The graduation ceremony/commencement was at 9:00 a.m. on December 12, 2009. We [business majors] and engineers were bundled together for the first morning slot of graduation in Mott Gym. I was a little bummed that our graduation was in Mott Gym and not on the football field like the Spring commencements are, but it actually turned out quite well. I can understand since it was raining and not as many students graduate in the Fall.

The whole experience was surreal. It was real, but didn’t feel real…I made it through 4 years and 1 quarter of college and I was finally graduating. It’s weird to think back to the first days of college–WoW (Week of Welcome) week, moving into the dorms, meeting my roommate, saying goodbye to my parents, and struggling to find my classes. It was definitely a great 4 years of my life that I’ll look back on one day and be able to smile and laugh about the things I went through and did.

It’s weird to be an official graduate. I remember thinking after my high school graduation “maaan I have 4 more years of school,” and I dreaded having to take more classes! It’s crazy how fast time goes by, literally. Moving into the dorms feels like yesterday. I’ve learned a lot, changed for the better, matured, and became a young adult that I’m even proud of. My character was tested time and time again. I can’t count how many times I’ve been completely exhausted, but kept on studying and working hard–working 40 hours a week for most of my last quarter while taking my last 12 units. Blah.

Life after graduation has been a little tough. I had a part-time job, but lost it (I could write a lot about this, but maybe later…I’m literally biting my tongue). I’m working for a local company as an intern (unpaid), but absolutely love it since it’s exactly what I enjoy doing, it’s stuff I know how to do, and I’m good at it. I’m also applying for a job to teach English in South Korea. There’s a lot of paperwork and I hope I can get it all in time. They’re looking for applicants to leave end of February or beginning of March for this wave of teachers. I just hope things work out and that I have made the right decisions thus far. I’ll admit to being worried, but I know things will work out. They always do.

There’s a part of me that says to myself that all my degree got me was a piece of paper that I haven’t received yet, I’m referring to my degree, and a boat load of debt. In many ways it’s absolutely true. However, I did learn how to work in group environments, better prepare myself for stressful situations and strict deadlines, research, collect data, and write strategies, plans, and reports.
And also how to present all of that stuff well in a professional manner. My degree also allowed me to connect with a lot of people I otherwise would not have met if I stayed in Bakersfield.. Not just connections, but friends that I’ve made, will cherish for the rest of my life, and never forget (hopefully!).

I look at myself now and laugh a little bit because I think it’s kind of funny that I don’t mind staying in on a Thursday, Friday, and/or Saturday night watching a movie or reading. I would have never guessed that I could enjoy a night in on the weekend!

Plans for the Future
Yeah, I’ve been working on Internet stuff. It amazes me how much my brother and I have taught ourselves in 3 years. Basically all the simple, but not-so-simple steps to getting a website up and managing it, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, article marketing, building keyword lists for campaigns, creating effective ad copies that convert, optimizing websites and campaigns after analyzing traffic with analytics, a little bit about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and much more. It’s overwhelming really, but also a challenge–one that I like and enjoy. Why? Because, I know I’ve probably said this in another post, the possibilities online are endless. Heck, you can make millions of dollars in your sleep!

One thing that pursuing the “make money online” train is that you can slap up websites and run campaigns for a quick buck, but it won’t last very long. Build something that creates value for potential customers or visitors. You will be rewarded with customer loyalty and a long-term business model that works. I’ve learned from many trial and errors on the Internet. It’s very and I mean VERY frustrating.

I have a few business ideas that I’m going to start conducting my own primary research on, write a business plan, forecasts, and revenue models for. One in particular I’m pretty excited about and eager to get started on. I’ve told myself that I’ll start collecting data and conducting research this next week starting on Monday (the 25th). Now that I’ve made it public I better actually do it!

All in all I’m not completely satisfied where I am now. Two more years until I hit my quarter-life crisis, oh my! I just hope that my hard work, motivation, and dedication to succeed will eventually pay off in the near future.

Sorry for the lengthy post. I know most of you (whoever reads my site anymore) don’t care. I just had to type up my thoughts. It helps me relax and also do more reflecting on my life.

