Work Best Friend

Raise your hand if you’ve ever had to take a workplace engagement surveys….

We have to take one every year. I really do appreciate the company attempting to make sure that we are happy campers. My department head takes the survey pretty seriously. He goes through the results every year and has our HR representative come in to go over the results with us based on the responses from our department. I have to say, our marketing department is a pretty content group. Other than everybody voting to implement nap time (which hasn’t happened yet), there aren’t many negatives in our survey results. 

I suppose that there are serious issues in other department/companies (otherwise…why would we have these?...), so I really should take the survey seriously. I took our survey recently and although I answered the questions appropriately…I had some pretty hysterical conversations with friends while we filled it out :)

I'm pretty sure these examples make it clear that I do have a work best friend or 2 (other than the coffee pot)! My job is pretty great and I work with some pretty great people. Keep your fingers crossed....maybe this will be the year they take my siesta request seriously. 

Do you have a work best friend?

Do any other cube-dwellers read Dilbert? 

- The comics literally make me laugh out loud!

New Year, Same Goals

I've written about goals in the past: fitness goals, educational goals, blogging goals, and New Year’s resolutions. Since it’s January, I figured there is no better time to talk about some of my goals for 2014. As I was thinking about it this morning, I realized that my goals haven’t really changed from last year. A lot of them are long-term goals that are continuing into 2014. The good thing is that I can look back and see the process from where I was in January of 2013. I feel like I’m one step closer on my journey to accomplish all of my goals. Here are some of the goals & milestones I’m working on this year:

Career: I once had a mentor who told me you should never do the same thing for more than two years. I've been in the same role at my company since February 2011. We are quickly approaching the three year mark, but I’m cutting myself some slack since during that three year period, I transferred to our Pittsburgh office (which was definitely a change!). I've been talking to my boss about where I want to focus on my career and I’m hoping that I can make some changes in 2014. It’s time for a new project, a new challenge, and a new opportunity.

Education: I just started semester 4 of 6 in the MBA program at Duquesne University. I’m on track to graduate this December and my goal is to finish strong. “Christmas Break” (can you call it that if you still have to work 5 days a week?) could not have come at a better time. I was feeling a bit burnt out at the end of last semester, but felt refreshed when classes started last week. One of my goals for education this year is to find a better balance of school work, work, and a personal life…I really struggled with this one last year, so send me some helpful hints!

Health: I am a pretty healthy person in general, but there are definitely some areas I can work on. Eating healthy is the biggest area where there is room for improvement. My goals for 2014 are to shop healthier, cook more, and stop snacking as much in the evening (or maybe just to snack healthier in the evening), and drink more water. I started using MyFitnessPal.com to log everything I’m eating. It's awesome because I can access my log from the computer, my phone, and my iPad to keep track during the day. It has definitely been eye opening these last two weeks!

Fitness: Continuing on from eating healthy is the fitness goal. Moving to Pittsburgh and starting grad school put a huge damper on my running in 2013. This year, I've already signed up for a 10K and a half marathon in the Spring. Knowing what my work/school schedule looks like, I had to set a realistic plan of running three days a week. It’s tough reminding myself that I’m training not to PR these races, but to keep myself in shape slowly build back up to where I was at in 2012.

A couple that sweats together........eats lots of FroYo together

Those are just a few of the big ones for this year. I’m pretty excited to see what all this year brings. 

What are your goals for 2014?

Back At It

This week marked the start of the Fall Semester and for some crazy reason I decided to take 3 classes again (actually, it’s not a crazy reason – I want to graduate ASAP!). I survived taking 3 classes in the summer, but that was just 8 weeks. Luckily, this is the last semester I have to take 3 classes…only 13 weeks to go.

I’m really excited about this semester. What am I taking? Well, I’m glad you asked!  

Marketing Management

Did someone say marketing plans? I do this for a living…if I fail the class, I’m in trouble :)

Consumer Behavior

Individual consumer? I shop all. of. the. time. I wonder if we can get extra credit for shopping? That would be a really good excuse to shop every day now through December…

Public Affairs Management

I don't have a witty comment for this one...help me out people!

I have a few goals for Fall Semester, outside of the classroom.

The first goal is to keep up with my workouts. Since I started grad school in January, it’s been a struggle to fit in runs between work, class, and sleep. This semester I have a plan. It’s in writing – in pen, even – so I have to stick to it. I only have class 3 days a week, which means I should definitely be running or doing some workout on the other 4 days. I’ll do my best to post recaps on the blog (see goal 2) so that you all can keep me accountable!

The second goal is to keep up with the blog. I barely blogged at all during the spring and summer semesters. I’m going to blame it on the whole “move to a new city, attempt to survive 14 hour work/class days” thing. Blogging is a good outlet/stress reliever for me so I am going to try to make time to write during the week.

The third goal is to keep my apartment from looking like it is constantly in battle with a tornado. Last semester it was shoes, clothes, books, papers EVERYWHERE. This is the least likely of the three goals that I will actually achieve because, let’s be honest, if I have to pick, running and blogging trump cleaning any day. 

Now, for all of my readers: YOUR GOAL is to help meet achieve all of my goals! Hold me responsible when I skip workouts, calm me down when I get stressed out, and remind me to do laundry every once in a while....seriously...that last one is important!

Any readers out there working on their MBA or other graduate degree?

What's your best tip for staying organized? 

Wordless Wednesday: Pittsburgh, Here I Come!

Marketing Is...

Here’s how Dictionary.com defines it – the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing, and selling.

Here’s how my college Intro to Marketing Professor defines it – Satisfying customer requirements using the 6 P’s (Price, Place, Promotion, Product, Presentation, People) - which by the way will be the focus of a future post.

Here’s how my boss defines it – Any point of contact with a potential customer, including but not limited to promotions, sponsorships, events, point-of-sale material, and media

Here’s how the ‘average person’ defines it – Ya know, like, commercials and signs and stuff.

I’m a marketer. It’s what I do. I’m one of the very lucky people. I knew my senior year of high school that I wanted to be a business major. I knew my first semester of college that I wanted to be a marketing major. I was fortunate to land a job in my field four months after graduating. I’m of the lucky ones who loves going to work in the morning (ok - not every day, but definitely 9 out of 10) and actually feels like I’m making a difference. One thing I have discovered is that marketing is a broad topic. Everyone has a different idea about what it entails and how it should be executed. I’ve been collecting my favorite marketing articles and ideas for a little over four years now. I still haven’t come up with my own definition, but maybe that’s because there isn’t an official definition.  One thing I’ve discovered in this field is that every day is different, every project is different. I love it, I really can’t get enough!  I’m going to dedicate my Thursday posts to business topics. They’ll mostly be marketing-centric, but I’ll do my best to include other topics as well.

For more information on my career choice, Click Here
For more info on Butler's marketing program, Click Here
Check it out – Over the next 8 years, there are going to be lots of opportunities for people who have a marketing degree: Click Here