SoC #55: 🎁 Special Announcement

I'm Lisa 👋 Welcome to this week's edition of Stream of Consciousness - the newsletter for product leaders who want to build products and their careers more consciously, in ways that are inclusive, holistic, ethical, accessible, and sustainable. 

Join 1463 conscious product leaders who want to put their time and energy into building more conscious products (and careers):

I'm Launching A New Course For Aspiring PMs 🚀

I talk a lot about building products and PM career trends and what we can do to approach things more consciously in this newsletter.

But I don't talk a lot about my personal journey into product and how hard it was IRL.

After graduating with a Master's degree in biomechanics and a graduate diploma in journalism, I kicked off my "work life" by interning with CBC News, freelance writing, joining a production company that made factual series and documentaries for National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and the BBC, and becoming the Head Writer for Canada for the CrossFit Games.

It wasn't until I experienced what I call a series of "life slapping me in the face moments" (you can listen to the full backstory in a podcast I recorded recently with JJ Rorie from Product Voices here) did I end up cold-emailing a CEO of a very early stage startup asking if they were looking to grow and offering to use my unique background to help them.  

I ended up joining the team as FT employee #4 as their Biomechanics Lead, and transitioned into their Lead Product Manager because, well...they didn't have one. 

I had no idea what I was doing, but was able to access a massive amount of help when we were accepted into the Techstars accelerator program. I learned through "trial by fire" -  incredibly stressful and very effective. 

But when the company folded (it's a long story), I started going through my first actual product manager interviews and I was hit with a stark dose of reality - I had NO idea how to position myself.

Read: I didn't understand how to connect my previous experiences (which were both unique and highly varied) so that hiring teams could easily understand MY WHY, MY EXPERIENCE, and also MY VALUE through the lens of their context and the problems THEY were looking to solve. 

I stumbled in interviews and got caught in the weeds, spending way too much time on tangents and highlighting details that weren't actually that relevant to them. 

I also had a crummy resume that I stuffed with all of the things I had done.

The good: There were a lot of things to include.

The bad: I did not frame these things well at all. It was overwhelming and difficult to read. 

I kept encountering situations where hiring teams "couldn't peg me" and didn't understand how I would fit into their orgs. 

It wasn't until I stepped into their shoes did I realize how to reframe my story to paint a picture of how I could help solve their problems as a product manager.

I'm explaining all of this so that you can understand that I've been there, and I wish that I had more tools to help me avoid a lot of the frustration, spinning of my wheels, and existential crises that ensued. 

I wanted to use this experience and everything I've learned since then to help you avoid the potholes I fell into.

So, I built a course which you now have early access to if you're reading this:

Personal Positioning for Aspiring Product Managers: How to position yourself as a product manager when transitioning from another career.

Use code EARLYACCESS for $30 off!

This course is for you if:

1. You want to transition into product management from another career (i.e. customer care, engineering, marketing, sales, strategy, operations, research).

2. You have done the work to determine that you definitely want to pursue a career in product management.

3. You have done some initial product building in either structured or creative ways (i.e. products you worked on in previous roles, through your own side-hustle, a bootcamp program, a newsletter, etc.).

This course is NOT for you if:

1. You're looking for a product bootcamp program (this isn't that).

2. You want to learn more about PM interviews and practice your interviewing skills or are looking for live 1:1 coaching (I can help you with that here though).

3. You are a senior product leader looking to transition to another product role (this course is catered to you if you are transitioning INTO product for the first time).

I've packaged everything I know and currently use to help clients position themselves through a product lens, plus included interviews with top product recruiters so you can hear directly from the source to understand how they find and filter candidates for PM roles. 

You can complete it in a day (plus the time it takes you to complete the exercises, like updating your LinkedIn profile and resume) to take action immediately.

It's focused on tangible examples from my own experience and the experiences of aspiring PMs I've coached (who are now official PMs) rather than theory, and includes templates you can use to help you strategically focus your efforts to land initial interviews. 

P.S. I haven't launched this publicly yet - you're the first to know!

I'd love any feedback you have and if you've got any questions, you can send me a quick message here. 

Taking A Breather to Recharge 🔌

I want to take a pause and ask you for your help so that I can make Stream of Consciousness better.

I want to know:

• What challenges you are facing

• How Stream of Consciousness makes you feel

• What you care most about

• What content you want to see more of

Here's a very brief Typeform survey (I'm giving away 3 free copies of The Product Manager's Career Guide, a $70 value, raffle-style to respondents).

Thanks for Reading!

Have a great week!

-Lisa ✨

If this was helpful, you can support me by forwarding it to a friend who you think might also like it or by supporting my work through a small donation.

Interested in sponsoring Stream of Consciousness and promoting yourself to over 1K Product Managers, Senior Product Managers, VPs and Directors of Product? Let me know!