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Peace Itimi is many things in one —-a growth marketer, content creator, startup advisor, public speaker, and perhaps a couple more skills hidden under her sleeves. But what even makes her more remarkable is transitioning from medical biochemistry to digital marketing while still an undergraduate. Between then and now, she has built solid portfolio training digital marketing enthusiasts and launched a digital marketing agency, worked with top brands, and hosted her flagship YouTube show, Founders Connect, where she hosts founders and entrepreneurs to a couch conversation on their lives and businesses.
We had a brief chat with her, talking about her work life and career journey, especially how she’s managed to switch careers and juggle multiple projects. A recent attempt at product management was a great convo starter!
Recently, you made a move to switch to Product Management. How’s that coming along?
Yes, I wanted to make a switch. I got a senior product role for a UK company but I realized it wasn’t for me.
Nice. What common mistakes would you point out for young professionals looking to make a career switch to avoid?
Attempting Product Management wasn’t a mistake and I don’t regret making the move in the first place. And maybe that's also how I see a lot of things that's happened in my career as well. I don't think there's been any mistake. Because there’s always something to learn from every move.
I would think it would be not trying and not opening up yourself to opportunities. Trying to only be loyal and not saying yes to opportunities that come your way. It would be not upscaling as fast as your industry is changing. So one, if you want to try something, try it. It's just the way I tried Product Management and I got to find out it’s not for me. I would not have known if I never tried it. Now, I know I want to do Products, but just in a different way, not management.
Another one will be not negotiating from a place of strength. When you are trying to get your first job, it’s okay sometimes to optimize for experience. I am of the school of thought that people should be paid for their work, no one should be unpaid. But at the onset, you should prioritize experience and building your portfolio not optimizing for money. You want to optimize for experience, traction, and a rich portfolio. No one can take that from you. Once you have a track record of doing something well, nobody can take that away from you. So, at the early point in your career, you want to focus on showing results, because when you are in your third or fourth year, you now have results and a place of strength where you can negotiate a good salary from. Now, you won't be afraid to lose an opportunity because they can't pay what you’re worth.
Once, you said you could teach for free but won’t do Digital Marketing for free, why is that?
Marketing is a skill, and teaching is a gift and passion. I have a passion for marketing, but there's a difference between doing that professionally and doing something I'm naturally gifted at. So, it's just the difference —I won't monetize all my hobbies. Marketing puts food on my table, but teaching and training people, even in that same marketing, is just God's gift to me and I'd love to do it for free. My YouTube channel is one place I do that.
What are your productivity hacks?
First is to-do lists. Two is my calendar; using my calendar to create a kind of routine for me every day, syncing my calendar so I don't miss out on any important calls or anything during the day, and scheduling time to do specific things. Outsourcing and delegating effectively to my team, putting people resources to good use. Also, batch creating and batch checking out stuff —if I'm going to do Founders’ Connect stuff, I’d sit down for a day or two and face it squarely. So, it's just systems and structures with to-do lists and my calendar.
Has there ever been a point of dissatisfaction at a job?
Yes, I left. I found new roles and opportunities. It's like anything else —when a place is getting too toxic, affecting your mental health, you know it's too much and it's been months, you've tried it's not working out. I'm a big advocate of just accepting it's not working out and walking away. I've been in that place and months passed by without things getting better, I chose myself and walked away.
Talking about breaks, you left social media for a while…
Yes! It was refreshing. I was overwhelmed and decided to take a break. Well, it has gotten overwhelming again. But am I about to leave? No. But that small break has helped me get the energy to work before it gets overwhelming again.
I've never taken a sabbatical, but I've taken time out in-between jobs. After leaving a job, I told myself I don't want to resume immediately, give me two or three weeks to just prepare. I haven't taken a sabbatical but I want to do it. What I've done is take vacations, quarterly or on weekends. I don't open my laptop on weekends at all. I don't pick up work until Sunday evenings just to see what I have lined up for the week.
You’ve had a great deal of interaction with both founders/employers and talents/employees in the tech space. With the recent trend of layoffs and the rise in AI, what trends would you advise these players to prepare for in their tech careers?
That's a big question, and I may not have the perfect answer to it. A lot of layoffs have happened that people didn't see coming. But I think something founders should pay attention to is profitability, build a sustainable business so you are not at risk of having your products or business fluctuate. For talents, it will be to always have and be the best skill in the market. Always do good work where you are. I've seen people get laid off and their employers or colleagues are the ones to refer them to new jobs because they know they are badass. If you get laid off at your former place, people will "hook you up" because they know of the good work you've done. Get more skills and add to what you already know. With these layoffs and the rise of AI, the market is now competitive and you want to stand out from the rest.
Money is a big factor when it comes to career journeys, how would you ask a newbie to balance getting experience and making money?
Money will always come. But if you don't have the right experience, making money in the long term will be difficult. If you take a 250K job over a 150k job because of the money, when the latter has a better chance of having ripple effects on your career, you might end up regretting it. It's just a 100k difference. You want to take jobs that even if you spend just three to five months there, the kind of experience and role will be good enough to get you something good later. So, I'd never say you should optimize for money at the beginning of your career, rather optimize for skills, experience, quality companies, and quality roles, do that for 12 to 18 months, and the rest of your career is set. I'm not saying take 5k or 10k jobs, but I'm saying get a skill or good job even if the money isn't coming.
What are your favorite AI tools?
GPT4 is my guy! Also, I currently use POE, and I also test a couple of tools, not just chat GPT
What will you never be caught doing?
Anything finance. I won't do it at all. I can do human resources, product, and maybe even learn to code sometimes, but finance? God forbid! I just don't like numbers. I like money, but not numbers.
If you weren’t in tech, where do you think you’d be?
Education, hopefully.
Peace lives in London and is currently the Director of Marketing at Smile Identity. Her show, Founders Connect, is set for its debut live edition on the 8th of July in Lagos.