Fancy Scientist: Animals, Science, Lifestyle

You may have heard me on social media talk about how I am writing a kids’ book and unless you are new to the podcast, you will already know that I wrote a book called Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology: What It’s Like and What You Need to Know. I am so excited to announce that my kids’ book, My First Book of Earth, is now available for pre-order and will soon be available everywhere on August 2nd.With this official news, lots of people have been asking me, how I did this. Today I am going into detail about that – talking about the entire experience – from setting it up, writing, and getting it published with a publishing company.For the second part of the podcast, I’m also gonna tell you about my experience writing my other book, Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology, which is a book I self-published in 2020. This is a book I wrote entirely by myself – with no publisher – and has done well since its release selling hundreds of copies.Writing both of these books has been such a fun experience and great learning process. I really hope this podcast inspires you to write a book if this is something you have been thinking about. This is something you really can do!I am going to break it down for you and also talk about the advantages of working with a publisher and self-publishing. Specifically, I talk about:How I was approached by publisherHow long it took me to write both booksMy process for writing for kids and for adultsMy process for writing when working with a publisher and on my ownThe challenges that come with writing a kids’ book including maintaining scientific accuracy without using jargon and sticking to a word limitHow the books were designedHow I was inspired to write a bookAn overview of how to self-publishHow I used the Best Self Journal to write my bookWhat you need to know about marketing your book during the pre-release phaseand MORE!Get a free chapter of my book “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology: What It’s Like and What You Need to Know” to see how I can help you in your career: https://stephanieschuttler.com/getting-a-job-in-wildlife-biology-book/ Want to learn about cool animals, conservation, and get tips about careers in wildlife biology, science, and more? Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/StephanieSchuttler and join my email list: https://stephanieschuttler.com/ I’d love to meet you. Connect with me on social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/FancyScientistInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fancy_scientist/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fancyscientist/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/fancyscientist/pins/Join the “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology” Facebook group to connect with other aspiring wildlife biologists, post your questions and get free advice: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gettingajobinwildlifebiology

I know that so many of you out there are struggling to get jobs in wildlife biology. I see all of these posts in the wildlife Facebook groups, and when people join my own Facebook group, Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology, I reach out to them and ask them what they’re struggling with. I truly understand how tough it is out there to get a job.There is more competition than ever before, and the requirements have changed. What used to get you a job is not good enough now. People are frustrated, tired, feeling defeated, and honestly just quite sad.So I’m doing something that I’ve never done before. If you are sick and tired of not having a job in wildlife biology, if you’ve been applying and applying and applying and can’t get anything, or if you are training for a job in wildlife and you’re scared, then you are going to want in on this four day workshop that I am doing for the very first time.At 8:00 PM Eastern time starting June six, I am going to be condensing and sharing with you the four most important things to have, do, and be for wildlife biology careers. This also pertains to ecology, conservation biology, biology, zoology, and all of the “ologies.” This is all free. It’s based on my nearly 20 years of experience. You are going to want to get in on this workshop.For today’s podcast as a lead-up to the workshop, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about the biggest mistakes that I see that people do when they are trying to get a job.No matter where you are in your career – if you are at the very beginning stages or if you are applying for jobs, frustrated, crying, and punching pillows, then you’re going to want to listen to this episode. These are the top nine mistakes that I see people do who are struggling to get jobs in wildlife biology, ecology, conservation biology, and related fields.Get a free chapter of my book “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology: What It’s Like and What You Need to Know” to see how I can help you in your career: https://stephanieschuttler.com/getting-a-job-in-wildlife-biology-book/ Want to learn about cool animals, conservation, and get tips about careers in wildlife biology, science, and more? Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/StephanieSchuttler and join my email list: https://stephanieschuttler.com/ I’d love to meet you. Connect with me on social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/FancyScientistInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fancy_scientist/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fancyscientist/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/fancyscientist/pins/Join the “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology” Facebook group to connect with other aspiring wildlife biologists, post your questions and get free advice: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gettingajobinwildlifebiology

