This Woman Quit Her Job And Retired At 28
This piece originally appeared in the September edition of The Post-Grad Survival Guide Magazine.
Dandan Zhu is a firecracker. That’s the best way to explain it.
Before interviewing her, I listened to a few of Dandan’s podcasts and was absolutely taken aback. Her energy, brashness, fearlessness, and unshakable confidence in herself is palpable in every podcast, no doubt helping her candidates feel more hopeful about their futures simply by tuning in. Her site is perfectly branded with her signature color, fire-red. She sells her brand, message, and story like a pro.
Who is this woman? I wondered.
Then I opened up Instagram.
Dandan’s profile is complete with images of her travels, her hobbies (rock climbing), and interesting excerpts from her speaking engagements, conferences, and articles for coaching advice and headhunting.
My gosh. And this was before I knew she retired by 28! I quickly wrote up some questions and hopped on the phone to give her a call. I knew it would be a fun conversation — but what I didn’t know was just how badass she actually was.
“So my story is pretty interesting,” she began.
“When I graduated from college I was so scarred from my internship experiences that I was like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t think I can do the 9–5 thing.’ So thankfully, at the time my family had a Chinese restaurant, and they just enlisted me to do that for a year.
At age 22, I was managing a staff of 13, people who have known me since childhood. The lessons I learned from customers, vendors, and being a business owner were eye-opening. Eventually, my family returned to relieve me of duty. Thus, it was time to find my true career path. That whole year really made me realize my skill set lied in communications and sales, basically anything that would leverage my strength: how to understand, motivate, and influence people of all ages and backgrounds.
Since my parents never spoiled me nor gave me any allowance, they were not about to start in my adulthood. I knew I needed money to live. My dream was not only to live, but to live well. There’s no other job in the corporate world that allows you to make more money than you can besides sales. Headhunting was that gateway for me. I moved to New York after I got my first sales job as a headhunter.”
Dandan’s path into headhunting was definitely not a popular career move. Even today headhunting is not a recommended nor “trending” career. Many people in our society disdain all careers in sales. Here’s why she chose to do something totally different than her peers:
“In my junior year, I interned at a global company that made me do secretarial work but called it financial analysis. I hated it. Everyday, I would sneakily watch TV and surf the internet while acting like I was busy. Some days I was so bored, I’d make cherry stem knots to pass time. The only department I thought looked like fun was sales! Not only were their personalities fun, engaging, and interesting, they actually seemed happy.
Essentially, it boils down to this. Do you pursue something because your family, professors, and friends would approve or maybe had a hand in influencing you, or do you go after a career that’s not mainstream, but you know it’s what you want to do?”
Dandan was every bit the firecracker I originally heard on her podcast. She was giving it to me straight, no filter, but what she said next made my jaw drop to the floor.
“Headhunting was my entryway into what I call my first bucket of gold. I was making under six figures my first year, over six figures my second year, and by year three, I passed the $200,000 mark. I was 25 years old making over $200,000 a year. So at that point I was like ‘This is awesome! I’m going to do this thing for the next 10 years. I’ll be a worker bee and milk this gig for all its worth.’
Get the rest of Dandan’s story in The Post-Grad Survival Guide Magazine!
