3 (Unexpected) Websites That Can Level Up Your Career
Set aside Forbes, TikTok, and cat videos to check out these three fantastic online resources
Oh, the Internet.
The vast, unruly sea of digital content that brings us all together. If you’re like me, the Internet can be an exhausting source of pain and anxiety. Just look at the comments section of, well, any page on the Internet and a certain level of existential dread will wash over you.
But despite its darker side, I still view the Internet as the most tremendous resource for learning. Within a few clicks, you can enter a world of info just waiting to be absorbed. Almost anything you want to learn can be found on the pages of a website.
And career growth is no exception.
There are fantastic resources for networking and career exploration (looking at you LinkedIn, Ladders, and Glassdoor). There are publications for growing your business acumen (HBR, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal). And there are countless industry leaders to follow (Bill Gates and Richard Branson, just to name a few).
(P.S. at Young Corporate, we recently posted a list of free alternatives to popular business sites).
With the innumerable options at your fingertips, it can be tempting to fall into a bit of a rut. You probably check the same sites every day. And, in doing so, you might be missing out on the hidden corners of the Internet. Hidden corners that have HUGE potential to help your career.
So dial up your web browser of choice, because today we’re talking about three unexpected websites that can boost your career potential.
1. Product Hunt
Use It For: discovering new products and seeing how founders think.
In a 2011 article, Marc Andreesen — co-founder of the well-known venture capital firm, Andreesen Horowitz — said, “Software is eating the world.” By this, Andreesen meant that software was worming its way into every part of our day-to-day lives.
From how to we do work to how we spend our free time to how we interact with one another. Everything, it seems, runs on software.
But, unless you’re in the software space, and spend your days thinking about ones and zeros, you may feel stuck. You may not know how to keep up with the constant influx of new products that emerge daily. And you may feel like you’re always playing catch-up to the latest and greatest tools.
That’s where Product Hunt comes in.
Product Hunt is a website where users nominate products for consideration by the community. Founders have an opportunity to speak about how they built the product. And users can review the tech and share comments. Products are then stack-ranked based on how many upvotes they get. The more popular the product, the higher up it’s featured on the site’s home page.
Pure democracy at work. Any product, big or small, can have its moment in the spotlight. And a big showing on Product Hunt can work wonders for a small startup's growth potential.
That said, there are a few universal uses for Product Hunt (even if you aren’t in the technology space).
For starters, Product Hunt is a great place to uncover productivity tools for your daily work. If you’re anything like me, you spend hours and hours each day on your work or personal computer. And anything that can make those hours smoother, more productive, or move fun is a huge boost.
I’ve discovered several tools on Product Hunt that are now part of my daily routine. Bear is a notetaking app I use all the time. Canva is the perfect tool for making graphics and editing photos. And Coolers is a simple way to find a color palette that’ll work for you. I also love that there are TONS of useful resource compilation websites like this one for startups.
The other key way Product Hunt can help shape your career, especially early on, is by giving you insight into starting a business. Even if you plan to work for someone else’s company for the rest of your career, there’s still a ton of value in witnessing how a startup gets off the ground.
You see, unlike an established company, a startup is often searching for pain points and crafting its brand message. Much of the selling proposition behind the company may still be forming. And watching this process unfold can give you insight into how other company’s (aka yours) position themselves.
How does the company present its new tool to the Product Hunt community? How do they talk about features and benefits? What is the feedback from the community like?
These are all universal business lessons.
So, when you have a free minute consider checking out Product Hunt. Start scrolling through the latest products. You’ll get a sense of the emerging trends in software. You might find a new productivity tool that’ll skyrocket your work. And you’ll learn how companies position themselves for success.
Check it out here.
2. Mindful.org
Everywhere you turn today, folks are talking about mindfulness.
We live in a chaotic world. Stress, anxiety, and depression are skyrocketing, especially for younger generations. And with an ever-dividing country and an ever-evolving work landscape, it makes sense that more attention would be paid to what each of us can control.
And that’s our mindset. Regardless of what’s going on around us, we have a certain level of control over our mindset. We can decide how to approach challenges. We can structure our time and our energy to work for us, not against us. And we can prioritize mental health.
