11.9.15 Assignment

This month at my mentorship, I have been busy preparing promotional items, attending events and preparing for the Homeowner Orientation. I attended the Mule Camp festival where I sold tickets for Battle of the Builders, the annual raffle of playhouses built by Hall County High school students. I have also moved offices so I spent a majority of a week organizing all of the marketing materials I had. I also spent time locating all of the marketing materials that had been stored in various locations around the store due to not having a specific office or location for marketing items. Once I was settled into my new office, I was able to start attempting to list items on Ebay. I did run into some complications with our Ebay account that still haven't been completely settled so I have not yet listed any items. I do however, have everything prepared, such as the pictures and the description, so that when the issues are worked out, I will be able to immediately list items. The whole process of trying to fix the Ebay account has taught me a lot that I never thought I would experience at my mentorship. The Director of Finance is not in her office during the same ours that I have been so we have had to overcome the communication problems in order to work together to be able to list on Ebay. I have also had to contact Ebay's customer service, this showed me how to handle issues that I didn't think I would have to deal with.

The one class in all of my high school career that has helped me in my mentorship is the Marketing Principles class I am currently taking. It is hard for me to say which one helps the other more, both my mentorship and the class go hand in hand. The class has educated me on many marketing terms and techniques that I have used at my mentorship and my mentorship has presented me with opportunities to experience everything we talk about in the class. Both have increased my understanding in marketing since I am sitting in a classroom learning all about marketing during 5th period then I come directly to my mentorship for 6th and 7th period to utilize the skills and information I have learned.

11.2.15 Assignment

In regards to my mentorship site, Habitat for Humanity, I feel as though they are a partner in my education because not only have I learned many valuable life skills and job skills, I have also learned more about the career I want to pursue. They have enabled me to see most aspects of marketing, including the ones that nobody wants to do. My mentorship has also helped me in my marketing class. Rather than just learning about marketing techniques, I am actually experiencing them first hand. I have found that I do well in my marketing class and I feel it is due to what my mentorship has taught me and all the knowledge I have gained from being here. I also feel like I am one step ahead of other high school students that may want to pursue marketing but don't have and internship opportunity available to them. Since I am already experiencing the marketing pathway, I am able to definitely say this is the career I wish to go into after college. Other students may not realize what marketing entails or they might not be positive on the career they want to pursue.

My supervisor and mentor tell me often that I have made their lives easier. Since I am mentoring at a non-profit, there are not as many employees as a bigger company would have, such as Coca-cola. I have been able to do the work that was previously delegated to the employees even though it was not necessarily in their job description. One of the goals I have met so far at my mentorship has been discovering if I truly want to pursue marketing. I realized about a month into my mentorship that I definitely want to pursue marketing as a career. I am glad I have completed this goal because now I can dedicate myself to marketing the Restore rather than trying to think of another career field I would be interested in before college. Some of my goals have changed, this is only because I wasn't sure what to expect when I began my mentorship. Now, my goals are tailored to fit my duties at the Restore. I have also created weekly and monthly goals for myself, depending on what project I am working on. These goals may change from week to week, as soon as I accomplish one goal, I am moving on to the next.

My profile: When I was in 8th grade, I took the Computer Applications class. We were required to complete the career survey on GACollege411. My number one pathway match was one that related to sales and marketing. I started researching the marketing career path to see if it was anything I was interested in. I then became more and more intrigued by TV and magazine advertisements, and the marketing strategies behind them. I soon realized how much I loved marketing and I started researching specific careers within the marketing umbrella. I discovered "brand managers" and I became interested. Through my internship, I have realized that this is definitely the path I want to pursue and hopefully fulfill my dreams of one day becoming a brand manager for Disney.

