ExRx.net

"Your 26 your an adult who cares how other people view you. Take care of yourself and your kids and your more adult then most." - corless319

Ordinarilly, I don't care much about what other people think. For example, I've never been one to cave to peer pressure. However there are times when perceptions are important. It pisses me off to think I might be passed over for a promotion or a new job because some baby-boomer thinks I'm just a kid.

Theo F**KING Epstein is all you need to know. He was hired as the GM, and partially responsible for 100 Million worth of payroll, at age 28. They win and he is a boy king, they lose and he is a boy fired. Either way, any way he will always be "kid."

If you honestly deserve a promotion, you'll get it regardless of your actual age.

I know in my profession if you don't have the grey hair and wrinkles, then you need a tie, jacket and sharp looking audit bag. You have to look like your boss with the grey hair pays you a lot, and you deserve that pay based on performance, even though you couldn't grow a beard for the life of you. Clients won't respect you unless you look, act, and most importantly KNOW the part. Normally if you show your intelligent and able to service him, even people with 3 commas in their bank account treat you like an adult, but still CALL you KID all day.

When ever my wife or I drop our son off at birthday parties and other child gatherings with his friends, there isn't anyone in the place that doesn't look down at us because we are so young. I notice when I pick him up in my suit & tie, this doesn't happen to the same degree.

I've had the same insecurities and it is a waste of your time & energy. When you deserve things, and truly work for them, and don't work in a crap-tastic conglomerate dump, you get them.

Like it's been said, don't stress your youth, enjoy it.


Sorry to bring an old tread back to life but…

I wish someone would call me a kid. Right, Tim?

I actually have been, usually by elderly retired people in their 80's or more, , and I absolutely love it.
Tim

nygmen - I 'get' where you're coming from. I'm in marketing, meaning, I take other peoples money and spend it for them with the aim of making them a profit. Sometimes, it even works

Anyway, getting new clients is interesting. I'm 23, and probably look younger although I reckon the last year or 2 has put a few years on me. If I didn't lift, I would probably look about 16-17. This makes it interesting when sitting in with your typical industry fat cats, trying to convince them that it's not the same as giving money to their pain in the a$$ nephew or something. I just speak confidentally.

I can tell that bigger clients are a bit weary of it. However, you can make the mistake of being all too aware of the fact. I used to constantly justify what I was saying before it was even questioned, and I never realised I was doing it. That made me appear almost childish. My boss pointed it out, gave me a 'stand up and be counted' speech saying I need to take credit for my actions. In getting fed up with the job in general, I just spoke with more conviction (because I cared less). I left it for them to question me and suddenly people started really liking me. One client told me my youth evokes an uncertainty about me, but when pressed, I come out fighting. I'm pretty much the way I am on here with everything i'm involved in. I'm an information geek. I can sit and learn about anything. So if i'm pressed, they get bombarded with information, examples, statistics (if I can think of any). I try and teach them a thing or two, since the only reason they are speaking to me is because they don't know enough themselves (and whatever you do, you shouldn't forget that).

Small talk goes along way with these guys too. For example, i've dabbled slightly in property the past few years, these guys are always into property. Bringing stuff like that up, helps. Being aware of news surrounding their industry always helps with small talk, too.


KPj

KPj - Your right, we are in similar industries, people skills are huge and youth can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. Small talk is huge, huge, huge. Your right and I notice female clients are much more responsive, and more likely to stop you from working to engage in it. Most men push you to finish and then stay 20 or 30 mins late to 'shoot the breeze.'

The worst is trying to figure out which clients what their ass kissed for their money, and which ones look down on you for it. That is a tough call sometimes, very borderline.

Yeah, for most clients it only takes you giving the same answer as your manager, principle or partner two or three times before they start to trust you, but a very few will still need to be convinced.

It's funny, I notice the smaller the clients bill to us, the harder they are to convince I know what I'm talking about. I've heard the principle on the job flat out tell the client, "Just ask Erick, he knows more about this than I do." (I only know more about the software, not the actual accounting.) And the woman still called him the next day with a dumbass question instead of me.

Then there is the $200,000 a year client that I pretty consistently need to do ridiculous research or bounce an idea off my principle or partner before I call them back, they call me first a lot more often than the $7,000 client. (shrug) Oh well, it's a nice ego boost sometimes. But seriously, WTF is FDAP income?