Marketing - Millennials - Technology - Just another WordPress weblog

I met someone the other day who handed me two business cards and said, “I’ll give you my personal card AND my company’s card… because companies can change.”

When he said that, it made me think, “Wow - Does he plan on quitting soon? What if his boss heard him say that?” (Note - He looked to be on the age boarder of Gen X and Gen Y.)

But the reality is… he is exactly right. Companies do change. And apparently they can change pretty often for Generation Y, considering that the average job tenure is 16 months…

So… is having your own, personal set of business cards a good idea?

YES! Especially in a world where you should be creating your personal brand… Having your own business cards can help build that reputation. And if you are ever planning on striking it out on your own, you’ll be in a much better spot if people have your personal info…

And let’s be honest… having a card that stands out can be make people remember you. When I start working in Corporate America, I already know what my business card will look like… it will look exactly like the other 15,000 people that work at the company. Bor-ing.

I think having my own set of personal cards also conveys to people that I don’t want to be defined my career… I’d much rather have my card reflect who I am as opposed to my job title.

But my question to you is… When you give someone two business cards, what do you think of them? Does that make them seem not very loyal to their company? Does it make them seem like they are always looking for the next opportunity? Or does that make them seem like a typical Millennial?

College encompasses many things… classes, parties, friendships, internships, and numerous other activities that might come your way.

Sometimes when we are so caught up in the day to day activities, we forget about the one common goal that every student shares…The ultimate goal of college is to get a job.

It isn’t about how good your grades are.
It isn’t about how many groups you were involved in.
It isn’t about how many contacts you’ve made.
It isn’t about how many internships you’ve done.

It’s about getting the best possible job when you graduate.

But isn’t it sad that landing that reaching this ultimate goal really comes down to two things… Getting your foot in the door and nailing an interview.

We spend four years in college, busting our asses… and getting a job really comes down to knowing the right person, and putting on your best face for an hour. (Except for those of you who strike it out on your own… I envy you.)

If getting a job comes down to these two things, every week you should be trying to meet someone new. The more people you meet, the more doors that can open up.

Aside from networking, you should be working on your interview. By that, I mean you should be creating stories to tell. A great way to do this is to create a document of common interview questions and, below each question, figure out the best story to tell that answers that question. Tell me of a time when you overcame a giant obstacle… Handled a stressful situation… Confronted a difficult coworker…

Learn to become a great storyteller because an interview is all about your story…

How is your story different?

If you’re thinking of consolidating loans, don’t do it. First, because many lenders have dropped their consolidation programs. Iowa Student Loan used to have a program that would reduce your rate by a point if you made your first 12 payments on time…. Now they don’t even have a consolidation program.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal,

Because of the Federal Reserve’s recent rate cuts, borrowers who haven’t already consolidated their variable-rate federal loans should wait until after July 1 since the consolidation rate is likely to drop by at least three percentage points to at least 3.25% — the biggest drop in rates in the history of the student-loan program, estimates Mr. Kantrowitz.

Now what is ironic is that I got a letter last week notifying my that if I didn’t switch from the COF index to the LIBOR index, my rates would increase to 11% and 13%.

Assuming this article predicts the drop in rates correctly, my loans will have dropped nearly 10% within a matter of months….  That is awesome.

When you don’t have classes to attend and you don’t have a ‘real’ job to go to, you can find yourself with a lot of free time…. Which is why I’ve decided to redesign my website. Lately I’ve been diving a bit deeper into the world of technology.

Don’t get me wrong… I still feel like lost child at a theme park. But I’m starting to get my head around all these fascinating technologies. Thankfully, I’ve got a lot of great mentors along the way.

Not only did the design evolve, but the content is also changing. I’m going to focus more on marketing, Gen Y, and a combination of both.

Growing up as a Millennial is fascinating. I can remember anticipating the release of Facebook… Only a mere three years later, look how it has changed our lives.

Anyway… The future is exciting. Nobody really knows what our generation will bring…. but I’m looking forward to learning more about it!

Grades have never made much sense to me… They were designed to motivate students to succeed and to give teachers a common ground for analyzing kids… right? 

There are a few problems I see with a grading scale:

1)  It creates a specific mindset for students.  If a kid goes through his entire life getting B’s, he is always going to see himself as a B student.  This is a paradigm that is going to stick with him.  Once kids know that their mind can change and expand, this paradigm can be reprogrammed… but how often does this happen?

2) It creates a specific mindset for teachers.  The same goes for teachers.  Teachers can subconsciously put more effort into teaching A students than teaching problem children who have a history of bad grades.  In one of my psychology classes, we read about a study where a teacher didn’t know the "good" students actually were the bad ones… After one semester, the students who traditionally did worse were improving more than the students who traditionally did better.

