Dress Up For Your Search Marketing Job

While today’s post really applies to all jobs, it’s especially applicable to those of us in the search engine marketing industry because we all tend to be young. Just look at me, I’m only 28 but I’m already a Director and have been managing people for over 4 years! I’ll jump right to the punch line: If you’re in the search engine marketing industry, invest in a solid business wardrobe and dress for success. The benefits of doing so are huge.

Why I’m Writing This Post

Business Suit

I really like today’s post because it’s high leverage. You don’t have to work harder. You don’t need to acquire new skills. You don’t need to stay at the office late into the night. You only need to focus on your attire and enjoy the benefits of this low effort, high leverage strategy!

I also feel this post is very appropriate for those of us in PPC because the tendency is not dressing for success. It’s nobody’s fault. Most people in PPC tend to be young. As an extension of our college days, we’re used to either dressing casually in a t-shirt and jeans or, for the more stylish, wearing “clubbing” attire. I’ve seen it time and time again: Managers and even senior managers showing up to work in their Friday night clubbing attire. Every time I see it I know I’m going to win the competition because of my strategy around dressing for success.

The Benefits of Dressing For Success In Search Engine Marketing

Do you want to get more respect from your superiors, peers, and reports? How about faster promotions? How about more face time with executives? How about more opportunities to present? These are just a few of the benefits of picking the right attire for your SEM job.

Just think about it: You’re only in your 20s but are already in a high powered management position, potentially overseeing multi-million dollar search marketing budgets. This is quite a lot of responsibility early on in you career. (Side note: This is one of the reasons why I’m such a big advocate of SEM as a career. There’s no other path to so much responsibility at such a young age.) Now, how do you show the company, your manager, your peers, and your reports that you’re serious about all this responsibility? You dress for success. When you dress for success, you immediately inspire confidence. You immediately gain respect. You immediately catapult your SEM career to the next level.

How Do You Dress For Success In Search Marketing?

So, I’ve convinced you. Now, how do you dress for success? First, I’ll start off with the list of things to avoid. Please avoid “clubbing attire”. You know what I mean: tight jeans, tight shirts, loud colors, clothes with glitter on them, etc. I realize that a lot of these weekend pieces are expensive. However, price has nothing to do with it. No matter how expensive your clubbing clothes, please save them for the weekend. Next, you’ll want to avoid casual clothes such as shorts, jeans, and t-shirts. Unless you’re frequenting the office on the weekend to get a little extra work done, there’s no good reason to wear casual clothes. Last, you’ll want to avoid wearing the same outfit over and over. Establish a solid wardrobe with a good amount of variety. Otherwise, you might get categorized as the person with only one outfit.

Now, let’s discuss what you should wear to your SEM job. It’s actually quite simple. Pick classy, conservative clothes. Long sleeve dress shirts and slacks are optimal. The fit should be perfect, not too tight and not too loose. If your office is a bit more formal, wear a sports coat or suit. As a great guide, understand what your boss wears. Leverage that knowledge to understand how formal you should go. Important disclaimer: Never “one up” your boss. It’s important show respect where respect is due, use your intelligence to dress at your level.

This Is All Psychological

So I know you’re probably sitting there right now thinking this all sounds superficial and that nobody’s sitting there consciously analyzing your wardrobe. You’re absolutely right! However, this strategy has nothing to do with the conscious and everything to do with the subconscious. We are all humans and we judge each other subconsciously each and every day. Stand out from the crowd by dressing for success in your PPC career and everyone will immediately take subconscious notice. This is one of the easiest ways to rapidly grow your authority and responsibility. Moreover, it’s an awesome career tip because few people are following this tip in pay per click, creating an opportunity for you!

Image of Business Suit © iStockPhoto – SeanShot

Grow Your SEM Career With LinkedIn

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Nov 4 15

I get search engine marketing job opportunities on LinkedIn almost every single day! Let me say that again: Almost every single day, I get emails via LinkedIn from recruiters who want to offer me jobs at various companies. Let me say that yet another way: I have never actively applied for a job in the last 5 years (except my first job out of college). Three consecutive search engine marketing jobs all better than the last have “come to me” via LinkedIn, despite the economy being rough. This could be you too! There is no reason you cannot be in my shoes. Today, I’m looking forward to sharing my LinkedIn strategy with you and why it’s absolutely critical to growing your career in search engine marketing.

