Ask Allese from Wesabe a question (Women of Personal Finance Spotlight)

[Lynn]

For the rest of this week (9/10 - 9/14) Allese Thomson, the community manager from Wesabe, will be answering questions in our forum about personal finance, corporate blogging, and her experiences working for an exciting personal finance startup.

Wesabe is an online budgeting tool that analyzes your financial data to help you identify ways to save money. You can also get tips and support from other members of the Wesabe community, which is managed with loving care by Allese.



Allese started out as an intern at Wesabe but quickly moved up to become Wesabe's community manager and official blogger (I think she'll probably be running the place by Christmas).

At the end of the interview we will pick some of the best questions and answers from this thread and publish it on the main blog.

Welcome to Wise Bread Allese!

[bluedevils89]

Hey Allese thanks for answering our questions.

A lot of my friends had horrible experiences with their internships. Most of them were treated like slave labor and learned little from their experience. Do you have any tips for people looking to get the most of our their internships? How did you get Wesabe to give you so much responsibility?

[iamwhatiam]

i have a couple of store credit cards which i haven't used in years. i have read that closing credit cards hurts your credit score, but what about these? they have been inactive for so long, do they hurt or help my credit score and should i close them?

[Allese Thomson]

Great question, iamwhatiam. There are several factors to take into consideration - mainly what your credit score is, how many cards you have, as you mentioned - how long you have had the accounts, and what your debt utilization ratio is. There is actually a great thread over at Wesabe that walks through what you should think about before closing a card: https://www.wesabe.com/groups/9-payi...eave-them-open

Store credit cards typically have pretty low limits, so closing these accounts shouldn't have too big of an impact on your utilization rate (how much of your available credit you are actually using - you want this rate to be low). It would be good to double-check the limits on your cards to be sure. If you do decide to close the accounts, I would recommend closing one and then waiting five or six months prior to closing the other one. And do NOT close any accounts prior to six months of applying for a big loan.

[DebtKid]

Allese ~ First off, great job with the community at Wesabe. You guys are doing a great job there, it's one of the few places I check in with and participate at regularly.

What differences do you find or do you think there needs to be when "corporate blogging" vs personal blogging. I write about once a week for Lending Club's corporate blog, and am curious how your corporate blogging experience is going.

[Allese Thomson]

Hey Bluedevils89
I hear ya! Internships often equal stuffing envelopes, filing, and other thrilling grunt work. As I was thinking about how to answer your question, I thought back to all the internships I have had, (because I have had plenty!) and realized that I have actually been quite lucky in escaping a lot of that. A lot of this has to do with where I have applied for internships. I have never applied for an internship at big company. Looking back, I don’t think this was as much intentional as it was closely reading the descriptions and wanting to work in an environment where I got do cool stuff, where I had a chance to showcase my skills and where I could think outside the box. Here are some tips:

1. Consider applying at a start-up. While working at a new company may not have the same name-brand appeal as working for an established company, start-ups are a lot leaner and chances are you'll get to do much more "real" work. Also, because the company is trying to get it’s feet off the ground, the work you do makes and impact and the “big bosses” can see it. During my Wesabe internship, I interacted with the CEO (and most everyone else in the company) nearly every day, and attended company meetings.

2. Be crazy-anal about the details - After I was hired for the internship, Debbie (our head of communications) told me that one of the reasons my resume made it to the top of the initial pile was because I followed directions. When she filled out the intern request form at UC Berkeley (where I went to school), she could ask for just a resume or a resume and a cover letter. Believe it or not, she said that out of 25 candidates, I was the only one that sent both. Everyone else just sent a resume. She also told me that she didn't really care about the content of the cover letter - she just did this to see who was paying attention to her request.

3. Do your homework - Prior to your interview, research the company you want to work for, hang out on their web site or see where their product is at in a store, read up on competitors, etc. Takes notes and keep all this information in one notebook. During your conversation, give some thoughts or feedback that shows you know how to do research and have analytical skills. Ask your interviewer thoughtful questions, transform the interview into dialogue- this can be really, really hard, often because you’re so nervous.

a. I would suggest brainstorming and then making a list of questions that you’d like to know about your position and the company. Keep this in that same notebook you’ve compiled your research notes in. Bring that in during your interview and ask those questions! You can also reference your research notes in you chat about the company and their competitors.

b. BE GENUINELY INTERESTED!!! Get curious about this company, what makes them special, why are people passionate about working there. Pretend you’re the CEO or the founder of that company; why do they want it to succeed, why are they so passionate about it? Tap into to this vision and speak from it at your interview.

c. ALWAYS, always send a handwritten thank you note on nice card after each interview! Snail Mail!! Show your future boss you appreciate their time!

