Fresher Than A Febreeze Commercial

Hey guys! Sorry it's been a few days!

Today's nugget of wisdom is going to be a quicky or atleast that is the goal, because I have a very early morning tomorrow followed by a long, productive day. Woo hoo!

Today was literally packed full of learning experiences. I'm not going to lie every day since January 4 has been like that. (In 51 minutes I will be celebrating my first month with my job. lol. Yes, I am that girl). My mind has not stopped absorbing, filtering, downloading, processing yet! Writing that out just took some of the guess work out of why I'm so exhausted at the end of each day - totally worth it.

Each day feels like I become a better person with more direction than ever (I know cheesy, but if you know me that's just how I roll ;) So today's blog post is probably one of the most important I will ever write...With so much build up I certainly hope it meets your expectations.

***FIND A MENTOR***

Quite possibly the best advice I'm sure I've once gotten. If nothing else it is the best advice to date that I can give.

About a year ago, a very wise man by the name of John Spence said to me and about 100 other UF advertising students, "Surround yourself with a network of people who want to see you succeed." I'm not sure if that is the exact verbage and I want to say it was followed with or implied that you should offer equal support to those members of your network. It needs to be a win-win situation. Which is what most people who network and straight out who do business do not A) do or B) figure out in time. That is a different tangent for a different day, though.

Back to Mr. Spence...He is a fantastic advertising/speaker/consultant/business man. This guy really knows his stuff and the best part is that he makes it fun. You can follow his blog or get a taste of his style at www.johnspence.com.

What Mr. Spence said really stuck with me, though. No one starts out perfect and it is a rare treat to find someone who achieves perfection. Mind you it doesn't stop me from striving for it everyday. If you work hard and most importantly smart you will gravitate to people who work harder and smarter than you and you will learn from them. And the best part about it is the smartest people find ways to learn from you too.

So I will return to my golden nugget: ***FIND A MENTOR***

Working for a big corporation is a great experience. You learn the dynamics of finding ways to stand out and excel, being able to work with a range of personality types, etc. If you can find someone in that large corporation or ideally a small business that will unconditionally pass on the lessons they have learned - YOU ARE GOLDEN. My passion is small businesses so that's where I fit. I firmly believe that this can be achieved in any setting, though.

Be a sponge. Take it all in. Digest it. Process it. Replicate it. You will be stellar.

At each stage in your life, I believe you go through the "freshman" stage. I wish I had figured this out sooner or that someone had told me and I had actually listened. EMBRACE IT. Embrace the awkwardness (i.e. I think it is awkward to type the word awkward - I always spell check it). Embrace your "freshness," embrace that you're "green." If you are genuine with people, whether it be personal or professional, they will naturally gravitate towards you no matter how awkward you come across at first. They will become part of this network that wants to see you succeed and be an active part of that success.

I don't care what age you are or how long you have been doing what you do...Be a sponge. Find a mentor. There is no better way to lead life than to know that there is someone out there who is smarter than you are - because there is. Until then keep it real and fake it good.

Happy Hump Day and we'll talk soon,
Jessie

p.s. I have high hopes for the future appearance of this blog. The person who I had dinner with tonight actually took a class on social media - how awesome is that? Proving my above mentioned point - she is smarter than me on blog design and ways to utilize it. What did I do? I asked for her help and asked what can I do to help you?

Shut Up & Drive

"So start me up and watch me go, go, go, go!" - Rihanna - Shut Up & Drive



Hello friends!



This is the first official post of drive. Yay! Drive is going to be the platform for everything I learn from here on out. The goal for all of this is to highlight my day-to-day experiences in the small business, marketing and advertising sales world. As well as to spotlight the awesome people I meet along the way. Most importantly it will serve as a learning experience for both you and me. Mistakes are inevitable. (period) However, it is incredibly important that you learn from them. Even more importantly if you can share them with others and help prevent others from making the same mistake. Than maybe just maybe it was worth it.



This is going to be fun.



For those of you who don't know me... I'm a marketing enthusiast driven by an entrepreuneurial spirit. I tend to be very sarcastic (this should help with the entertainment value). My inner drive is what gets me going every day. It helps me wake up at 6 am and work until well past midnight. My mind never stops. It simply doesn't know how. *It also helps to love what you do and do what you love.* I will say this again because it is crucial...love what you do and do what you love!!! It doesn't feel like work when you are passionate about what you do. So find something that you love and capitalize on it!



Drive deserves to give some shout outs before really hitting the pavement. First and foremost thank you to the University of Florida. I love being a gator. I truly bleed orange and blue. Thank you to UF's College of Journalism and Mass Communication for laying the essential foundation to my future success. Thank you to my network of Gators, Jacksonvillians, and family (in no particular order - I love you all). Monica Moreno - thank you for inspiring me to finally do this. Your blog inspired me to make mine live - so thank you!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend! I'm excited to learn new lessons this week and share!

Talk to you soon,
Jess <3