Transitioning From T-Mobile Store Manager to Govtech Software Business Analyst

[SPEAKER_01]: So for the podcast, we always do this little prayer. [SPEAKER_01]: We do it either with the camera or without the camera. [SPEAKER_01]: Dahlia, we're going to do this prayer that we always do just to make sure we don't hurt things, right? [SPEAKER_01]: To the Father God, thank you for bringing everybody together to do this podcast.

[SPEAKER_01]: We have a lot of knowledge that we want to spread to the world, and we want to help guide them on what they're trying to do in their careers. [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Dahlia, for coming on this podcast to talk about being a business analyst and telling your story. [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for Darius and his wife, D. Shea, for coming on the podcast to help record this. [SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to get this right.

[SPEAKER_01]: And by the start of it, thank you, Jordan Lord and Jesus Amen. [SPEAKER_01]: Amen. [SPEAKER_01]: Look, you probably have a security class, maybe even a security clearance, and nobody taught you how to write poems, or how to test a security control, or submit it to ATO Package. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Chris Akpala. [SPEAKER_01]: I fear years ago, I was in your shoes. [SPEAKER_01]: Crawlified on paper, but completely lost when it came to arm.

[SPEAKER_01]: I had a degree, I had to serve, so I had to drive. [SPEAKER_01]: When somebody said, how to test the AC-II control, or validate state finance, I had no clue what that actually looked like. [SPEAKER_01]: Fast for five years I worked across DOD and federal agencies, land control assessments, rent and ATO package, and pass artists. [SPEAKER_01]: That's why I built on that Academy to teach you the real world execution. [SPEAKER_01]: They don't cover in certification books.

[SPEAKER_01]: Inside I'll show you how to write a poem. [SPEAKER_01]: They don't get bads back. [SPEAKER_01]: Test and validate security controls. [SPEAKER_01]: Translate tech jargon. [SPEAKER_01]: Navigate niss, eight hundred fifty-three, and RMS for confidence. [SPEAKER_01]: If you're in IT support in the government systems, or stuck on edge of sub security, this is your way.

[SPEAKER_01]: The people who go through my training don't just get higher, they hit the ground running, because they practice the work before they win. [SPEAKER_01]: go to armappercademy.io, and let's get the word. [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome everybody to another edition of the Tech Oak Podcast. [SPEAKER_01]: I am your host Chris, a armman specialist inside the gum tech space. [SPEAKER_01]: And on today's podcast, we have a very, very great guest. [SPEAKER_01]: We have Dahlia.

[SPEAKER_01]: Dahlia is going to break down how to be a business analyst. [SPEAKER_01]: Dahlia is a certified scrum master, and she also a certified scrum product owner. [SPEAKER_01]: So, [SPEAKER_01]: Without further ado, we're going to bring in a person who's going to give us the knowledge that we need to know. [SPEAKER_01]: Dale, how you doing? [SPEAKER_02]: I'm good. [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much for having me. [SPEAKER_02]: And thank you for the warm introduction.

[SPEAKER_01]: No, I love it. [SPEAKER_01]: For the guests, I always want to make sure that you're loved, that you're telling everything you supposed to say. [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm glad for you coming on. [SPEAKER_02]: I love that. [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much. [SPEAKER_01]: How's your Saturday going? [SPEAKER_02]: Saturday is going good. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm excited. [SPEAKER_02]: I've been looking forward to this all week. [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm happy. [SPEAKER_02]: Happy.

[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, everybody always comes on, right? [SPEAKER_01]: They come on and they just think it's just, okay, about it. [SPEAKER_01]: No, it's different. [SPEAKER_01]: It's different. [SPEAKER_01]: It's life's camera's action. [SPEAKER_02]: So it is. [SPEAKER_02]: It is. [SPEAKER_02]: It's good nerves though, but I'm very excited. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm excited to be here. [SPEAKER_01]: All right. [SPEAKER_01]: Don't you do anything fun this week? [SPEAKER_02]: I did.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I wrapped up last week's launch. [SPEAKER_02]: So this week, I'm just kind of relaxing in, of course, church tomorrow, so. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, there's always tourists. [SPEAKER_01]: And I know that was a great event that you had. [SPEAKER_01]: I came through. [SPEAKER_01]: Everybody had an infant was loving, caring. [SPEAKER_01]: How you a broke down with business analysts is the different roles and how are you going to help people in the future?

[SPEAKER_01]: I can't wait to see you row over the next couple of five years. [SPEAKER_02]: This sounds so exciting. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm so excited. [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you again. [SPEAKER_02]: And thank you for coming. [SPEAKER_02]: And for the donuts, of course. [SPEAKER_02]: So that was a nice treat. [SPEAKER_01]: Listen, I was always taught to bring something. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm saying, I don't care if I'm being a bag of chips, I'm gonna bring something to join.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I was like, you know, it was to like, and they ate them up. [SPEAKER_02]: I told you to do. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I hope I hope they didn't even know pounds of that. [SPEAKER_02]: You know, it's thin. [SPEAKER_02]: I only had one left. [SPEAKER_02]: I had the the coffee one. [SPEAKER_02]: So that's the one I got. [SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, they left me one which was really nice of everyone. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I got some now. [SPEAKER_01]: I got one with actual bacon now.

[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, yeah, I'm having this. [SPEAKER_02]: I got it. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm wearing white so I had to be real classy. [SPEAKER_01]: So, so, Dalia, um, you know, how we met, uh, we was introduced through Fanta at Gavitek Khan. [SPEAKER_01]: Gavitek Khan was shout out to Gavitek Khan. [SPEAKER_01]: It was a very good event. [SPEAKER_01]: Um, again, you just came out of the blue and then Fanta was like, hey, don't you know, I think it's like, how long you even know her?

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, no. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm in it's so funny that you said that because I think that when you do have a genuine connection and you it feels like you've known that person for a really long time. [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, I ended up bumping into Fanta at a GovtechCon mixer. [SPEAKER_02]: I just said, you know, let me stop by. [SPEAKER_02]: I heard this was in the area five out about it last minute. [SPEAKER_02]: And I just really connected with her in her story.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then she really just was really adamant about me connecting with you and saying, like, oh, I have to introduce you to someone. [SPEAKER_02]: So that's how we got [SPEAKER_02]: connected. [SPEAKER_01]: That's the lore. [SPEAKER_01]: And then when we was talking, I was just like, okay, let me listen to what you got going on. [SPEAKER_01]: You was telling me about business, you know, business analysts and the things that you're doing, you kind of broke down.

[SPEAKER_01]: You was in T-Mobile. [SPEAKER_01]: You told me about, you know, the trials and tribulations. [SPEAKER_01]: And I didn't even know that you was African. [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: So that is also something. [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm actually half West African. [SPEAKER_02]: And in my mom's career, so both my parents are immigrants. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm first generation American. [SPEAKER_02]: I think we taught them [SPEAKER_01]: We talked about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: We had this conversation in probably at least twenty dollars. [SPEAKER_02]: Most people don't pick up on it, like they'll see my last name and they're like, hmm, but yeah, so half-less African was sending it with Stavigame. [SPEAKER_01]: It's a crazy mixed-off. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so I'm gonna make sensible French speaking. [SPEAKER_02]: That's how they got connected. [SPEAKER_01]: You speak a little French? [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, enough to know when someone's talking about it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: That's good. [SPEAKER_01]: Good. [SPEAKER_01]: That's what you need to know. [SPEAKER_02]: We're in there here and there. [SPEAKER_02]: So. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: I know, yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I'm evil. [SPEAKER_01]: So I don't know what's Ketu Adoma. [SPEAKER_01]: You know what I'm saying? [SPEAKER_01]: But I got better. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: The chance of pretty interesting.

[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, my dad speaks two languages. [SPEAKER_02]: But, um, Togo. [SPEAKER_02]: It's a small French speaking country in West Africa. [SPEAKER_02]: So we border Ghana. [SPEAKER_02]: So a lot of the culture is a little bit similar in the ball to region. [SPEAKER_01]: What's going on? [SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to get into this now. [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to break down what you do. [SPEAKER_01]: You're your early life. [SPEAKER_01]: How do you do what you do?

[SPEAKER_01]: What did you do? [SPEAKER_01]: What you do? [SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to go straight into it. [SPEAKER_01]: So that you're just so the audience can get a better understanding of you. [SPEAKER_01]: Tell me about your early life in high school. [SPEAKER_01]: Was you into tech? [SPEAKER_01]: Tell me about your life then. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm Dali like you said. [SPEAKER_02]: I went to high school in a small town right outside of Northern Virginia.

[SPEAKER_02]: In fact, I did all of high school in Virginia. [SPEAKER_02]: Originally from New York City, I grew up in the Bronx as a kid. [SPEAKER_02]: I was about thirteen. [SPEAKER_02]: I moved to Virginia hence that culture shock of just completely small town for not only white area. [SPEAKER_02]: So that was pretty interesting. [SPEAKER_02]: I learned a lot from that experience. [SPEAKER_02]: It was, it taught me a lot.

[SPEAKER_02]: When I moved to Virginia, I didn't really know anybody in tech. [SPEAKER_02]: No one in tech was, I didn't see that in the school that I went to. [SPEAKER_02]: And in the household, I grew up in immigrant household. [SPEAKER_02]: We're very big on education as a running joke and like the West African community doctor lawyer engineer for a lot of baby boomer. [SPEAKER_02]: parents of that generation, they really pushed that on us and on their kids.

[SPEAKER_02]: So when I would go home, that was what was being reinforced, but in terms of going at school, I didn't really, that really wasn't facilitated by a lot of my peers, or at least people who looked like me. [SPEAKER_02]: Um, but I did pretty decently in school. [SPEAKER_02]: Um, I definitely could have applied myself like much better, but pretty much a AB student. [SPEAKER_02]: No, no, it was always. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, just AB student. [SPEAKER_02]: And then that was that.