3) It creates winners and losers. When teachers grade on a standard bell curve, someone is going to lose.  Maybe I can either take a stats class at 9 a.m. or at 6 p.m.  The class in the morning is probably made up of full time students who have plenty of time to study while the night class may be made of working adults who are just looking to pass the class in order to get their degree.  I could do twice as much work in the 9:00 class and still get a worse grade.

4)  It makes you do the least amount of work possible to get the grade you want.  If you are a salesperson, what is the dumbest question you can ask a client?  "What do I have to do to get your sale?"
You’re basically asking, "What is the least amount of work I have to do to still get my commission?" 

Apply that to learning.  If a student has a specific grade in mind, then the class doesn’t become about learning.  The class becomes about getting that grade.  (And then we start choosing the easiest classes for our schedule, based off rate my professor.)

Maybe classrooms will evolve at some point… Instead of working to get that A, you spend your time reading, researching, and learning about something you’re interested in. 

I wish I would have used that mindset during all four years of college.  I’m sure that mentality would have led me to ask more questions, to spend time learning instead of cramming, and to take on harder projects.  (Not to mention attend ALL of my classes…)

Seth Goden said it best when he pointed out the different between Getting vs Taking.  You’re not going to get an education by always waiting for your next assignment… Sometimes you just have to make it up yourself.

I decided that today would be the day that I join Twitter.  It can’t hurt to have one more thing that helps me procrastinate, right?

Here is my Twitter time line:

11:02 - I joined Twitter
11:06 - I added a few friends
11:23 - My friend Andy Brudtkuhl "tweets" and welcomes me
12:10 - Nathan Wright, a friend of Andy’s, began to "follow me"
12:50 - Nathan tweets about heading to Panera to do some work
1:11 - I tweet and ask him which Panera he is heading to, because I’m already at one.
1:14 - I look to my left… And see Nathan having lunch
1:15 - We meet for the first time

Social media is awesome.

 My sister is an 18 year old senior in high school, about to
make that leap into what many of us would call, “The best four years of our
life.”  

She and I have had a couple long talks about where she wants
to go to school at. Of course, being a
Drake alum, I’m all for her coming to my alma mater.

Drake has given me a phenomenal education that has put me
miles ahead of many people my age… But who’s to say that wouldn’t have happened
at another school?

When you have tens of thousands of dollars of debt, you have
a constant reminder that you must be doing more than the average student. It gives you a different paradigm during
college and hence, a different experience. Money may not be a long term motivator, but debt sure is!

So if you already have that motivation to achieve, won’t any
educational institution yield similar results, regardless of size or cost?

Ambition one of the strongest characteristics one can have…
and that “desire to achieve” is multiplied when you are surrounding yourself
with people who share that common interest.

 People have told me that the friends you make during college
will be your best friends for the rest of your life… Doesn’t it make sense to
find friends that have the same drive for success that you have?

 It’s one of the traits that binds the Brazen Careerist
together. We are a group of Gen Y’ers
who share that ambition and passion, giving us all a common ground to interact
with one another.

 Your college experience will be much more valuable when you
surround yourself with people who are continually pushing you… even if costs a
bit extra now, it will pay off in the long run.

Remember:  you’re not just paying for an education… you’re
paying for the network that comes with it.

First impressions are powerful…  And a second impression will reinforce that first impression (…or it can completely redeem you if your first impression sucked…)

Remember that second impressions are all about the details.

It’s the little things that matter.  It’s remembering to ask about their kids.  Or their job.  Or maybe their favorite hobby.

But most importantly…  It’s about remembering the name.

If you briefly meet someone, what can be more powerful than calling them by their first name the next time you bump into them?

It goes back to the old question of, "How do I remember names?" 

The biggest problem I see with people who want to remember names is that they aren’t actively working on it…  In Europe I got good at remembering names because I was meeting a dozen new people every day.  When I’m bartending, I’m meeting new people every night.  This constantly is putting me in a position to remember names…  At the end of the day, you’ve got to ask yourself, "How many people did I meet today?"  If the answer is zero, how are you going to get better?

It’s like exercise… or playing a sport…  You get better with practice.  And once you do get good at names, if you don’t use that talent, you lose it.  It’s state of mind that you must constantly be in…

So tell me… who did you meet today?

Finally… It has launched.  The Brazen Careerist.  It’s a one stop shop for all of your Generation Y needs.  A website with the top 50 Gen Y blogs out there.  You’ve got to hand it to Ryan Healy, Ryan Paugh, and Penelope Truck for leaping into the entrepreneurial world and building this site. 

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Nathan Snell
• Adam Salamon
• Dan Schwabel
• Katie Konrath
• Ryan Karpeles
• Rebecca Thorman

Ahhh… Generation Y… The that generation that people haven’t quite figured out.  Because of the ambiguity that is associated with us, there is no better website to go to than the Brazen Careerist.  It will give you the ramblings of 50 Millennials about their world, the work, and anything else that they might come across.

Check it out!