My internship: I am currently interning at Habitat for Humanity Restore for two periods. I am mentoring with Andi Harmon, the Operations Director. My responsibilities include printing, folding, and cutting any promotional materials such as flyers and brochures. I am also in charge of all of the social media accounts. I have to make regular posts on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. I also use Hootsuite for most of the social media usage. Hootsuite is a dashboard that allows me to post to all of our social media accounts at one time. One of the activities that was recently delegated to me is researching and listing items on Ebay. When an item is donated that doesn't seem to sell in the store, I look it up on Ebay to see what it sells for then I list the item for about the same price. We have only had a couple of events since I have been there but they were early in my mentorship,  but for future events, it will be my responsibility to pack all of the supplies needed. I am currently taking Marketing Principles at school and the class has helped me immensely at my internship. I now know how to help with the marketing plan and how to determine who to advertise by identifying the target market.

My future: Next year, I plan on attending UNG Dahlonega to attain a bachelors degree in Marketing. I am planning to complete a semester of the Disney College Program either my junior or senior year. Once I graduate, I want to move to Florida and either get an internship in the marketing department or apply for an spot on the marketing team.

10.19 Assignment

     My perception about how Habitat for Humanity operates has changed since I started my internship. I did not realize how much work went into building just one house or attending just one event. I always thought they just found volunteers to help build the house then they hand over the keys to the owner at the end. I have learned that there are many different roles that make one house possible. Since the administration space is so small, it is not uncommon to hear or experience some of the every day conversations or duties of the employees. Two things have surprised me the most, the amount of work and people involved in building one house and the amount of people willing to donate their time either on a build site or in the Restore. It seems like every day, I am telling someone how to volunteer with us or I meet a new volunteer. The volunteers that I meet come don't just volunteer once because "they need the hours," they truly seem to enjoy it because they come back on a regular basis.

     At Habitat for Humanity, even though there is a routine, however the things I get to see everyday as part of that routine change frequently. For example, since I post our items on social media, it often gets boring and repetitive, but I get to see all of the new products and i'm never posting anything that I've posted before. What I have learned from a routine, is that I always know what needs to be done. Before a routine was established, it was never known what I would be doing from day to day. Now, I schedule social media posts the first day of the week, then I am post listings on Ebay, and I know to then fold any promotional materials once I finish all of my other jobs. I have realized that a routine encourages me to be more efficient with my work because I know exactly when my next task starts and how long I have to finish my current task or project.

Annotated Bibliography Reflection- 10.5 Assignment

     This article fits into my potential research because it provides all the statistics of social media in marketing, it includes the positive and the negative facts. It gave me insight as to why and how it is harder for small businesses to market themselves with social media sites than it is for large companies such as Coca-Cola. It also showed me how much social media usage has changed in just a couple of years. It went from not many businesses having any kind of social media site to essentially being requirement for businesses to have a site in order to compete with others.
     This article was very helpful, not only as research for a potential paper but it will also help me at my mentorship. For example, social media sites were listed in the article that I had never heard of, such at Hootsuite and Facebook Insights. I will be able to use these sites at my mentorship. The article also referenced a multitude of other articles, this will lead me to more research I could use for a potential paper. I will be able to use the article in many places in a potential paper. I can use all of the quotes from the other scholarly articles referenced or use the statistics that are found throughout the article. I will also be able to use the marketing vocabulary I learned from this article in a potential paper and even in my mentorship or future workplaces. Some of the terms that were new to me were return on investment (ROI) and impact of relationships (IOR).
     Overall, the article will be very helpful. It provides lots of insight for a potential research paper. It also taught me some things I needed to know in order to maximize my opportunity at my mentorship. The article has also made me want to research business use of social media more in depth since this article was so interesting and taught me so much that I never would have known otherwise.

