My name is Bret Menicke and I am a senior at Arizona State. I have chosen the concentrations of business and communication for my degree. I chose these two concentrations because I felt that they went together perfectly. I wanted to learn about the many aspects of business and in most business professions, you need to be able to communicate properly and effectively which is why I chose communication as well as business. These concentrations are reflective to my identity because I want to start my own business later in life and I also enjoy interacting with different people. By having business as a concentration I was able to learn about what goes into businesses that will help me start a company of my own one day. Having communication as my second concentration allowed me to understand how to connect with people more so than I did before entering this program.
This summer I am interning at Smarty Pants Consignment which is located in Phoenix. I chose to do my internship here because it is a fairly new business and I am hoping to learn from the owner how he went about starting his business. My goal is to start my own business down the line so being able to intern under an entrepreneur is exciting for me. My responsibilities so far have included helping costumers, taking inventory, floor modeling as well as starting to make marketing fliers to hand out. I have used information that I have studied by working on my communication skills through customer interaction and by using what I’ve learned from marketing class to produce an effective advertisement flier. The main reason for taking this internship is to be able to gain information about how my mentor started his business and to learn, by experience, about all the jobs that need to be done to run his business successfully.
I really am not sure what I am going to do after graduation, which is coming up fast. I have a few options on where I can go but my ultimate goal down the road is to start my own business. As of now my plan is just to apply to jobs everywhere and to hopefully start making some money. I am trying to find a job outside of Arizona for a change of scenery but if an opportunity comes up that is appealing, I won’t pass it up. It is very nerve wrecking not knowing where I am going to be and what I will be doing in a few months, but it is also exciting to be starting another chapter of my life.
Hello Bret! It sounds like concentrations in business and communications is the right path for you. As a person who was in your shoes last semester, getting ready to graduate and enter the workforce, you have your stuff together. Smarty Pants sounds like a perfect fit for you. Be open to everything and everyone that you cross paths with these next couple of months. You never know, somebody that you least expect to do business with will be your way to start your own business and make some money. Keep that aggressive mindset and determination to "make that money" and good things will come. Good luck this summer and I am excited to hear more about your progress.
ReplyDeleteHey Brett, my name is Troy Tinucci. We are twins in the sense that we both have majors in Business and communications. I totally agree that they go hand in hand with one another and we have a step up on someone with just 1. Your internship sounds like it will give you a lot of real time experience for your future endeavors. I agree that school flew by and don’t know what to do after graduation. I have a few friends who graduated and were able to find jobs. I am totally stressed out, but as long as we use our knowledge we can find a job. Good luck searching.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have the same business attitude that I have! Right on for wanting to own your won business and be your own boss. As long as you never lose that mentality, it will happen for you one day. I too would like to own a business, a food service franchise later on in life. I am sure you can be in agreeance with me in finding it extremely rewarding to be there on the front lines, your own boss, and actually helping people in an honest way. Just make sure you are not one of those shady business owners that never show their face and pay their employees minimum wage. I can tell from the type of internship you are doing that you have the drive. Right on! Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteHi Bret,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are not alone in being a little nervous about life after college. They say the job market is getting a little better, but its still tough for recent college grads. I heard on NPR just this morning that this is the worst job market since the great depression. Well owning your own business is always a good way to land yourself a job -create it yourself! Why not? Of course it requires financing and a good idea for a business that will actually make money. I think that gaining insight into how someone starts up their own business is a good idea and should provide you with good insight into some of the pros and cons of being and entrepreneur.