4. When you start, aim to be that responsible go-to person, that can efficiently and quickly accomplish any task asked. When I started at Wesabe, the CEO left me at my new desk and said he’d email me my first task. I sat nervously anticipating the email and then one new message popped up. The subject line read: Competitive Matrix. I opened it. The contents: “Please use this model as the basis for your list. Best, Jason.” Attached was a list of the competition. That was it. I friggin’ freaked out. What the f$%^ was a competitive matrix? There was nothing else, no direction, no how-to, no example. What did I do? I got resourceful, I started googling, I called everybody I knew about that might know the slightest mini-scule of information about a competitive matrix. I checked out the competition. I tried piece things together. When I had a grasp of what this competitive beast thing was and what our competition looked like, I headed back to his office and asked if I was headed in the right direction. Turns out I had some things right and some things wrong. But my research made me look capable, responsible and like self-starter.

Be innovative. I cannot stress how important this is. Before you say,“I don’t know” or “I need help”, really think, where could I find this answer? What else could I do to find resources? Every single time, I stop and think before asking a question, I almost always find it’s something I could answer myself. Also, “I don’t know” questions are always better, when you posed as, “In response to x task, I checked a, b, and c, resources and found d, is this the direction you’d like me to follow?”

5. Think like the CEO, pretend your the CEO or founder. I know I mentioned this before but I think this is the best piece of advice I’d ever gotten. When in doubt, think about what action you could do that would help the company succeed. Go above and beyond without direction. Really think, brainstorm, about how you expand your duties in direction of the company, and then do it without being asked.

6. Whenever you meet with your boss, bring a pen and notebook and take COPIOUS notes. After your meeting has finished, recap the major points, tasks and deliverables to your boss to make sure your both on the same page.

a. Often after a meeting, I will brainstorm or summarize the contents of my notes and then try to think outside the box. What other tasks are here that I am not thinking of? Given these priorities, what else can I do to help the company succeed? Again, critically think about this. If it’s a big meeting, I might even email my list and subsequent brainstorm over to my boss after wards, titling the email “Recap of ______ Discussion”

7. Do more than you are asked. Once you've started the job, showcase your skills. For example, Wesabe has an amazing community of users that share advice and tips in our Groups forum. Even though no one specifically asked me to, I knew the community aspect of Wesabe was key, so I jumped in and started asking questions in the Groups section and sharing my experiences. I think this level of participation really helped my get my job and my responsibilities as community manager (and it also gave me some great advice!). Along these lines, volunteer for extra jobs. Lunch with a member? Count me in! We need new copy for a Web page? I'll do it!

8. Constantly ask for feedback - Ask if you met the requirements of the assignment and what you could have done better. When you get feedback, such as "there was a typo in your email," be sure to listen carefully and be extra careful to not make the same mistake again. Don't be afraid to ask your boss how your doing. During a quiet, non-stress full time, ask if he/she has a moment, if they say yes, then respond, "I just wanted to check in about how I am doing." List off the major things your working on, then ask if there's more you could be doing or that you might not be thinking of. I try to do this about once every month or two.

9. Be preventive, maintenance level driven rather than crises level response driven. This means you look to and work not just in the present but in the future. Think about how your work can benefit the coming months and companies priorities as well as what you can do to prepare for future messes.

So this is turning into a novel, but the last and most important advice I have is: Be INTERESTED! Be CURIOUS! Be GRATEFUL! Maybe you end up with grunt work, the way out of grunt work ??? Thinking outside the box! Doing more than your asked. Look around you, listen and really think about what you could do to benefit the company and to expand your job. If you don’t want to do grunt work, then, you can choose to complain and ask for more interesting work (which will make you look ungrateful and entitled) or do some critical thinking, a heavy brainstorm and try to answer that question yourself. What else could you do? Make list, then start checking it off while doing the grunt work. Show your boss that you can do more interesting work without asking for more interesting work. Chances are, your responsibilities will increase!