The Fun Part: The Psychology of SEM Job Opportunities on LinkedIn

I’m going to start with the fun stuff and work backwards to the tactical implementation stuff. In my opinion, understanding the psychology of the situation and the recruiter’s perspective is everything. At one time or another, we’ve all wanted a new job. Sometimes the fit just isn’t right. Sometimes you’ve outgrown the position. However, let me get right to the point: You don’t want to actively look for jobs because you won’t be as likely to get a PPC job that way (or if you do it might not be on “your terms”). So, if you’re going to want to actively look for a job at one point or another, but don’t want to actively look because you won’t be as successful, what can you do? Invest in building a robust PPC LinkedIn profile!

Just think of the psychology of the recruiter. If you’re actively looking for a job, they know you’re looking. Your cards are on the table. Now, let’s look at the passive PPC candidate, the pay per clicker who built up an awesome LinkedIn profile (just like me). You’ll start getting job opportunities because you aren’t looking. Recruiters love candidates who aren’t looking. They have demonstrated that they’re not only good at what they do, but they can hold down a job and stay committed to a company (which is exactly what they want).

Going back to my point: At one time or another we’ve all wanted a new job. However, my advice to you: Never, give the impression that you’re looking. Keep your cards close. Build out a great LinkedIn so you’re always getting offers. Then, when it’s time for you to move, just wait for the perfect LinkedIn passive SEM opportunity and jump all over it!

An important word of caution: Many times, you don’t want to move. It is possible to find the perfect fit – I’m there right now! Just because people contact you on LinkedIn doesn’t mean you need to entertain the offers and most of the time you won’t want to.

How To Play The LinkedIn Passive Candidate Game

The game is actually quite simple. Most of the time, when you’re not looking for a job, you can respond nicely to the opportunities you get on LinkedIn. I’ll typically say, “Hi, thanks so much for contacting me. I’m currently running the pay per click team at XYZ company and am doing really well. I’m not looking for new opportunities at this time, but please feel free to add me as a connection on LinkedIn and I will add you back. Here’s my email address that I use for LinkedIn so you can add me: your email here. Things always change in this industry and perhaps we could work together at one point or another.” This message is very high leverage. It’s like a snowball effect. The more recruiters that friend you on LinkedIn, the more offers you will get over time.

Now, let’s say it’s a year or so later and times have changed. You’re ready to move. Or, perhaps you’re not really thinking of leaving but get an opportunity you want to investigate because it’s an awesome opportunity. This time you respond, “Hi, thanks so much for contacting me. I’m not actively looking for new search engine marketing opportunities because I’m doing really well at my current company. In fact, I just got promoted to XYZ title and accomplished XYZ accomplishment. However, even though I get a lot of opportunities on LinkedIn, yours really stands out. I would like to learn a bit more and could we set up a phone call or meet for coffee?” The beauty here is even though you are looking (and believe me your response makes this apparent to the recruiter right away), you are still a passive candidate which gives you leverage towards success.

So, there you have it, that’s the LinkedIn SEM game. It’s been a real asset to me all these years and I now hope you can leverage it to your advantage. Next, we’ll get into the details of how you can build your LinkedIn profile so you start generating these job opportunities that allow you to become a great passive PPC candidate!

Building The Ideal PPC LinkedIn Profile

I’ll start with a funny story. I never used LinkedIn at my first job, NexTag. I only started using it at QuinStreet because it was very popular with everyone there. So, I’ve actually built up a profile with 500+ connections and 45+ recommendations in only three years. How did I accomplish so much in three years? It actually started with an informal competition between myself and a co-worker, one of the coolest co-workers I have ever had. We wanted to see who could get to 500+ connections first. I ended up winning by not only getting there first but also changing the rules of the game by incorporating recommendations as well. The key point here: Making the best possible LinkedIn profile for SEM requires a bit of fire and passion. Make a competition with someone else or at least set some goals for yourself. As with anything, you need a bit of motivation to stick it through because it will take you hours and hours (and more hours) to build it out, but believe me: It’s worth it!

Search Engine Marketing LinkedIn Rule 1: Get To 500+ Connections

LinkedIn has been around long enough that a 500+ connection goal is now mandatory. Before, you could get away with a few hundred, but now there are just too many people with 500+. Now, you won’t get there overnight, but please add anybody and everybody you can. One of my great leverage points: I have been at multiple companies. Because of that fact alone, I was able to get to 500+ fast because I have worked with many different people over the years. I was able to add all of my NexTag and QuinStreet co-workers.