[SPEAKER_01]: But just, just AB, you know, say, okay, once it was okay. [SPEAKER_02]: Bath that I always had, so, you know, from, oh, God, I would always try to get it up right before the semester was over, but for the most part, [SPEAKER_02]: I was a pretty average student. [SPEAKER_02]: I'll be honest, procrastinating it a little bit here and there. [SPEAKER_02]: Definitely had a lot of potential, but wasn't exposed to tech or anybody who was within tech.

[SPEAKER_02]: Really the only avenue to success that I kind of knew of or was told was pretty much staying within the lines of like, okay, you have the health route, you have [SPEAKER_02]: If you want to go to law school, go to law school, or engineering. [SPEAKER_02]: So that was kind of the frame of mind I came from. [SPEAKER_01]: So the parents was kind of like, because I grew up in that immigrant household. [SPEAKER_01]: My father's like, engineer, but I was really good.

[SPEAKER_01]: I used to build all these buildings. [SPEAKER_01]: Or I wanted to become a doctor at one point. [SPEAKER_01]: But my father was explaining, like, when I got more going to school for biology and things like that, he's like, what you're going to do with biology degree? [SPEAKER_01]: What kind of do you make sense? [SPEAKER_01]: You know, saying, like, you can't do that with just the biology degree. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, but it gives you the prerequisites for where you want to be later.

[SPEAKER_02]: When you do need to apply to medical school and vice versa. [SPEAKER_00]: Yes. [SPEAKER_02]: So that ended up being my path that I took not biology per se, but health science.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I ended up figuring, okay, well, what am I going to do? [SPEAKER_02]: I definitely knew I was going to go to college. [SPEAKER_02]: It was kind of what was expected of me. [SPEAKER_02]: But when it came time to picking a career, I kind of just chose, I felt like what was [SPEAKER_02]: safe or somewhat expected. [SPEAKER_02]: So health science pretty much just seen naturally. [SPEAKER_02]: So I figured I'd figure it out after that.

[SPEAKER_02]: But that health science would give me the prerequisites to do something within the health field. [SPEAKER_01]: But it's not that it's something you didn't want to do. [SPEAKER_02]: At the time, I didn't realize that, but now in hindsight, it's not really what I wanted to do. [SPEAKER_01]: So you've kind of done, like, what your parents wanted to do? [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, Crusher. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we are. [SPEAKER_01]: We all fall in that. [SPEAKER_02]: Right.

[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, so that journey was pretty interesting. [SPEAKER_02]: So after college, like I said, I went to Health Science Rale, I ended up going to Odieu, which is also in Virginia. [SPEAKER_02]: So it was a completely different, a net of culture shock than me, being in the summer five seven. [SPEAKER_02]: That was a really cool experience. [SPEAKER_02]: I learned a lot. [SPEAKER_01]: How was it a culture shock?

[SPEAKER_02]: It was a major culture shock, not just... [SPEAKER_02]: Education was, but also on a personal level too, just finally having classes with people who looked like me, right? [SPEAKER_02]: I wasn't exposed to that, um, growing up in the Bronx. [SPEAKER_02]: It's like also heavily Hispanic. [SPEAKER_02]: So that's what I grew up with as a kid. [SPEAKER_02]: And then in high school, it was a pretty white, small town vibes, um, kind of racist, a little bit rule in that area.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then going to ODU, where it's just like, okay, now I'm surrounded by a plethora of African-American people. [SPEAKER_02]: and how that experience shaped me and really opened me up to like a different side of myself. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we got a little street in you. [SPEAKER_01]: We got a little street. [SPEAKER_01]: Just a little bit. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, a little bit. [SPEAKER_01]: We got a little street in you.

[SPEAKER_01]: If things go down, I know I know you bought their life now. [SPEAKER_02]: Screamin', no, but it was a good experience. [SPEAKER_02]: So I usually wear my hair in a fro. [SPEAKER_02]: Okay. [SPEAKER_02]: So I went natural with that whole experience. [SPEAKER_02]: It was just super cool. [SPEAKER_02]: And I feel like going to that university and being in the air was a major part of tapping into that side of me.

[SPEAKER_01]: But I would think, like, ODU is more majority, uh, there's an PWI. [SPEAKER_01]: I would think is more, more different races than that. [SPEAKER_02]: So interesting because when I went to ODU, right, when I first went over there, it was labeled as a PWI got on campus. [SPEAKER_02]: I was like, well, what are you sure? [SPEAKER_02]: Um, and the side I was on campus was definitely like, I didn't see. [SPEAKER_02]: the PWI part until I was in class, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: But by the time I was a junior, our junior year, it tipped over. [SPEAKER_02]: And then the minority, we became the majority, so then it actually transitioned to a minority service institute. [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, okay. [SPEAKER_02]: That's interesting. [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't never know that. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: So it's no longer a PWI. [SPEAKER_02]: It's on that. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, a couple of years ago. [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, okay.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: I want to get a little flavor down there. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, for sure. [SPEAKER_01]: They got a little bit of old base sprinkled in there. [SPEAKER_01]: You know what I'm saying? [SPEAKER_02]: Or something that watered for sure. [SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, so I stayed over there till my senior year and then I ended up just transplanted towards Mason. [SPEAKER_02]: My senior year college on a win kind of had an epiphany. [SPEAKER_02]: Again, I really liked ODU.

[SPEAKER_02]: Graze were really well as well, build in community. [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't really know what my life was gonna look like after college. [SPEAKER_01]: So you just like confused. [SPEAKER_01]: You just like, I got this health, the health science degree. [SPEAKER_02]: So doing this degree, I don't really know what I want to do with it, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: School is coming to an end and I don't know what my life is gonna look like after. [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, I picture. [SPEAKER_02]: Confusing frustrating. [SPEAKER_02]: A little, a lot of anxiety, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Feeling like, okay, what's next? [SPEAKER_02]: Cause sometimes when you're in school, right? [SPEAKER_02]: You feel productive. [SPEAKER_02]: You feel like you're doing something, but at the end of it, you have to have something to show for, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: You have to have a return on your investment. [SPEAKER_02]: So not just the degree, but what are you gonna do with that? [SPEAKER_02]: So I think that was just my intuition, finally telling me, like, you know, maybe it's time to pivot, go down a different path. [SPEAKER_01]: Did you feel a little bit pressure from your people? [SPEAKER_01]: So like a father, your mother, maybe layer.

[SPEAKER_02]: But it was generally kind of had that and then I came to him and then of course my dad was just more so like into Mason and vice versa. [SPEAKER_02]: And I ended up transferring to Mason and ended up being a really good fit for me. [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm really glad that I did that loved both schools got served by them in two completely different ways, which was beneficial to me at my journey. [SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, transparent and Mason was great.

[SPEAKER_02]: Probably would have been a little bit better if I did it a little bit earlier, but it was still good and useful to me, but transparent and Mason just highlighted, okay, the path that I'm all right now. [SPEAKER_02]: I don't think this is the path for me. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so you're about to graduate, Mason, you're in Mason, about to graduate. [SPEAKER_01]: You're kind of scared. [SPEAKER_01]: You don't know what to do. [SPEAKER_01]: You have anxiety.

[SPEAKER_01]: What would you do after, like explain their process after? [SPEAKER_02]: So pretty much after a transfer to Mason, I ended up continuing my degree. [SPEAKER_02]: Got my degree in public health and finished off. [SPEAKER_02]: And what I thought I was going to do was just go back to school. [SPEAKER_02]: grad school, right? [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't really know what I want to do. [SPEAKER_02]: So it sounded like the most logical thing to do was just to get more educated.

[SPEAKER_02]: But I think that turns for that pivot itself just showed me that although this is a good path, this is not the path for me. [SPEAKER_02]: And I really needed to take some time just to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't want to look like I had it all figured out. [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't just want to have another degree under my belt. [SPEAKER_02]: but not really know what to do with it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Collecting those degrees, like, the affinity sound work. [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, I have to get relative to them. [SPEAKER_02]: People are gonna clap you up and cook at situations, but at the end of the day, I have to pay it back. [SPEAKER_01]: Because even with me, like, I got my master's, I got my bachelor's, I got all these serves, but at the end of the day, I didn't have to get my master's. [SPEAKER_01]: I was just collecting them, not knowing what I really needed, you know?

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, no, for sure. [SPEAKER_02]: And so it was really bold of me to decide, like, you know what, I'm going to take some time to figure out what I want to do. [SPEAKER_02]: I don't really know and then to vocalize that and to say it, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: And especially coming from the background that I also came from and then also being surrounded by peers who are doing really well and going on to their high earning careers and, you know, [SPEAKER_02]: their doctorate programs and law school and all these exciting things while I'm kind of like at a pause trying to figure out what's next for me. [SPEAKER_01]: So did you feel like did you feel like you went doing nothing or doing enough? [SPEAKER_01]: a little bit.

[SPEAKER_02]: Kind of, so if I say it trickles in, so I first, you know, when you graduate and you take some time to figure yourself out, it feels so exciting. [SPEAKER_02]: You're just glad to have a breather in a break and be done with school. [SPEAKER_02]: Did a little bit of travel I got kind of blessed with being in a position to be able to do that. [SPEAKER_00]: Thank the Laura. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, but then when that all comes down, you still have to deal with reality, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: And you start applying the jobs and you get rejected one after another after the other at the other and there's a like, [SPEAKER_02]: Man, I'm getting rejected to jobs that I think I want. [SPEAKER_02]: I don't even really, you want to. [SPEAKER_02]: And that's frustrating and even more discouraging because you have to find the motivation to keep going and how do you find that? [SPEAKER_01]: So basically, so out of college, what jobs did you have after?

