Today’s episode is about value investing and crypto, intentionally creating your career, taking risks, and core values from an incredible and hugely present involved dad of 3, Benji Sucher.

Benji is someone as successful as he is modest, a tall order! I first met Benji at a PwC alumni event over a decade ago. We didn’t work there at the same time as I'm of an earlier vintage. Nonetheless we are both CPA CAs, we had mutual friends, and we connected right away. You will quickly see Benji’s energy and positive attitude is infectious! It stands out. 

At the time, Benji introduced me to one of my biggest clients of all time, Constellation Software, where he worked at the time. Constellation was recently called the greatest Canadian stock of all time, if you haven’t heard of it - I suggest you look it up. I have placed about 50 people there over the last decade thanks to Benji introducing me! I’m forever grateful. I have met and placed so many incredible people there, worked with their top leaders, which has also lead to many other beautiful relationships and other amazing clients.

Benji is whip smart, and deservingly as well-liked as he is successful. A very high bar!He is a peak performer and as importantly, you won’t find anyone say anything bad about him.This I can promise you. One thing I noticed about Benji from the first time we met is his incredible energy, and his hugely positive attitude. It truly stands out, and is very refreshing! Benji has impressively and intentionally carved out his highly accomplished career, taken risks with rewards, and continually created time for mentoring and helping others along the way. To know Benji is to love him. Today I get to share a bit of Benji’s incredible energy and a few of his many passions with you!

In today’s episode, you will hear about:

• How to decode or simplify crypto currency
• What drew Benji to the Crypto space and what he loves about it
• Benji’s view of the current market and the future for crypto
• How to stay on top of the quickly changing Crypto space
• Benji’s perspective about tech in the current climate
• Advice on how to weigh big career decisions and take risks
• Ideas for networking and making connections

Resources

• Meta Investments Newsletter
• Benji Sucher on Linked In

Today’s episode is about one of the best ways to differentiate yourself as a candidate in an interview process. How to ask not good, not great.... But, exceptional interview questions!

The best way to calm any natural nerves is to prepare and practice. Preparation and practice breeds confidence. Interviewing is a skill that gets sharper with practice. Simulated and real. 

You will also want to review the interviewer’s profile, review the company’s website, and any recent press, public financial statements, industry and relevant macroeconomic trends. Review the job description, review your resume, brush up on technical, and practice with behavioral questions. Prepare tangible examples of your experience in line with the job description. For any perceived gaps, think of examples where you’ve hit the ground running and ramped up quickly when you haven’t done something before.

Where I surprise people in my suggested interview prep, is when I give tangible tips on how to BEST prepare your interview questions.At some point in almost any interview, you will be asked if you have any questions. Failing running out of time, you will always get to “do you have any questions?”

Prepare good questions for every player in the process. Even if this maxes out at 10 or more people! Everyone wants to feel special. You want to leave the interviewer wanting to hire you. You can then walk away and decide your interest level. An interview is not you being wooed or deciding if you want a job. The goal of an interview if you winning over the interview so that they want to hire you! And unique well thought out questions are a great way to do this, as they show your intellect,passion, enthusiasm and again, they make the interviewer feel special.

What to avoid in your questions:

• Don’t ask any questions that could be asked for another interview for another company or role. 
• Don’t ask different interviewers in the process the same questions. They will talk. I’ve seen candidates get to a final round with C-suite, and not move ahead, because they didn’t have questions prepared. Asking no questions is a deal breaker.And asking lay up questions such as “how can I succeed in this role?” Is a missed opportunity to show your greatness.
• If you freeze, at a minimum you can say, while I already asked so and so this, I would love to hear your unique take on X.
• Never say that you already asked all of your questions when you are in front of anyone who has made time to meet you, whether it’s HR, C-suite, or anyone in between

Three pillars to hit in your questions:

• Show a genuine interest in the industry. To go a bit deeper, ask a whip smart macro question about the industry that shows you are well read, smart, and passionate about the space. Maybe incorporate a recent news article, head-winds coming,
• Show a genuine interest in the company. Acknowledge recent press, wins, gains - find something specific that they are doing different than their competitors, go deep in the MD&A, really show your depth here. Maybe acknowledge the business model.
• Show a genuine interest in the specific role. Don’t ask how the role can benefit you, ask how you can benefit the role. This will then show them how you are best for the role. 

While you may be a seasoned pro, please don’t wing your questions. Spend at least 45 minutes to an hour preparing well thought out strategic questions. The more senior the interviewer, the more they are hoping you value their time and perspective and show it by asking well prepared and thoughtful questions. Now DM me @KatherineConnected with some of your powerful questions!

"I like to focus on the word 'and' instead of 'or' and to come back to debunking society's belief that everything comes at the sacrifice of something else, with the qualification that the 'and' is going to encompass what you want. I don't believe that as humans, parents, moms, we actually want everything ... like doing all the cooking."

In this episode, I am a guest on Andryanna Gonko’s podcast, The Juggle Is Real. 

We discuss what  "having it all" means to us and how we can achieve it on our own terms. I share how I have learned to intentionally design my day and put myself at the top of my to do list so that I can be my best in my roles as an entrepreneur, mother, and wife. I encourage everyone to ask themselves, as they look at their day, how they can be supported. Often we are looking for ways our kids or other people in our lives need to be supported, but we leave ourselves out of that list.

We discuss the mindset shifts I have made in order to really go after what I want in life and make it happen. In my current season of life, I have had to really decide what my priorities are and decide how to spend my time based on those priorities. As a recovering people pleaser, I used to fall into the trap of saying, “yes,” to everything at the expense of something else, often self care or precious time with my kids. I have had to learn to say, “no” to preserve what is most important to me in this season.

Connect with Andryanna:

• Reserve your seat for Andryanna's virtual workshop You, First: Making the Shift to Better Balance
• On Instagram
• Join the Community Mailing List and get your FREE ’30 days for me’ Guide to recharge, reset, and re-establish yourself now!
• Andryanna.com
• By email: andryannag@gmail.com
• Listen to The Juggle is Real Podcast