Hi all 👋,
In today’s newsletter I just wanted to share some of my recent thoughts about how to keep going when it feels like nothing is working and you want to give up.
When I was 19 years old, I started to work in marketing, and I loved it from the very beginning.
Due to circumstances, I had to leave my home country and move to Sweden. I still wanted to do marketing, but I was an immigrant. I didn’t speak Swedish, I didn't know the market specifics, and I had no clue how to actually get a marketing job there.
And my first marketing job didn't pay nearly enough to cover the cost of living in Sweden.
I had to support myself, so I found a job at a coffee shop that covered my living expenses, but I didn’t want to leave marketing. So I kept working for my previous company (just doing little side projects), and I also found an unpaid internship in Sweden to learn more about the actual market and get the local experience.
I had no weekends at all. I worked Mon-Wed for the Swedish internship and Thu-Sun in the coffee shop, and in the spare time after work I did a side project and studied (I forgot to mention that I was still studying at the university remotely at the time).
Picture from my very first marketing internship in Sweden.
Honestly, I don't know how I survived and I don't think I could ever do that again. 😂
After 6 months of living like that, I found a marketing job at a clinic of plastic surgery that paid more than all those jobs combined.
I was recording a lot of plastic surgeries, hence the look.
I was so relieved I did it. I wanted to give up so many times. A lot of people were asking me why I would work 3 jobs and have no weekends at the age of 20. I knew exactly why. I knew that if I just kept working at the coffee shop to cover my expenses, had weekends, and stopped hoping for a marketing job, I’d never get it.
That hustle time allowed me to continue my marketing path. I worked at that Swedish company for a year. After that, I switched to a remote company because I was preparing for the move.
I moved to the USA in September 2024. Finding a local job here was another great challenge for me. After 8 months of searching, I did it. It took a crazy amount of hours, many interviews, and stress. I wanted to give up many times, but I always asked myself, what’s the alternative?
Sometimes I felt frustrated and mad and confused because I didn't expect it to take so much time, but I’m glad I kept going.
For me the secret is always to keep going. I needed to remind myself of that many, many times. But I truly believe that if you want something bad enough and you keep trying, you are going to achieve it.
Maybe it’s going to take longer than expected, maybe it won’t be as easy as you imagined, and maybe the result will look different from what you pictured. But you will do it and you will be proud.
That's a little motivational speech from me for you and for me, because I still need it myself.
Hope all your dreams come true! 🧡
Best,
Karina
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