[SPEAKER_01]: It's okay, it's the same place. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to tell nobody. [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, I got rejected by every job under the sun. [SPEAKER_02]: My first dent technically was working at a daycare for them. [SPEAKER_02]: I was like, hey, we're hiring for an assistant teacher when I got there was a daycare job, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Really cool love kids. [SPEAKER_01]: So it seemed like from health to daycare? [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I feel like three, four months.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_02]: I know thank you. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_02]: Love them, but that wasn't for me. [SPEAKER_02]: Um, so that I was just like, okay, let me do a little bit something closer to home. [SPEAKER_02]: And I was driving, commuting to that. [SPEAKER_02]: So it was a cool experience, but it's a, it's a really big responsibility. [SPEAKER_02]: And, um, that wasn't for me.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then, um, I haven't remember like, my car was in the shop for a couple of months, um, which kind of was unfortunate because being that I was already so secluded from all of my friends, lived about like an hour, fifteen hour to half from DC, I'm kind of like stuck limited to [SPEAKER_02]: the hometown, right? [SPEAKER_02]: The town that I went to high school in.

[SPEAKER_02]: So, yeah, just remember one day after it all starts kicking in, feeling sorry for yourself and my sister's like, listen, the team will start the block is hiring, and my ex-store manager, he's looking for somebody to just go over there, just do something. [SPEAKER_01]: Did you work there to remember times the tight in school, too, where I used the teacher, too? [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry, I had to bring that, I had to bring it up, but go ahead, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, they're going to do that, but yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: So technically, it's most in working out a daycare. [SPEAKER_02]: But then my first, I would consider like real job after college was we're going to team over. [SPEAKER_01]: And I know, so we have many, many conversations. [SPEAKER_01]: I go to many, many events. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I've seen you talk and you talk about team over, explain team over to me.

[SPEAKER_02]: Team Oval was, man, I have a love hate relationship with Team Oval and definitely part of my work trauma, but also definitely a major stepping stone in my journey and I recognize that I really wouldn't be where I am today without that experience, particularly, which is why I bring it up so much. [SPEAKER_02]: So we're going to team mobile was obviously the last place I ever wanted to be. [SPEAKER_02]: Had a background in health science.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm really not a technical person in my nature, but I just ended up there, right? [SPEAKER_02]: It was convenient. [SPEAKER_02]: It was in proximity to me. [SPEAKER_02]: They were hiring and I needed a job, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So I end up working at team mobile. [SPEAKER_02]: Obviously being the worst employee ever. [SPEAKER_02]: I don't want to be there. [SPEAKER_01]: So it's fulfilled and big I'm like I'm too.

[SPEAKER_01]: You understand, well, come from, you got me with the outfit on it, everything. [SPEAKER_02]: And I was just, it was like that I was so dramatic. [SPEAKER_02]: Like the end of the world, straight out of the college, like, twenty, two, twenty-three and I just didn't see myself being in that position in life. [SPEAKER_01]: Did you feel like he failed? [SPEAKER_02]: I did. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_02]: I did for a while. [SPEAKER_02]: I did.

[SPEAKER_02]: I actually believe in a cell facility saying now. [SPEAKER_02]: But in hindsight, that was my first time ever failing at something. [SPEAKER_02]: And being where I thought I would be so much further in life. [SPEAKER_02]: But isn't it? [SPEAKER_02]: It's not. [SPEAKER_02]: I can't wait to get into it. [SPEAKER_02]: It's not. [SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, so I was a horrible employee.

[SPEAKER_02]: But my previous supervisor, he was says that if he wasn't so short staff, he would have fired me. [SPEAKER_01]: Bang. [SPEAKER_01]: That's bad. [SPEAKER_01]: That's bad. [SPEAKER_01]: Hey. [SPEAKER_01]: Hey. [SPEAKER_02]: You're worried. [SPEAKER_02]: So Mark goes on for [SPEAKER_02]: Then it was a home for a couple months. [SPEAKER_02]: Me just not really putting much effort into it. [SPEAKER_02]: And then I remember one day I got my head in the game.

[SPEAKER_02]: They had hired somebody after me and my commission checks. [SPEAKER_02]: It's a commission based environment. [SPEAKER_02]: My commission checks were like ten dollars per month. [SPEAKER_02]: And his coming out the gate was seven hundred. [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, seven hundred. [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, wow, I had no idea. [SPEAKER_00]: You can make some good money. [SPEAKER_02]: My father's like, yeah, that's what that is where he did job.

[SPEAKER_02]: So the light bulb goes, but for me, it wasn't even about the money, but I think a new person coming in and watching that person out working and taking advantage of an opportunity that I had been overlooking just highlighted like, oh, like, let me actually like apply myself, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So, I eventually came around, got my head in the game, started working on sales, the pandemic hits, and that's really what fuels all of this, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: I never plan on being a teamable that long, but I ended up being there much longer than I anticipated. [SPEAKER_02]: Pandemic hits, Newarker comes in, he starts making a killing with commission, so I decide, all right, let me actually take this seriously, let me apply myself. [SPEAKER_02]: And from there, I develop sales skills. [SPEAKER_02]: I work my way up from a mobile expert.

[SPEAKER_02]: I get really good at sales to the point where I actually become the retail store manager. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you did. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: Was there's a funny enough story? [SPEAKER_02]: Actually, that story and why even became that. [SPEAKER_02]: A lot of my story start from insecurity and I'll tell you why. [SPEAKER_02]: Me being the retail store manager came from. [SPEAKER_02]: I remember when that particular person in my comic.

[SPEAKER_02]: how to go for himself and I was really inspired. [SPEAKER_02]: I was like, you know, I think I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try this. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm gonna like actually put effort into acting.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm gonna make a five hundred dollar commission checker. [SPEAKER_02]: I remember him and my manager at the time just started bustin' a laughing. [SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, what's so funny? [SPEAKER_02]: And they just started laughing at me. [SPEAKER_02]: Because again, coming from somebody who is making ten dollars per month is really not applying themselves. [SPEAKER_02]: It just doesn't wanna be there to all of this sudden.

[SPEAKER_02]: Now you say that you're gonna make like this goal of yours. [SPEAKER_02]: So then after that, like every single month, it just developed when the skill of beating him back to back to back to back to back and becoming obsessed with it. [SPEAKER_02]: Through the pandemic, we clearly had nothing to do. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's all.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that fit me because like, for I'm not always this person that a lot of people see me on the podcast, personally, I used to be the person that didn't care. [SPEAKER_01]: So, so what I was to tell people stuff that used to last. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, dang, you know, it hit me. [SPEAKER_01]: So when you actually do it, you know, I'm gonna go in. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, no, so that's pretty much what happened to me.

[SPEAKER_02]: Um, I got the bug to apply myself when I saw somebody else, you know, doing really well. [SPEAKER_02]: I was inspired by it. [SPEAKER_02]: And then when I kind of vocalize that goal, nobody took me serious. [SPEAKER_02]: So then I was just like, okay, I'm going to show you. [SPEAKER_02]: And eventually, it, again, I always say that I'm not too technical, but I'm technical enough, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So we're going to store like team mobile.

[SPEAKER_02]: Anybody comes through that store, right? [SPEAKER_02]: You have. [SPEAKER_02]: people who are interested in technology, you have older people, you have vice versa, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So the skill of selling something, somebody comes into the phone, there's something wrong with it. [SPEAKER_02]: I, I'm not going to, this sounds crazy. [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I'm not the person you want to come to.

[SPEAKER_02]: If you want to figure out what's wrong with your phone, I'm probably just going to sell you and you work, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So kind of developing that muscle and leaning into that ended up what made me successful in that role and leaning into that skill set. [SPEAKER_02]: So eventually, I became the bread winner in month after month, after month. [SPEAKER_02]: And then the way that the story goes is just like, eventually, all right, let's give her a store to run.

[SPEAKER_02]: You're already making two thirds of the sales in the store. [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think you hold a store. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: So you was a responsibility at me and I was not prepared for that. [SPEAKER_02]: Dang. [SPEAKER_02]: What's up to this day? [SPEAKER_02]: That is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. [SPEAKER_01]: So you went from not the best worker? [SPEAKER_02]: Media worker. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: To, to this. [SPEAKER_02]: Lead sales, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: To now, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Here's a story there, run it. [SPEAKER_02]: First of all, they baited me and told me that I was just gonna be the assistant. [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I got surprised. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm like, okay. [SPEAKER_02]: Very nice, very green. [SPEAKER_02]: And then fully understanding like, oh, I'm not just responsible for sales. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm responsible for their merchandise.

[SPEAKER_02]: The inventory staffing, hiring, firing, all of these things under the sun that goes into running a business. [SPEAKER_02]: Literally, you're running a business that you don't own. [SPEAKER_02]: Um, so that, um, and then of course, ironically, my very first day I remember I got it. [SPEAKER_02]: I got to this knee store. [SPEAKER_02]: I was so excited and everybody quit. [SPEAKER_02]: Thanks. [SPEAKER_02]: Except for one person.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I call my DM and I'm like, well, what do I, what do I, you like, you got to hire me? [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, what, like, so yeah, that was a, that was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. [SPEAKER_02]: I always say, I've taken chemistry, organic thing, all this stuff like that, but being responsible for making a business profitable and then getting people tapping into their skill sets.