There are certainly a number of great resources out there working to advance mental health. Talkspace has made it easier than ever to chat with a therapist. Calm brings attention to meditation and sleep exercises. And even Netflix and Spotify have introduced mental health-based media.
Mindful.org is a perfect all-around mental health resource.
But today, I want to spotlight a site that covers a wide array of mental health concerns. Mindful.org is the digital counterpart to Mindful Magazine, and it focuses on many of the same topics. Take a skim through the home page, and you’ll see articles on mediation, discussion on how the brain works, and advice on everything from caregiving to general well-being.
If you’re a busy professional, odds are you don’t spend enough time thinking about what fuels you. And you may not spend enough time investing in your mental health. Sadly, the symptoms of anxiety and depression can be brutal, with mental symptoms often manifesting in physical outcomes.
There’s no hard-and-fast guidelines on how much to invest in mental health, so this type of resource is going to vary person to person. But if you’re feeling drained, tired, or stressed, it may be time to focus your attention somewhere other than the office or social media. Give mindfulness a few minutes each day and see how you begin to view your work day differently.
Check it out here.
3. Hemingway Editor
Use It For: removing the excess from your business writing.
Of all the skills that can make or break a young professional’s career, writing is one of the most important. And one of the most overlooked.
Writing is a bedrock of modern communication. And it comes up so often in the workday that we generally don’t even think about it. The email you send your boss. The instant message you send a colleague. The report you prepare for your department. All of this requires strong writing skills.
And yet, business writing is so often overlooked. Many young professionals may not see strong writing as a needed skill. Or they may not know how to take steps to improve their writing.
We could spend all day talking about writing tips. And there are tons of tools out there that can help you with your basic business writing. Grammarly, for example, should be a part of every young professional’s toolkit. But today, I want to focus on a web-based tool that teaches you the art of succint writing.
It’s called the Hemingway Editor.
The Hemingway Editor shows you exactly how to trim down your bulky writing.
Bad or mediocre writing is most often verbose. It features run-on sentences, unneeded descriptors, and a general layer of excess. It’s bloated.
As Mark Twain once put it, “I apologize for such a long letter — I didn’t have time to write a short one.” Writing short, crisp sentences takes time. It takes energy. And it takes knowing how to get rid of the bloat.
The Hemingway Editor is the perfect practice companion. Take any writing that you’ve put together and paste it into the online editor. Within seconds, the Hemingway Editor points out where your writing has gotten bloated.
Adverbs, passive voice, and hard-to-read sentences are the bane of any good writing. They clog up the arteries and water down the message. You should get rid of them. And the Hemingway Editor shows you exactly how.
Take a look at a quick example …
This is the first section of this article — the one focused on Product Hunt. As you can see, my writing is short and sweet. Few adverbs. Active voice, and only one very hard to read sentence. But I’m addicted to m-dashes, so that one gets to stay.
You’ll also notice an overall grade in readability. While it might be tempting to think that your writing should be at a higher grade level, that’s not what you should be aiming for. Your audience wants easy-to-read articles, not a senior thesis.
So, the next time you’re putting together an important email. Or drafting the next big report. Drop it into Hemingway Editor. Look for signs that you might have included some bloat. And be aggressive in trimming your work down.
Check it out here.
Conclusion (And Tips!)
These three sites are not going to push out other business resources, like HBR and Forbes. Nor should they. Rather, look for opportunities to expand your Internet scope by drawing on some product knowledge, mindfulness tips, and best practices when it comes to writing short, sweet sentences.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Just because you don’t work in a tech field (or any field for that matter) doesn’t mean resources built around this industry aren’t relevant to you. Look for the alternative uses, like growing your personal productivity or expanding your knowledge of how a business is built from the ground up.
- Practice mindfulness. Whatever that looks like for you. Whether its yoga twice a week or a daily meditation with a tool like Headspace. Maybe its going for a walk. Take care of your mental health and watch as your work becomes more fulfilling and easier to manage.
- Do as Hemingway would do, and trim the bloat from your writing. Work on short sentences. And ditch all the adverbs. This will allow you to deliver stronger and more impactful messages. And it will help you stand out at the workplace by making your writing a joy to read.
What are some of your favorite Internet b-sides? Drop a note in the comments below. And join the Young Corporate page where we’re talking about career success, corporate citizenship, and more.