Annotated Bibliography Graphic Organizer-9.28 Assignment

Annotated Bibliography Graphic Organizer

Name: Sarah Hoover

Source #____ Bibliography (MLA or APA) 10 pts	Geho, Patrick., and Jennifer Dangelo. “The Evolution Of Social Media As A Marketing Tool For Entrepreneurs.” Entrepreneurial Executive 17.(2012):61-68. Business Source Complete. Web 23 Sept 2015.
Annotation: (Describe ALL info. that might be important for your paper. Explain to the reader and/or summarize what might be found in this source) 35 pts	This article contain information as to why traditional marketing methods are no longer applicable and what techniques can be used to replace them. However, the time it takes, effort, and ability to measure outcomes has deterred small businesses from relying heavily on social media. Since businesses have started using social media, sites such as Hootsuite and Facebook Pages Insights have emerged.
Potential Quotes: (Are there any significant quotes you can use or paraphrase from this source?) 15 pts	“The number one deterrent of social media for small business has always been the time commitment required to keep profiles active and the almost impossible task of calculating the return on investment.” page 61 “Overall, 90% of marketers surveyed agreed with the statement ‘Is social media important to your business?’ and 66% of small business owners strongly agree with the statement.” page 62 “In 2009 Quantcast.com reported an average  on 23.5 million monthly users on Twitter. Today, that same website reports 87.4 million monthly users.” page 65 “To stand out, business users must become proficient in the language of Twitter and learn to utilize hashtags, retweets, and mentions to expand the reach of their brand.” page 65 “For small business owners, devoting the time and effort to post on their social media outlets every Tuesday Thursday at 9:00 am is not reasonable.”page 65 “Posting is only half of the social media equation. Monitoring the networks is critical for an entrepreneur.” page 66 “When social media were first introduced to the small business marketing scene, the learning curve and the time needed for implementation made it too cumbersome to be a viable marketing platform for most entrepreneurs.” page 66 “Although tools have been developed to minimize time commitments and learning curves, entrepreneurs should still proceed with caution when implementing social media marketing campaigns. … An outdated Twitter feed or stagnant Facebook page can be detrimental to the overall marketing brand of a small business.” page 67
Assessment: (Analyze and explain why this source is credible) 15 pts	This source is credible because it was written by Patrick R. Geho, a professor at Middle Tennessee State University, and Jennifer Dangelo, a professor at Tennessee Technological University. It was also in the Volume 17 of the Entrepreneurial Executive which is a journal that publishes highly accessed peer reviewed entrepreneurship articles. The writers also quote Fox Business, R. Fishkin, and many other business journalists.
Reflection: (How will you potentially use it?) 25 pts	I will use this article to show how detrimental or helpful social media can be for a small business. I will also try to find another article that goes more in depth about the advantages and disadvantages to social media used for businesses. I will also use all of the statistics found in the article to emphasize the potential customer base a business could gain from using social media. I will also use everything I learned in the article to take back to my mentorship and go over with my mentor in order to better use our social media outlets.

9.14.15 Assignment

1. The three colleges I would apply for would be
       -Winthrop University- It is located in Rock Hill, SC      http://www.winthrop.edu/
       -Georgia Southwestern State University- It is located in Americus, GA    http://www.gsw.edu/
       -Western Carolina University- It is located in Cullowhee, NC     http://www.wcu.edu/

2. Some of the criteria I would have to determine a quality marketing program would be a strong reputation, internship opportunities available, alumni that are known in the business/ marketing world.

3. The university that meets this criteria is Winthrop University.

4. There are no extra requirements to get in to the Winthrop College of Business Administration.

5. My quality for a "quality" ranking and educational program would be medium size, a suburban or urban location, multiple sports programs, decently diverse, and average funding.

6. I could not find a specific ranking but the Winthrop College of Business Administration has been awarded the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business which is only awarded to 1/3 of colleges in the nation. They are also accredited by ABET, the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, and the  Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

7. I am eligible for the William T. Carlisle Memorial Scholarship because I am a graduating senior from a Hall County School. I am also eligible for the Tommy Aaron/Charlie Aaron Foundation Scholarship because I am a graduating senior from a Hall County school. I am also eligible for the Jenny Melton Scholarship because I will be a Flowery Branch graduate. Another scholarship I am eligible for is the Florence and Jack Sims Memorial Scholarship because I will be a graduate of a Hall County school.