[SPEAKER_02]: to allow us to all hit goal to make that business profitable is still the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my entire life. [SPEAKER_02]: But I did it very well and doing it well is actually what gave me the foundation for what I do now. [SPEAKER_02]: Because it was being a business analyst so I can tell you a little bit about that if you want. [SPEAKER_01]: So tell me about how being a manager, being a store manager helped you for becoming a business analyst.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so being a retail store manager definitely helped me out a lot. [SPEAKER_02]: It was my foundation in business analysis, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: For the main thing, problem solving, critical thinking, creating road maps, but most importantly, right, understanding how the commission structure directly related to the sales and the [SPEAKER_02]: trends that were within that industry that particular month and then coming up with a game plan for the employees I had conveying that to them in a way that would make the entire business profitable.

[SPEAKER_02]: That is the foundation of the skill set that I got as a retail store manager and what I do today. [SPEAKER_02]: So really honing in on that skillset actually came from insecurity, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Again, so being a retail store manager constantly on the sales floor, you're the sales senior therapist, you're this, you're that, you're responsible for everything in between for running a business. [SPEAKER_02]: And you can't do everything by yourself.

[SPEAKER_02]: So it got to the point I remember I was so burnt out with the sales and the trainings and all this. [SPEAKER_02]: I like that. [SPEAKER_02]: I honestly couldn't keep up with the demand of the sales. [SPEAKER_02]: And every month over month, the commission structure changes. [SPEAKER_02]: So the way that I sell in one month, it looks different.

[SPEAKER_02]: So success in one month looks completely different than success in iPhone launch week versus vice versa and so on and so forth. [SPEAKER_02]: So I got to the point that we used to go over business data and business metrics over Power BI. [SPEAKER_01]: I know Power BI. [SPEAKER_01]: I know Power BI. [SPEAKER_01]: That's technical. [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, it is, right?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: And I remember my boss was just like, just spend some time getting to know Power BI, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So eventually you got to the point where it's like, all right, the stores grow businesses building. [SPEAKER_02]: I really can't keep up with the demands. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm burning myself out. [SPEAKER_02]: Let me actually try to figure out what all this stuff means, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Like what is a hundred and twenty five percent to goal?

[SPEAKER_02]: Mub today mean, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: How does that affect my condition structure and vice versa? [SPEAKER_02]: So I just started off with me, um, spending twenty minutes of the start of the day before and place came before I open up the store, looking at power BI, trying to stare at it and figure out, okay, how do these numbers and percentages correlate to the convinced structure for the month? [SPEAKER_02]: And then, how can I come up with an actual game plan for the team and convey that to them?

[SPEAKER_02]: And translate it like, hey, you need to sell X amount of iPhones, X amount of screen protectors, X amount of upgrades, and such and such. [SPEAKER_02]: So doing that every single day and that skill of practicing it little by little is confusing at first, but eventually I got it and I realized it was a pattern. [SPEAKER_02]: And then a bonus, I realized like, hold up.

[SPEAKER_02]: The more that I do this, the less I actually have to be on the sales for and the less likely I am to be seen by somebody able to high school with or vice versa, working in a field that I don't want to be it, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So it got to the point where I got so good at understanding the data just by staring at it because data tells a story.

[SPEAKER_02]: I could look at it and know exactly [SPEAKER_02]: That's the thing, Hobby, forgot to put that screen protector on that iPhone. [SPEAKER_02]: I told him about that. [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, Daniel and blah, blah, blah, they're chitchatting too much. [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I could see it just for the business analytics. [SPEAKER_02]: It told a story on what was happening in my store. [SPEAKER_01]: Do you think data really can tell how things work? [SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely.

[SPEAKER_02]: If you understand the business and you know it like the back of your hand, like I happen to, you're able to understand the metrics of it because data absolutely does tell a story. [SPEAKER_01]: Because even I watch NBA, so I watch NBA, and I run a business myself. [SPEAKER_01]: So the best thing, who in NBA, they always be like, I want to get thirty points again, right? [SPEAKER_01]: But it's a real, because most people may think, I'm just going to score thirty points.

[SPEAKER_01]: You got to really break it down. [SPEAKER_01]: Ten points here, five points here, maybe get some free throws. [SPEAKER_01]: Same thing in business, I would I'm learning now. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, say I want to make five to ten thousand dollars a month. [SPEAKER_01]: How am I going to get to that? [SPEAKER_01]: I had to break down what needs to be sell. [SPEAKER_01]: Say if I got a course, it's ninety seven dollars. [SPEAKER_01]: I got to sell pithiittos. [SPEAKER_02]: Right.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then what happens when you know economically something happens that you know changes the culture, climate of stuff, certain amount of sales are down on how are you going to lean into other things, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So it actually became fun to me. [SPEAKER_02]: I'll be honest with you because then this is where the strategy portion becomes because, okay, now a sprint store at the block just closed, T-Mobile and Sprite had merged during that time.

[SPEAKER_02]: So now business went completely up. [SPEAKER_02]: So my foot traffic is completely different, right? [SPEAKER_02]: My post-paid conversion is impacted by this. [SPEAKER_02]: What do I have to sell now? [SPEAKER_02]: How am I going to pivot accordingly, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So a manager who's not familiar with data, [SPEAKER_02]: who's maybe immature a little bit in their leadership. [SPEAKER_02]: We'll look at that and they'll try to oversell to compensate.

[SPEAKER_02]: And that's gonna cost them money on the commission check and actually do worst for their commission. [SPEAKER_02]: And a lot of people don't know that, but it got to the point where, because I had no awareness in insight on how the data correlated to the business, whenever we were on business calls with my other co-workers, I can instantly listen to them like you shouldn't did that. [SPEAKER_02]: Based on your business numbers where you are a month today, that's not smart.

[SPEAKER_02]: The smarter thing for you to do would have been to prioritizing upgrade and added a feature to that. [SPEAKER_02]: You would have that would have made the difference between a thousand dollars on your condition check. [SPEAKER_01]: So basically you didn't accelerate a business class. [SPEAKER_02]: Essentially. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: And I didn't even know it. [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't even know it. [SPEAKER_02]: And just real live life. [SPEAKER_02]: My experience.

[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, so that's at the point that for Laos coasting, I kind of got to run the store pretty much from the back room and only come out when they were escalations. [SPEAKER_02]: And if I hired a new employee, I would have them attached to my hip for like the first month to train them to mold them to develop them and then release them when they were ready.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then I would pretty much just come in like kind of like a gardener, just like pruning and making sure that my garden was [SPEAKER_02]: efficient and running like a well-willed machine the way that I wanted it to be. [SPEAKER_02]: But again, I stayed there like most people who don't really know what they want to do with their lives.

[SPEAKER_02]: You think that you had a plan and you're just going to be somewhere for a couple months and a couple months turns into a couple of years and next thing you know, now you're doing something that you really didn't see yourself being in and it got to the point where I was maxing out on my condition every single month, but [SPEAKER_02]: outside of developing and nurturing my staff. [SPEAKER_02]: I was really unhappy. [SPEAKER_01]: So you just like, I'm getting back.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I'm saying? [SPEAKER_01]: I ain't about to leave. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna stay here and just relax. [SPEAKER_02]: The crazy part about it is the money was never in my motivation. [SPEAKER_02]: Like, at that time, I was really blessed. [SPEAKER_02]: I was fortunate. [SPEAKER_02]: I lived at home. [SPEAKER_02]: I did it have bills. [SPEAKER_02]: But it was more so under their bill of, I don't know what I want to do with my life.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then also a little bit of that competitive nature in me, just like the competition of it more so. [SPEAKER_02]: Because I'm going to lie, kind of got fun. [SPEAKER_02]: Like, you know, you start to compete with on a small scale. [SPEAKER_02]: You're competing when your sales went, you're competing with other reps.

[SPEAKER_02]: But when you're running a business and you start competing with your coworker who's running another store in a whole different state, based off of business metrics, now that gets thought in terms of like, oh, you didn't send me that iPhone that I asked you to transfer to my server, right then. [SPEAKER_02]: Now that I hear my name come up all the time, I want you to business calls, just to teach you a lesson.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's like NBA, like y'all both in the NBA, but you have different teams. [SPEAKER_01]: He's like, you know, I'm not saying you ain't about to be me, but you're still friends. [SPEAKER_02]: Exactly, but funny enough, one of the girls that you met, Bass, we got my long story. [SPEAKER_02]: She was a retail store manager. [SPEAKER_02]: That's how she was. [SPEAKER_01]: Wait, which one? [SPEAKER_02]: She had, and she had songs. [SPEAKER_01]: That's a nice one.

[SPEAKER_02]: No, talk with the braids. [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, no, I know. [SPEAKER_02]: How we got close because I ran a store in Virginia. [SPEAKER_02]: I ran one of two stores in Virginia. [SPEAKER_02]: She ran one in Maryland in one day. [SPEAKER_02]: I was listening to her speak on a business call. [SPEAKER_02]: And she couldn't understand why she wasn't getting paid out that much.

[SPEAKER_02]: And because I had gotten so good at seeing the data and they had posted the data for the entire district, I understood it. [SPEAKER_02]: So I was just like, a base time here and I was like, hey, like, have you ever considered this? [SPEAKER_02]: If you do XYZ, it's going to increase your commission check my about fifteen hundred dollars. [SPEAKER_02]: You can pay your rent with that, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: And then we came up together, we came up with a game plan, and she applied it based on her employee skill sets. [SPEAKER_02]: And she got, she maxed that on her commission that month. [SPEAKER_02]: And I remember it did a lot for like a relationship, but then that was the game changer like wow. [SPEAKER_02]: I've never even been to her store, but the fact that I can support her and that way just from looking at the data, I think I'm really all into something.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's really interesting. [SPEAKER_01]: You got me more interested in the data. [SPEAKER_01]: I kind of want to focus on this, but he kind of saw me to transition and slowly get to that. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so the transition on C came when one day, um, obviously somebody crashed me out. [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, robot. [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, we're going to customer service. [SPEAKER_02]: You get everyone's emotions, everyone's all that stuff like that.

