Welcome to episode 16 of coffee with Robbie.

This week’s episode is about quitting. We are going to talk about exit interviews and why you should always lie during an exit interview.

I do not think I have ever told the truth during an exit interview. Let me tell you why. The theme of today’s episode is “never burn any bridges” I am a believer of keeping relationships throughout my career. I could have burned a few bridges throughout my career. However, I chose not to.

Because of that decision, it has helped me to advance my career. Through recommendations from people and to make more money from jobs. That has helped me because I have never burned any bridges. You are probably thinking “wont lying during an exit interview burn all the bridges?” the answer is no. you have to lie very strategically.

Let me tell you the rules of exit interviews.

THEY ARE NOT CONFIDENTIAL

It does not matter what HR tells you. They are not confidential. HR takes that information and gives it to the company managers. They might not say you name or exactly what you said. It can get to the manager that you insulted during the interview. The vice president may take offence to what you have said. When I say lie during an interview. I mean be positive throughout the whole process. If you have something negative, too say. Do not say it.

DO NOT BE A HERO ON YOUR WAY OUT

too many people quit and send a long resignation later. In which they give structural criticism. That never goes well. Because, if you are trying to fix the company. Do it while you are there. Not when you are leaving. It is too easy to give constructive criticism on your way out. You might have great intentions. To give constructive advice.

If you think that, anything that you say can get back to a manager and can be perceived as negative. That person will remember it for the rest of their lives.

You might not think you need them now. When you need them in in a few years. They will remember that and they would not help you. When I say lie, be positive throughout the whole process. If you want to give constructive advice. Give it while you work for the company.

Thank you

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PS: Read the only resignation letter template you’ll ever need.

Welcome to episode 15 of coffee with Robbie.

Today I am going to be talking about a topic that is very dear to many people. I am going to be talking about quitting your job. Many people have come close to quitting but have never pulled the trigger. Today I am going to talk about five different ways quitting you job will change your life.

I quit my job in the early part of 2012. It is by far, the best decision that I have ever made in my life. I am going to talk about, how it will actually change your life.

IT FORCES YOU HAVE A LIFE CRISIS

It may be quarter life crises, mid-life crisis or crisis in your old age. It has forced me to re-evaluate my life, my career and my relationships. It has caused me to re-evaluate everything that I thought I knew. It was one of the best things that have happened to me. I have learned so much about myself. I have learnt how to make money and why other people should pay me money.

IT FORCES YOU TO FOCUS ON WHAT YOU ARE GOOD AT

It forces you to focus on your strengths. I have always recommended that, the way to make money is to focus on what you are good at. Many people have said that. Now, I know what that means. Now, I know what my strengths are and what they are not.

Now, I am tuned in to what I could offer people. If I was asked to do something, I will simply say. I am sorry. I cannot offer that to you. Whether, it is in an interview or a business environment. It has payed off by just being able to know “this is what I am good at and this is what I can offer. That happened because I quit my job. I did not find that out through my normal 9-5 job.

IT FORCES YOU TO GET INVOLVED WITH COMMUNITY AND BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

When I quit my job in 2012. I went from consulting in IT to being an entrepreneur. I thought I knew what technology was. It was a different world for me. I moved from implementing technology to actually creating technology and companies. I struggled quite a bit. My network from my previous life was so different from this life. I did not know anybody.

I took 250 coffee meetings in 400 days.

That was the best thing I had ever done by taking those meetings. Now, I do not take as many meetings because I do not need to. It has gotten me a lot closer to the community here in Chicago and elsewhere. I have built great relationships because of it. If I did not quit my job. I would not have taken those coffee meetings. Because, I did not need to.

By quitting, it forced me to build that community. By going to different Chicago events with companies that are integrated into the community. Being connected is amazing. I am better off because of it.

IT FORCES YOU TO BECOME EXTREMELY GOOD WITH YOUR FINANCES

I was never good with my finances. I did not know where my money went. I thought I knew what I was spending monthly. Mortgage, rent and telephone bills. It was never so detailed until I became an entrepreneur.

I had never really looked at my bank account so much as I did when I became an entrepreneur. I did not know where my next paycheck would come from.

Not only did it force me to learn how to make money, it forced me to see how I could control my spending. It forced me to re-evaluate what I was spending on my mortgage, my taxes. It has forced me to become much more savvy with my finances. I am a better person because of it.

I DO NOT WISH TO GO BACK TO MY OLD JOB

Nobody has ever said to me that he or she wished they could go back to their old jobs. Being able to be independent. Looking at other jobs, you want to be a part of. Quitting does not mean you are on your own.

You can join other companies or other startup companies and become a much better person because of that. If I did not quit I would have never learnt these things, I would have never learnt marketing. I learnt marketing out of necessity because I needed to promote my book. I had no idea how to promote my book. By taking a leap of faith. It has helped me out.

