I Did It Anyways Mathews Story - When I Grow Up

I Did It Anyways Mathews Story - When I Grow Up This series used to be called  The Recession is Bullhonkey series, where I shared stories of those who had gotten hired and/or started their own businesses (or sometimes both!) since 2008. In 2016, though, it felt irrelevant, so Ill now be sharing these made-my-dream-career-happen-despite-challenges-and-adversity stories under the title I Did It Anyways, because by golly, they did! If youve worked hard to make it but realized once you get to where you wanted to go that it wasnt It at all then youll really resonate with Mathews story below! I’m sitting in a college advisor’s office, with a blank stare on my face. I was just told  to “dream smaller” because “no one from here has gone to a top law school”. Talk about kicking someone when they were down. Weeks before I was badly injured  and lost one of the most important things in my life (and frankly the reason I even  considered that school): football. Football was such a large part of my life that I hadn’t really thought about what was  going to happen after it ended. And when I finally was forced to, I was being told that I  couldn’t do what I wanted. How was I supposed to respond to that? Honestly, I don’t know how I was supposed to  respond. All I know is how I did respond. I did it anyway. I spent the next eight months studying â€" both for my classes and for the law school  admissions test. Literally. I refused to hang out with friends unless I put at least twelve hours of work in.  I had someone to prove wrong. In the end, I did it, even if I could barely keep my eyes open to read my admissions letter. I had made itor so I thought. Fast forward to the summer after my first year in law school. I was working for a large  law firm based in Indiana. I thought I was achieving what I had dreamt up years before. But something was off. I was not happy. This isn’t what I wanted; something was missing. I needed something  bigger, something better. Well, I think the firm felt something was off, too, because they said it was probably  better if I looked to go elsewhere for my next summer internship. Facing $100,000 in  student loan debt, I had to take control. I went to my career counselor and explained my situation. I told my counselor that I was  setting my sights on one of the best law firms in the country, which also happened to be  one that had never hired from my school before. The response: “Dream smaller. People from here don’t end up there.” Another kick when I was in a low place. Even if it was the logical response to my  comment, I didn’t take it like that. I now had another person to prove wrong. I set out to network with people at that firm, get an interview and get a job. And that’s exactly what I did. I scoured everyone I knew, and didn’t know, in and around the legal community looking  for a connection. I finally found one: a professor at my school happened to be friends  with a partner at the firm. I had my way in. I used that relationship to build one of my own with the partner and have him open the  door for me. I prepared for a week straight before that interview; mock interviewing,  resume editing and everything in between. The preparation paid off and I was offered a  job the following week. Again, I had made itor so I thought. Work was going great â€" I loved practicing law; however, I began to realize that I didn’t  want only to practice law. I wanted something more. And my purpose kind of fell into my lap. After hearing my story from other people at the law school, students started calling me  for networking and interviewing advice. This energized me. I realized how passionate I  was about helping these students and recent graduates learn skills that the schools weren’t  teaching. After about a year of teaching, and while still working full-time, I approached one of my  best friends about turning this into a business. We thought it was a great idea â€" there  clearly was a market and we both were good at doing it. However, some of the people we consulted didn’t think we could do it. “Just focus on being lawyers. You won’t have time for this and will fail.” Hmm. I had heard this one before: “dream smaller”. We had someone to prove wrong. And that’s just what we did. Months later we formed DormRoom To BoardRoom  where we teach students and recent graduates the things that colleges and universities  don’t teach but lead them to higher paying jobs, more frequent promotions and more  satisfaction from their work. Through this platform, we have been able to touch the lives of many students and recent  graduatesall while working full-time. And when the dust settles â€" and regardless if my business fails or I get fired â€" I know two  things to be true: (1) you can always find more gold by digging a little deeper, no matter  how empty your pot may look and (2) life is about proving yourself right; not about  proving anyone else wrong. Oh, and I guess one more thing: career counselors hate me. Mathew Saur is a co-founder of, and Chief of the Boardroom at DormRoom To  BoardRoom, an educational platform that teaches students and recent graduates the things  that colleges and universities don’t teach but are necessary for career success. He is a  frequent speaker on the topics of networking, job interviewing, leadership and success.  You can connect with him on twitter @msaur1.