Some other tips: Add your college friends, add all of your search engine reps (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, second-tier), and make sure to add all the recruiters who contact you (mentioned above). Another tip: When people are leaving or joining your company, make sure to introduce yourself and add them on LinkedIn. People who are in a “transition phase” will be more likely to add you back quickly. Do you attend SEM industry conferences such as AdTech, SES, and SMX? You should be! Meet people there and add them on LinkedIn. The ways of meeting new people are plentiful and moreover everyone is on LinkedIn these days. To have an SEM LinkedIn that’s at the top of the list you need to keep pushing until you get to 500+ connections.

LinkedIn Tip 2: How To Get Numerous Recommendations

It used to be that 500+ connections alone was good enough. Now, in my opinion, there are too many people at 500+. How do you differentiate yourself? You get as many recommendations as possible. I have 45+ now and I eventually want to get to 100+. Now, let me take a step back and underscore that junk recommendations can actually damage your profile. Therefore, the goal should be as many quality recommendations as possible.

Well, it’s easy to say this, but in practice how do you actually accomplish this goal? My strategy has been straight forward: Send everyone you’ve worked with a recommendation request and tell them that you’d be happy to return the favor with a very strong recommendation. By telling people up front that you’re going to give them something good in return, they’ll be more than happy to write you a good one. Another tip: Go out of your way to do a good job at work and build solid connections. If people like you and you promise a strong recommendation in return, you’ll hit the ball out of the park. Of course, after you get a recommendation to your liking, make sure to make good on your promise and write a strong recommendation in return (I always try to make my return recommendations the same “strength” as the one that was written for me).

LinkedIn Tip 3: Apply SEO 1.0 To Your Profile

LinkedIn has gotten better about this over the years, but you can still apply basic SEO to get your profile ranking well on the appropriate keywords. Make sure to include all relevant keywords in your profile. Make sure to build out your profile and invest at least a few hours summarizing your experience, qualifications, accomplishments, and more. If you get the right keywords in there and repeat all the different variations (pay per click, PPC, search engine marketing, SEM, search engine optimization, SEO, paid search, etc.), your profile will show up for relevant searches. Want to show up more on a particular query? Repeat it several times throughout your profile.

However, one word of caution: Don’t go overboard. I’ve seen profiles that are just bombarding the system with duplication. I’m an above board businessperson and can’t say enough about going that route and the long-term leverage it gives you. Don’t be cheap about it. Do the right thing and you’ll get even more respect as a result! Another tip: Make sure to link to your public LinkedIn profile from your personal webpage, facebook page, etc. to get it a high ranking in the Google, Yahoo, and Bing search results for your name.

LinkedIn Strategy 4: Protecting Your Established SEM LinkedIn Profile

So, let’s say you’ve built up a great profile and you’re now in my shoes. Just like anything, once you’ve built scale, you want to protect yourself. I have one very unique and important tip: Go to your outstanding requests and remove all the ones who haven’t accepted. It’s happened to all of us. There’s that fool you’ve worked with in the past, but for whatever reason they say they don’t know you. Once you’ve reached your goal, why risk someone saying they don’t know you? This actually goes against your standing in LinkedIn and if you get enough of these you can’t add anyone else. Moreover, your account could actually get shut down. Once you’ve surpassed 500+, I recommend removing all your outstanding requests and moreover being extremely selective about adding more people (let them add you instead).

LinkedIn Is At The Core of My SEM Career Strategy

To close out, I really hope this has helped. I realize this is a long article, but I think it’s all very meaningful stuff. If you invest some serious time building out your LinkedIn and understanding the recruiter’s perspective, you’ll be positioning yourself to get from pay per click associate to director of SEM within 5 years, that’s what I did!

Image of Business Network © iStockPhoto – Palto

Moonlighting Will Accelerate Your SEM Career

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Nov 3 11

Many companies out there discourage their employees from moonlighting. I can totally understand where they’re coming from. Salaries in SEM tend to be high and the company wants to get their money’s worth. Moreover, they want their employees getting the appropriate sleep and rest on their off-time so they can come in recharged. Also, there’s the big fear about employees actually working on their side business during company business hours. I’m here to not only argue the other side, but strongly encourage you to start your own business on the side. If you do it the right way, the ethical and mature way, it will only accelerate your corporate search engine marketing career. I personally run a small portfolio of websites and I cannot say enough about the business and SEO knowledge I’ve gained from my side web publishing business. I cannot say enough about my personal growth from this endeavor and its benefits in accelerating my corporate career!

