EXERCISE #3
WRITE A MANIFESTO

A manifesto is a simple reminder of what you stand for.

I created a manifesto because it reminds me what I
value in life and how I want to live my life.
A manifesto doesn't have a set form. You can create
whatever signifies your values and how you want to
live your life. For some people that means a drawing,
others write down one sentence. Others write a book.
For example, Chris Guillebeau, author of The Happiness
Of Pursuit, wrote a 29 page manifesto. He published his
manifesto on his website, which is worth checking out!

My friend didnt give up when he realized he

could not make the NBA. He might not be an
exceptional basketball player, but he can still
work for a professional basketball teamand
thats what he did.
When it comes to work, pick something that
complements your strengths, and you can turn
into a hobby. David Beckham said: I don't have
time for hobbies. At the end of the day, I treat my
job as a hobby. It's something I love doing.
When you love what you do, you spend time
perfecting your craft, and that is what will give
you a competitive advantage.

You can also view my manifesto as an example. If you

have no idea where to start. I've made four questions
you can use as a framework.

This Is The Person I Want To Be:

This Is How I Will Treat Others:
My Denition Of Success:
Why I Do What I Do:

#3

DEVELOP YOURSELF
Happiness equals
progress.
Tony Robbins
We are living organisms, meant to evolve
continuously. Over the course of thousands of years
of civilization, we've made giant leaps. Progress is in
our DNA. That is why our body and mind starts to fall
apart when we don't use them.

Epictetus, who was a former slave, turned

philosopher, said the following about control:
"Ask yourself: Does this appearance (of events)
concern the things that are within my own
control or those that are not? If it concerns
anything outside your control, train yourself not
to worry about it.
It's such an easy concept and once I realized this,
my life completely changed. I stopped wasting
time and money. I stopped complaining and
started doing.

What will help you grow? Developing yourself,

Scientific research proves that if you don't use
improve your skills, your health, your happiness.
your brain and body, you lose it. Just google:
'brain use it or lose it'. Multiple studies prove that The most important thing is to stop wasting
this is the case.
time on meaningless things like reading the
news, social media, going out too much, binge
So, what does this mean? To stay sane, we HAVE watching TV-shows.
to grow, move forward, keep busy, work out,
read. We have to do whatever it takes to strive
Do you think you will look back at your life and
for growthit is necessary for our survival.
say, Im so glad I watched so much news! I knew
exactly what was happening in the world So
what?!

SPEND YOUR TIME WISELY

"I'm so busy," is what many people say. There's

no such thing. Doing meaningless work, just
because you need money, is not being busy.
Many of us waste time complaining about
almost everything. Why would you complain
about things you don't control?

You will likely look back at your life's work,

relationships you built, and that you did the
things you always wanted to do.

10

Invest time in yourselfeducate yourself. Time is A poor person doesnt own any books. Education
finite, so spend it wisely. Only then will you look stimulates your mind, gives you energy, and
back at your life and say, Im glad I gave it my
improves your brain power.
everything.
Scientific research even shows that people with
Poor people believe that education stops when low levels of education have more chance of
they leave school. Rich people never stop
dementia and worse cognitive function (source:
learning. Thats the difference. When you go into ERGO study). Always keep developing yourself
a rich persons house, you see a library.
there are infinite things in the world you can
learn.

EXERCISE #4

CREATE A LEARNING STRATEGY

1. Find out what kind of competencies you need to be

successful.

Resources for learning:

2. Do a strengths/weaknesses analysis of yourself. You

have to be clear on what kind of value you can offer.

3. Create a plan of how youre going to develop your

competencies you need further.

4. Spend at least 30 minutes studying/reading/

practicing every day (even weekends).

Udemythe worlds largest online learning

platform.
YouTubepeople offer free knowledge about a
wide variety of topics.
AmazonI love books, they are summaries of
peoples expertise and experience. Use books to
your benefit. I read a book a week.
Blogssearch for people who write about the
topic you are interested in. Learn from them.
Research how they became successful.

We live in the most exciting time ever. We have access to unlimited knowledge and information. That
means that now, for the rst time, you can become anything you desire. You can learn anything from
your bedroom. All you need is a laptop. Remember: knowledge is only potential poweryou need to apply
everything you learn.

