Career Hustler 3: How Eli Felson Used Snapchat to Apply to…
…Snapchat
This is the third interview in our ‘Zealify Career Hustlers’ series. To learn more about the series and why we are sharing these interviews, have a read of the series launch post.
Note: This post was first published on 1st September 2015.
This week, our career hustler is @Eli Felson. We first found out about Eli’s hustle when we came across his innovative application to Snapchat, which you can watch in the youtube video below. It is a great example of using the company’s own product in your application, to prove your interest and passion!
When we started this series, we thought the best way to give our audience the most value, was to stick to a rough outline of interview questions our hustlers could answer so that we could compare each one to try to find common attributes that help to make them so ambitious, motivated and focused. What we didn’t anticipate (naively some might say) is that one of the biggest similarities between all of them is that they’re not satisfied with conforming to the status quo. It’s what we love about them — they do things differently in order to stand out. So, with that in mind, here’s what Eli came back to us with… safe to say he didn’t take the expected approach, but it makes for a great read! He talks about how he got his foot in the door at Snapchat, a trick to stay motivated and his dream of selling his art at the Venice Beach Boardwalk! Here’s Eli:
Hey there, Im 24 years old.
I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA and I currently reside in Los Angeles, CA. I am now part of the North Los Angeles Marketing team at Red Bull.
Snapchat:
After graduating college I spent about eight months submitting resumes online. This process was a time-consuming crap shoot. I barely got a response and if I ever did, it was automated. I was applying to every job I could find and nothing was working. Eventually, I moved out to Los Angeles and started interviewing at tech startups. I knew a few people in the tech startup community here in LA and they gave me the in I needed to get interviews. The interviews went well but they always ended with “Eli, we really like you but we dont think you are passionate about the position.” I always agreed, but apparently this is the part where youre supposed to lie and convince them you are passionate about the job. However, thats not how I operate.
I was again discouraged. I finally was getting leads but couldnt figure out what I was passionate about. After a little soul searching, I decided I didn’t care what my role was, I just wanted to work for a company I was passionate about. Snapchat, at the time, was by far my favorite app on my phone so I decided I wanted to work for them. I knew submitting an online resume was futile, so I came up with the idea to get creative. I spent the next four days shooting and editing the video. I also researched how to make a video go viral. I created my own strategy and gained 1M views in a week! Snapchat interviewed me and it went very well. They wanted to me edit their public snapstories for Los Angeles. Ironically, the interview ended with “Eli, we really like you but we dont think you are passionate about the position.” I couldnt disagree and with the whole world watching, I walked away from the $24B startup.
Currently:
For about a week after I turned down the Snapchat job, I was physically ill with stress. I was running out of money, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and I had just walked away from what millions of others would consider a dream job. I’m not sure when things began to change but they slowly began to change for the better. I decided to research the habits of successful people. I started reading about people who followed their hearts and dreams and was listening to every interview I could find. I still do every day. About seven months ago, I wrote down a list of goals. Right now, I am about two weeks from accomplishing one of those goals. The goal was/is to sell my art at the world-famous Venice Beach Boardwalk.
My website is almost complete (fancybread.xyz), I have the proper registration with the local government, and I am waiting on my infrastructure in the mail. I haven’t tried to sell a single piece of art yet and I can’t begin to tell you how amazing the feeling is! I dug myself out of depression just by writing down a desire of mine and working every day to get myself there. I am so excited to get my work out there and hopefully receive a great response. Honestly though, if I don’t sell one piece of art I won’t even care because my personal growth during this process was the real success.
Advice to young adults:
- Follow your heart. People kept telling me to lie at my interviews just to get a job. The way I see it, employment is similar to a romantic relationship. If you build a relationship on lies, its doomed from the jump. Going to a job you hate is like dating someone you hate. It will totally ruin your life and makes no sense whatsoever.
- Be ready for the ride. If you do decide to follow your heart, understand its a very difficult process. If it was easy, everyone would do what they love for a living. Only a small, small percentage of people are able to withstand the countless obstacles that come along with pursuing your passion. However, if you understand this and accept it, you can be use it to motivate you and help you cope with the hard times you will experience.
- Write down your goals and post them where you will see them every single day. This is a MUST! I cannot tell you how important this truly is. Waking up every day and reminding yourself what it is you want in life is a daily dose of motivation. Its incredible.
- Reevaluate everything. Once you write down your goals, re-evaluate everything that you do on a regular basis. You probably have a few habits (if not many) that will only stop you from reaching your goals. When I first started writing down my goals, I made a daily checklist of things I could do to contribute to the achievement of each goal. My days started becoming too full of “running two miles” and “finishing five sketches” for me to drink beer and play video games. I highly recommend the checklist.
- Don’t be afraid to change! If you want what you’ve never had, you have to do what you’ve never done. This also means that you will change as a person. Other people will notice and some will give you grief. Remember, its your life and if they aren’t going to help you get to where you want to be then they shouldn’t be a part of your life anyway.
- Don’t give yourself excuses. Every time I lack the motivation to do something I think about the stories of people with no legs that decided to start running marathons or deaf people teaching themselves how to play instruments. Then I compare that to me not taking my car to the carwash because I had to stop and get cash at the ATM first and all I can do is laugh at how pathetic my excuse is. If people who have lost legs can run marathons, you probably never had a legitimate excuse in your entire life.
- Don’t ever give up. Listen to an interview with any successful person. They will tell you to never give up. I find that insanely reassuring. Just imagine it. You can have whatever you want in life if you just don’t give up. All you have to do is keep trying. You don’t have to be talented, smart, good-looking, or clever. Sure, those are things that will help you, but the only thing that matters is that you don’t give up and that is 100% in your control. That’s awesome.
- Smile, be positive, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. People like happy people. People want to help happy people. When you are pursuing a passion, there are probably people who are currently where you want to be. Don’t be afraid to ask them for advice. They probably would love to give you some if you are positive and respectful.
- Believe in yourself. My dad once asked me, “If you don’t believe in yourself, how can anyone else believe in you?”
- At the end of the day, do what makes you happy. If you take my advice and it doesn’t make you happy. Don’t do it. Life is short and fragile. Time should be spent doing what makes you happy.
Eli tweets @ElskiFelson
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