Please let me know if you think I am missing anything here or if you guys have any other ideas or questions! This is a fantastic topic! Good luck!

[Jason White]

Hi Allese! I'm a big fan of what Wesabe is doing, and this is a great opportunity to get to know one of the "people behind the curtain."

Question for you:

You gave some great advice to Debt Kid (and others) on finding a good place to intern, how to get on at a start-up, the difference in corporate blogging vs personal blogging, etc. To expand on these ideas--how would you recommend someone transfer blogging as a freelancer to landing a gig writing for a corporate blog? "Corporate blogger" is not exactly a leading job listing, so these types of opportunities are tough to find. I'm surprised more companies are not using blogs to add to their corporate presence and generate more buzz in their particular niche.

Look forward to your answer. Thanks for sharing your thoughts here at Wise Bread!

Jason

[Allese Thomson]

Hey Debt Kid,

Thanks so much for your question. And thanks more for your compliment! Those are always welcome!

I just started blogging for Wesabe's blog, Wheaties For Your Wallet and am still learning the ropes, however, these are the first things that comes to mind.

1. Your writing not only needs to deal with issues relevant to the company (a no brainer, I know) but, also should provide a compelling piece of information, useful to the company blog's readers as well as the community. When I start writing a post, I try to center it around one-three lines of core information that will inform while being relevant to Wesabe and it's community.

2. Personal experience. I often find the one's stories and experience absolutely enrich blog posts, especially when they deal with drier material (see my 411 of the 401k - you can't much drier than finance!). My writing style is very narrative, first person, but, when I am writing for Wheaties, I constantly have to go back and cut a majoirty of it. Why? Because it's a corporate blog and it's not about me. I think the best corporate posts intwine snippets of personal experience with the informative info because this makes them interesting, funny and relatable. However, people should come away not with your opinion on say, savings accounts, and your life experiences with savings accounts, but with what savings account is and why it is important. Your Experience is best used to make savings account post readable, (aka not a bank brochure). Follow me here?

3. The wonderful world of subject matter. A lot of number one again, I try to think of a core piece of information and then build around. Where do I find this? I often go to our community, which is super, super active and try to pick up on trends going on there. This is all ripe subject matter that people want to talk about. Then, becuase I am not a personal finance expert, I go mining in personal finance blogs, like Wisebread, and add meat to the bones I find in the community.

I also think a lot about the issues I deal with when it comes to money. We're not all that unique when it comes to big blanket issues, like money! I free write a bit, until I come up with a good chunk that could be the informative compelling part.

I've recently started reading a lot of books in my free time that are relevant to personal finance. Those are always inspiring!

I am going to start with these three point and keep this question in mind and add more as it comes to me. Keep in mind, I am newbie! Only two posts in! So I'd love to hear your thoughts about this issue, Debt Kid. What's your advice here?

[DebtKid]

Allese ~

I think one of the biggest things when writing on a corporate blog is to remember who the target audience is. And if you don't know what their target audience is...find out! Knowing your audience really helps in formulating post ideas. You don't want to write a post about student work study jobs if you're blogging for a nursing home. You get the idea.

I definitely 2nd adding a little bit of your own personality to your posts. Even on a corporate blog, a personal story can greatly help convey a lesson or valuable information (your 401K post is a great example).

As for inspiration for posts I'm a big fan of the news and my friends. Those two sources probably give me 75% of my post ideas. I'll hear someone or read a piece of news and think, "wow, I can relate that to "smart finance" - or a friend will off hand mention how they save money with this technique or that service. Boom! Post idea!

Lastly ~ Always write down post ideas right when they come to you. You can always refine them later, but I can't tell you how many great post ideas I've had right (and lost) before falling asleep because I thought, "ohh, I'll remember that in the morning". Keep a small notepad by your bed!

[arcadian]

What the f$%^ was a competitive matrix?

i think we've all experienced that moment of terror at work before...

allese do women and men ask different kinds of questions on wesabe? or do they pretty much have the same concerns?

best of luck with your website.