One of my favorite podcast episodes to share with people is #46: Starting a Wildlife Career at 40: Interview with Jeffrey Hunter. In this episode, I interview Jeffrey Hunter of the National Parks Conservation Association on how he left his corporate job to pursue one in wildlife at 40. One of the people listening to this was Ron Lewis. During the pandemic, Ron was let go from his engineering job at 49. He always loved wildlife and it had lingered in the back of his mind that he should pursue a wildlife career, but things always got in the way.One day he happened to be listening to the Jeffrey Hunter interview and it changed his life. This was the sign he needed – it was finally the perfect time to pursue this career. Ron and I started talking on Instagram and I was so excited to hear this! But even more exciting was that Ron got a job right away – a full time job. And he was also back in school. To be honest, this was pretty surprising to me. I hear all the time (and experienced it myself) about how difficult it is to get jobs. But he got one right away and with NO experience. How did he do it? I knew I had to have him on the podcast to find out.In this episode, we talk about just exactly that – how Ron got a job once he made the decision to pursue this career. As you’ll find out, Ron is a master networker, so it wasn’t just luck. We also talk about how having mechanical experience is a big asset in this field. Specifically, we talk about:What were Ron’s first steps to transitioning to a career in wildlifeHow Ron networked effectively (and you can too)How Ron’s previous job helped him get his wildlife jobUnexpected skills that will help you in wildlife jobsWhat kinds of non-wildlife jobs are best to get if you can’t get a wildlife jobWhat Unity online college is likeand MORE!For full show notes click hereGet a free chapter of my book “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology: What It’s Like and What You Need to Know” to see how I can help you in your career: https://stephanieschuttler.com/getting-a-job-in-wildlife-biology-book/ Want to learn about cool animals, conservation, and get tips about careers in wildlife biology, science, and more? Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/StephanieSchuttler and join my email list: https://stephanieschuttler.com/ I’d love to meet you. Connect with me on social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/FancyScientistInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fancy_scientist/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fancyscientist/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/fancyscientist/pins/Join the “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology” Facebook group to connect with other aspiring wildlife biologists, post your questions and get free advice: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gettingajobinwildlifebiology

Whenever I talk to someone who wants my help, I always ask them “What is your ultimate career goal?” and frequently the answer is “something with endangered species.We’ve all seen the videos of scientists opening up a cage with a wolf inside, and it sprinting out of it to return to the wild where it belongs, or some variation of that with another species. These videos are so inspiring and uplifting – they make us feel so good and like there is hope for conservation. But there’s a lot of work that goes into those few moments of release that you don’t see. We go into this career because we love wildlife, and much of our wildlife is in crisis, so it makes sense that so many people want to do endangered species work – they want to make a difference and have an impact. But what does it really entail? What does it look like? On this week’s podcast, I talk about what it’s like to work in careers with endangered species. I realize this is a GIGANTIC topic and there’s no way that I could cover it all in one podcast, but here I give you a taste of what some of those careers look like. I especially focus on reintroductions, not because this is the majority of endangered species careers, but because so many of people want to go into and are fascinated by these careers. If you’ve ever wanted to work with endangered species or are curious about all of the science and prep work that goes into reintroductions, today I am peeling back the curtain to show you what that research is really like.For full show notes click hereGet a free chapter of my book “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology: What It’s Like and What You Need to Know” to see how I can help you in your career: https://stephanieschuttler.com/getting-a-job-in-wildlife-biology-book/ Want to learn about cool animals, conservation, and get tips about careers in wildlife biology, science, and more?Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/StephanieSchuttler and join my email list: https://stephanieschuttler.com/ I’d love to meet you. Connect with me on social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/FancyScientistInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fancy_scientist/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fancyscientist/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/fancyscientist/pins/Join the “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology” Facebook group to connect with other aspiring wildlife biologists, post your questions and get free advice: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gettingajobinwildlifebiology

Students always ask me – how do I choose my research? When I was in graduate school, this question lingered over me for the first six months. How in the world, out of all of the things to study do I pick something?Most people will tell you to follow your passion – but what happens if you (like me) are passionate about many things? How do you choose? Or what if you aren’t sure what you are passionate about at all? Surprisingly, choosing your research based on what you are passionate about alone is bad advice. In this video, I explain why. If you are going into a research career, listening to this video is a must – especially if you expect to be the one leading the research (a principal investigator) because your research will likely set you up for your entire career trajectory.If you’re not a scientist or not going into research, this episode is still worth a listen. You’ll understand how scientists approach their area of interest and structure their research.  For full show notes click hereGet a free chapter of my book “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology: What It’s Like and What You Need to Know” to see how I can help you in your career: https://stephanieschuttler.com/getting-a-job-in-wildlife-biology-book/ Want to learn about cool animals, conservation, and get tips about careers in wildlife biology, science, and more? Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/StephanieSchuttler and join my email list: https://stephanieschuttler.com/ I’d love to meet you. Connect with me on social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/FancyScientistInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fancy_scientist/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fancyscientist/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/fancyscientist/pins/Join the “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology” Facebook group to connect with other aspiring wildlife biologists, post your questions and get free advice: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gettingajobinwildlifebiology

