What’s Your Best (and Worst) Career Advice?

We’ve had a flurry of press come out this week around our Big Salad newsletter — including the Wall Street Journal and Elle — which has been so exciting! I’m usually the interviewer, not the interviewee, so it has been a fun/wild/nerve-racking ride.

For Elle, Madison Feller and I spoke on the phone about my first job, writing advice, a killer Airbnb wishlist, and how I invited a Frankies Spuntino waiter over for Thanksgiving. She also asked about the best and worst career advice I’d ever gotten. (I want to hear your answers, too!) This is what I came up with…

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The best career advice I’ve ever heard: Emily Henderson said this: People, especially women, will really love doing something, and so they’ll be like, ‘You don’t have to pay me, I loved it,’ or not really fight for their rate. But if you love something, you are better at it. You’re more valuable. You’re faster. You think about it on your off time, you bring a lot of energy to it. If you love it, you should charge more, not less.

The worst career advice I’ve ever heard: Sometimes you’ll hear people say, ‘Just say yes, and you’ll figure it out. Just take the opportunity.’ I’m like, ‘No. You can say no. Maybe you should say no a lot.’ I’ve said no so many times. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have a job. So many people ask you for things constantly. Just find a kind and gracious way to say no, and say it over and over and over until there’s something you feel will really bring you value or there’s a real reason for doing it. But definitely don’t say yes to everything. That’s bananas advice. Get good at saying no.

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What about you? I’d love to hear your answers to those prompts. And here’s the full Elle interview, if you’d like to read. Thank you, Madison!

P.S. The mentor myth, and nine people share their best career advice.