Catch-up Update #1: First Year of College

I severely slacked at my blogging during my first year of college. The emphasis is on “at my blogging”, as I have certainly not been slacking at my work.

One would think I’d take Spring Break to relax as opposed to crank up the mojo more, but that one person would be wrong. The tens of other individuals who read this probably already assumed I was taking a “working vacation”, a phrase that is one part oxymoron and another part the sad state of my life.

Below is a quick, numbered outline of what I’ve been up to since January and each item’s current status:

1. To make amends for not following up on the Obama administration and Congress’s crazy and bailout buffet, I’ve decided to take the dive for which I’ve been preparing for a long time: Writing my first book. This will be my first significant piece of writing on the economic philosophies/theories with which I identify. The Population Problem will explain why such a wide array of American industries collapsed and will continue to do so for years, only to launch the country’s next, and greatest, economic explosion. Although the depth and complete content of the book haven’t been finalized, it will be the next step in establishing my economic and writing career.

2. This summer I’m working as a development intern at CallCopy, a call support recording and analytics software firm 24 hours per week this summer. My duties cover two projects:
Widgets: Doing “web widget” development in C#/ASP/.NET languages to create tools to improve the stats and features call center representatives can have on their desktop while answering calls.
Mobile Phone Application: CallCopy is seriously considering producing iPhone/Blackberry/Android applications to sell to call center managers and reps that would provide a number of services straight to the devices. I’d be leading both development and potentially marketing research into what customers would want as applications. The actual development would be in Objective-C and the usual web languages through the frameworks PhoneGap and Appcelerator.

3. StudentShadow will be gaining a ton of steam this summer. We’ve recently hit upon an innovative approach to our revenue model and services we can provide to both graduating students and human resource departments at businesses. More StudentShadow details will be made available after we launch our own company blog and enter our beta phase in the Fall. Until then myself and the team are remaining hush-hush on site details. This project shows great promise and I’ve been invigorated for it since our last team meeting.

4. I’ve been incredibly active in working with OSU’s Business Builders Club on a number of initiatives.

• Events: The BBC has launched in the past year: PEP Talks (an hour long seminar event where guest speakers discuss entrepreneurship and passions), Alleviating Poverty Through Entrepreneurship Summit (an all-day discussion on applying business strategies to eliminate poverty worldwide with speakers from the World Bank and foreign embassies), and the IdeaPitch competitions, where Ben Jones and I won $250 and attracted an investor to start a theater/entertainment production company.
• Website: I will personally be leading the relaunch of the website to provide more relevant content about the organization and entrepreneurship than most companies.
• Fall Expansion: The club will only continue to expand exponentially in the next year with a number of new initiatives into other colleges at OSU and into the business community.

5. Ben Jones and I are in the process of launching RunningWithHats Productions, an entertainment company with two primary goals: cost-efficiency and opening a previously insulated industry to the public. Ben will be shooting a short film this summer, a play in Tiffin during the school year and two additional plays next summer. My job entails talking with theaters for scheduling rehearsals and performances, managing and contacting members, and managing our very small financial books and projections. At the Spring IdeaPitch competition, RWH was able to attract the attention of Tony Wells, an incredibly kind investor who is partnering with us to fund plays in exchange for profitable contributions to a charity via his family foundation. The opportunity to partner with a non-profit will only expand the exposure of the plays and will be beneficial to everyone involved.

6. The OSU Department of Entomology has asked me to help increase enrollment in the Entomology 100-level classes. I’m cooperating with Chairwoman Susan Fisher to develop marketing strategies to at least double registration. The current numbers are shockingly low and any ideas I’m able to contribute (and I’ve developed some I’ll narcissistically admit are brilliant that I believe will double or triple student interest) will have a very real, significant impact on helping the department. It’s an odd job that isn’t time-consuming, but the value that I can create is tangible and measurable. If I’m able to increase members, I can clearly point to the result of my efforts.

7. I’m in the process of re-organizing and redefining the two StartUp Weekend projects I’m in charge of: GiggleSeed, the mobile phone application company, and F*MyCompany, the humor site based on the poor economy and the perpetually crappy world of employment. While I believe both have great brands and potential, I have too many other more promising prospects on my plate. I’m currently drawing out a general executive summary for each then passing on the projects to others (for GiggleSeed, a great programmer from high school and potentially some others in OSU’s CS department, and F*MyCompany, the team members from StartUpWeekend 2) and only providing strategic direction and my research and knowledge into the web and mobile industries.

One of the best professional contacts I’ve made over the past year has been dynamIT‘s Nick Seguin. A young entrepreneur himself, he’s given me plenty of food for thought recently. Coming into college my biggest concern would be getting lost among the thousands of other business students at Fisher. What I’ve discovered is that it’s extremely easy to stand out with a little initiative. I was originally worried about not finding any opportunities for my personality; Instead I was swarmed beyond management. Now I’m able to take this summer break to prioritize my projects. Defining my goals will direct my day-to-day to-do tasks.

Every day is another step toward continual improvement. I’d rather my problem be having too many promising opportunities than too few. A sense of ease is close as I address my biggest weakness: time management.