[SPEAKER_02]: You get the worst of it. [SPEAKER_02]: And I just remember one day, this name came in and he let it rip. [SPEAKER_02]: I think it was like over like a six dollar increase on his phone. [SPEAKER_01]: That's six dollars. [SPEAKER_01]: It was the stress. [SPEAKER_01]: Stressed out in line. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, the ability of it. [SPEAKER_02]: No, but that mean he was talking to me crazy.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I just remember like that was like, [SPEAKER_02]: That was like about their team to be. [SPEAKER_02]: And that was the icing on the cake. [SPEAKER_02]: I was just like, I'm done. [SPEAKER_02]: I don't even want to be here. [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I love my staff.

[SPEAKER_02]: I love pouring into them. [SPEAKER_02]: But I don't want to even do this. [SPEAKER_02]: I remember what I was like, how do I even want to do this? [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I just want to be a business analyst. [SPEAKER_02]: And I don't even know where I got that. [SPEAKER_02]: I think the reason that I said that [SPEAKER_02]: was because one, I was very analytical and I understood the business in a way that my peers didn't.

[SPEAKER_02]: And there was something that teamable had on Microsoft Power BI that was called like business data and analytics. [SPEAKER_02]: And I knew that better than any of my other nine or like ten other peers who also ran retail stores within the same district. [SPEAKER_02]: So I knew I was good at that. [SPEAKER_02]: And then I remember when he was just going off on me, that was the light bulb.

[SPEAKER_02]: I was just like, I'd rather be doing that than actually dealing with this because when I'm just focused on the business, I don't have to engage with customer space to base. [SPEAKER_01]: Because base is what you was doing anyway. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: So I was doing consulting. [SPEAKER_02]: I was consulting her for her business and I would help other businesses that I hadn't gone to. [SPEAKER_02]: But yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: So I guess that was my candidate.

[SPEAKER_02]: That's when the light bulb clicked from shit. [SPEAKER_01]: It can't hit a very, your Marvel fan. [SPEAKER_01]: Look, Loki fan too. [UNKNOWN]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: I love it. [SPEAKER_02]: Miles Morales is my favorite. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, for real. [SPEAKER_01]: I love it. [SPEAKER_01]: I can't wait to part two. [SPEAKER_02]: Me too, part three, actually. [SPEAKER_02]: We're three. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I'll part three. [SPEAKER_02]: I'll part three. [SPEAKER_02]: I'll part three.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'll be honest, but I'm waiting for it. [SPEAKER_02]: It was supposed to come out last year. [SPEAKER_02]: Did it? [SPEAKER_02]: But yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: So that was the light bulb in my head that I wanted to be a business analyst. [SPEAKER_02]: And then from every decision that I made after that day that then didn't curse me out was like, all right. [SPEAKER_02]: Is this taking me closer to where I want to be? [SPEAKER_02]: I did not know a business analyst.

[SPEAKER_02]: I didn't know what I needed to get there. [SPEAKER_02]: I just knew like, I'm tired of feeling this way. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not where I want to be in life. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm disappointed, right? [SPEAKER_02]: I'm upset and I want more for myself. [SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, and I'm like how you said that because everybody has a can and event if you think about it. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, absolutely. [SPEAKER_02]: Everybody's on a heroes journey.

[SPEAKER_02]: Some people are just not bold enough to take action. [SPEAKER_01]: So, Dalia, if that kind of event never happened, do you think you'll be where you at right now? [SPEAKER_02]: If that kind of event never happened, I definitely think I would have left. [SPEAKER_02]: But my story wouldn't have ended up the way that it is. [SPEAKER_02]: So I don't really know how to answer it. [SPEAKER_02]: So it's like, yes and no, I wouldn't be here per se, but I know I would be somewhere else.

[SPEAKER_01]: It'd probably be a different variant. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: You know, in alternate universe. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, this is because I always think about it. [SPEAKER_01]: I'd be like, if, because I'm, you know, I believe in God one universe all that, you know, I believe, but I was just thinking, I'm like, is there a version of me that's the president or is it a version of me that's in the NBA or in NFL? [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so I just be curious.

[SPEAKER_02]: There are a version of me that's a team mobile note. [SPEAKER_01]: Team over for the rest of your life, this shirt, not by empowering corporate at that point. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, but yeah, I probably wouldn't have, but even that is so much a demand and being a market manager and a director. [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm capable of the thing about me is anything off of my mind too, I can actually do it, which is really cool. [SPEAKER_02]: At least once I tap in.

[SPEAKER_02]: So it's not a matter of can I do it, but what is it cost you to be at that level of management and leadership? [SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, so is that event that it happened? [SPEAKER_02]: I would be somewhere, but I wouldn't be here talking to you. [SPEAKER_02]: I know that for a fact. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so, um, yeah, everything after that was, you know, I said no to if it wasn't alignment. [SPEAKER_02]: I think the first thing I honestly did was ask for a Demotion at work.

[SPEAKER_02]: I made some excuses. [SPEAKER_02]: You asked for a Demotion? [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, I did.

[SPEAKER_02]: Because how much are we, but I still have a whole store. [SPEAKER_02]: I take care of, like, trying to get rid of these kids. [SPEAKER_02]: It's a pool, respectfully, and politely, and like, take a step back from that responsibility. [SPEAKER_02]: So it's hard to [SPEAKER_02]: You know, actively applying the jobs and put yourself out there, especially when I lived so far. [SPEAKER_02]: And I was an in-proximity to DC the way that I am now.

[SPEAKER_02]: So I kind of just started off by like cutting out all the unnecessary things. [SPEAKER_02]: So I took a pay cut. [SPEAKER_02]: I rather, at that point, it was more important for me to make a list to set myself up to catapult myself forward. [SPEAKER_01]: That's a big move. [SPEAKER_01]: No, not too many people would do that. [SPEAKER_01]: And that's how I knew he was serious about making his change. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I was fed up.

[SPEAKER_02]: And I needed to get, unfortunately, I hate that about me. [SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes it's like that rock bottom sometimes makes you like cushions you and makes you kind of like bounce back a little bit. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I was for real, so, but moving with that intention is so it was a couple, I did it strategically, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: I started off by meeting all the unnecessary things out, actively applying, actively applying, actively applying, and then somebody as subconscious, they had reached out to me on LinkedIn. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, so a subcut. [SPEAKER_01]: So, so before you even transition to this role, did you know what you want to do? [SPEAKER_01]: Did you know you want to be a businessman? [SPEAKER_02]: Not really, I just knew I wanted to be a business analyst.

[SPEAKER_01]: So you just tailored your resume to that Pacific decision. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and I'll talk about what I did. [SPEAKER_02]: So technically, I worked for a franchise of team mobile, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So I made sure my resume had nothing to say with team mobile. [SPEAKER_02]: Right? [SPEAKER_02]: Because I, I don't know. [SPEAKER_02]: I just fed that.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hermoi, you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per-you per

[SPEAKER_02]: I was a manager at this franchise that's not as popular people don't really know. [SPEAKER_02]: And here are the technical skills that I have. [SPEAKER_02]: Here's what I did, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And from there, somebody off LinkedIn reached out to me for functional analytics position. [SPEAKER_01]: So what are they transmissible skills? [SPEAKER_02]: of data analysis, the ability to translate technical things to non-technical people and vice versa, those leadership qualities.

[SPEAKER_01]: So, like, immediately example, like two, and not agree with everything you're saying, so like transfer of skills or something like maybe use Microsoft Word, maybe use Excel, maybe communication, power BI. [SPEAKER_02]: Contact negotiation. [SPEAKER_01]: And anything that relates to which you're trying to do for management.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so just really highlighting, like, stop trying to make it so because if I'm trying to get out of T-Mobile, why does my LinkedIn say, like, I sold X amount of phones? [SPEAKER_02]: No. [SPEAKER_00]: Right. [SPEAKER_00]: Here's what they're. [SPEAKER_02]: Right. [SPEAKER_02]: I increased store revenue by X amount, blah, blah, blah. [SPEAKER_02]: Right. [SPEAKER_02]: I was able to lead a team to blah, blah, blah. [SPEAKER_02]: I was able to develop, nurture, train higher.

[SPEAKER_02]: and staff and facilitate a business organization. [SPEAKER_02]: That sounds good. [SPEAKER_01]: I would definitely try to help you. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that's what I want to hire that person. [SPEAKER_01]: That sounds way better.

[SPEAKER_02]: Right. [SPEAKER_02]: But I think that the younger version of myself, the more naive version of entry level version of yourself, you're so surface level, you're not really thinking like overhead, you're kind of just like still thinking in a [SPEAKER_02]: limited like sales mindset, and you have to like think look outside of that, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And not so focus on the details of what you did, but in broad, okay, what did you do?

[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's like even when I was trying to say this is an over. [SPEAKER_01]: I put on, I didn't know I did retail, I did this, I didn't have no real experience. [SPEAKER_01]: So I had to, I had to man your faction from Seemal School. [SPEAKER_01]: I did RMF in school. [SPEAKER_01]: I looked at these steps. [SPEAKER_01]: I've been, I put on on my resume even even classes. [SPEAKER_01]: So, Nate, so you can get those key words to claim.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, like, applied health statistics. [SPEAKER_01]: Is it right? [SPEAKER_02]: Totally. [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I was doing statistics, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And a lot of part for business analysis, right? [SPEAKER_02]: When running a business, you want to know where you want to project your profited losses. [SPEAKER_02]: I need to know, well, I'm not going to wait to get the commission checked to, oh, I didn't hit gold. [SPEAKER_02]: Is it no?