11

#4

GET THE INTERVIEW

You dont have to be great
to start, but you have to start
to be great. Zig Ziglar
The question people ask me the most is, How

Look into your past, and look further than your

previous jobs. Think of what skills youve learned,
and what experiences youve gained.
You will also practice your self-awareness with
this little exercise. Companies love people who
are self-aware and are willing to learn from
everything.

experience?

While uncovering your hidden talents and skills

will increase your chances to get an interview,
the next tip will double that chance.

When we adopt a growth mindset, we no longer

let challenges stop us from reaching our goals.
That is also true for experiencenot having
experience or credentials is just an obstacle.

The second, and most important thing is:

provide value upfront. The beauty of this
method is that your prior experience doesnt
matter. What matters is: how good are you?

Once you believe you can overcome any

obstacle, youre halfway there. Now, all you need
is creativity. The easiest way to overcome the
experience obstacle is to look at your pasttry
to uncover skills youve demonstrated on certain
occasions.

People dont hire resumes. People dont hire

cover letters. People hire people. HR or a hiring
manager doesnt care about your resumethey
care about your story, your performance, and
potential.

can I get a job without having prior

Plus, if you still think of applying for a job as

sending out resumes,' youre fighting a lost
A friend of mine went backpacking in Asia and
battle. Once you depend on someone else to
Australia for a year, by herself. She learned
planning skills, negotiation, reading people, and pick out your resume from a pile, you have no
control.
above all, she had guts.
Another friend coached a junior basketball team
for two years while he was going to college. He
learned leadership skills, planning, and dealing
with anger (those kids sometimes drove him
crazy at times).

Reverse engineer the process. Make them come

to you. Instead of creating a resume in Word,
shoot a video and put it on YouTube. Or do
research.

12

Below are few examples of people who didnt

rely on their resume for a job. Copy their
mindset. Think outside the box. What can you
do in your eld?

BECOME AN EXCELLENT NETWORKER

A good way to identify key people in an
organization is to use your network. You dont
need CEOs or world leaders in your network to

One great example of someone who provided

value upfront is Conner. This British teenager
posed as a Beme employee on Twitter.

benet from opportunities people can give you.

Successful people are always

looking for opportunities to help
others. Unsuccessful people are
always asking, 'What's in it for me?
Brian Tracy

One of my friends got a job in London by asking

his former high school classmate, How is it to
That is not really according to the rules (you cant work for an IT company? My friend was
represent as a companys support person), but it introduced to a recruiter in Amsterdam, who
did eventually catch the attention of the apps
introduced him to a recruiter in London. One
founder, Casey Neistat.
month and six rounds of interviews laterhe
got a job he loves in an awesome city.
In an interview with TI, Neistat said: "Conner
found a need and filled it. That shows ambition, Never think, Its not worth asking this person.
and that's exactly the type of person we want at You have no idea where a simple question can
Beme. Hard work should pay off."
take you. Become a Yes person. At least until
youve found a jobdont blame me if you ever
Francine Lee is another example. Francine did a wake up in Bangkok, without hair on your head.
usability test for Dropbox Photos and wrote an
article about her findings. She posted the article Most people like to help out other people. But
on Medium and caught fire. What you wont find most of us are afraid to ask for advice. We think,
in the article is that she got a job at Dropbox.
Whats in it for them? Sometimes the answer is:
just helping someonethats in it for them.
Connor and Francine took bold moves. They
were proactive, creative, solved a problem, and
There are only a few things to consider:
by doing that, they added value. Instead of
responding to job openings, they took control
Dont oer them coee in exchange for advice:
and let the company come to them.
they can buy their own.
Dont be annoying or disrespectful: send one
message, and if you dont get a responsetry
again in a week. If you still dont get a response,
leave it there.

Approach them like you approach like-minded

people: share something youve read or learned
with them, ask them questions, be nice, be
yourself.

Thats it. All it takes is ASKING.

13

WHAT ABOUT THE RESUME?

So now you might wonder: Are you going to cover resumes? No, not really. Because people dont care. My
advice is this: get a nice looking resume. I recommend Canva to create a 1-page graphic resume, with a picture of
yourself. If you go the traditional route, you need it. You might also want to send your resume to people who
youre asking for a job. Thats it. When you have the skills, they dont care how your resume looks, as long it has
the essential information.