Now, I can look at my old job and say” that was great, I learnt a lot from that but I will never go back” you can always go back to your former job for financial reasons but many people do not because they have moved passed that.

IF you are thinking about quitting your job, you will earn these five great things after you quit.  Thank you very much.

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PS: Read the only resignation letter template you’ll ever need.

Welcome to episode 14 of coffee with Robbie. I have done this for three weeks straight. Thank you to anyone that is still listening. Today I am going to talk about “why I do these videos”

I BELIEVE CREATIVITY IS A PHYSICAL PROCESS

What I mean by that is: I can sit back and come up with ideas. I might never do anything with them. For me to create something that people want. I believe it is a physical process. That is why I do these videos every day. I do not care if many people watch it. If they do, that is great. I do not create these videos to get many views. If I wanted more views, I will have a better setting or better lighting.

It is about building a habit that allows me to be creative. To maximize the things that I am building. I believe that creativity is a physical process. When I created “fire me, I beg you”. That was about the 100^th article that I wrote. I was writing articles every single day.

“Fire me, I beg you was an accident. It happened because I forced myself to write. Now, I am doing this. It did not happen spontaneously. It happened because I built a great habit. Out of that physical process “fire me, I be you” was born. I am doing the same thing now. I am not doing this video to get views. I am doing it to get into a habit and start the creativity process.

I LEARN A LOT WHAT PEOPLE LIKE ON A LOW BUDGET

I can look at the view count. I can see which videos had the highest views. I can us e it as a reference to say, “People really liked that video and people did not really like that video” by shares, likes and comments.

Out of all the 14 videos. I can see which one is the clear winner. It allows me to get information about what people like. That is why I do this every day. I want to see what people like. I want to see what people are sharing. It allows me know what I should be focusing on in the long term

EXPOSURE EQUALS LEVERAGE

Even if you have not watched this particular video. You will still see my name in your feed. Even if you just scroll, pass. You still see my topics and wonders “what is this person doing?” it makes people curious. I have gotten many Facebook messages, LinkedIn messages. My friend and co-worker ask me “what are you doing?” it is bringing curiosity out of people. It is allowing me to get exposure and to find out who my true audience is. I believe that exposure is leverage. Like, the first video I did with Gary Vaynerchuk.

I talked about that. The more you do it, the more people see it in their feed. It does not matter if they watch it or not. I do not really care.

These are the three reason I do this videos. If you have made it this far.

Thank you very much.

Coffee with Robbie is something I think will be going on for a very long time. If you have made it, this far that is a bonus for you. I really appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

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PS: Read the only resignation letter template you’ll ever need.

Welcome to episode 13 of coffee with Robbie.

Today is a special topic. It is “how to get along with co-workers that you do not like” this is a topic dear to me because I used to work with people, I did not like.

I am going to tell you how to get along with these types of people. Whether it is your co-worker, your manager or people that you manage.

The reason why most people do not succeed in their career is that they are so busy worrying about office politics. You spend your energy focusing on that and less about yourself and career. I used to get involved with office politics. I used to try to throw people under the bus.

The thing I realized is that it never worked. Why is it that the most incompetent people that are not good at their jobs were never fired? I do not know the answer to that. I spent so much time trying to hate other people or trying to do their work. I spent so much time trying to build a case on why I do not want a particular person on my team. I realized I was being sucked into office politics. It is not doing any good. The person was never fired. The first thing for you to understand it that:

YOU ARE NOT DOING YOURSELF A FAVOR

By hating them or getting yourself involved with office politics. You are not advancing your career. Look at that and focus on yourself and what you can do to advance you career.

STOP TRYING TO PROVE THEM WRONG

Let them be bad at their jobs. Do not spend your time trying to fix what they are not good at. They are not good at it! That might never change. Stop trying to change them. Why do you care? I used to care. Now I do not care. If they want to be bad at their live. That is their problem! Stop sending them emails about how incompetent they are. It does not work. They might never be fired. Wash your hands off them and focus on your career.

KEEP YOUR INTERACTIONS MINIMAL AND POSITIVE

Keep your interaction positive. Hello, how are you doing? Move on. Most of you already do that. As time goes on. You might start hating this people. You are spending all of your energy on them. If you fought with somebody this week or today. Ask yourself. “Was that avoidable?” could I have avoided it by just saying great! Thank you! Before, I use to reply people with nasty emails. The longer the email I send. The longer the email I get back. I just say great! Alternatively, I just ignore it. Keep your interactions minimal and positive. Stop engaging in petty office politics. Stop engaging with people you do not like. You attract problems. It is completely avoidable.

GET A NEW JOB

If you work with a lot of miserable people, managers and the company is not advancing. Get a new job. You can get many jobs. If you really hate that situation stop getting involved with office politics. Look for a new job or a new department.

