Thoughts About My Way To Reach My Dream Job

I like efficiency, I like effectiveness, and I like growth. By combining these, I will be able to conquer the business world which is something that I’ve wanted to do from a very early age. I have held several sales and marketing positions that have allowed me to drive business objectives, improve processes, and develop staff by sharing responsibility for department objectives. I starting by growing my sales experience, then sales management before switching to digital marketing. Then advancing to marketing strategy and management. I have held several positions at the director level, managing teams and budgets but haven’t been able to get to the executive level. I am now looking to bring all of this experience together along with an MASTER’S OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION to move into an executive position and eventually reach CEO.

My first position out of high school, I was hired by Elk Grove Chrysler Jeep as a Sales Associate. Since I was just starting and didn’t have a rolodex to rely on, I spent much of my time on the point or cold calling. Cold-calling and being hung up on by prospect after prospect, I learned that my process was broken and I would need to make some changes if I wanted to be successful. I focused on practicing my sales pitch and overcoming objections with some of the other young and eager sales reps. Understanding that the way I was going to succeed was building value to my prospects by perfecting my pitch. I learned very early in my career that being efficient and effective are very important to success. This experience allowed me to transition into a sales management position at Verizon Wireless.

Transitioning to Verizon Wireless as a Retail Sales Manager was a big transition for me. While this was not my dream job, I learned a great deal about business, and I gained very useful exposure to executives and the corporate world. Leading my store to increased sales in each of my qualifying years allowed me to gain exposure to and recognition from the regional and national Executive teams. I was also lucky enough to have a great team of which I was able to coach 5 to promotions. This position at a young age did not come without its problems. I had to manage employees that did not feel as if I deserved my position. A few that actually felt they should have my position. Working through these issues made us a stronger team and some of these people are the ones I was able to coach into promotions. Managing a staff of 32 and a $2m budget were very valuable for my career. After almost three years at Verizon Wireless, I was once again seeking a career with the opportunity for growth.

I have always dabbled with building websites and even took several computer science courses so it seemed natural that I would venture into the digital world. I had the opportunity to join Savvy Perspective as their search engine optimization manager and jumped at the chance. My knack for efficiency made my transition to this new digital career very smooth. SEO is all about efficiency although it has changed drastically over the years. I was able to rank all of our clients in the top five of search engine results pages. This created many satisfied customers for our company. I was promptly promoted to director of digital marketing where I could spread my efficiency concepts through the entire digital marketing team.

As the director of digital marketing, I was able get all parts of our client digital marketing campaigns rolling on the same track. I was now in a position to take the initiative to analyse the structure and management style of the company and transform the company to a more efficient form of itself. After rearranging our structure of the marketing team, my next goal was to revise our marketing strategies and align them with the client business objectives. We began to build complete digital marketing strategies for our clients that would allow us to drill down to the key performance indicators and metrics for each channel and campaign. This is where I built the thought process that I still believe to this day, every campaign should be measurable and should flow back of to the actual business and revenue goals. I always choose to start with how best to reduce client spend without reducing conversions. Once we have made the campaigns efficient enough, we begin the growth phase of increasing spend and with a targeted approach. After having several successful years at Savvy Perspective, I decided that a jump to San Francisco might do well for my career so I took a position with Palmer Ad Agency.

The Principle at Palmer Ad Agency, Drew Palmer, had been trying to hire me for a couple years and I finally accepted his offer. This position was slightly backwards as I accepted the position of Director of Digital Marketing but was a chance to make the leap to the San Francisco/Silicon Valley area. This position allowed me to get back to focusing primarily on search engine optimization while learning to mesh with a creative team that was completely separate from the digital team. This position presented a new challenge for me, how would I begin to transition the company and mindsets into a digital marketing approach. This was an advertising agency that slowly added more options for clients and was performing as an advertising agency doing digital things instead of a digital agency. I was able to add conversion rate optimization to my list of responsibilities and that gave me a seat at the table for more content driven discussions. Knowing that change is always hard, I would provide my input after everyone else had a chance to speak. This allowed me to pick which pieces of the process I would I would attempt to change. Showing positive results made it much easily to show the value of my ideas without pushing anyone away. Being agile makes it very easy for us to pivot from ideas that aren’t working and double down on those that are successful. Slowly the team was transitioning into an agile digital marketing agency and with this success I decided the I would take my clients, I was helping on the side, and turn them into a business. As I continue to strategize how to grow our company globally, I need to be aware of and better understand all external and environmental forces. I must consider environmental forces that will affect the decision including the actions of competitors, suppliers, customers, or other factors that could potentially nullify my strategy. I don’t want to become enamoured with analysis techniques but be able to conceptualize the so that I may be able to make rapid and efficient decisions.