Motivation For My Personal SEM Business: Passive Income

Moonlighting

I’d like to start out with my own story. The corporate route has been awesome for me, better than I could have ever imagined. However, I know more than anyone that things can change. As a low risk kind of guy, financial stability means everything to me. How do you achieve financial stability and freedom? In the words of my favorite author and mentor, Robert Kiyosaki, it’s all about passive income. We’re in a unique space where SEM is the cornerstone of passive income. Build some great web properties and with minimal ongoing support you can keep receiving Google AdSense and affiliate commission checks month after month after month! This alone was my strategy. In addition to income from my job, why not build up a small base of passive income from web publishing? It seemed obvious to me…

I Gained A World of SEO Knowledge Too

As someone who didn’t have a ton of money to invest in my side business, I decided to go the SEO route, with a little bit of PPC. I was more interested in slow growth fueled by free traffic from search engines versus fast growth fueled by pay per click traffic and the potential cash flow (and risk) issues that come with it. I’ll definitely say, without a doubt, that my hourly salary from my side business has been very low (although ramping as expected). I now do have a base of passive income that without fail comes in month after month. I’m extremely proud of it and take great pride in cashing my AdSense checks every month. However, what I value more than this stream of passive income is the SEO knowledge that I’ve learned.

As you know, the name of the site is PPC Ian and not SEO Ian. I’m “the man” when it comes to PPC, period. I’m good at SEO too, but not the industry authority. My next goal is getting to the VP of marketing level. How do I accomplish this? I need to fully understand all of the marketing channels thoroughly. My game plan: I need to learn the other marketing channels on my spare time because there’s never enough time at work. A side web publishing business is one of the best ways to learn SEO during your free time, an awesome byproduct that I never intended from my little side business.

I Learned Email Marketing Too

In addition to SEO, I’ve recently picked up email marketing. Once you have a solid base of SEO visitors, why not add AWeber to your site and start building some email lists and sending newsletters? During my regular job, the extent of my email experience lies primarily in advertising on second-tier email search engine AdKnowledge. The beauty of my side business is it’s taken my email knowledge to the next level, allowing me to harvest email lists, craft newsletters, and learn new tricks to extract more value form my web properties while rewarding my visitors with the best experience ever.

I Even Learned PR

You’ve already got the point, but I really want to drive it home. I have had the great opportunity to write and publish press releases for my websites, leveraging PRWeb. This is something that I simply wouldn’t have time for during my regular job where I’m heavily focused on pay per click. Because of my side business, I’ve gained valuable skills in SEO, Email Marketing, and PR, making me a very well rounded marketer. All of these skills have directly translated into higher quality output during my regular job, better intuition and judgment, a strong ability to manage people, while positioning myself for the VP of marketing role one day. It worked out perfectly because I always kept the context that my corporate job is my first priority and that I need to schedule and balance my activities carefully.

Disclaimer: Please Don’t Lose Sight of Your Primary Job

Here’s the big risk: You love your side business so much that it takes away from your regular job. It can take away in several ways. First, you may find yourself staying up too late, compromising your sleep. Second, you may find yourself thinking (or even worrying) about your business during work hours. Third, you may find yourself losing interest in your regular job because you like your side business more. This is where maturity comes in. You need to be mature and stay focused on your corporate career. You need to have the perspective to understand where the majority of your money is coming from and allocate time and mind share appropriately. You need to do what is right. If you’re mature about things and able to balance these risks with the rewards, I highly recommend starting a small business on the side.

Who knows, one day your small business may become your exit strategy. You may get to the director or VP level and then decide it’s time to make it on your own. This is all great stuff. In the short run, be mature about things and leverage your knowledge to do an even better job at work. You owe it to your employer and yourself to do the best job possible. Also, please remember, not all employers allow side businesses. Be open with your boss about things. Come up with a strategy to make it work. Perhaps you can make it your hobby to launch a site or two on the side, but not a “side business”. It’s all about perspective and following the rules. The equity value of integrity and reputation will pay dividends your entire life!

