After taking a public relations class in college, I unfortunately didn’t conjure up enough drive and interest to entry the industry right away. Everything just seemed so ritualistic and traditional. There was no way something as simple (but not to say easy) as managing a Yelp page or Twitter account could be a job. hellaPR, as cliché as it sounds, just came to me as a vision/wild idea that just flowed together one day as I was driving home from Costco, a pretty mundane and routine trip for groceries. I bought the domain immediately when I got home and slept on the idea for just a week, then I woke up today at 4:45am with my mind racing, all kinds of ideas running everywhere, tired yet afraid enough of losing them I turned on the light and grabbed a pad of paper. Six pages later I get out my laptop, and here I am. Unsure of the next ideas in starting my own business (don’t worry, I’ll do some serious homework this weekend), I figured after buying the domain and getting some basic ideas down I would need to next register and start a blog, a Twitter account, and all the other things necessary to help build my SEO. In that case, this is the first part of step two.
Summer 2009 is already looking like the worst time to enter as an inexperienced college grad (with a BS in marketing) into the bleakest and most competitive job markets since the recession of the early 1980s. With little to no encouraging and optimistic ideas of a quick recovery, it seems I either have to take a job, any job I can find, really, or network with every living and speaking organism that crosses my path in hopes of finding a better job (that will probably still underpay given the current economic climate and my lack of experience), or try to score an obscenely high GMAT score so I can somehow get into grad school, making up for the discrepancy in my work experience relative to that of the average student, or finally I could start my own business, probably the riskiest route of all. I’ve decided to attempt all four of these strategies. I figure, while the startup may have a high failure rate(like 99.9999999999%, high), my collective probability of earning enough money and experience to get to grad school, or even better finding a job at a company that would fund my MBA is much higher. Of course, that’s much easier said than done, or else everyone would be doing this, right? Work with my own startup will give me enough experience and also grow my connections and network – two crucial elements that hold the key to the success of my career. I’ve heard from a couple people that getting a MBA doesn’t give you your dollars worth of marginal business textbook-type knowledge if you happen to already possess an undergrad business degree, it is however the connections and bonds you build with your cohort that seal the deal, and that is what will land you a position – whether it’s a story you can illustrate in an interview about working on a team in grad school, or they are the people actually offering you a job.
I dream of reaching financial stability by the time I reach grad school so I wont have to be stretched as thin I was during my undergrad education. I want to give grad work the time and attention it deserves so I can get the most of it (and not make a fool of myself and let my family down in the process!). Hopefully this wild idea of a startup will lead me in that direction. Monetizing a crazy idea that crossed my mind after loading a 20lb box of vanilla soymilk and a crate of strawberries into my car after a trip at Costco still is ridiculous in my mind.
Since this is my first entry, hopefully the first of many, I’d like to thank a few people that planted the seed, as so to speak, that taught me numerous things that tell me this crazy idea might be possible. Shari Weiss was my business communication and PR professor at SFSU (BUS 360 and MKTG 432) and she taught me things during and after my time spent in her class. I enjoy following her new adventure into social media with her Twitter account (though I don’t think she’s yet following me) and her social media focused blog which curious and unsure professionals and companies should look to as their new bible. She has a unique style of teaching as well as stories that I’ll never forget. Eve Peters can also take immense credit as an influence for this blog and idea of a company. I’ve interned with her startup, MIXTT, part time for the past year, and I’ve witnessed the ups and downs and battles startups go through, in existence alone! She’s always listened to my ideas, offered help in my job search with her connections, and taught me the tricks of the trade in leveraging networks and the popularity of social media, and the ins and outs of SEO before if was ever brought up in my marketing classes. They’ve both together driven enough spark in me to eventually do something other than useless Tweets and Facebooking. And they’ve obviously lit a fire under me that I wake up at 4:45am on a Wednesday and write this much on an idea that might just only stay an idea until someone steals it and gets to business (literally) before I do, or I somehow become preoccupied 24/7 with a kick ass job at Google in the meantime.
This is it for my first blog entry. Thanks for reading and please check back soon if you’d like to see what crazy early AM rambles I crank out. You could also get a first hand account of epic failure, or seemingly impossible success. Hopefully the latter! Either way, I think this will still prove more useful that my lengthy Yelp reviews and obscure Tweets. Also, I’m sure there are plenty of typos and instances of bad grammar but please give me a break as it’s really early.
hellaPR 