Month: January 2019

How I Survived My First Real Winter

This past weekend I experienced a real winter and saw snow for the first time!

For reference, I lived and grew up in Florida my entire life so snow is almost never seen. And if you’ve also lived in the South your entire life you’ll need to know how to properly dress for a real winter.

I spent the weekend in Washington, DC for LibertyCon, a libertarian and economics conference, and the weather was a high of around 37 to 41 degrees and a low of thirty.

Here’s what you need to survive the cold.

Continue reading How I Survived My First Real Winter

Scripture Sunday: Isaiah 41:10, Strength

Isaiah 41:10

10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

It’s Scripture Sunday and that means another bible verse. Today, I decided on “strength” as the theme for this week.

In times of hopelessness, Isaiah 41:10 reminds us to have faith in the Lord and that He will give us strength. Whether you’ve lost someone dear to you or are fighting depression, remember that you’re not alone.

Continue reading Scripture Sunday: Isaiah 41:10, Strength

How I Network

LibertyCon just concluded and it was an action packed weekend.

Yesterday I mentioned the importance of networking and why it should be utilized as often as possible.

LibertyCon is one of the biggest economics and libertarian conferences with important sponsors. These sponsors have booths at the conference which means many chances for networking.

Making meaningful connections can lead to job opportunities or internships.

So how does one network?

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First Snow!

I just landed in Washington DC for Libertycon and I saw snow for the first time!

This experience probably doesn’t seem significant but I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire life!

There aren’t enough words to describe how excited and elated I’m feeling! Snow is so incredible and beautiful!

My excitement right now is comparable to a kid let loose in a candy store. The sort of excitement that brings out pure unfiltered joy at the sight of simple things like snow.

I’m literally jumping for joy.

The only things I wasn’t expecting was the wind blowing snow into my eyes but it was still a pleasant experience.

This wondrous encounter with snow reminded me to celebrate life and be grateful for the gifts God has given us. I haven’t felt such pure joy in years.

Redesigning a Website

For this week’s project, I’ll be redesigning a website for Walkthrough.

Why am I doing this for free?

I’m doing this to get my foot in the door and gain work-related skills. The projects I’ve created demonstrates my ability to learn quickly and get things done.

The website for Walkthrough has a good set-up. It has a clean, easy to navigate website, and a simple design, all of which are necessary for a good website. But like anything, there is always room for improvement.

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3 Quick Interview Tips to Remember

Praxis has taught me a plethora of useful career advice. Every week all the Praxis students attend a live session and occasionally they bring in a guest speaker who specializes in a particular topic, in this case, interviewing skills.

Last week’s guest was Johnny Roccia and he is the go-to guy for learning interview skills. Johnny has done thousands of interviews when he worked in HR so he was a perfect fit to teach Praxians.

Here are a few tips he gave:

  1. After the interview I follow-up with an email thanking the person for taking time out of their day. This is best done before you leave the interview location because it shows initiative. According to Johnny, 99% of people don’t bother with a follow-up email but it’s one of the easiest ways to get noticed and increase your chances of getting hired.
  2. If you receive a rejection email stating you didn’t get the job, ask what you can improve.
  3. During the interview if you’re asked something like, “Name a time…” Or “Tell me about yourself” be able to recall a specific example from past work experience and tell it like a short story.

Good luck if you’re job seeking and remember these tips. If all else fails just smile and be honest, your interviewer is also human and they want to get to know you. Think of interviews like speed dating.

Meet Me at LibertyCon

Hey everyone! I’ll be at LibertyCon this Thursday through Sunday. If you’re also going, let’s meet up and chat about economics and liberty.

I’ve been to LibertyCon two years ago but it was called International Students for Liberty Conference (ISFLC). Both LibertyCon and ISFLC are basically the same conference just rebranded.

LibertyCon is organized by Students for Liberty (SFL), a non-profit campus activism organization centered around libertarian ideas. They host this event every year in Washington, D.C. and it’s one of the most fun conferences I’ve attended.

SFL brings in well-known speakers to LibertyCon and this year is no exception. A few of the speakers are Yeonmi Park, Bryan Caplan, Patrik Schumacher, and many others.

I’m excited to see Patrik Schumacher speak again since he’s a friend of mine and is the starchitect of Zaha Hadid Architects.

Let’s meet up if you’re in the area! Hope to see you there!

Value Propositions I’ve Done so​ Far

This week I went back and revised the value props that I created last month.

Aircall
This was the first value prop I made and it was for Aircall in the marketing role. I targeted Aircall’s Instagram because it could use some improvement. Their posts haven’t generated as many likes or interest and they don’t say much about what Aircall does.

I decided to focus on just their Instagram and help them build their brand image by creating 31 Instagram posts.

Glockstore
I created a customer service training manual for Glockstore. I decided to target the customer service role because I noticed the negative customer service reviews on their Facebook page.

There was plenty of room for improvement so I did some research on how to deal with unsatisfied customers. I came across Disney and got inspired by them to create a basic guideline on how to resolve problems and maintain customer retention.

Additionally, I wrote sample responses for Glockstore to use.

Aegle Nutrition
Similar to my first value prop, Aircall, I decided to create a marketing campaign for Aegle Nutrition’s Instagram.

Aegle Nutrition had an almost nonexistent Instagram and they didn’t have as many followers as they could’ve. So I came up with a solution of creating 31 Instagram posts.

Very few people are aware of their company and what they do so I focused on building brand awareness.

FYI all the graphics I made for all my value props were done in Photoshop.

Pusheen Box
Pusheen Box was my favorite value prop and I targeted them because I love Pusheen the Cat and the merchandise they make.

Few people know about Pusheen Box, a subscription box service, compared to more popular brands like ipsy or Stitch Fix.

I drew inspiration from a subscription box that I got as a kid called, PONY.