If you don't already know from reading my 'About Me' section, I'm currently enrolled in the Associate of Science in Business Administration. Provided that I attend the winter semester of 2014 and the Spring semester of 2015, I will have my associates degree in June of 2015. That doesn't leave me very long to determine what I want to go for a bachelors in. I know it seems like an easy decision to make, but from personal experience, it's not. Degrees are a lot of money. I mean, after having graduated from my associates degree, I will have an approximated accumulative debt of $25,000; that's not even the bachelors degree yet. They say that you have to spend money to make money and while that holds true in most cases, you also have to choose the right thing to spend your money on in order to make money.
I'm going to be honest, I haven't even started filling out applications for scholarships and grants yet. I keep thinking that I have all this time to apply when my associates degree flew right by. I probably should seriously get on that stat.
But anyway, I take my degree online through Virginia College. You've probably heard of them because they are a well-known accredited college.
I always thought the idea of working from home was an interesting one. Actually, between having worked at Electrolux in one of the most difficult departments for very little pay, learning the true definition of unfairness and having the pleasure of knowing a remarkable women who decided to further her education and now makes six figures a year is what inspired me to further my own education.
See, Jason's parents have this friend named Alison who for the most part resides up in New Hampshire where she works as a software tester for some company that I'm not sure the name of. She had a house built in South Carolina right on one of the major lakes in South Carolina/Georgia which is known as Lake Hartwell. Every time I walk into her house, I feel like a million bucks! Granted, she had to work very hard to get to where she is today but she has taught me that nothing is impossible, especially when she has also experienced hardships in her life. I thought people who were born into money were the only ones who were lucky enough to land those great paying jobs, but she has proved otherwise. She is a women of great integrity and I love being around her positive energy, it always gives me the boost I need when I've lost some of my motivation.
For the purpose of maintaining my professionalism, I will refrain from including the specifics as to why working for Electrolux has motivated me to further my education, but I will say that one of the girls that I use to work with back in Plastics (one of the most difficult departments) told me to take the unfairness of this place as a lesson and do better with your life than this. She insisted on reminding me on how young I was and all the potential I have. I have always been a great communicator and most people take that as a sign of intelligence. I do have a way with words. I'm not being cocky; I'm just being honest.
Referring back to my statement that I made about the idea of working from home being of interest to me, I've had much success participating in classes toward my associates degree online. By doing so, it has taught me that some chances are worth taking and that the world of uncertainty can be a beautiful thing. Besides, if you aren't open to chances or changes, you'll never know the full extent of your potential. Why limit yourself in such a world of unlimited potential? Of course people will try to convince you otherwise that not everyone has the same equal opportunity, but in reality, we all come into this world the same. . .just some want it more than others and that is quite evident. By "it", I mean success. Success doesn't just fall into your lap. You have to work for it and put your time in; at least if it's honest success. By honest success, I mean people who actually work for what they want, not have it handed to them. But anyway, that's a whole other topic for a rainy day.
Like I mentioned previously, I've had much success through taking classes online; I've never had less than a 3.80 GPA to be exact. In my opinion, taking courses online is a lot more difficult to do than being a traditional student. In my experience, you're really your own teacher. I didn't do too well when I was in high school. In fact, I was even in jeopardy of not graduating. So, the idea of taking online courses where the environment lacks stability and positive reinforcements was an insecure thought to me.
However, I have proved to myself otherwise. I think it's mostly due to the fact that while you're in your adolescence, you don't take your life too seriously. Lets face it. When you're a child, you don't have much responsibility (in most cases) and you haven't given your long-term life too much thought. It's when you reach the early days of adulthood that you really get a swift kick in the pants, especially the day that you become completely financially responsible for yourself. When that day comes is when you truly learn how the real world works and all the unfairness associated with it. You also learn the two most important lessons in life: "A house wasn't built in a day" and "Money doesn't grow on trees".
Blogging has influenced me even more to want to work from home. I LOVE blogging. I'm one of those people who want to do something with their life that they love waking up in the morning, excited to go do. Most people argue that to not be a real, achievable goal; I beg to differ.
What I have learned so far with choosing what you want to do with your life is, you have to find the fine line between where the money is and always will be, and doing something that you enjoy doing. With that being said, I love communication, I'm very passionate about business ethics, I'm a people pleaser (whether I like to admit it or not), and I love a challenge. A challenge that I would love to accomplish is the ability to persuade people. I'm not very good at persuading people when it comes to seeing things through my eyes. Like for example, if my life depended on making a sale, I would undoubtedly die.
I will have the Associate of Science in Business Administration in June of 2015, but was thinking of going for a bachelors in Marketing. Marketing has a lot to do with persuading others and keeping them persuaded for a long period of time. I'm just a little uncertain of how stable the demand is for marketing professionals. I read somewhere that marketing professionals are usually the first people to go when the company hits a hardship because they aren't directly tied into the companies profit unless they are a cream of the crop company. I also read somewhere else that you won't get paid the good green unless you work for those cream of the crop companies. Then again, I've also heard that it's who you know when it comes to getting that cream of the crop marketing job, but I really think that pertains to any job really, not just marketing. Otherwise, you have to work your way up the career ladder like everyone else.
I find it kind of hard to believe that marketing isn't directly tied into any companies profit . . . I mean, a good portion of a companies profit is because of its marketing strategy. Marketing is highly influential in determining the success rate of any company.
Along with the idea of working from home, I have already proved and (hopefully) continue to prove that I possess the ability to work independently successfully with no supervision whatsoever. My GPA is solid evidence of that.
When I first started college, I was going for an Office Administration degree, but then soon came to the conclusion that having an Office Administration degree wasn't going to be versatile enough for me. That's when I changed over to Business Administration. While marketing is still versatile in many ways, it's a little more specific than business administration which I would think anyway that the more you continue your education, the more specific you get with what you want to ultimately end up doing anyway.
Marketing is my only thought right now, but I'm a little apprehensive. I also dabbled in the thought of website design, but I'm just not sure. I guess in a worst case scenario, it wouldn't hurt to continue my education to a bachelors in business administration.
I also haven't decided on whether or not I want to stop at the bachelors or shoot for the masters. I still have plenty of time to decide on that though; that's two more additional years away.
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