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April 20th, 2006
07:06 pm - Picking a Career
Picking a Career
I have no pull towards any one industry. I kind want to start my own business, but sometimes I don’t. I feel like I have everything it takes to make my own business successful, but what industry? I have a lot of experience in the food industry, enough to know that is not what I want to get into. I want to specialize in a niche market. I want to have a somewhat small target market, but a really high demand. I want to develop a product or service that has never been offered. Any job I’ve ever worked, I’ve always tried to run it with very, very good customer service and with class. I’ve spent the last three at a golf course as a cart attendant, but I always made it my goal not to just wash the carts, but interact with the customers and make them feel good about coming out to the course. I believe that my interpersonal skills combined with my knowledge can only predict success for me in the future. I have never enjoyed going to school, in fact, I can’t stand it, but I do it because I am learning. Often times I’m learning more than my grades can show. I am learning how professionals act and how they operate. That is why I enjoy going to such a grade A school.
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April 19th, 2006
08:12 pm - Starting My Own Business
Starting My Own Business
I've been thinking about starting up an automotive detailing business over the summer to see how I do on my own. I've worked for other people my whole life, and I'm ready to skip the middle man and start making my own money. Of course, it will only be for three months, and I'll still have my job being the assistant pro at the golf course, but it will be a good experience for me. I really, really want to make some decent money this summer so I can start paying off my car. I still owe 10,500 on my corvette that I bought for 15,900 last summer. I've put a chunk in it but, I've only been paying the monthly due for about the last 6 months. I would really like to get it down to around 5k to 6k after the summer is over, as well as pay off some of my girlfriend’s debt while she is in school. She has had a developing credit card problem, and I can see it as a potential liability for me in the future if we plan on getting married. I have already sat her down and started a budget for her, but she won't follow it. I'll end up getting angry and help her out with my own money, but I don't mind so much. I'll call my business "The Hose Pros" and I already started advertising and building a potential customer base. But you know what they say, more money... more problems.
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April 18th, 2006
09:56 pm - HR is knocking at my door.
HR is knocking at my door.
Well, my girlfriend’s parents came to town today. Her mother is a HR manager at Lockheed Martin and she had some really interesting information to share with me about the business. We talked about the different duties she has as the head HR manager in Denver. She was down at a conference with all the HR managers nationwide. She worked her way up into her position through years and years of experience. She doesn’t have an undergraduate degree and never attended college after high school. She started out as a secretary, and over 20 years she has worked her way up into human resources. Some of the things she does, I find really interesting. Dealing with employees through the employee’s managers is her main concern at the office. She is currently taking classes to attain some sort of HR certification. I didn’t ask her too many details, but it’s 15 credit hours of HR courses. She doesn’t see a benefit in getting an undergrad because she sees herself retiring with the next ten years, and will never see the benefit of the degree even though Lockheed Martin is willing to put her through school. I think she is right; there is no reason to get a degree if she is content with her current position. She did tell me that there is not a lot of HR jobs in her area, and when she got laid off by her previous company that was making cut backs, she was afraid she couldn’t find another job without a degree, but now that she is at Lockheed she plans to retire there. Human resources is becoming a top career choice for me, if I ever do get into corporate management.
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April 17th, 2006
07:12 pm - Interviewing
Interviewing
In my communication course I had a mock interview. A guest from a local business came in and sat on the panel to judge our performance on the interview. I was really, really, nervous. I was wearing my cousins black suit with a white dress shirt and a royal blue tie. I looked really good, and was trying to pump my self up for the interview, but I just couldn't do it. I tried to display confidence, but the whole situation was wrong in my opinion, and I hope to God that no actual interviews are conducted like that. The fact that I have been studying the perfect interview so much lately didn't help me at all, it only made me more nervous and less confident. I remembered that the greeting and handshake was very important, and it has always been a point of mine to have a firm handshake, but how firm should it be? Should I break this guy's hand with my shake, or should I just let him know I'm there. I was so terribly nervous, and I could only think of one answer for every question. The content was lacking terribly. There is no way that I could have got the job excluding a work of God.
