Showing posts with label business. Show all posts

On Wednesday, November 19, 2014 at 6:15 AM, I figured out exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

What a helluva statement to make before breakfast..

Anybody that read and follow my blog know that I have been having a hard time deciding on a career. My Professor in class just recently asked me what I wanted to do, and I gave him some generic answer, like "work in operations." I played around with different ideas but struggled to pinpoint exactly what I wanted to do. Out of all the ideas that I came up with, the one thing that they all had in common was, helping people.

I knew I wanted to help people

But how?

I also knew that I loved entrepreneurship. It is exciting seeing an idea go from the drawing board to reality. Usually when people start a business...They take their dreams and bring it to life. They take their passion and make it their lifestyle. They know that it is a huge risk, but the reward could change everything for them.

Thinking about this, I knew that I wanted to be apart of that in some shape or form.

That's when it all hit me. That is when I realized, this is what I am passionate about.

I want to help people start their business. I want to Be a consultant of some sort or work in a college with business majors as a advisor/counselor/educator. Help them get their dreams off the ground. I want to help them with paperwork, organizational structure, ideas, thoughts, opinions, guidance, strategy, networking, etc. I don't want to run their business. I just want to help them get started. Help put them in the right direction so that they could be successful. I know a lot of people everyday want to start a business, but have no idea how. I was in the same boat at one time. I really didn't know who to turn to for answers. I want to be that person that can provide a wealth of knowledge when they need it the most.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that I am qualified to do all of this right now. But the breakthrough is knowing exactly what I want to do so that I can start the process of getting where I need to be in order to help people the way that I want to.

I can truly see myself doing this for the rest of my life. It would be exciting, and would be challenging, and it would be fun. It would be gratifying.

There is a reason why I didn't rush into a career decision. I mean, I knew that this day would occur one day. And now that it is here, everything makes sense. Even while being apart of my first business venture, I got the most joy out of helping create something new. I feel like I helped do that, and now I want to help others.

I'm excited right now...But, It's time to get back to work though...Stay tuned...

So I started Grad School a few weeks ago and at first I was a little intimidated. The syllabus for my first class had my mouth to the floor. Then I settled down and realized that it wasn't that bad. The only thing I really can do is just take one assignment at a time, then one class at a time. Do my best, and everything will be OK. So far, this little plan of mines have been working. But I don't know if it will work for future classes. Anyway, I can only do what I can only do. I decided to write a list of the top 5 things I have experience or realized thus far from being a Grad Student :

1. I am sick of school. I only have twelve classes to pass but I am counting down the days...

2. All the other students in my cohort have some fancy smanzy job title. (For example, I am senior director vice president of operations that handles 600 accounts on the West Coast and have about 70 people that directly report to me. While I'm like, HI my name is Andre. I got a job. I work really well. Lol)

3. So far, the average length of my papers have been 3-4 pages, and I submit one every week. Not bad. Before I started I was thinking 6-8 page papers.

4. Hardly anyone in the MBA program has a business background. I don't know why I thought it would be more people with bachelors in Business in class with me.

5. People are already trying to hard to kiss up to the instructor. I never been that way, and never will.

I will continue to keep you guys updated... I got a long way to go, but everyone keep saying that it goes fast. We shall see... Happy November by the way, I'm not looking forward to winter at all, but I live in Ohio and I should be used to our annual blizzards that come and go. Sigh.

Competition, Competition, Competition...

That is all people focus on today.

How can I beat the next guy or girl? How can I be better than them?

Competition will always be around as long as businesses are around. But I remember sitting in one of my business classes, and we were talking about focusing on finding your place instead of trying to go only for the "top dog" spot. Your market may be flooded with all kinds of competition and it's probably hard to get your products or services to stand out among all of them. So instead of trying to beat them at something that they probably already mastered, try and find a market/area that they are not currently touching. I currently work for a place that is doing this and it has been working out quite nicely for them. What I'm trying to say is, be the best at what YOU do. See what others may not see instead of what everyone else sees. I would rather be successful in a market where there is less competition, than mediocre in a market that is flooded with people that do the same exact thing that I do. This is for all of my people that are currently on the entrepreneurship path. Hell, this may be something that you already know. If now, hopefully this gives you some ideas on how to look at a situation another way.

So... Ladies and Gentlemen... I finished my Bachelors of Science Business Administration Degree this past Thursday... And I still can't believe I finally did it... After so long... After going to 5 different colleges.... Countless classes.... Countless assignments... I finished the job... And I am so proud to say that I am now a alumni of Ohio Dominican University.

When I first started going back to college, it was all about just getting that piece of paper... that diploma... But now that I finished, I realized it was much more than that.  Its a achievement that no one can take away from me...And what makes it more rewarding is knowing that I didn't just do assignments just to get a passing grade... I actually passed all classes with my lowest grade being a B- and with a 3.4 overall GPA...

I also made good on a promise to my parents...They will get to see their last of their 4 kids cross the stage getting a degree from a four year college. That alone makes me happy...

I always knew I was a intelligent person.. ..And had a good business sense... . I mean, I never needed a degree to tell me that... BUT one thing I will say is that, it do feel good having validation from a accredited University... That I do know what I am talking about....and I finally have a degree to back it up...

On a last note... To all my people that is currently in college or thinking about pursing a degree... Don't be hard headed like me... Haha. True, you CAN make it without a degree, but getting a degree will only help you in chasing your dreams... You don't know, what you don't know...Right? Give college a shot... Its always better to learn it yourself instead of paying someone. Arm yourself with credentials!!!!!

