Career Conversations with Mike Lin

Mike Lin began his career as a website designer in 1995. He was initially exposed to desktop publishing through his work designing concert posters as a college concert promoter. Lin preferred to work independently and utilize his introverted personality to think through projects alone. His introverted nature proved helpful in his tech career, allowing him to think deeply and work diligently.Topics Covered in the Podcast Episode:1. The Benefits of Exercising for Mental Health- Exercise as one of the best things to do for mental health, especially when depressed- Personal experience with Orange Theory Fitness studio in San Francisco- Founder of Orange Theory Fitness, Ellen Latham, agrees that exercise is helpful for mental health- Release of dopamine from exercise found to be more effective than past medication for depression
2. Career in Technology- Early employee at LinkedIn- Details about work experience and roles held- Started a t-shirt company called Tshirtsmatter.com- LinkedIn profile and Linktree account provided- Experience working independently as a designer- Refers to tech companies as Fang (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google)- Image of techies wearing t-shirts and jeans
3. Resilience and Business Ideas- Resilience in career and life- Story about a call with a company that works with only five clients per quarter- New idea for an urban camping Airbnb experience- Company's requirement for generating $50,000 per month and spending $150,000,000 on ads- Claims to have scaled companies
4. Orange Theory Fitness and Collaboration- Completed 97 workouts at Orange 30 Fitness over two and a half years- Wearing a t-shirt that says "Oranger Fitness is my drug" on 100th workout- Plans to send photo of t-shirt to owner of the franchise in San Francisco to see if they can make it an official collaboration between their merge company, T-Shirts Matter, and Orange Fitness- Spoken to Ellen Latham, the founder of Orange Theory Fitness- Reception of collaboration idea as international opportunity
5. Career Trajectory- First job with a company called Creative Internet Design in Pasadena in 1997- Role in Adjacency, which was later acquired by Sapien- Worked for Yahoo Shopping, Yahoo Travel, LinkedIn, and Zinger- Worked in production design, visual design, and user interface design- Worked mostly independently with headphones on- Adjacency's prestigious clients like Apple, Land Rover, Nordstrom, Specialized Bikes, Virgin Music, Tag Hoyer, and Patagonia- Bernie Deshant as a mentor during depression- Career trajectory changed after job offer from Adjacency

Social media linkshttp://linkedin.com/in/mikelinhttp://instagram.com/mikelin.sf

Link to websitehttp://t-shirtsmatter.com