[SPEAKER_02]: I need to project my own trend for obtaining that goal for getting that payout, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Based on where I am in the month right now, if I continue down the track and I'm on right now, [SPEAKER_02]: where will I end in the month, right? [SPEAKER_02]: I got that statistics applied health statistics. [SPEAKER_02]: I took that in college, right? [SPEAKER_02]: That's also something that helped me out with that.

[SPEAKER_02]: So people don't realize that and they don't make those connections. [SPEAKER_02]: And sometimes it's a little bit hard, but when you really look within, a lot of us already kind of have that experience whether you realize it or not. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because a lot of people they always explain, well, I'm not qualified for this position. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not qualified for that position, but really you are qualified.

[SPEAKER_01]: You just got to know how to [SPEAKER_02]: sell yourself. [SPEAKER_01]: Sell yourself. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, sell yourself. [SPEAKER_02]: That is the main skill that I'm really grateful for that I worked in retail and I worked in sales because it taught me how to sell a phone. [SPEAKER_02]: And if I know how to sell a phone, right? [SPEAKER_02]: That means that I can sell any product, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Because I sold a product that I didn't really care about.

[SPEAKER_02]: So now, right? [SPEAKER_02]: When I'm pivoting and I'm going into a new space, it sounds dumb, but I'm a product. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm the thing that I'm trying to sell to someone. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm trying to convince you why you need me as a business analyst, why I would make a good business analyst. [SPEAKER_01]: So explain your interview process and explain your interactions to get this job. [SPEAKER_02]: So my interview process was, let's have a question.

[SPEAKER_02]: I feel like I can show you better than I can kind of tell you. [SPEAKER_02]: But a simple goal of mine, whenever I'm in an interview is honestly, I know that I'm on the right track when it goes from an interview to them. [SPEAKER_02]: training me for the role. [SPEAKER_02]: A little bit manipulative, but something that I learned from sales is you're collecting data from someone. [SPEAKER_02]: Every time they talk, I always want the customer to talk away and I'm talking.

[SPEAKER_02]: Talk, talk, tell me about your day, tell me about your dog, tell me about your second cousin twice a week. [SPEAKER_02]: Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. [SPEAKER_02]: Tell me about your lifestyle, right? [SPEAKER_02]: What you like, what you don't like, what you use your phone for and vice versa. [SPEAKER_02]: And then when I'm done collecting all that data, I hit you with the, this is why you need the green phone that's in my safe.

[SPEAKER_02]: based on everything you told me, and I kind of do the same thing when I'm interviewing, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So I think, you know, a younger, the more naive, and it's like, you want to show, I can do X, Y, I think, no, no, no, tell me what you need. [SPEAKER_02]: Like, I saw the job description, but I want to know the culture of your store, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Or your business, or whatever organization that I've applied to, I want to know the names of the employees that work there, and then I end up flipping it. [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, so what I'm working with John, and [SPEAKER_02]: And I always get the, okay, yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: So when you start, they sometimes they start doing that because I want them to envision me in the role.

[SPEAKER_02]: And the whole part about it is like, I have to get them to buy into the idea of seeing me work there before I'm already there yet. [SPEAKER_02]: And I used to do the same thing at team level with the phones. [SPEAKER_02]: I need you to get yourself envisioning using this phone before you even bought it because you're more likely to buy it when you can see it. [SPEAKER_02]: embedded into your lifestyle.

[SPEAKER_02]: Because you just told me, you're second cousin twice a minute, you just told me about your dog, you just told me about all these other things, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And now I hit you with the how this device this product can service you. [SPEAKER_02]: So now you can see yourself using it. [SPEAKER_01]: But a lot of people don't have the confidence to think that they're product. [SPEAKER_01]: They just think they're just there.

[SPEAKER_01]: So what you're telling the audience that is trying to get in these roles, you need to become the product and learn how to sell. [SPEAKER_01]: Because even when I talk to you, as we're talking, I'm getting little tips to kind of get the interview better. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, do you tell them you about this? [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I can know how to mix this later or even if I'm working with someone with salesco. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm acts in them.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: Let me see your resume. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: I know I can get this sale because this resume is not good. [SPEAKER_01]: And then I'm like, Oh, did I notice position? [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I can probably get an extra extra. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yeah. [SPEAKER_01]: And just keep adding on. [SPEAKER_01]: So you're selling yourself. [SPEAKER_02]: You're selling yourself a hundred percent. [SPEAKER_02]: You're selling yourself.

[SPEAKER_02]: And that's the major takeaway that I [SPEAKER_02]: I took a lot from that position, particularly, obviously the foundation and business analytics, but in data, but to the ability to sell myself, and I do that, we do that whenever you realize it or not, right? [SPEAKER_02]: You're selling something, whatever you're applying for a job. [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, I got my foot in the door through government contracting as a subcontractor.

[SPEAKER_02]: That was my first analyst position, and I was super excited, and I hated it, right? [SPEAKER_02]: They paid me a lot. [SPEAKER_01]: You were super excited, Bill. [SPEAKER_01]: You hated me?

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I was just like, you know, making all this money now, got this fancy title. [SPEAKER_02]: But it's not what I thought it was, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And the reality of it is I felt like my worst employee could do what I did in my first role, right, as a contractor, right? [SPEAKER_02]: In my first analyst position. [SPEAKER_02]: And I was writing a lot of SLPs, standard operating systems. [SPEAKER_02]: I was getting coffee doing things.

[SPEAKER_02]: I was like, okay, if you want to pay me, like, [SPEAKER_00]: Think you're comfy, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And clean up the office and things. [SPEAKER_02]: So it's like, I thought the role was going to be more technical than it actually was. [SPEAKER_02]: But the nature of it was like heavy documentation and more so long, long lines of executive assistant, right? [SPEAKER_02]: But I had the title and the agency that I work for carries weight into this day.

[SPEAKER_02]: Whenever people interview me, they always pull the old you work for such and such, right? [SPEAKER_02]: You supported such and such. [SPEAKER_02]: But really, it's probably one of my more [SPEAKER_02]: in significant roles in a certain way. [SPEAKER_02]: It's definitely a eye catcher on my resume. [SPEAKER_02]: It was valuable in my journey because it gave me the foundation of the documentation, which is a lot of the part of what I do now, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: As a business analyst, specifically within software development, coupled with that foundation that I got in data from team mobile. [SPEAKER_02]: So going into my first analyst position, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And then from that, I'm like, okay. [SPEAKER_02]: They didn't really like that. [SPEAKER_02]: That came to, and I was very grateful, a little bit apprehensive about doing another analyst position, assuming that thinking that they all would like that.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then that second role as a federal contractor, that one is really what honed in on the skill so that I had now and really changed the game, because that was my introduction to being an analyst specifically in software development, which is now my specialty. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, so, okay. [SPEAKER_01]: So break down their process on how you became a data analyst specifically for software. [SPEAKER_01]: And what does it entail?

[SPEAKER_02]: Yes. [SPEAKER_02]: So currently my role is a business analyst in software development, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So I work in tech as well. [SPEAKER_02]: I know that you're in cybersecurity. [SPEAKER_02]: I just happen to be within software development. [SPEAKER_02]: And so essentially in software development, it's just the service of creating [SPEAKER_02]: an application or a process that makes life easier for someone, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And so people do it in the form of a product.

[SPEAKER_02]: Hence, a product development, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So think of it like this, a customer or a client has a problem. [SPEAKER_02]: and a software developer gives them a solution to their problem in the form of a product, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So think of it like this, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Your phone is always cutting out. [SPEAKER_02]: It's super annoying. [SPEAKER_02]: You want to be able to FaceTime, an Android user, and you have an iPhone and share it in Moses, but it's not, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: the solution that a software developer is going to give you, what are they going to do, right? [SPEAKER_02]: They're going to create a software that's going to allow you to do that, right? [SPEAKER_02]: That is the product that is solving your problem, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So that's software development in a nutshell, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Providing the solution based on the problem that you have, right? [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so okay, so you're in that process, say I have a problem.

[SPEAKER_01]: Say the problem is I'm I want to create a software that can help me with YouTube clips. [SPEAKER_01]: So you're helping on that team to create the product. [SPEAKER_02]: No, so your problem is right you have an issue cutting clips, right. [SPEAKER_02]: It's annoying for you. [SPEAKER_02]: It's about feasible. [SPEAKER_02]: You're spending so much time. [SPEAKER_02]: You're recording this contract. [SPEAKER_02]: This podcast, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: But your turn over rate for releasing your episodes is delayed. [SPEAKER_02]: Why? [SPEAKER_02]: Because it takes so long for you to cut those clips, right? [SPEAKER_02]: What's going to help you do that, right? [SPEAKER_02]: A smart person won't attack. [SPEAKER_02]: He's going to come together. [SPEAKER_02]: They're all right. [SPEAKER_02]: Chris has this problem, right? [SPEAKER_02]: With he wants to be able to release his episodes sooner. [SPEAKER_02]: What is the issue?

[SPEAKER_02]: What is holding him back from doing that, right? [SPEAKER_02]: It's a clip editing, right? [SPEAKER_02]: How can we figure out a way to auto generate clips for him? [SPEAKER_02]: So that his turnover with releasing his YouTube episodes are a lot quicker. [SPEAKER_02]: So he's able to reach his audience faster and grow his business quicker. [SPEAKER_01]: So are you studying a data or are you creating a software? [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not creating a software, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm supporting the creation of that. [SPEAKER_02]: It's supporting it as the business analyst. [SPEAKER_02]: Yep. [SPEAKER_02]: It'll tell you a little bit about how. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, okay, so okay, explain to me how, how do you do this? [SPEAKER_01]: Because this is very interesting. [SPEAKER_02]: It is, um, and I actually enjoy it. [SPEAKER_02]: So first of all, I kick off the development process, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: The development process starts with me, the business analyst. [SPEAKER_02]: Why? [SPEAKER_02]: Because I gather the requirement. [SPEAKER_02]: So you'll hear this term often being used in [SPEAKER_02]: the world of business analysis, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Requirements gathering. [SPEAKER_02]: What does it mean? [SPEAKER_02]: And in that shell, it's figuring out what is needed to solve this problem, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: You have a problem, a software developer wants to give you a solution, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So the business analyst has to be the one to open up the flag gates and figure out what's needed to solve that solution. [SPEAKER_02]: Right, because at the gate, your problem wasn't even the clips, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Your problem is the fact that you wanted a quicker turnover for releasing your episodes.