I was having some struggles in my business – specifically how to talk about my program to potential student.I was thinking about purchasing a new course to help me with this problem and I was asking my mastermind group members what they thought.It was a big chunk of change: $2,000. Normally we encourage each other to invest in ourselves, but one of my members felt like I already had the training I needed – and that it was more of my mindset I needed help with. She also suggested I could receive free training if I sign up to be an affiliate for a program I enrolled in two years ago. I didn’t think I could do it because I didn’t think the program would be fit for my audience, but she pushed me anyway to get me to learn more about the process.Shortly after I signed up, the wildlife biologist above made that comment. I also thought about another wildlife biologist with a big following on Instagram who sells products and then I thought, maybe there is something to this? Maybe this is something my audience would be interested in. I am blown away by the opportunity that is out there nowadays and I invite you to join me to entertain the thought of starting your own digital side hustle. For full show notes click hereGet a free chapter of my book “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology: What It’s Like and What You Need to Know” to see how I can help you in your career: https://stephanieschuttler.com/getting-a-job-in-wildlife-biology-book/ Want to learn about cool animals, conservation, and get tips about careers in wildlife biology, science, and more? Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/StephanieSchuttler and join my email list: https://stephanieschuttler.com/ I’d love to meet you. Connect with me on social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/FancyScientistInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fancy_scientist/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fancyscientist/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/fancyscientist/pins/Join the “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology” Facebook group to connect with other aspiring wildlife biologists, post your questions and get free advice: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gettingajobinwildlifebiology

On this week's podcast, I talk about a hot button issue and one you probably wouldn't expect from a wildlife biology and conservation based podcast: money. I always knew I wouldn't make a lot of money in my career, but was surprised at how low the salary levels were for the jobs I qualified for. And lately there's been a lot of talk about things like unpaid internships and volunteering in our career and that young professionals shouldn't take them and organizations shouldn't offer them. As someone who has worked for an institution and has mentored over a dozen students - only one of which was paid, this is not realistically an option and I have a lot of doubt that it will increase inclusion and diversity.I was nervous recording this episode because I'm going to say some things that I'm sure a lot of people won't agree with. But I am all about empowering you. An empowering question to ask yourself is "what can I do?" The goal of this podcast is not necessarily to debate the above topics, but to reframe your thinking and ultimately your belief system, so that it works in favor for you to advance to where you want to be in this current career climate.I've personally been working on my money mindset for years now and I've learned a lot from the entrepreneurial world about how our beliefs limit us. Today, I invite you to think of things differently - or at least be open to it. I compare wildlife careers to other fields, talk about volunteering and unpaid internships from the perspective of an employer, and give you examples of people from other careers in bad money situations who were able to make it happen for them. Get a free chapter of my book “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology: What It’s Like and What You Need to Know” to see how I can help you in your career: https://stephanieschuttler.com/getting-a-job-in-wildlife-biology-book/ Want to learn about cool animals, conservation, and get tips about careers in wildlife biology, science, and more? Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/StephanieSchuttler and join my email list: https://stephanieschuttler.com/ I’d love to meet you. Connect with me on social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/FancyScientistInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fancy_scientist/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fancyscientist/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/fancyscientist/pins/Join the “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology” Facebook group to connect with other aspiring wildlife biologists, post your questions and get free advice: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gettingajobinwildlifebiology

