Really enjoyed this interview. A few random thoughts ...
- Wonder what drew her to nursing in the first place.
- Thinking about the different price points: $800 for in-person, $100-$200 for the online course she signed up for, $30/month subscription for access to many courses. $800 seemed like a lot compared to similar, much cheaper courses online. Plus, she wasn't ready to commit to a particular career path -- just sampling to try to figure it out -- so she wants to keep costs/risk low. But in a different context -- maybe one where she knows the specific tech career she wants to pursue -- an $800 course might not seem like a lot / a big risk (and could be seen as an "investment" at that point -- i.e., gets paid back with the new job/career).
- Had a similar thought about the concierge idea. Was thinking about it in terms of a coach or advisor. Interesting hearing Sennie talk a lot about all of the different things she did to research tech jobs and related online courses.
- Sennie wants to get out of nursing and into a work-from-home job. She's focused on a tech job because of the TikTok videos she'd watched, friends she'd talked to, etc., but maybe there are other work-from-home jobs that could work for her too that she might like / might like more: customer service, virtual assistant, etc. I wonder why she didn't consider anything other than "tech"?
- I wonder if something in particular happened in the ER at the hospital the day she purchased the course. I like how you focused in on that and how she mentioned that it had been a long shift (and that she had a couple of days off coming up when she could start the course). Seems like she didn't remember much more than that about the day she purchased the course, but would be really interesting to know what the day was like at the hospital (particularly stressful, etc.). Why didn't she wait to purchase the course on one of her off days when she had lots of time? Why that night? Was it just the combination of the long shift and then seeing the TikTok video? I struggle in situations like this, where I don't know how far to go / how much to push to try to get at more specifics vs. just letting it go.
- I liked how you asked for a minute to look over your notes. I struggle with this, as I have a hard time pausing / asking for time because I feel the need to fill the silence. Nice seeing the example of you doing it / how you did it.
- It seemed like there were so many good insights just based on this one interview that there would be several areas to go into to either create a new business related to Sennie's struggles or improve an existing one.
These are such great take-aways. If there is a coaching/advisory service that helps people find a new career or stay-at-home job, they're not meeting her where she is. Somehow integrating into TikTok would be a fun thing to explore. She's clearly willing to invest dollars in the guidance.
Your comment about asking for a minute to look at my notes is an insightful one, too. This is one area where having two interviewers definitely makes things easier. If I'm interviewing with someone else, I'm always trying to really focus on the story while my partner is asking questions, but it also gives me a quick break so that I can think about what I haven't uncovered yet and what I want to go deeper on. When you're doing it alone sometimes you just have to ask for the break!
If you ever need a "guest interviewer" I'd love to help play second fiddle. I have run all my interviews myself in the past, and I know Bob believes strongly that 2 people are better than one. When I listen through my own interviews there are some where I realise I've got my wires crossed with the interviewee and I suspect having that second person there to hear from a different perspective improves things a lot.
I agree with Bob that having a partner is a benefit, but not having one shouldn't stop anyone from doing interviews. When folks are just starting out it's rare that they have someone skilled to partner with. In those cases just jumping in, having the conversations, and getting better with each passing interview is the way to go (especially when you can come back to this site and compare your interviews to these examples). In any case, I like the idea of pairing up! I'll reach out and we can set something up for on an upcoming interview.
Really enjoyed this interview. A few random thoughts ...
- Wonder what drew her to nursing in the first place.
- Thinking about the different price points: $800 for in-person, $100-$200 for the online course she signed up for, $30/month subscription for access to many courses. $800 seemed like a lot compared to similar, much cheaper courses online. Plus, she wasn't ready to commit to a particular career path -- just sampling to try to figure it out -- so she wants to keep costs/risk low. But in a different context -- maybe one where she knows the specific tech career she wants to pursue -- an $800 course might not seem like a lot / a big risk (and could be seen as an "investment" at that point -- i.e., gets paid back with the new job/career).
- Had a similar thought about the concierge idea. Was thinking about it in terms of a coach or advisor. Interesting hearing Sennie talk a lot about all of the different things she did to research tech jobs and related online courses.
- Sennie wants to get out of nursing and into a work-from-home job. She's focused on a tech job because of the TikTok videos she'd watched, friends she'd talked to, etc., but maybe there are other work-from-home jobs that could work for her too that she might like / might like more: customer service, virtual assistant, etc. I wonder why she didn't consider anything other than "tech"?
- I wonder if something in particular happened in the ER at the hospital the day she purchased the course. I like how you focused in on that and how she mentioned that it had been a long shift (and that she had a couple of days off coming up when she could start the course). Seems like she didn't remember much more than that about the day she purchased the course, but would be really interesting to know what the day was like at the hospital (particularly stressful, etc.). Why didn't she wait to purchase the course on one of her off days when she had lots of time? Why that night? Was it just the combination of the long shift and then seeing the TikTok video? I struggle in situations like this, where I don't know how far to go / how much to push to try to get at more specifics vs. just letting it go.
- I liked how you asked for a minute to look over your notes. I struggle with this, as I have a hard time pausing / asking for time because I feel the need to fill the silence. Nice seeing the example of you doing it / how you did it.
- It seemed like there were so many good insights just based on this one interview that there would be several areas to go into to either create a new business related to Sennie's struggles or improve an existing one.
These are such great take-aways. If there is a coaching/advisory service that helps people find a new career or stay-at-home job, they're not meeting her where she is. Somehow integrating into TikTok would be a fun thing to explore. She's clearly willing to invest dollars in the guidance.
Your comment about asking for a minute to look at my notes is an insightful one, too. This is one area where having two interviewers definitely makes things easier. If I'm interviewing with someone else, I'm always trying to really focus on the story while my partner is asking questions, but it also gives me a quick break so that I can think about what I haven't uncovered yet and what I want to go deeper on. When you're doing it alone sometimes you just have to ask for the break!
If you ever need a "guest interviewer" I'd love to help play second fiddle. I have run all my interviews myself in the past, and I know Bob believes strongly that 2 people are better than one. When I listen through my own interviews there are some where I realise I've got my wires crossed with the interviewee and I suspect having that second person there to hear from a different perspective improves things a lot.
I agree with Bob that having a partner is a benefit, but not having one shouldn't stop anyone from doing interviews. When folks are just starting out it's rare that they have someone skilled to partner with. In those cases just jumping in, having the conversations, and getting better with each passing interview is the way to go (especially when you can come back to this site and compare your interviews to these examples). In any case, I like the idea of pairing up! I'll reach out and we can set something up for on an upcoming interview.