[SPEAKER_02]: And as a business analyst, I have to come in and figure out why is, you know, why are you having a delayed release of episodes? [SPEAKER_02]: Why is it taking you a week, two weeks to release episodes that you reported a while ago, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And then I have to figure that out and uncover it. [SPEAKER_02]: What are your current processes like? [SPEAKER_02]: What is your current way of doing things, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Um, how do you communicate with your producer, your sound got your this, your that. [SPEAKER_01]: So you're studying everything. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, is the clip generation even the best way to go about that. [SPEAKER_02]: So I have to understand what the correct process is. [SPEAKER_02]: I have to understand what your pain points are. [SPEAKER_02]: And then I have to turn around, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And convey that to software developers, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: At the figure out a solution of that. [SPEAKER_02]: So oftentimes, what it entails is me sitting in meetings. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm listening to people's poems, people's pain points, right? [SPEAKER_02]: I'm trying to understand your angle. [SPEAKER_02]: Where do you want your business to be? [SPEAKER_02]: Where do you want your YouTube page? [SPEAKER_02]: What is the angle of what you want to do? [SPEAKER_02]: Round current.

[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so it's not just like, okay, you want to release episodes faster. [SPEAKER_02]: No, your long-term goal is to reach an audience and get to X amount of subscribers. [SPEAKER_02]: Right? [SPEAKER_02]: So how is this application that we're going to create for you that we're going to fix for you? [SPEAKER_02]: You're going to funnel that. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, this is very interesting. [SPEAKER_02]: I won't have to understand that.

[SPEAKER_02]: Break that down, create a list of requirements. [SPEAKER_02]: From those requirements translate that into technical requirements, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Technical prize being, because I can say, okay, he just needs a clip, but that doesn't mean anything to a developer. [SPEAKER_02]: They speak a different language. [SPEAKER_02]: So then I have to formulate that in a way that's constructed to them in the software that they currently use.

[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, so we talk a little bit about kind of initiation stage, what I do kicking off the development process, specifically like this book about before on the business illness, specifically within software development that just so happens to me at an IT team that's building an app for the client, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So he's book about gathering requirements, understanding what the customer needs, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: And whether it's even going to add to the success of the business that they're running, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And then translating those needs into technical requirements so that the software developers have a clear understanding of what they're building. [SPEAKER_02]: But a major component to what I do as a business analyst, right, is being the middleman and the liaison for the customer as well as the technical team.

[SPEAKER_02]: So being the person to go back and forth, making sure that this clear communication and understanding. [SPEAKER_02]: So it's important that I'm engaging with the customer, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And he wrote blocks that the development team may have or questions that need answers [SPEAKER_02]: I'm the one who's going back and forth and making sure those questions are being met and understood.

[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so as a business analyst, you're talking to the customer, customer can be like, I want you to create a button. [SPEAKER_01]: And then developers are like, we can't create this button. [SPEAKER_01]: And you're the person that like you're talking to him and talking to him and trying to meet a middle. [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, so definitely the middle man back and forth, but then it also goes back into the style of development that you're doing, which is super important, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: So I happen to be a BA that works in an agile scrum environment, which does that mean, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So specifically, right? [SPEAKER_02]: It impacts development very broadly. [SPEAKER_02]: As soon as you see that, you're developing a software in an agile way. [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, this is different, right? [SPEAKER_02]: This doesn't mean that, okay, you're gathering notes, you're taking notes.

[SPEAKER_02]: The customer wants this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this is the software that we build. [SPEAKER_02]: No, this means that this is a software that's being released in iterations, little by little by little over time. [SPEAKER_02]: That's piece fed to the customer. [SPEAKER_02]: And this also tells me that we're working in sprints stages, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: So just because you say you want to button, okay, this does it mean that we're going to incorporate that into this current iteration of the application. [SPEAKER_02]: First of all, I have to see if it's even feasible and in alignment with the angle for what we want for you and the success of how it's going to impact your business.

[SPEAKER_02]: Because oftentimes, [SPEAKER_02]: Clients will say they won't x, y, z, but me as a business analyst, like this is not leading you any closer to where you actually want to be, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So, and then oftentimes understanding, like, where that's going to fall in the priority of the product backlog, all those features that we have listed prioritize. [SPEAKER_02]: Let's go to come out in the first iteration. [SPEAKER_02]: What's going to come out in the second iteration?

[SPEAKER_02]: Are we on the right track? [SPEAKER_02]: aren't we on the right page, right? [SPEAKER_02]: A large part of what I do to is demoing, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So demoing the finish and unfinished product, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Let's show you what the developers have been working on to make sure that you're moving in the right direction, right? [SPEAKER_02]: So that I'm interpreting what it is that you need correctly, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: And then okay, we demo the product and then make small changes based on the feedback that they receive. [SPEAKER_02]: The process itself actually thing is really interesting is super exciting to see somebody's vision come to life, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And then also for them to be included in it and for their stress to be alleviated from it.

[SPEAKER_02]: So it's pretty cool because the software that you create, whatever you're creating and an agile environment like that, [SPEAKER_02]: It's made specifically for the client to fit their specific business and their specific workforce like a glove. [SPEAKER_02]: It's specific to them. [SPEAKER_02]: That's as if imagine a target in the middle of nowhere is completely different from a target in DC. [SPEAKER_02]: They have a different client cell, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: They have different needs, right? [SPEAKER_02]: They have probably different entrances in vice versa. [SPEAKER_02]: So the POS system that a developer would create, right? [SPEAKER_02]: In a DC high volume, a high traffic location is probably a different POS system that they create with a low foot traffic. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna say I was very, very, very, very interesting.

[SPEAKER_02]: What you're, what we're building the person is made specifically for that organization, their culture, their workforce, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And it's like, all right, we're not gonna make something super complicated if I recognize that you're workforce. [SPEAKER_02]: is baby boomers, are people who still need a little bit handholding with the software. [SPEAKER_02]: And then towards the end of the process too, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: As the business aim is, I can also facilitate by transitioning the workforce into using, right? [SPEAKER_02]: That software that we've developed through change management. [SPEAKER_02]: And again, that's also something that I did so many times through team mobile, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Somebody walks into the store. [SPEAKER_02]: They've been using an iPhone six. [SPEAKER_02]: Now, the sun, their phone broke and we're on the iPhone XVI. [SPEAKER_02]: How are you going to function? [SPEAKER_02]: How am I going to get you acclimated and adjusted from using an iPhone six to now? [SPEAKER_02]: Getting acclimated with the times. [SPEAKER_02]: It's a drastic change.

[SPEAKER_02]: And if I don't walk you through it and talking through it well, you're just going to come back the next day, frustrated and want to return that phone and you're going to curse me out when I hit you with our eighty-dollar restocking fee because you open it up and you took it out the box. [SPEAKER_02]: So it's important for me as an analyst to recognize the customer who that person is, what they value, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: What their strengths, what their weaknesses are, what their capabilities are, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And then pivot them into that to get them to use it. [SPEAKER_02]: And that's done like little by little by little by little. [SPEAKER_02]: So, I like what I do. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm really good at it. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm comfortable with it. [SPEAKER_02]: And it's nice to be a part of something much bigger.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then it's also cool too, because I now am in a position to where I serve a lot of value. [SPEAKER_02]: I act as a servant leader, but I'm not bogged down with all the other tasks, right, of being responsible something from start to finish. [SPEAKER_02]: There is a project management component in there, but I'm not the project manager, thank God. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, okay, we're gonna slowly transition out of this. [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't want one more question though.

[SPEAKER_01]: What is the pay range you can make in this role from low to medium? [SPEAKER_01]: Like to high, like, what is the pay range you can get in this role? [SPEAKER_02]: That's a great question. [SPEAKER_02]: So me personally the lowest offer that I've ever seen from a business analyst position, but I think seventy K. I felt like that was like different. [SPEAKER_01]: You can survive on seventy-k. [SPEAKER_01]: seventy-k is not that much in this area. [SPEAKER_02]: Aftertax.

[SPEAKER_01]: seventy-k is really forty-k. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and I really don't see that often. [SPEAKER_02]: I think that was just a one-off that I had seen. [SPEAKER_02]: But again, so the business analyst role, we're in so many different industries, but specifically within tech, right? [SPEAKER_02]: That can look different. [SPEAKER_02]: Obviously, I can speak from the software development role.

[SPEAKER_02]: The ones that I'm coming across are usually at the least in the low, uh, one hundredths, right? [SPEAKER_02]: I've seen things from, in fact, Johns Hopkins had one that was posted. [SPEAKER_02]: they needed a business analyst to help them implement like a new EKG machine and that was going for one sixty four.

[SPEAKER_02]: So typically what I see is like the lower six figures like hovering around at least like ninety five to have seen as high as like I think like one seven four for like business process analysts. [SPEAKER_02]: So it really just depends the nature of the work that you're doing in vice versa, which is why it's really important to look at that job requirement. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so that's good. [SPEAKER_01]: So you can make you say it was a hiring

[SPEAKER_02]: that I've seen probably I think like one something something but the most recent was like one sixty four sixty four okay so you make some good money yeah you can make good money and then again the like the lifestyle right and outside of obviously the comfortable standard of living from that pay is why specifically I have such a soft state of my heart for software development is because working in an agile scrum environment means that I work in spritz [SPEAKER_02]: Right?