Productivity seems to be more of a career-oriented topic, but this is actually really important in wildlife and conservation work, and it’s something that is often overlooked.When I was in graduate school and working as a postdoc, I often felt so overwhelmed with all the work I had to do. I know that many other people out there feel exactly the same way. There’s several reasons for this.First, there’s just a lot of problems to work on regarding wildlife and conservation. Human population growth keeps increasing and therefore we continue to have issues with habitat destruction and loss, human wildlife conflict, and of course we have climate change to name a few. There are just so many things for us to work on! Another big component is about the support – or should I say the lack of support. To effectively work on the increasing number of problems we have, we really need the funding to be able to hire for a lot of positions to employ people to help solve these.But we don’t have that in wildlife and conservation work. Our field is very poorly funded compared to other fields. Although the data and trends show that conservation nature jobs are increasing. They’re not increasing at the same level as people who want to enter the career or graduate. In other words, there’s more work out there with fewer people doing the work meaning professionals have to do more work for each job than they used to. It’s really important, therefore, that we be productive so that we can efficiently work on conservation and wildlife problems!On top of that, conservation and wildlife work carries an emotional “weight” that can make it difficult to work sometimes. In the past few years, I became an entrepreneur running the Fancy Scientist (i.e. the blog you are reading right now!). I have listened to a lot of entrepreneurial podcasts, audio books, and have taken many courses. The mindset between scientists and entrepreneurs is incredibly different. Scientists can learn so much from the entrepreneurial world about how to be more productive. The processes behind many of the things that we are doing in the science/conservation arena is a slow and inefficient way to do things.In this podcast, I share with you my biggest tip. It’s the most important tip and it will likely surprise you. Get a free chapter of my book “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology: What It’s Like and What You Need to Know” to see how I can help you in your career: https://stephanieschuttler.com/getting-a-job-in-wildlife-biology-book/ Want to learn about cool animals, conservation, and get tips about careers in wildlife biology, science, and more? Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/StephanieSchuttler and join my email list: https://stephanieschuttler.com/ I’d love to meet you. Connect with me on social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/FancyScientistInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fancy_scientist/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fancyscientist/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/fancyscientist/pins/Join the “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology” Facebook group to connect with other aspiring wildlife biologists, post your questions and get free advice: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gettingajobinwildlifebiology

In mid 2020 when COVID shut so many things down ( virtually everything), a lot of people lost their volunteer positions, internships, or seasonal positions, and they felt that it really set them back in their career in terms of getting experience. Some people are still having a hard time finding openings because of COVID.Back then, I did an episode (#7) on three things you could do to still get experience and skills. Since I talk to so many people who are still struggling, I thought it would be great to give a whole episode on this - with more things and with my previous suggestions more flushed out.If you just want to or are in the process of becoming a wildlife biologist, ecologist, conservation biologist or just want to do some science-ing on your own, these seven tips will really help you out. On this podcast, I am really about empowering people and I've learned over the years to take full responsibility for myself. What that means is that no matter what happens in the external world, there's always something you CAN do. In fact, one of my favorite mantras is "what can I do?"We live in such an amazing time where information, education, instructional videos, even courses, are all at our fingertips.We live in such an amazing time where information, education, instructional videos, even courses, are all at our fingertips.Get a free chapter of my book “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology: What It’s Like and What You Need to Know” to see how I can help you in your career: https://stephanieschuttler.com/getting-a-job-in-wildlife-biology-book/ Want to learn about cool animals, conservation, and get tips about careers in wildlife biology, science, and more? Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/StephanieSchuttler and join my email list: https://stephanieschuttler.com/ I’d love to meet you. Connect with me on social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/FancyScientistInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fancy_scientist/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fancyscientist/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/fancyscientist/pins/Join the “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology” Facebook group to connect with other aspiring wildlife biologists, post your questions and get free advice: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gettingajobinwildlifebiology

Hello everyone. And welcome to the Fancy Scientist. We’re still pretty new into the new year, about the end of January. And I am going to talk about the importance of having a vision for the longest time. I did have certain goals, but they were either pretty obvious or pretty short term.And I didn’t have an overall vision. So when it came to graduating and then looking for a job. I quite honestly felt lost. And I know I am not alone. I talk to a lot of graduates, a lot of students, and so many of them feel lost today. We’re going to go deeper than just goal setting. Although I am going to talk about goals.And we’re going to talk about what I mean when I talk about vision, how I created my vision, some questions that I use to help define my vision. And just how important vision has been for me in terms of letting me get things done, enjoy my life, feeling accomplished, feeling productive, and really working on the things that matter to me and my career.So let’s not hesitate anymore. But actually I do want to say no matter where you are, when you’re listening to this podcast, if it’s January, if it’s August, you can start. So don’t wait for the new year. Get started today. Okay. Let’s talk about how to create a vision for yourself.For full show notes click here.Get a free chapter of my book “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology: What It’s Like and What You Need to Know” to see how I can help you in your career: https://stephanieschuttler.com/getting-a-job-in-wildlife-biology-book/ For full show notes click here.Want to learn about cool animals, conservation, and get tips about careers in wildlife biology, science, and more? Subscribe to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/StephanieSchuttler and join my email list: https://stephanieschuttler.com/ I’d love to meet you. Connect with me on social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/FancyScientistInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fancy_scientist/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fancyscientist/Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/fancyscientist/pins/Join the “Getting a Job in Wildlife Biology” Facebook group to connect with other aspiring wildlife biologists, post your questions and get free advice: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gettingajobinwildlifebiology