Taylor Dias Foundas

I attribute my success to showing up, hard work, and putting the time in. The wonderful people I've worked with along the way and the relationships I've built have been crucial. I don't think I would be able to do this in any capacity if I didn't have such a strong network of folks in my corner. Your network is your net worth, and I believe that. The people you work with cross-functionally, the people that are reporting to you, you never know how things are gonna shake out, so you have to treat everyone with respect and as equals. Really learn from folks and take them for what they can give to the current role that you're in or your larger professional journey. My mom always showed me and told me that hard work and always showing up is really important, whether that was showing up in school, showing up for your family, or showing up for your job. Being a consistent presence and doing the things that you say you're going to do, the value of your word and your integrity, that's what matters.

The best advice I've ever received came from my mom. She always showed me and told me that hard work and always showing up is really important, whether that was showing up in school, showing up for your family, or showing up for your job. Being just a consistent presence and doing the things that you say you're going to do, the value of your word and your integrity, that's what matters most. My mom was one of the most influential people when it comes to my career. She was a working mom as I was growing up and was the true example for me of success and professionalism. I'm always striving to be more like her.

Definitely put time into building those relationships outside of the core team that you're working in today. Try to learn what you can and take on stretch projects where you can. If you're looking to break into consulting specifically, figure out your own personal brand. What do you bring to the table that's different? Really start to hone in on your personal value prop. What problems can you help companies solve that they can't do on their own? What is the unique value that you bring to the table? And who would find that interesting? Get very specific in who you can help up front, because that will help you build your initial book of business. From there, it's easy to branch off. But if you don't know exactly what you're bringing to the table and who you specifically can help the most, it's hard to pinpoint those first few opportunities.

The biggest challenge is finding the folks that need support right now, especially as a lot is changing in our world in general. We're moving towards this AI boom, and the way that we do work looks a lot different. Fitting in as a consultant can be challenging, and finding the right folks that need the services I can bring to the table can be difficult, which is why it's really important to know your value prop and know what you're bringing to the table. But it can still be tough, and a lot of it's like feast or famine. You might have a bunch of clients at one point and then go for a while with nothing. Figuring out the strategies that keep you top of mind and staying out in front of your network are really important but also can be challenging. The biggest opportunity is figuring out how to master AI in a way that works for you. Figuring out what tools you can supplement to do some of the monotonous tasks you need to do as a product marketer, specifically around competitive intelligence. There are so many different AI platforms you can supplement into the day for content creation. Learning the right ones and learning how to invest them into your workflow in a way that streamlines your day is key. ChatGPT is just the tip of the iceberg, and if that's all you're using right now, you're definitely behind the eight ball. There are a lot of exciting tools out there for product marketing specifically that can help supplement some of those more monotonous tasks and move your brain space into those higher thinking, higher value activities.