EXERCISE #5
GET A MEETING

1. Identify 10 companies or persons you want to work

for.
2. Study your potential future employer
3. For every company, identify at least 2 people who
are in your field (if you're in PR, identified the Head
of PR, PR Managers, etc.)
4. Find ways to contact them. Twitter is the best
medium to interact with people. You can also try to
find their email addresses.

5. Now, start interacting with them. Respond to their

tweets. Ask questions. Send them valuable
information.
6. Don't expect that everyone will respond. Especially
at first. If you get a response from 5% of the people
you reach out toyou've done an excellent job!
7. After 3 interactions, ask them for a meeting. Offer
them free work, advice, or whatever it takes. You
need to get in front of people if you want a job.

The goal of this exercise is to start a conversation with people who are doing what you want to do. You
want to understand what makes them successful. How they got their job. You want to learn from them.
Start with a list of 20 persons. And keep adding to that list. Within 3 months, interact with 100 people.
Colonel Sanders heard 'no' for 1009 times before he sold his KFC recipe. When people say no, don't take it
personal.

14

#5

NAIL THE INTERVIEW

Be harsh with yourself at
times. Seneca
This is the easy part. Youve done all the work

The questions might seem different, but they

have one purpose: get you talking. If you want to
nail this question, you need to tell a story. A
story is the only right answer to these type of
questions. So, how did you become the ideal
candidate for this job? Tell that story.

by this stage. Youve researched the company 2. The Brainteaser. Truck gives the following
and provided value. Now, its time to close the examples: How many telephones are in the US?
deal, by (you guessed it) ADDING MORE
VALUE.

How heavy is the Statue of Liberty? Whats a

good product for Pepsi to launch next?

You might have to take a test, create a

spreadsheet, or write code. The right answer is
Theres a lot of advice about job interviews on
not the only important thing an interviewer is
the internet. But most of it is obvious: prepare,
looking for. They want to find out how you think.
view it as a sales call, do role-plays, keep eye
Even if you dont know the exact answerwhat
contact, dont be insecure, and dont lie. You
know all of this. Its good advice, and you should is your tactic to find out the correct answer?
be mindful of all of those things. But those
things will not get you the job. You cant hack a Its important to think like the role youre
applying for. If you are interviewing for a
job interview. Even if you lie and cheat yourself
management position, think in terms of
into a jobdo you want to keep that behavior
leadership and how you would solve problems
up forever?
that managers encounter. If youre interviewing
for a sales job, you can lay out the exact way you
The most critical ingredient you need, if you
might approach a prospect.
want to nail your interview, is self-awareness.
Penelope Truck, who is called the worlds most
influential career coach by Inc. Magazine, says
there are 3 types of interview questions.

1. The Classic Question. Truck says these

are questions like: Tell me about yourself?
What are you passionate about? Where do you
see yourself in five years?

3. The Behavioral Question. Trunk says

these are questions like: Can you tell me about a
time you had a fight with a co-worker? What
would happen if you disagreed with your bosss
direction? What is your weakness?

15

The behavioral questions were also important to

Steve Jobs interview process. Daniel Smith
wrote in his book, How To Think Like Steve Jobs,
that, Steve Jobs used the process to test how
quickly candidates could think on their feet.
Smith also gave an example of a question, A
classic Apple interview question, for instance,
was: How might you go about investigating a
technology without giving away to anyone that
youre investigating it? The point is to
understand how you would solve problems, and
how you solved problems in the past.

THE DIFFERENTIATING FACTOR

A perfect way to stand out from other candidates
is to demonstrate your skills by writing a report,
and bringing it along to the interview.
This is exactly the same as the adding value
upfront technique, discussed in the previous
chapter. This is round 2. The content of the
report is up to you. One of my friends applied for
a job as a content writer at a fashion magazine.
Before she went to the interview, she researched
which blog-topics the competition ranked better
on. Then, she pitched 5 article ideas to them
she wrote the headline and summarized what
the article should be about.