Image of Moonlighting © iStockPhoto – HelleM

Your Recession Proof Career In SEM

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Nov 2 2

I’ve been in pay per click search engine marketing for over five years now. When I started, the economy was rough. We were rebounding from the Internet bubble burst and companies were being very selective with their hiring. In fact, I only had one really solid job offer (thank goodness it brought me into the PPC world). We’re in another rough economy now, probably worse than the economy back in 2004. The financial industry has collapsed and we’re facing the worst recession since The Great Depression. This may all sound like doom and gloom, but I’m here to highlight the fun part of it all: Pay Per Click as a career path is recession-proof and has served me very well during all of this economic volatility.

Pay Per Click Drives Revenue and Margin

Let’s look at the worst case. Which employees do companies lay off or scale back on when things head south (either with the company or the economy)? First and foremost, they’ll lay off the poor performers. However, let’s assume you’re a star performer. (As a side note, there’s no reason not to be a star performer. Get out of bed each morning with purpose and passion for SEM. It will make your life much more fun!) After the poor performers, companies will typically lay off employees who are not critical to the day-to-day operations of driving shorter-term revenue. Restated, they’ll can the employees who are related to longer-term stuff or projects altogether that aren’t expected to bring in margin.

Now, let’s look at pay per click. What do we do in pay per click? We drive short term (and long term) revenue and marketing margin. There’s no way around it. More so than any other employee, we’re bringing in money for the company each and every day. Our job is bringing in money through our Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and second-tier campaigns! Looking at it through that lens, pay per click is just about the most important function in the company. Without pay per click campaign managers, companies lose an important component of their revenue (and with some companies all of their revenue). In my experience, search engine marketing provides a great buffer against recessions and for that reason alone is a great career to pursue (or stay in if you’re already there)!

PPC Is Just Like Sales (Enterprise Sales If You’re Managing Million Dollar Or Greater Budgets)

At most companies, which employees are respected the most? Which employees make the most? Which employees have all the expensive clothes, cars, lifestyle? Most of the time, it’s the salespeople. Within the world of sales, it’s typically the enterprise salespeople doing the big deals. Why do these employees command such a high salary? Put simply: If they’re not selling, the company can’t drive any revenue.

Now, let’s look at pay per click. In my opinion, it’s just like sales. Without pay per click, there is no revenue. Sure, we’re not on the phone in complex deal negotiations, but we are in complex software running complex algorithms. We’re making complex judgment calls each and every day. We’re oftentimes navigating complex relationships with search engines. Perhaps even more importantly we’re managing millions of dollars of ad spend! When you look at things through that lens, I view pay per click as the new sales. This is a very good thing because there’s always a job for a top performing salesperson.

How To Make Your Personal SEM Career Recession-Proof

So I’ve made the case, in general, why PPC offers a unique recession-proof career. To close out, however, I’d like to tie it back to you and offer some specific advice on what you can do to make sure your career is bullet-proof:

First and foremost, please work hard. If your campaigns are going down, join forces with you manager to figure it out. Nobody expects the campaigns to always go up (they’ll tell you they do but they never really do). As long as you’re flexible and dedicated, that’s half the battle. Never give up!
Have a great attitude. Even if the economy is down or your company is doing poorly, stay enthusiastic and optimistic. This goes a long way in terms of playing the game.
Quantify your work! The great part of SEM is you can clearly see your results. Tell your manager, “Hey, I know things are a bit difficult. Here’s what I did to save the company money and here’s exactly how much I saved.” It’s rather easy to pay for your salary over and over again if you’re a hard worker and do everything in your company’s best interests.
Be the employee that’s easy to manage. Put another way: Give your manager leverage. With as little contact with your manager as possible, do as much as you possibly can. Think of projects that you haven’t been assigned and execute upon them. Do everything you can to make your manager look good.
Invest significant time building out your network and LinkedIn. This is the topic of a completely different article, but I can’t say enough about having other opportunities lined up should things go south. This has been the cornerstone of my strategy over the past five years.

I could go on and on, but you get the picture. If you combine these easy best practices (things I encourage doing no matter what) with the fact that SEM is recession-proof, you should be set for years and years to come. The benefits of this stability: Not only will you be able to sleep well knowing your income is relatively secure, but perhaps you could purchase a home in this down market at a favorable price. The possibilities are limitless when you’re in a recession-proof career!

