my confidence issue at work, first Biz Analyst project (+solving it) | introvert in her 20s

Last week, my ex-manager texted me, "Hey, how are you? How is life?"

>> And it reminds me of all the stories when I worked in tech.

>> Impostor syndrome. Everyone is smarter than me. I had just graduated from NYU.

than me. I had just graduated from NYU.

We can drive user growth. Free user over a user.

So, a few days ago, I got a text from my old manager. The manager said, "Hey, how

old manager. The manager said, "Hey, how are you? How is life?" And it reminded

are you? How is life?" And it reminded me when I first started working because I was a fresh grad. I had just graduated from NYU. I was 23. It was like my dream

from NYU. I was 23. It was like my dream job. So I was so excited when I first

job. So I was so excited when I first started working. Every day I would just

started working. Every day I would just look at other analyst decks, see how they do analysis, see how they think.

Like everything to me was just like, "Wow, so inspiring. Everyone is smarter than me." Until when I was given my

than me." Until when I was given my first project. And that's when my inner

first project. And that's when my inner critique showed up. It was like, "Lian, you're 23. Who do you think you are to

you're 23. Who do you think you are to work here?" cuz I was putting so much

work here?" cuz I was putting so much pressure on myself to deliver that first perfect analysis to like impress my manager, right? And so then one day I

manager, right? And so then one day I was scrolling at our company's internal forum and someone had posted a picture.

The picture says impostor syndrome graph one it says what you think you are and the second picture was like what you really are. And that really changed my

really are. And that really changed my mindset because I was like, "Oh my god, it's really not about what you don't know, but knowing how to learn the stuff

that you don't know." So instead of showing my manager a perfect analysis that's like 100% done, I would have multiple checkpoints. So checkpoint one

multiple checkpoints. So checkpoint one is we already have outline on a Google doc. I call it a learning agenda. Once

doc. I call it a learning agenda. Once

my manager thinks, "Okay, it makes sense," then we start the analysis. Then

we have checkpoint two and checkpoint three. So, I'm going to link that video

three. So, I'm going to link that video in depth below. I also would socialize the learning agenda with other co-workers, right? Data scientists or

co-workers, right? Data scientists or PMs or just to get a sense of how they think because other people's feedback can also be one of the resources to help you learn something. I think at first

when I did that, it was so scary because I was like, "Oh my god, people are going to think I'm not good enough. Like, why

am I asking them?" But over time, people love the collaboration with it. People

feel like they're involved. People feel

like they have a say in things. So, one

of my biggest models in my 20s is that it's not that you don't know, it's just you haven't learned it yet.

Welcome back.

What do you think for now? What I get your thought.

Okay.

got culture.

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Story so much.

Should go to groceries later to your show this weekend. your

recording studio and talk a little bit more there just so that well for the last like one conversation it happened a few and waiting to hear about how things

are going to be these days I've been really into like podcast or really long interviews cuz I don't know I feel like everyone is scrolling on short videos I really like what Rosie said interview

like home is wherever you are I think as an international student that really resonated with me cuz I did get homesick but At some point, I learned to realize, hey, like home is wherever you are, you

know? It's not really a physical place.

know? It's not really a physical place.

It's like here.

See, the other day, one of my audience emailed me. She basically watched my

emailed me. She basically watched my video on how I do data analysis with AI.

So, she sent me a full deck. I was so shocked. So, I was like, you know what?

shocked. So, I was like, you know what?

I'm going to give her some feedback. But

then as I was giving her feedback, it reminds me of my first big business analyst project when I was an analyst.

As a business analyst, usually your project is very ambiguous, focusing on optimizing for a metric like user growth, revenue, and your job is to help

people think structurally and come up with strategies down the line. My first

big project question was, "Which region would you focus our effort on for user growth?" This data scientist at work

growth?" This data scientist at work basically taught me how to think about analysis as a framework. So if our goal is to find regions to focus on so that

we can drive user growth. Always always

keep the goal very clear like visualize at the very top right that helps you think about your analysis. Then you

start doing kind of a waterfall situation to break things down. Question

one, question two, three, four. And then

you will have insight for each question.

Within the insight, you then combine and consolidate your recommendations. So

that's basically the structure of how a business analyst thinks in terms of what types of question should go in there.

Can think more from a metric level. What

type of metrics could be helpful in order to make these decisions?

Essentially, what we're doing here is to build a learning agenda. The first one probably want to know the year-over-year growth rate region with accelerating growth rate usually signal like really

good product market fit or good product adoption etc. And if it's accelerating we want to capitalize on that momentum even further. We will have insight of

even further. We will have insight of like X region Y region Z region and then recommendation I can say like oh Y region is more culturally strategic and

relevant for us. The second one I want to look at like market penetration just to see how much white space we still have in the market. So let's say if in New York there's 3 million people that's

we already have a million users there.

That's 25% penetrated already. So we

want to find regions that have the space to grow. Third one conversion rate free

to grow. Third one conversion rate free user over paid user. Because I'm

thinking ahead we might want to focus on revenue growth in the longer term. So I

want to find regions that have a good record of people converting and becoming a premium member down the line. The last

one I probably will look at like retention. Usually we do 30-day, 60-day,

retention. Usually we do 30-day, 60-day, 90day. This gives me a signal of how

90day. This gives me a signal of how long people stay. What's the percentage of free users that are still users using a product after 30 days, 60day, 90day?

It gives me a signal whether those regions we have good quality users. We

don't want to spend so much money in a region where we don't have really good retention like people don't even find it valuable or use useful. So once you have those metrics then you do your analysis

you have the insight and then based on the insights you can do your recommendation. This changed the way I

recommendation. This changed the way I think about analysis completely. We call

this the learning agenda. We put it in a Google doc to keep your analysis structured. And I'm going to put some

structured. And I'm going to put some links below of how I do learning agenda and past videos where I've done this analysis. I look so funny like this. I

analysis. I look so funny like this. I

have been really into reading books. I

don't know something about the touch of the paper. I started reading this one

the paper. I started reading this one called The Housemaid cuz I went to an international school, right? So like in middle school we will have um a class called like library reading class or

something. The whole class will go to

something. The whole class will go to the library. we will have to pick out

the library. we will have to pick out any book that we want and we'll read it for the whole period. I'll pick these like girl drama books and it's turned into a movie. So, I'm trying to like

read the book, visualize it in my head and then watch the movie and another non-fiction who not how. And this book like its title says it's not about working harder but working smarter

especially with a team with people with resources around you. There's a quote in there I'm gonna share. Rather than

asking how are we going to do this, he asked who are we going to get either internally or externally to make this happen? And all of a sudden everything

happen? And all of a sudden everything became possible that hadn't been before.

Your potential is virtually limitless when you stop asking how and start asking who. And by freeing yourself up

asking who. And by freeing yourself up from the hows, you will have a reborn sense of purpose and clarity. You'll

feel like you've been given another life to live.

Are you going to school today?

>> No, it's Friday class. Oatmeal.

>> I put your cereal with your oatmeal pack.

>> Good.

So good.

I send you >> honey.

Jumbo blueberries.

This one is our favorite.

I always said this one. It's like chewy pasta but made from cauliflower. Time to

pick a snack. What snack should I get?

This one was apparently really viral on Tik Tok. Let's see.

Tik Tok. Let's see.

Let's do a taste test.

Last time when we were here, it was sold out.

So, >> right.

yesterday.

>> Oh, wow. I highly recommend that.

>> No wonder I'm changing myself.