Leaving the comfort of a regular pay check to venture out on my own was a great learning experience. Starting Strategic Marketing Automation gives me insights I wouldn’t otherwise have. I was in charge of my own destiny and was able to work when I wanted. I didn’t realize that working for myself and choosing my own schedule would mean I would end up working seven days per week. As a business owner, you always feel like if you aren’t doing something productive, you should be. Overwork became the norm but I was able to coMaster’s of Business Administrationt burning out by taking trips often. Just changing scenery made doing the same things seem different and new. I would spend days or weeks at a time in Los Angeles, Seattle, or Tahoe. I was able to rejuvenate myself without stopping my productivity. I eventually realized that I was stuck in a situation that wasn’t ideal for me. I made great money and enjoyed life but couldn’t seem to make the moves that would allow me to grow a business. So, with a heavy heart, I decided that I needed to re-join the workforce. I made the decision to uproot my family and take a position in another city.

I most recently moved my family to Silicon Valley to take a position as the Director of Digital Marketing for Thinfilm Electronics, a tech start-up. This is a great opportunity for exposure to larger firms so meshing this exposure with my drive and a MASTER’S OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION from University of Essex Online would be a great combination for success. The Vice President of Marketing hired me to manage all digital marketing efforts for Thinfilm’s rebuilt and enlarged marketing team. With a new Chief Executive Officer, the company has yet to determine its 2019 goals. I was tasked with developing a new website and campaigns that revolve around a vision that is old, unclear and undefined. With no company direction and no marketing strategy it is very difficult to build assets that will be effective for our target audiences. Working with the Vice President and our new Senior Director of Marketing Operations, we were able to build a marketing strategy that would align with generic business growth objectives around a strategic vision. We have been able to dial in a narrative that fits with our marketing and business objectives without having any clear direction and this is the definition of success in difficult circumstances.

I have described situations that prove that my initial statement. I like efficiency, I like effectiveness, and I like growth. I am passionate about my work and helping the people around me grow. The more I help others, the more I achieve and the more I achieve, the more I can help. In 2018, While working full-time, I managed to complete my first novel which will be published in 2019. This book was written with the hopes that I could help others that are going through similar personal issues. I experienced a great pain and writing the book was not only to help others but to help me put the situation behind me. I would consider the book a success if it only helps one person and it already has, me. I learned that I was capable of not only dealing with the situation and growing from it. I am a better person for going through the situation and writing the book allowed me to see that. This situation also forced me to make a choice and that choice was either I keep chugging along or I do something to advance my life and my career. I chose to advance my knowledge, life and career by pursuing this degree. This degree would be a huge accomplishment me that should suite me well internally as well as externally.

To satisfy my desire for success, I must continue my education and have already planned my next steps after completing my MASTER’S OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION at University of Essex Online. I am pursuing my MASTER’S OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION to become a better business strategist while further developing my leadership and presentation skills as I will manage professionals on the content and business side; it will be my task to unite them behind a shared strategic vision. At this phase in my career, it is logical to pursue an elite business school education and the University of Essex Online experience to provide me with an international perspective of marketing intellectual property in a globalized economy. With your assistance, I can continue my schooling and be better prepared to become an executive. I am confident that I can handle the rigor of the MASTER’S OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION program at University of Essex Online and benefit from its focus on global competitiveness. My related work experience will help me succeed in this environment and wherever life takes me next. This isn’t a one-sided deal as I see my experience contributing to group discussions and my career benefitting the school’s reputation. My greatest contribution to the University of Essex Online program will be my international perspective, my experience with working with Global United States corporations, and my passion for using my abilities to help others, as well as society.