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April 16th, 2006
07:57 pm - Golf and Business
Golf and Business
The relationship between golf and business has been coming up in discussions a lot with me lately. Why exactly is there such a strong connection between this particular sport and business. I am assistant golf profession at Rocks Springs Ridge Golf Club in Apopka, Florida. I see the connection all the time, and it is a perfect opportunity to network with different business professionals from the surrounding area. For a long time golf has been associated with wealth and status in the society. I believe this very prevelant in Florida with all the country club stricken retirees. It is common to have people socializing as well as discussing future plans on the course with clients, co-workers, as well as future associates or patners. I have a direct connection with many prominent busimess in my community. I have the key to safe, and the money is a job opportunities. Many of my previous co-workers have left the golf course for job with people they have met through working at the course. A fellow employee of mine worked as a cart girl at the course for over a year until she landed a job as office manager for one of the courses most successful members. She loves her job now, and is glad she was able to have an opportunity to meet such prominent people through the course. The game of golf has brought a lot of people together. Maybe one day I'll be making the connections.
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April 11th, 2006
08:40 pm - Entrepreneur Success
Entrepreneur Success
Today in one of my entrepreneur seminar classes we had a very, very interesting speaker. His name is Adam Lovell and he is the president of Write-A-Prisoner.com. It is sort of a dating service for prisoners. A prisoner pays a flat rate of $40 and he or she gets to make a brief ad with his or her picture included. The ads are then put up on the website for the world to review, and possible respond to if willing. This a great help to many prisoners who wish to keep in better contact with the people they know, and to meet new people. Although the idea is somewhat controversial the business part is genius. He provided a service to a target market where there was no previous competition and he capitalized on everything. He occasionally has to pay a programmer to work on the site or ad a new server, and he has to pay two to three typists to update and add new ads on the website. He has little to no overhead, and he makes an absolute killing. There is hope. This man had no education and worked for the Volusia County beach patrol, and now he has been reported to make over $250,000 annually after taxes. It’s not up my alley, but whatever works, works.
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April 7th, 2006
08:33 pm - Insurance Underwiter
My father is an insurance underwriter that works for a health insurance company in Lake Mary. He makes a good base salary, but makes most of his money through profitability bonuses. Basically, as an underwriter it is his job to evaluate the risk of potential and reoccurring health problems that other company’s employees may have. He then decides what their rates will be for the next year based on how many claims or potential claims they make have the next year. He deals with brokers and consultants that represent their employer or company. Setting the rates for the company is stressful, because the customer companies have several health insurance companies they can choose from, but it is hard to give out really, really good rates because that company may have large claims and my father’s company may lose money. This puts a lot of financial stress on my father to not only get new business, but remain profitable with the rates he is giving. I was surprised to know just how much pressure he has to deal with personally at the office, but this career possibility interests me a lot. Maybe one day I can become a successful underwriter too. I can see myself doing underwriting in the future, and seeing as the company my dad works for is the only health re-insurer around, I may be at his company in the future.
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April 5th, 2006
07:23 pm - A goal to accomplish
I have a goal. I want to buy a house. Not a new house, but at least a 3 bedroom with a two car garage. It has to be nice, but I can put in new tile and carpet myself if I have to. I was thinking that if I land a good paying job out of college, with the credit I have now I can probably get a pretty good size loan. I want to live in Orlando somewhere, probably around the UCF area. I figure I could rent out the two extra bedrooms while I'm still single to help pay the rent. I think I would be a good landlord, but how should I go about getting room mates? I don't want a bunch of party animals in my house, but you have to expect college kids to party, right? I don't know, just food for thought. I have really grown attached to Orlando in the last eight years. Deland... not so much. Now I have even more motivation to graduate on time.
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March 29th, 2006
07:56 pm - Opening A Store
Opening A Store
I wonder if opening a retail store could be a good way to make a decent living. Getting a loan and opening retail franchise in a good location doesn’t seem so bad. I have worked for a couple of franchise stores, and they seem to be a lot of work at first, but once the employees and management get settled in and are comfortable things seems to run rather smoothly. I see stores come and go all the time, even the large corporations sometimes have trouble keeping stores on their feet with good financial backing. I guess it all goes back to location. Then there is supply and demand. I am seeing more and more Starbucks going in around my hometown of Apopka, but I don’t think that in the middle of the summer anyone is going to want coffee. Despite my prediction, through suggestive selling and advertising Starbucks continues to get business with new Iced drinks that appeal to even heat weathered Floridians. This leads me to believe that with the right combination of marketing and location any store can be successful. But how successful can one store be? Could I pay of the interest on a franchise loan selling books, drinks, and an occasional CD? I don’t think so, but I’ll keep my options open.