Related posts:

1. Graduation is Not the End it is the Beginning

What the heck am I going to do? I always thought that I would be making millions by now (it’s great to dream big!), but that didn’t quite happen. It will, I promise you that. Anyways, as I mentioned earlier a lot has been going through my mind. Should I apply to jobs? If so, which company would I be most happy at? Which company offers the best working environment? Which company would best fit my character, personality, and determination to become successful? In the company as well as from a personal standpoint. Which company will I be able to learn and grow as a person–professionally and as an individual? I’ve been thinking about my interests, hobbies, work ethic, experience, and knowledge and I’ve somewhat arrived at an answer to what I will pursue.

Everyone says that you need to experience an industry before you go into business in that industry. To learn the ropes so to speak. I’ve been interested in Pay-Per-Click advertising for a while now. Have I been successful? Yes and no. I’ve made money doing affiliate marketing, but I’ve also put in more time for such little returns. There seems to be this hump that I just can’t quite get over. I’m also interested in eCommerce. Basically, any way you can make money online I want to be apart of.

I’d like to say that my knowledge of the internet and it’s components is more than the average person. I know the very basics of coding, how to register a domain, change nameservers, manage my way through cpanel, installing stuff such as a content management systems (i.e. WordPress, which is the backbone to GreggHawkins.com), how affiliate marketing works, how to track visitors and the importance of analytics, how to create PPC campaigns from scratch; creating ad copies, keyword lists, ad groups and implementing them into Yahoo Search Marketing (YSM!) and Google Adwords, how to track affiliate conversions, how to utilize and import data feeds (just learning these), and much more. Even though I’ve had some success online (explain later) it hasn’t panned out the way I thought it would. But I never give up and will keep trying until one day it pays off!

So I mentioned that I’ve had some success. Here’s one example. About three years ago my brother and I were lying in bed, just about to go to bed, one summer away from college and flipped on the TV to watch some MTV before dozing off. There was this show, Newport Harbor, that was airing and was on the third episode. As I was lying in bed I mumbled something to my brother, who was on top of me (don’t get the wrong picture) because we have bunk beds at home, about creating a fansite for this show. The entrepreneur in me saw an opportunity that we could capitalize on and make some money, hopefully. Keep in mind this is the summer my brother and I taught ourselves everything we know about the internet. We were newbies. So what was my reasoning behind the idea? The cast members in Newport Harbor weren’t celebrities and this was season one of the show. Cool! We could probably rank pretty high in search engines for the cast member names and the show’s title. The next morning we purchased www.NewportHarborFans.com. I just recently let this domain expire because the promised second season never occurred and it was an unnecessary expense since type in traffic essentially came to a halt and our two expenses, renewing the domain registration and monthly hosting expense, weren’t being covered by our fansite’s earnings anymore.

Long story short, we threw up everything about the show. This included cast member pictures, biographies, episode summaries, video, and featured songs. It took about three weeks before we ranked in Google and saw our traffic jump from under a 100 visitors to over 1,000 in one night. Gradually, traffic increased to a steady 1,000 visitors a day and when new episodes aired we saw 3,000+ unique visitors reach our site. We were ranking #1 in Google for many of the cast member’s names, rank #3 for the term “Newport Harbor,” getting traffic from image searches, and other various sources. In about two and a half months we made over $3,000 dollars from Google Adsense alone. The only other income source we had for that site was our LinkShare affiliate links to download the featured songs featured in the show. If only there was a second season and my brother and I knew how to optimize, promote, and advertise a site like we do now. It was a great ride and experience nonetheless.

Anyways, back to the point. I’ve decided that, since I’m going to be graduating with a Marketing Management degree, I want to either work for a marketing and advertising firm/agency or work for an affiliate network as an account manager/executive. I’d be happy with any position with a reputable marketing and/or advertising firm or an affiliate network. I don’t mind working from the bottom up–you appreciate your job more in the future by doing so. Having done affiliate marketing I think I know what affiliates are looking for and can relate to many of their struggles. At the same time I want to start a business with a friend my brother and I are currently talking/planning things out with.

Though I don’t plan on working for someone my whole life I have finally realized that I will benefit greatly by starting out. I’m an entrepreneur by heart. I sit in classes not paying attention to my professors because I’m thinking of business ideas that I want to pursue. I visualize my life in the future, ALL THE FREAKIN TIME, living in my dream home with my family, having a successful business with my brother and friends, and driving my Lamborghini Murcielago.

I want to have the financial freedom to do as I please. I want to live free and be free.

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