My first big negotiation occurred during my first month as a Venture For America Fellow when I received a job offer in Birmingham, Alabama. Until then, I had never negotiated a contract and would have been intimidated to do so had it not been for the culture of encouragement and support in the VFA community. I received negotiation tips from my peers, and as a result was able not only to obtain a better deal for myself, but also for a colleague, whose contract was changed to add the same benefits that I had negotiated.

We received formal negotiation training from leading negotiation firm Scotwork at the halfway point of our Fellowship, prior to which we were surveyed about our negotiation styles and history. What struck me, after seeing how Scotwork’s global benchmarks compared to our surveyed performance, was how much we as a community had to learn.

We excel in lots of areas, such as recognizing the limits of over-aggressively arguing our own cases, which frequently is not a tactic that yields the best results. But there are other things we need to learn. For instance, we need to muster the confidence to make the first proposal in our negotiation. Otherwise we concede control of the negotiation to the other party, and with it, possibly, victory too.

The session, led by Millie Davis and Brian Buck, was a good opportunity to collectively accelerate that learning. We covered myths, played an exercise in pairs, and formed a mock advisory panel to help one of us negotiate a job offer – all while receiving tips along the way.

My most significant takeaway was the importance of preparing beforehand—walking into a negotiation with intended positions and limits and specific stances on issues, while still retaining flexibility. This crystallized for me that I don’t need to be this ideal type I had in my head – someone who is able to walk into any room confidently and wing the negotiation by sheer charisma – but rather that I need to prepare for and continue to train for the results I want.

Hello! My name is Tess Witt and I’m a 2020 Venture For America Fellow from Cincinnati, Ohio. I’m a proud Bearcat and alumna from the University of Cincinnati, where I studied communication and marketing.

When I applied to Venture For America, what stood out to me were the five Credos that guide the Fellowship journey. VFA’s Credo, “My career is a choice that indicates my values” has appeared throughout my entire college journey. My junior year, I had the opportunity to intern at a social impact startup accelerator. This experience showed me how important and essential entrepreneurship is to emerging cities. When I came across VFA and submitted my application on the very last day, I knew that VFA was the place for me.

The entire month of July, my VFA class has had the opportunity to grow alongside each other at Training Camp. Every day, as I would log into Zoom, I was constantly inspired by my class and their resilience, talent, and empathy. We forged through a virtual, and sometimes ambiguous, environment to cultivate relationships and create impact.

Training Camp teaches you how to be an entrepreneur and startup leader, but most importantly, it shows you the power of the Fellowship. There were so many meaningful experiences this month, but what stood out to me the most was learning from entrepreneurs who are doing the work in their respective cities. Last Monday, we had the opportunity to learn from Lorenzo Gomez of Geekdom Media, a San Antonio-based startup. His session was entitled “My Advice To You” and that’s exactly what he provided! He reminded myself and the Fellows that entrepreneurship doesn’t happen on your best days, but your worst days. As 2020 has brought a variety of challenges for all of us, this was an important reminder as we end Training Camp and enter into our Fellowship.

My fellow Fellows inspired me every day to bring my full self to the Venture For America community. It’s been an honor to cultivate relationships with them, learn, and dive deep into the ways we can create opportunities for ourselves and others.