Remember: interviewers are interested in your

performance. Tell a story. How did you solve
problems? How did you overcome certain
challenges? End the story with a quantified
achievement. For example, Outperformed my
sales quota by 20%. Or, Delivered project ahead
of time and on the budget.
When she showed it to the hiring manager, she
was blown away. They must have thought, She
Every job has achievements, targets, or
is not even an employee, and she is already
something youre measured on. If your current
offering value. My friend even told them,
company doesnt measure performance, that
Regardless if I get the job, you can use these
doesnt mean that it cant be measured. Some
blog ideas.
careers like education and government dont use
targets. In that case, set your own targets.
No matter what field youre in, and what job

What gets measured,

gets managed.
Peter Drucker

youre applying forcompanies are about one

thing: growth. For example: if you work in
customer service, youre the voice of the
companyand you can impact the growth of
the company directly. If you have an interview
with a company, you can call their customer
service a few times and ask them some
questions. Then, write a report on how you can
improve that.
You dont have to be an expert. In fact, the
quality of your report or findings doesnt matter
you can only do so much. But what DOES
matter is that you demonstrate your skills
instead of just talk about them. Whats better,
saying that youre proactive, or showing them?

16

BECOME A CLOSER

During the interview, ask them what it exactly takes to be successful for the job. Then, do your best to
demonstrate you have those capabilities. Finally, its time to play it back and ask whether your demonstrated
XYZ enough? Or do they want to see more?
10 minutes before the end of the interview, go for the close by asking, How is the rest of the process?
And, Did I show enough to proceed to the next round?
You can also ask, Have I demonstrated what takes to be successful in this job? Be as precise as
possible with the things youve demonstrated. Dont wait until the hiring manager or recruiter
proposes next steps, take the initiative by asking them.

EXERCISE #6

CRAFTING YOUR PERSONAL STORY

1. WRITE DOWN ALL YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS IN YOUR LIFE,
PER YEAR. Start from the earliest thing you can
remember. It can be something small like getting a
diploma for knowing how to tie your shoes. Dont
freak out if its a short list. When I did this exercise a
few years ago, I was shocked by how little I
achieved. Before this I had no good self-awareness
I thought I was doing awesome. But once I
realized that I didnt achieve almost any of my goals,
I started working like a mad man. In 2014 alone, I
achieved more than the previous 5 years together.
2. WHATS YOUR WHY? People are interested in what
motivates you. If you dont have an understanding
of why you wake up in the morning, you lack a
direction in life. If you dont know your why, make
something up. You can always change it in the
future.

This is a great exercise because it also

reminds you of the things you did achieve.
You can be proud of yourselftheres nothing
wrong with a little self-appreciation.
When you go to an interview, create a story
around your achievements and where you are
working towards. What are you most proud
of? What could you do better? Did you miss
any opportunities? What are your goals?

17

#6

NEGOTIATE LIKE A BOSS

Let us never negotiate out of

fear. But let us never fear to
negotiate. John F. Kennedy

You can debate the exact number, but thats not

important. Once you reach a point that your
income gives you peace of mind, money is not
that significant as before.

Money is only important if you dont have

enough of it. Benjamin Franklin put it best:
If you receive an oer, congratulationsbut
Money has never made man happy, nor will it,
there is nothing in its nature to produce
youre not there yet. A hiring manager or
happiness. The more of it one has, the more one
company recruiters job is to get you on board wants.

with the least amount of money. The topic of

money has two sides.
On the one hand, money does not necessarily
make you happy. On the contrary, it does make
life a lot easier.
Rita Davenport put it best: Money isn't
everything...but it ranks right up there with
oxygen.
Money does not necessarily make you happy. In
a study from Princeton University, Daniel
Kahneman and Angus Deaton found that
happiness did not increase when people earned
more than $75,000 annually.
That is an average number. If you live in an
expensive city like New York, London, or
Singapore, that number is probably higher (I
lived in London, its not cheap).

Because money doesnt buy happiness, you

shouldnt immediately say yes when you get an
offer. Many job applicants jump up and down
from joy when they get the job. And because
they are so happythey can be deaf to the final
part of the job application process: agreeing on
your salary.
Most companies have a salary range for every
roleyour salary can depend on your age,
experience, degrees, etc. Before you go to an
interview research how much salary youre
worth. You can use sites like salary.com and
payscale.com to do this.
When you have the conversation about salary,
you want to find a balance between The Wolf Of
Wall Street and Gandhi. You dont want to ask for
too much, and you also dont want to feel
underpaid.