[SPEAKER_02]: That means that depending on where we are in the life cycle of the application, are we in the testing phase? [SPEAKER_02]: Are we in the launch phase? [SPEAKER_02]: Are we in the gathering requirements phase? [SPEAKER_02]: That dictates how my working day looks. [SPEAKER_02]: Right? [SPEAKER_02]: So on average, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: Currently, depending on the nature of your role, like I have about two to three meetings per day, and I have about five hours on average to budget my time accordingly, to prepare for the next day. [SPEAKER_02]: So that puts me in a position to where I have a healthier work life balance, right? [SPEAKER_02]: I also have an immune remote. [SPEAKER_02]: I go to office, I think, once a quarter, maybe once a month.

[SPEAKER_02]: So that allows me the flexibility to, like I said, I get to go to the gym. [SPEAKER_02]: I can pop whatever DC if I need to. [SPEAKER_02]: I can host. [SPEAKER_02]: I have the energy and the time to do these things. [SPEAKER_02]: Alasmin, it doctors appointment, right? [SPEAKER_02]: I can just book that and budget my day around that.

[SPEAKER_02]: So that to me is a major blessing and something that [SPEAKER_02]: I won't take for granted because I understand that a lot of other roles are not like that and don't provide me that flexibility. [SPEAKER_01]: My love it and can you kind of briefly talk about so you've done this role your business analysts can you talk about briefly talk about the the business that you're doing now.

[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, yes. [SPEAKER_02]: The business that I'm doing now, very exciting about it. [SPEAKER_02]: We talked a little bit about earlier, celebrating the launch of a consulting service that I have. [SPEAKER_02]: I recognize really unexpectedly that so many people had no idea what a business analyst was or that this even is a viable career option or how that they can literally start with the experience that they have.

[SPEAKER_02]: whether it's retail like me or maybe a background or from another space in tech and pivot into business analysis. [SPEAKER_02]: So the service that I provide is essentially a one-on-one coaching mentorship service where one hour for the ability to do career strategy support. [SPEAKER_02]: where I help you reframe your resume, understand the role of a business analyst. [SPEAKER_02]: I also prep you for the interview phase that skill again is selling yourself, right?

[SPEAKER_02]: How to market yourself coming from a different, unrelated feel like I did, right? [SPEAKER_02]: I've organized a skill set that a lot of people need help strengthening that. [SPEAKER_02]: And then too, which is a service that I'm vis as my most favorite one, because obviously I can talk about this on and on and on, or I break down from start to finish to roll of a business analyst, specifically within software development. [SPEAKER_02]: I talk about who the key players are.

[SPEAKER_02]: I talk about what software development is, right? [SPEAKER_02]: And then I specifically homine in on the role of the business analyst and software development. [SPEAKER_02]: And most importantly, I teach you how to engage with all the members of the IT team because a major part of business analysis, you're speaking so many people.

[SPEAKER_02]: You're in touch with a project manager, a solutions architect, a software developer, a client, that client could be a doctor, that client could be a janitor, that client could be a teacher, that client could be a lawyer, anything. [SPEAKER_02]: How do you engage with all these various people, including the software that you're working with?

[SPEAKER_02]: So if you're working with Apple, you may be needing once a week with Apple. [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, how do you interact and engage with all of these people? [SPEAKER_02]: So I just walk you through it and I teach you, because I wish somebody would have helped me out. [SPEAKER_02]: That would have, you know, completely changed my financial situation.

[SPEAKER_02]: And tremendously had impacted me, had I known this and it would have given me the confidence to catapult me so much further along in my career. [SPEAKER_02]: And I feel that now I'm really passionate about, you know, I wish, like, hey, I took a rock, let me turn around and let somebody know, like, you know, you might want to go this way. [SPEAKER_01]: It sounds like a great, great business. [SPEAKER_01]: Where can they find you?

[SPEAKER_02]: Ah, so you can definitely find me on Instagram. [SPEAKER_02]: You'll see a little bit about my business at juststart.community. [SPEAKER_02]: And from there, you'll see my link tree. [SPEAKER_02]: My link tree. [SPEAKER_02]: I give you the opportunity to have obviously a free consultation with me. [SPEAKER_02]: I want to get to know you. [SPEAKER_02]: See how I can help you if I can portrait in the direction if we're good fit for one another.

[SPEAKER_02]: And then I'm offering my services, those two services, the pivoting strategy and support, as well as the industry insights for business analysts, specifically in software development. [SPEAKER_02]: That one's getting changing and appointments are filling up pretty quick. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so Daniel, I appreciate you for coming on. [SPEAKER_01]: There's two things that I'd like to lead a audience with. [SPEAKER_01]: What are your goals in the next five years?

[SPEAKER_01]: Like, what do you want to do? [SPEAKER_01]: Give me something big. [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, cool, goals. [SPEAKER_02]: Personal professional or both. [SPEAKER_01]: It could be whenever there's given somebody you can make ten million dollars. [SPEAKER_01]: You can you can be the biggest consulting business. [SPEAKER_01]: Give me something that I will come back to you and actually what you're going to do or somebody might see you and be like, oh, you did that.

[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, I'll give you a goal. [SPEAKER_02]: Mine I sound big, but it's big to me. [SPEAKER_02]: For sure, right? [SPEAKER_02]: I see myself speaking at a summit, right? [SPEAKER_02]: I talked about I once went to a summit before. [SPEAKER_02]: I was like, I can explain this tone which clear and so much simpler. [SPEAKER_02]: That's gonna mean me for a fact.

[SPEAKER_02]: So you're gonna see me somewhere on stage speaking about the role of the business analyst specifically within software development for a fact, right? [SPEAKER_02]: You're also probably going to see me engaging in building community with others, right? [SPEAKER_02]: I really see myself hosting workshops, getting people to gather together and showing you like, hey, this is a major part. [SPEAKER_02]: Let me show you how to gather requirements.

[SPEAKER_02]: We can all do something fun so we can connect with one another, build with one another. [SPEAKER_02]: So you have a little insight on the day in my life and vice versa. [SPEAKER_02]: And then, I'm gonna say, I'll probably be a mother. [SPEAKER_02]: Wife in a mother in the next five years. [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, not that. [SPEAKER_01]: That's the, that's the car in the best one. [SPEAKER_01]: I love for me. [SPEAKER_01]: I like, I like, nobody wants to be a wife no more.

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, from my pan, you know, it's this and Fred, I've been living in DMV for a long time, so I don't, I don't get that no more. [SPEAKER_01]: But I love all the goals. [SPEAKER_01]: You're definitely can do speaking at a summit probably this year. [SPEAKER_01]: Just apply. [SPEAKER_01]: And everything you're doing is very great. [SPEAKER_01]: So it's going to happen, try faster. [SPEAKER_01]: And when you speak it, it might happen a little bit.

[SPEAKER_02]: Listen, I spoke this into existence. [SPEAKER_02]: What? [SPEAKER_01]: Last year. [SPEAKER_01]: I really did it because I was talking to you about how you largely do something. [SPEAKER_01]: You know what I'm saying? [SPEAKER_01]: I think I'm just saying it when I first met you. [SPEAKER_01]: You know what you do, son? [SPEAKER_01]: You probably went and I happened to remember. [SPEAKER_02]: I love that for me.

[SPEAKER_02]: Like, and that's why it's good for me to say it out loud because I said I wanted to be a business analyst, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Quit. [SPEAKER_02]: Move. [SPEAKER_02]: Move the DC boom became a business analyst. [SPEAKER_02]: I said I was going to do this. [SPEAKER_02]: Now I'm doing this now. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm sitting on the podcast with you. [SPEAKER_02]: So the things that I do say, I follow up with them and I love that for me that builds my confidence.

[SPEAKER_02]: So you see me in five years. [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, give me a quote you want to lead a court audience with. [SPEAKER_01]: It can be a quote, a statement, anything that you want to lead audience with. [SPEAKER_02]: I love this. [SPEAKER_02]: The most important quote is a quote that I take from my journey and is actually the name of my consulting service. [SPEAKER_02]: The quote I want to say is everyone starts somewhere. [SPEAKER_02]: So just start where you are.

[SPEAKER_02]: I just will have to start out a team of a story. [SPEAKER_01]: I really appreciate you coming on the podcast. [SPEAKER_01]: We definitely got to dive into this business analyst more. [SPEAKER_01]: I'm definitely going to hit you up on the personal side to kind of understand this a little bit better to help my business and to help better understand like how does the business run? [SPEAKER_02]: Of course. [SPEAKER_02]: Of course.

[SPEAKER_02]: I love to do that more in-depth next time. [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. [SPEAKER_01]: Most definitely. [SPEAKER_01]: So thank you again. [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you everybody for coming on the TechWork podcast. [SPEAKER_01]: Remember if you're on YouTube, subscribe to the channel, comment down below, share the video.

[SPEAKER_01]: To anybody that wants to become a business analyst, actually check out TechWorkPyCast.com, check out the videos, check out some merch, subscribe to the news that are also checkout RMF Academy. [SPEAKER_01]: If you're a new person in cybersecurity, having a career transition and you're trying to get an RMF, [SPEAKER_01]: Check out our MF Academy. [SPEAKER_01]: I got courses, join the newsletter.

[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to start posting things every week so you can get you in this field. [SPEAKER_01]: It could be news, courses, or things that can help you understand our MF. [SPEAKER_01]: So thank you everybody for watching the podcast. [SPEAKER_01]: Remember everybody get one percent better every day. [SPEAKER_01]: Peace out. [SPEAKER_01]: I'll see you on next one.