Tag: Business

Entrepreneurship Career Panel

The entrepreneurship career panel consisted of 6 main panelists from a variety of backgrounds and industries who included, John Dinkel of Dinkel Business Development LLC, Chris Daley of Whirlaway LLC, Andrew Murphy of Flying Frog Publishing, Elizabeth Trimm of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Andy Brown of Eat Pizza, and Garrett Pfeifer of Maryland Brand Management. I feel they all gave great advice. Each of them shared their own stories about their businesses and reflected on their outcomes. They all shared similar experiences or wisdom of speaking to multiple entrepreneurs and building relationships with other to have those connections and mentors close by. All the panelists highlighted the idea that to run a good business, you need to hustle! I feel that is the strongest thing you can take from the event because you need to be sure about why you are doing what you are doing. Andy Brown mentioned something that I thought was important which was not letting anyone get in your way and to be ready to work hard because if you believe in yourself then you should do it while not worrying what others think about you. That represents a strong and independent person who knows what they want, and I feel that was inspiring. They all mentioned that it was difficult in the beginning and hard to get their name out there so that was nice to hear how they persevered and made their businesses successful.

 

I feel that their advice about entrepreneurship can relate to this course. School is difficult just like a business and you need to learn to balance out your life with that focus. Just like this course, it may get difficult at times but if you push through you can become a successful student in this course it’s all about hustling. I want to become a nurse then eventually become a nurse practitioner but that can be accomplished by hustling. Many say you will never make it or you can’t do it but like Andy Brown said, if I believe in myself then I shouldn’t worry about others and just go for it. I think this is the advice I will take dearly because it’s hard to go on sometimes since others like to push your ideas down. I think this event was very helpful and insightful.

Career Goal

When I graduate, I hope to continue working for my family’s HVAC business. My family started the business 18 years ago and when I was little I would tell everyone that I was going to take over the business one day. I grew up around the HVAC industry by going on calls with my dad, answering phones, helping with paperwork, picking up parts, etc.

When I was a teenager I was not as interested in the business and had other career goals. When I graduated high school, they were in need of a temporary administrative assistant who could do the job until they were able to to find someone for the position. I was in between jobs and I was able to work around my school schedule, so it worked out perfectly. I eventually got good at my job and liked what I was doing, so I stayed permanently.

In the beginning I realized how cruel some men in the industry, and even outsiders, could be. They believe women do not belong in the industry, in the office or out in the field. In the past four years I’ve learned general knowledge and troubleshooting tools for the equipment we service, and once while helping a customer, they asked if they could talk to a man instead. I’ve walked into supply houses and waited a half hour for someone to help me while men were waited on immediately, and was only acknowledged because I asked if anyone was going to help me. They responded with “Oh, I thought you were here with your dad.” I’ve learned to just roll my eyes, shake it off and move on.

Although I have been faced with closed minded individuals, I’ve been blessed to be welcomed with open arms by others. Those individuals try to teach me basic knowledge of the equipment, they make sure I’m treated with the same respect everyone else gets, and they encourage diversity in the industry.

About a year and a half ago, I won a scholarship through an organization called, “Women in HVACR.” The organization chose the most promising applicant who works or plans to work in the HVAC industry, and is continuing their education in trade school or undergraduate programs. A requirement for the application was for 3 recommendation letters from at least 2 separate parts of the industry. I asked a technician, a local distributor’s district sales manager, and a salesman for another distributor, and all were men. I had become to know each of them very well and they each encouraged me to stay in the industry. The Board of Directors from Women in HVACR even commented on how well they spoke of me in their letters and how encouraging they were for women to be apart of the industry.

My family, Women in HVACR, and the open minded individuals who encourage diversity are the reason why I want to continue working for my family’s business. I am hoping to eventually take over the family business along with my sister. Our goal is to help women feel comfortable about joining the industry and eventually work towards making women present in the industry a norm. While we currently encourage and support woman in the industry, we feel we would be more effective if a woman actually owns and runs the business.

Since the business is small, we do not have different departments that many large organizations do. One day I could be working in payroll, the next I could be working on marketing, and sometimes I’m sent in the field to be an extra set of hands for the technicians. Because of my various roles, I am in charge of general marketing, our social media pages, and our website.

This course could teach me the necessary tools to analyze other HVAC websites, evaluate our audience, the color theme, the font, etc.and design our website accordingly. Blogs also are a current trend, so I’m hoping to create a blog for our company. The blog will inform readers of “Do’s and Dont’s” of using their equipment, teach readers how to change the filters in their unit, etc. I’m hoping by the end of this course I will be able to determine how to get my information across effectively.