18

Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go

out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.
Bruce Lee

EXERCISE #7

PRACTICE NEGOTIATION WITH THESE 5 PRINCIPLES

1. DONT GIVE AWAY YOUR CURRENT SALARY
DURING THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS. 99 out
of 100 times, they will offer you exactly the number
you mentioned before. When someone asks you for
your current salary, or what salary you are looking
for, brush it off gently. You can say, I dont think
salary is important at this stage. I suggest we focus
on whether Im a good fit for this role and vice versa.
When youre dealing with aggressive recruiters, they
might push you to give them a number.
Understand: their job is to sign you for the lowest
salary. If they insist, turn the question around. Say,
Im happy to discuss salary. What is the salary range
for this role? This gives you a better position to
answer that question. Even when they give you a
range, dont give them a specific number. Instead,
say, Between x and y.

2. BEFORE YOU GO TO THE INTERVIEW, SET A

GOAL OF WHAT YOU WANT. When you discuss
salary, without having a clue of what you want, the
conversation will lack a direction. You probably say
yes to the first offer. But when you know what
number you want, you can work with the hiring
manager towards that number.

3. STAY FLEXIBLE. If salary is non-negotiable,

suggest discussing something else. Vacation days,
cell phone, new laptop, company car, are things that
Ive seen negotiated. One of my friends tried to
negotiate his salary when he got hired. The
company couldnt give him a higher salarythey
had a strict policy. But they could give him a signing
bonus of $5,000! Take a look at the bigger picture:
$5,000 compounded on a yearly basis over the
course of 30 years at a 5% interest rate turns into
$21,610.

4. DO ROLE-PLAYS. Ask someone you know who has

experience with hiring people. Dont expect you will
nail the negotiation during your first round. Make
yourself comfortable with asking uncomfortable
questions. You will realize its not that
uncomfortable after all.

5. PRACTICE EVERYWHERE. Negotiation and

bargaining can make you, and save you money. You
can even negotiate the price of a cup of coffee.
Noah Kagan, the founder of SumoMe, says that you
should negotiate small things to gain confidence
and overcome your fear. He came up with the
Coffee Challenge: next time you buy a coffee, ask
for 10% off. Try it today.

19

FINAL THOUGHTS
He who has a why to live can
bear almost any how.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Theres nothing wrong with doing work you
hate. Casey Neistat, famous YouTuber, says

You have to do more than just responding to a

vacancy. An awesome looking resume and a
well-written cover letter will not land you an
awesome job. And you will probably hear a lot of
Nos along the way. But that shouldnt hold you
back. Become a master at what you do. Become
irreplaceable; impossible to outsource.
Otherwise, you will have to find a job once the
company doesnt need your services anymore.

And finally, life and career dont progress linearly.

Sometimes we think that, when we set out a
goal, we have to move toward it in a logical way.
to nd out what you love. But just dont
Lets say you want to become a CEO. You dont
believe the myth that work HAS to be bad. And have to climb the ladder, one step at a time. It
can take you a long time to go from junior to
that only weekends are fun.
middle to senior manager. You might not even
be around to reach your destination.
So many people go to jobs that they dont like.
But if you have a job you love, work isnt boring.
Instead, go through your career laterally. Take
That is why successful people love Mondays.
some jumps. Taking risks means you can also get
Instead of just living for the weekend, why not
setbacks. But you shouldnt be discouraged
have a job that gives you the feeling that its
most millionaires have at least lost all of their
always weekend?
money once in their life. They always earned the
money back. Richard Branson, one of the most
The world has changed since the financial crisis
successful and richest people in the world,
of 2008. Companies are still firing people by the
started and failed business 14 times. He is still
thousands. That means there is a lot of
around and still successful.
competition in the job market. In the past, it was
enough to get an education and do
As long as you have the skills and knowledge, you can
extracurricular activities to get a job. If youre a
college grad now, you have to work for free so
earn money. Money comes and goes. Your brain is the
you can get experience because most roles
invaluable part of lifeinvest your time to develop
require at least a few years of experience.
your skills.

that having a job that you hate is a good way

20

THANK YOU FOR READING

If you ever need anything, or if you want to share feedback about this
book, just send me an email (dariusforoux@gmail.com).

DARIUS FOROUX

/DariusForoux
@DariusForoux
@DariusForoux