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March 27th, 2006
07:56 pm - Human Resources
Human Resources
Human resources has been a interest of mine for a long time. We had a man named Shane Cobb speak to our class today in one of my courses. He is the HR director for Dixon Ticonderoga, and had a lot of interesting things to say. Apparently Dixon Ticonderoga makes more than just mechanical pencils for all of us students to bubble in our scantrons with. He had quality input on how to make an impression on a company during the interviewing process. He said first and foremost that simply having a degree from a school as reputable as Stetson would put you in the lead, but just incase there is more than one Stetson graduate applying for the position, there are a few other things that we could do to nose out the other applicants. He said that interviewees never write thank you letters anymore. He said that he has hired people simply because of the thank you letter before. The job market for fresh graduates is so big; we have so much knowledge and talent, but no experience. This makes it hard to get in the door, so writing a thank you letter is the least I could do to make an impression on a potential employer. He did say however, not just write on letter to the HR director, he said to write to everyone that you encountered during the interview process. I love speaker like this, the ones who tell it to you like it is, and know what it takes to make a difference.
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March 22nd, 2006
06:20 pm - Networking! Networking! Networking!
Networking! Networking! Networking!
Today we had a career services speaker from the career service office here at Stetson University. I learned a wealth of information from the session. Stetson actually has an alumni database of actively participating alumni who are willing and ready to help any Stetson student find the connection they need. It is resources like the alumni database that give Stetson an edge, in my opinion. I have been somewhat inactive in my two previous years at school, but now that I have really grasped what good networking can do for me I’m talking to everyone I meet and everyone I know. I ask so many question I’m starting to annoy myself, but every new person and position I discover, the better off I am when I’m out there searching for a job. Also, the more I know about an industry, the better off I’ll be if I do decide to start something up myself. I’ve been talking to family members, co-workers, current employers, previous employers, and everyone in between. Since I haven’t decided what industry or job interest me specifically, I’m trying my hardest to see what is out there by talking to the people who do it everyday. I’ve talked to people in construction, sales, real-estate, golf, automotive, education, food, and a ton of other industries. It’s not just what you know, it’s who you know.
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March 10th, 2006
07:28 pm - What do I want to do after college?
What do I want to do after college?
I get asked this question almost daily now. Family and friends that know I am graduating within the next year all want to know what I am going to do after graduating, and my answer is: "I have absolutely no idea." I must say it feels rather sad to say that, because I do have an idea but just nothing specifically that I am looking to do. Should I start narrowing it down? At this rate I feel like I am going to be saying that my whole life. I don't know what I want to do, but I want to do something. I have good job now, but it definitely isn't a career aspiration. I don't necessary want to get out of the golf industry though. Stetson has connections with Nike Golf, and I would love to see what they are offering. There is a meeting with Nike Golf that career services has set up so maybe I will attend to see exactly what positions they are offering. I know my resume would look great to any golf industry employer, so maybe I will go down that path. I think I need to work on my game a bit though, because I can guarantee that part of the application or interview process will be on the golf course.
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March 2nd, 2006
07:57 pm - My Ambitions
My Ambitions
If it was my goal to be coolest homeless person on the street, take showers in the park fountain, and make friends with other vagrants named "The Quaker" and "Jazzy Jeff", I could simply not do anything. My only goal would be to have someone drop me off at Orange Ave. and Colonial Drive, so I could hang out at some old abandoned building while occasionally looking for some spare change on the ground.
I need to identify my goals. I need career goals, and I need personal goals. Here some of the things that are currently on my mind. I feel that my personal goals will directly correlate with my career choice and aspirations. But becoming a hobo is not my goal, I want to buy a house, buy a new car, get married, and start a family. Of course, that is so clique, but that is what I want. I need to stay in Florida, I've already got the car and the girl picked out, I just need two more things specifically. I need to graduate, and I to find a good paying job. I've also been thinking about becoming and entrepenuer. There are many things that go into those things, and I've been working on it, but here are some of the ideas and concerns that have been on my mind recently.
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