The story of a young girl who went from a Del Taco employee to a marketing thought leader in less than 10 years.
Writing-The Unconventional Aspiration
As Sara grew up, she always aspired to be a writer.
She loved the fantastic way that words could be intertwined to evoke an emotion, elicit a response, or create a story.
But, since writing was not a preferred career then, Sara’s parents thought of it as a “profession for idiots.” Instead, she was tutored to be a teacher, nurse, or something more “appropriate” for women.
But that wasn’t who Sara wanted to be.
Early jump to college
Sara graduated high school early, when she was just 16 years old, immediately after which her parents enrolled her in a college.
And so, a 16-year-old Sara was on the path to receiving a general business degree.
Awkward, and clueless as to what she wanted to study and pursue in life.
Struck by the lack of passion
It was in college one day that Sara’s English professor pulled her aside and told her that she was a promising writer and it was something that she should consider as a profession.
But the burden of social obligations didn’t let her.
As a few years of college passed by, Sara barely had a real passion for anything, and so she decided to drop out.
The power of vulnerability | Brené Brown
The ecstasy of the first job
Soon after dropping out, Sara’s brother in law got her a job at an SEO agency as a 1099 employee making around $12 an hour.
It was Sara’s first job, and more importantly, it wasn’t a fast food joint or a call centre, and so she was ecstatic about it.
Although she knew nothing about SEO or marketing, her brother in law worked at that agency, so he was able to get some help concerning her new work.
Joy of learning
As Sara started her job, she initially started going through various articles, created spammy links, and tried all of the old school classic SEO tactics. This quickly made her move up in the company because she was quick and eager to learn.
And that’s when Sara fell in love with SEO.
The leap of growth: Awards and Recognitions
Fast forward 8 years, and Sara is the current VP of Growth for CanIRank.
Over the span of these years, she has managed to contribute to credible magazines including Forbes and MoneyInc.
She was also awarded a Stevie Award in 2016 for being the Woman of the Year in “Marketing, PR, and Advertising.”
Even after achieving all this, Sara has no desires to quit pushing boundaries anytime soon.
A Self-made Women
But the question is, why is Sara Davis’s story important?
It is because she regularly hears about how hard it is to get ahead these days, and she completely disagrees with it.
If an uneducated, introverted, semi-socially awkward girl can do it, so can you. Seriously.
Sara’s story is also inspirational because a large portion of her job now includes writing. Her parents were most definitely wrong in not letting her pursue writing as a career option.
Sara wishes she would have pursued her passion. A journalist degree would have been immensely helpful in pursuing her career path. And marketing and writing are definitely not “degrees for idiots.” Sara’s bank account supports this fact.
The Mantra of success by Sara Davis
So, here are a few tips from Sara that will make you pursue the career of your dreams-
Don’t let anyone tell you what you should or shouldn’t do with your life, dream big. Do what inspires you.
As a humanist, and human-rights activist –Sara concretely feels that people deserve to work in a career they love. Because it’s true, if you are doing something you love, you never work a day in your life.
A lot of people often ask Sara about how she got to where she is at such a young age, and this is what she usually tells them:
- Find a career/industry that you love (or can at least tolerate, preferably love).
- Go to work every day, be on time.
- Strive to learn.
- Do things outside of your job role’s requirements.
- Learn to be a better leader.
- Study emotional intelligence.
- Teach those around you what you are best at.
- Find a mentor.
- Be consistent.
- Ignore anyone who doesn’t believe in you.
- Take feedback seriously, change where you can.
- Keep at it. Never stagnate.
- Fake it till you make it (seriously)
People will underestimate you. People will judge you. People won’t like you. So, ignore them. It’s a part of life. And keep doing what you’re doing.
A women who loves what she does!
Marketing is Sara’s outlet, her passion. She wouldn’t be as good at what she does if she didn’t love her job. And sheloves whatever she does.
At CanIRank, Sara helps businesses of all sizes grow themselves, through the means of company’s custom-tool.
Utilizing machine learning, CanlRank’s SEO software provides actionable opportunities specific to an individual’s business.
While most tools simply provide data, CanIRank takes the data and creates a game-plan for you.
And the affordable pricing of the tool allows Sara to help budgets of all sizes.
If you are growing your own business you can try it out for free here. Sara’s company also has a full agency behind the software that can do the work for you!
And seriously, if Sara can move from Del Taco to the C-Suite, so can you! Whether you are passionate in art, eCommerce, science, or physics, the world is your oyster.
And if people tell you, you’ll never make money following your passions. Well, Sara has news for you.
They are wrong.