Now off to Grad School I go...

Hello my fellow blog readers!

I hope all is well in your part of the world. I am doing good. I can't complain even though I try. I can't help it. I'm human, so I'm just showing the world one of my imperfections. Anyway, the countdown is down to ten days. My last class for my bachelor degree is on 25th of this month. I see the end, and I also see the beginning. Last week I was told that I will not be starting Graduate School till 11/6/14 due to a Financial Aid issue. So it looks like I will get a little bit of time between my bachelor program and my masters. I guess I'm okay with that. The wait could be longer.

I continue to think about my next step after I get my precious degrees. I still don't know. I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Its like I can't find a happy medium between finding a career that I love and making sure that I make enough money to support my family. I need to find something that works for both sides. I heard someone once say, do something you love FIRST, then the money will follow. This sounds good, and I really want to believe this can happen. But it just seems like a fairy tale. I haven't given up though. One thing that my business classes taught me is to SPEAK UP and network your butt off. You never know, who knows who. I would not have gotten the job I have now, if I didn't speak up. So we will see what happens.

On another note, I just went to a Sneaker Event show called Sneaker freaks. A friend of mine and his team created it last year and the 2nd annual event went down yesterday. It had to be 1,000+ people there that attended. I think my friend was happy with how it turned out. This is one of the things that I love about business. I love seeing the fruits of the labor. Seeing the hard work pan out. Seeing everything come together is a incredible sight. You always here about the bad situations. It's great to see the good that transpire from the ideas that were created. If I never start a business myself, I want to atleast be able to help others dreams become a reality. I think that is where my passion lies. That would make me happy.

I wanted to revisit a tweet that I did a few days ago that talked about the poor, the rich, and the wealthy. 

And how they grind,  hustle, and execute. 

All my life I have been surrounded by the grind.  The poor wants to do everything in order to become rich. We want to be singers,  rappers,  basketball players,  etc. So we spend our whole life chasing these dreams with the hopes of being that one in a million person that "make it big". You will always hear, "You have to grind in order to shine... Blah, blah, blah."  The grind is all I knew growing up. Mom and Dad was always coming up with something new that they could do in order to make money. My mom had three jobs at one time! And don't get me wrong, I appreciate it and understand why they did it. They were only doing what they was taught in order to take care of us. But financially, my family really never made any progress.  And now that I am grown with a family of my own, I seen myself continuing this terrible legacy. (I won't really talk too much about the grind and how much I hate it because I already discussed that in a previous blog) It seemed as if the grind was never ending. And when you are poor, the only way out is to become rich. But all you really is doing is graduating to the hustle. And when your rich, you have to hustle every single day in order to stay rich and not become poor again. Yes your bank account may be a little bit better, but is your quality of life better? Isn't the hustle just the rich man's grind? It seems like it's not much of a step up when you think about it logically. So I wanted to know where was the sweet spot. Where you didn't have to grind and hustle your life away. And that's when I learned about wealth. Wealthy people don't grind or hustle. They execute! They come up with a plan and follow it completely. This plan comes from years and years of planning.  What separates them from the rich is that they create a platform in order to enhance their quality life not just for today but for tomorrow. They create a legacy that can be passed down to their family. The rich only thinks about today or just their life time. And most of the time, when they die, their riches die with them because the only thing they left their family was money and no knowledge . In which family members take that money, spend it, and when it's gone, it's back to grinding with the hope of becoming a hustler. 

I went back to school to learn how to execute. I don't want to become rich, I want to create wealth so that when I pass away, my family will not only have money, but also the know how/knowledge to sustain wealth so that they can have a better quality of life then I had. I don't want them to have to grind or hustle. I want them to know about creating a legacy. 

I have faith in what I'm trying to do. I know this is no small feat, and I may not accomplish what I want to accomplish in my lifetime, but I feel like I'm making progress because I'm atleast introducing a new way of thinking to my family. 

I'm no longer running a clothing line but from time to time, I still get emails from people asking for advice.  The majority of them asks the same question ... "How do I start a clothing line?" So my reply to them is... "The way to start a clothing line is to start a movement." So they usually follow that up with a "What do you mean?" Well, what I mean is to create a following. You have to have  people that eat, sleep, and breathe your brand before anything. They have to believe in what you stand for first and foremost. Someone once told me that it's better to have someone that believes in the movement than just a one time customer. I think that is true because once your movement is established, not only will your customers be repeat customers, but they will be a walking talking advertisement for you. They will feel as if they are apart of something bigger than just a clothing company. And if you continue to feed that movement,  it will continue to grow into something bigger than you ever dreamed of. And that my friend is what will create longevity for you.

This doesn't apply to just clothing lines neither. You see musicians do this everyday. A quick example would be the rapper Machine Gun Kelly (MGK). I was fortunate to see his movement grow from no one knowing who the hell he was, to thousands of kids shutting down a mall, screaming his name. I know it took blood,  sweat and tears to build what he accomplished, but just standing on the outside looking in... I know he got to feel shocked at how fast and large his Est/Lace Up movement has grown...

A lot of people out here is here to make a quick buck, but the smartest people know that in order to sustain wealth you have to have longevity.  And in order to have longevity you have to build a movement so that people could have a purpose to continue to support you.

From time to time, I will post stuff like this because hey I'm a business major in college and this type of stuff interest me.

I'm really fascinated with the idea behind creating movements...