I have seen many people who are stuck. Hating the people, they work with, hating their jobs. The do nothing about it. Get a new job! Meet other people. Get out of your comfort zone. If you hate your job, so much or you find yourself complaining about your job. Get a new job. If there is no positive insight. Do something new. Not all jobs are like that. Other jobs have different outcomes.

You can work in a good community. You can work with other people that you enjoy working with. It is possible! It is not obvious but it is possible. Nobody feels sorry for you. Stop complaining about your job. Take all that hate and bring it to a new job for something positive.

In summary, understand that:

• Office politics is the main reason people do not advance in their career. When focusing on others, they forget about their selves.
• Stop trying to prove them wrong, stop trying to fuel the fire. It does not work. Let them be bad at life and do not worry about it.
• Keep your interactions minimal and positive, if you do not need to engage with that person. Do not engage with that person
• Do something. That situation is not getting any better. Nobody has sympathy for people in that situation.

Get up and do something about it.

Thank you.

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PS: Read the only resignation letter template you’ll ever need.

Welcome to episode 12 of coffee with Robbie, and today I am going to talk about something dear to everyone: “Office politics”

I am going to give you tips on “how to win at office politics every damn time” I posted an article of this topic on LinkedIn about a year ago. I got over 500,000 views. People hate office politics. They have no idea what to do when there is office politics. Let me tell you how to win at office politics.

KNOW WHO CAUSES THE OFFICE DRANS AND STAY AWAY FROM THAT PERSON

When I was an IT consultant, I would spend a lot of time with clients and meeting people. I think that is why I am good at understanding office politics. The first thing I do when I work into a new company is try to understand who causes the drama and try to stay away from that person as much as possible.

There are always one or two people that cause the office drama. These people have probably been there for a long time and they do not care about causing drama. The first thing I do is to identify who causes the drama. I ask my colleagues. It can be the vice president. What I do is try to understand the person. For example, if the person is very sensitive in nature.

What I do is try to be careful of what I say or email to that person. It is like walking on eggshells because. I do not want to cause any drama. Understand who cause the drama and stay away from that person at every cost. The good side of it is. If you become friends with the person then it is to your advantage. However, you do not become friends with them by making them angry or starting any drama.

SHUT UP AND LISTEN

Too many people keep talking in meeting when people do not need to talk. What I do is, when I go for these meetings, even though I have been there for a while. I will not talk generally. I will listen. When you shut up and listen. You will start observing people. For example, people texting each other within the meeting. I can tell who amongst them are friends and who does not get along with others. I will shut up and take notes. If it is my turn to bring up a point or I have something important to say then I say it. I try to keep my talking as minimal as possible.

STOP REPLYING TO “ALL”

The email that you always respond to is not relevant. 99.9% of people do not need to receive the mail you send. If you reply all the time. You might say something that makes another person angry. It will help and reduce the amount of office politics you encounter. If you have a question. You can message the person privately. Alternatively, you can call the person personally. If you wire it. It becomes more difficult to get feedback. Stop replying to “all”

FOLLOW THE FEAR

Find the person people are most scared of whether it is logical or not. Follow the fear. If you understand where the fear is, you can avoid it. If you are new to an organization. Get a chart and map out the people that you should and should not talk to. If you follow the fear, you will make a lot of progress.

KNOW THE TRIGGER WORDS

I have caused a lot of drama by sending emails that had some trigger words. For example. I sent an article to someone, in the article I asked some questions about training. I did not know who I was sending the email to. It cause a huge fiasco. About 15 emails were sent to people because of this email that I wrote. I did not know that “training” was a trigger word. The company was going through a re-order. People were being trained to train their new resources. Know the trigger word. Avoid using them. Especially, over an email.

START THE DRAMA ON A MONDAY

If for any reason you want to start a drama. You can start it on a Monday. If you start it on Friday for example. Everybody will be angry over the weekend including yourself. If you get a rude email on Friday. Wait until Monday. Your anger might even reduce as you wait. Start it on Monday. Do not start at the end of the day. Nobody wants to go home angry.

These are my six tips to win at office politics. It is an office killer. Try to avoid it at all costs.

Understand where the drama begins and be on the good side of the drama. I am always a big fan of building relationships with people. Understand who the real leaders in an organization are and who you should be building relationships with. The better off you are with the person the better chances you have of the drama not following you. Usually it is avoidable. Especially, in big organizations.

Know the trigger words. Shut up and listen. When you are in a meeting. Seat back and observe other people. You will see where the office politics are. You will see the friend in the organization. If you are going to cause drama, start it on a Monday. Stay away from the people that cause the drama.

Thank you very much.

I hope you start winning at office politics

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PS: Read the only resignation letter template you’ll ever need.