Longevity: Your PPC Career Secret Weapon

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Nov 1 10

This is one of my favorite articles because I’m all about getting more done with less, the power of leverage. (Side note: Leverage is also one of the main teachings of my favorite author in the world, Robert Kiyosaki.) If you haven’t realized it already, time is your most valuable resource, far more valuable than money or anything else. With enough time, you can do anything. To that end, I’m always looking for ways to gain more leverage and growth, while saving time. Today, I’m going to talk all about longevity and its effect in putting your PPC career into overdrive, all while giving you huge time leverage.

Longevity Will Accelerate Your Pay Per Click Career

Internet URL Bar Close Up

I’ll cut right to the point. While it’s simple, the power is very understated. Let’s say you’re at a company with three pay per click campaign associates and a team lead managing all of you. You’re not the team lead, but are one of the three campaign associates. You want to be the team lead one day, but everything seems daunting because you’re competing with three other people and your boss already has the position you’d like with no signs of going anywhere fast. Seem familiar? From my experience, this situation is very common!

Now, let me get right to the point: Attrition is rampant in PPC. I’ve seen teams of 10 go down to 1. I’m not kidding, I lived it! PPC houses some of the brightest people in the world. They’re great at keeping their cards close and playing the game, right to the very last minute. You never know they’re interviewing or thinking of leaving, but then, all of the sudden, everyone is gone! In the story above, I mentioned that things seem “daunting” for the associate looking to become the team lead. However, let’s reframe that: This case is never daunting in pay per click for the simple fact that attrition is rampant.

My thesis: If you’re at an early stage in your SEM career (not managing people), longevity is your single highest leverage point. Seriously! If you’re an associate and want to end up leading the team, all you need to do is stick around! It may take a long time, possibly two to three years, but it will happen. Eventually, everyone will end up leaving the team or even company. It’s sad to see your teammates leave and I hate it. My personal charter as a people manager is to never lose an employee. If I do, I’m not doing my job correctly. However, with most managers, attrition in PPC is a real issue, one that can put you in the position of team lead much faster than hopping around to different companies. Hopping does have its place when it strategically makes sense, but I highly urge you to stick around if you’re early in your career and not yet managing the team. Once you’re managing the team, you’ll have far more opportunities to transition to a more favorable company and career, if that makes sense.

Pay Per Click Is A Core Operational Competency

Let’s look at the theory behind it form the company’s perspective. Often times, pay per click is the highest revenue per employee division in the company. The team is driving millions and millions of dollars of revenue (and margin), but there are only a handful of employees on the team. Now, let’s say everyone leaves except one employee. That’s a true risk for the company and a case that every people manager dreads. You never want such a large portion of your revenue hinged on just one (or a few) remaining employees. So, what does the company do? They quickly put the remaining person in a position of power. They allow them to take on more responsibility. If they prove that they can grow and handle the added responsibility, they are promoted and rewarded over time. In parallel, the company starts interviewing and hiring replacements. Who’s going to train all of the replacements? The person who’s left! Not only are you now taking on more responsibility, but you’re functioning as a first level manager, training and grooming the new SEM team. Moreover, you’re most likely now reporting to a VP or even C-level executive, yet another super opportunity to accelerate your growth path.

Let’s Keep Everything In Perspective

Now, let me take a step back. Nothing happens overnight. This if for very good reason. If you get promoted officially before you’re ready, it’s very risky for your career, your manager’s career, and the overall company. It’s very bad! You will get more responsibility overnight if you’re in this position, but it will take a bit more time to get promoted on paper. You need to function consistently and predictably at the higher level to prove to your manager and company that you’re ready to get promoted. This is better for everyone, trust me!

Work Through The Difficult Times In SEM

I hope this article helps give you a little extra incentive to stick it out when times get rough. Whether you’re in PPC or engineering, a startup or a publicly traded company, at the associate level or CEO level, there are always challenges. There are always times when you start questioning your ability to make it through. My suggestion to you (especially if you’re newer in your career): Stick it out. You will build character, strength, and judgment. The amount you learn will be tremendous. Moreover, people who might not have your perspective will leave. They won’t have what it takes to make it. When they do, an opportunity opens to grow your career rapidly. Again, I hate to see people leave, but that’s a fact of life. With a little bit of passion, you’ll be able to stick out the difficult times and emerge from it as a true industry leader. This, in my opinion, is the single easiest path to grow from associate to pay per click director in five years.