Ashton Kutcher may be worth $140 million, but that isn’t stopping him from offering his “know-how” to professionals for $5 an hour. Save up your pennies, people. This may be the best $5 you’ve ever spent on your career.
(Photo Credit: david_shankbone/Flickr)
The A-list celeb seems to have gotten more out of his role as Apple’s Steve Jobs than just a nice paycheck. Kutcher, his birth name is actually Christopher Ashton Kutcher, is offering professionals an hour of his expertise for just $5 on Popexpert, a site offering advice from experts in various fields via face-to-face video lectures.
According to E! News, Popexpert announced that Kutcher “has no upcoming availability and users requesting time must sign up for the waiting list,” but the actor has established a profile on the tutorial site, although incomplete. (We can only imagine how far this so-called waiting list extends already.)
Listening to a one-hour lecture from Ashton Kutcher isn’t exactly the same thing as receiving advice from a long-term career mentor, but the sessions can definitely benefit professionals on a smaller scale — “micro-mentoring,” if you will. Research shows that mentoring can greatly benefit a person’s career, with mentees experiencing more promotions, pay, and retention than those without mentoring.
Sun Microsystems conducted a study on approximately 1,000 employees over a seven-year period and found that 25 percent of mentees saw an increase in salary grade, compared to only 5 percent of non-participants. There was also a 72 percent increase in retention rate for mentees, compared to non-participant retention rate of 49 percent.
Acting and lending more-than-affordable career advice aren’t the only professions Ashton Kutcher is dabbling in these days. Last month, Lenovo, the largest maker of personal computers, announced that “Kutcher will work with [Lenovo’s] engineering teams around the world to develop and market the Yoga line of tablets by providing input and decision-making into design, specifications, software, and usage scenarios.”
What makes this young, successful actor worth his weight in gold when it comes to career advice? Perhaps taking a look at his early years will help explain why he makes an ideal candidate for lending advice to others.
After graduating high school in 1996, Kutcher enrolled in the University of Iowa and chose to study biochemical engineering in hopes to find a cure for his twin brother, who suffered from a heart ailment and cerebral palsy. He took on odd jobs to make ends meet, even taking on a job sweeping up cereal factor debris for General Mills. Shortly after, Kutcher was discovered by a modeling agency, and moved to Hollywood … and the rest is history.
Ashton Kutcher has overcome adversity and used it to motivate him. It’s definitely worth a few dollars to get his perspective on how to be more successful.
Tell Us What You Think
Would you dish out a few bucks to hear Ashton Kutcher’s pearls of wisdom? Share your thoughts with our community on Twitter or in the comments section below.
Great marketing advice for any real estate professional. I found this post because I am doing exactly what you suggested and trying to stay one step ahead of the others!