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Twenty Set

by Monica O'Brien

You Don’t Need a Big Idea to Change the WorldOctober 5

Tonight, I met a young woman my age through mutual friends. She’s a teacher who lives and works in my neighborhood, so we had a nice chat about the economy, going to grad school and having full-time jobs, and how young Chicagoans are getting priced out of living in the city.

We’re both feeling crunched by our finances, or lack thereof. As breadwinners in our relationships, we struggle with the simple things these days, like putting groceries on the table. Or at least she does - she’s gone back to eating Ramen noodles once a day to keep her grocery bill down. I thought we were struggling because we can’t afford much meat or beer, or to have four different types of cereal in the pantry at once anymore.

I ask her how she likes the education system in our neighborhood. But wait - let me tell you about our neighborhood. It has one of the highest crime rates of all the Chicago neighborhoods, but I am lucky to live in one of the nicest and safest parts. You look up and down my block, and it looks good - green grass between the sidewalk and the street, and the bri

Newlywed All Over Again: How I Fixed My MarriageSeptember 29

I haven’t written much this summer, but this is not a post to apologize for that. It’s a post to come clean about part of the reason I haven’t written.

The truth is I’ve been focusing on my marriage. Rebuilding it, in fact. Which seems a little ridiculous, considering I have been married less than two years and a marriage should not get broken that soon.

People are always shocked that I’m married when they meet me. Like jaw dropping, please excuse me while I pick my mouth up off the floor, shocked. After all, I’m 24 years old, I’m in graduate school, and I’m working at a start up. My husband is a full-time student in a four year professional optometrist program. And we’re both seemingly a little self-absorbed with our careers.

I spent an entire year focusing on everything else. For a year I neglected my marriage, thinking that I could “have it all” without putting much work into it.

And now, my generation is obsessed with talking about marriage. There is a lot of talk from single people about why they are not married, why they are waiting to get married, or why they don’t think there’s a point to marriage

Jun Loayza Shares AllSeptember 5

I recently had the opportunity to do an interview with Jun Loayza, a fellow entrepreneur and chief marketing officer of his startup, Future Delivery. In the interview, Jun answers the tough questions: his misconceptions on entrepreneurship, how he copes with being broke, and how he plans to take over the world with career-advancing video games.

The entrepreneur’s life sounds exciting to many people, but having made the transition from corporate life to a startup myself, I must say that being an entrepreneur is a tough life! What do you think are the most common misconceptions about entrepreneurship, and what are the corresponding realities?

Before I embarked on my journey as a young entrepreneur, I really had no idea what it took to start a company. I thought one had to go through some formal process or that there were some set rules and guidelines that you had to follow in order to start a company. Many of my friends still ask me, “Jun, how did you start your own company?” The truth is, you become an entrepreneur once you find that mentality and mindset. Your company is born the moment you decide that it is born. You have the idea in your head, all that is left is for you to refine the idea and execute.

The biggest misconception I had is that as an entrepreneur, all you will be doing is high-level work. People become entrepreneurs becau

Your Major is Not What’s Holding You BackAugust 19

I’ve been acquainted with a girl a few years younger than me since she was a freshman in college, studying earth science of all things.

From the beginning, I told her it was not a great idea and she would have a hard time finding a job when she graduated.

This advice fell on deaf ears.

Fast-forward to four years later, she has graduated. In late July, three months after graduation, we sit down for a chat, which is dominated by her telling me about how she can’t get a job because all the decent jobs in her field require ten years of experience.

“I told you so” does not slip out, though it whispers to my lips from the back of my mind. Instead, I tell her to stop worrying about getting a job, and to take a trip to South America and study rain forests or something. An only child in an upper-middle class family, she does not have to worry about money; her parents have paid her entire way through a private college with their debit cards. Surely they’d be happy to loan some funds for a trip abroad for some cool, real world experience - the kind she needs to get the job she wants.

She says she’s thinking about becoming a nurse instead, because there is better job security. I’m shocked. I explain to her that job security is not useful unless you like your job, and nurses only like their jobs if they like caring for people. Even then, most nurses work long and strange shifts and can end up

How Do I Get a Job at a Startup?July 30

I received an email from a reader named Michael:

Do you have any tips on finding a startup that’s hiring? At this point I would almost be willing to volunteer if it meant I could be a part of the excitement and energy that comes along with working at a startup.

Having recently taken a full-time job at Brazen Careerist, this question seemed right up my alley. So if you aren’t sure where to start when it comes to startups, answer these seven questions:

Can You Handle the Job?

Startups are every millennial’s dream - but dreams can turn to nightmares pretty quickly. Before considering a startup lifestyle, ask yourself the question, “Do I have what it takes?” Joel on Software sums it up well in his description of what his company looks for in a job applicant: “smart, and gets things done.” (Read why.)

Realistically, you need high levels of both talent and stamina in your area of profession, and many people lack aptitude in one or the other. But at a startup, you will be expected to get things done quickly, take ownership of many tasks (some that you may not even be qualified for), and help out with many other tasks that you’re definitely not qualified for. It’s a lot of pressure, and the stress can build quickly as you get inundated with work.

Don’t think you h