Hey there. I'm currently finishing up a degree in computers at a tech school. I do not wish to go into this field.
Which is exactly why I'm not paying for college courses or college expenses for my two daughters.
I'm probably going to get a marketing associates degree next.
Personally, I would take street smarts and a degree from HKU, which would be Hard Knock University, over a marketing degree. Not that marketing degrees are bad mind you. Nothing wrong with business and entrepreneur professors striving for tenure and security, while pulling down a measly 50GR telling others how to run a business. And being too scared to start their own company in the big, bad world.
Take the degree for what it's worth. Subscribe to magazines such as
Inc. Magazine and
Fast Company Magazine, or at least swing by Barnes & Noble buy yourself a Hazelnut Latte and leaf through them there. By far the best "education" you'll get on a timely basis.
And speaking of timely... I once read it takes approximately 5 years for a current successful business trend/strategy to make it into the text books at U. Therefore, what we are doing in the field today in the area of sales and marketing, won't reach the "Business Professors" for at least 5 years! So by the time you get a sheepskin, we and others will be 5 years ahead of you.
I have a few questions :
1.) What kind of jobs are out there for marketing?
All kinds. Direct Sales. Online Sales. Retail. Wholesale. Import/Export. All of it.
Let me put it to you this way John. Just about everything you or others become involved with is influenced by marketing. From picking up a woman at a bookstore to swaying someone to see your political viewpoints. All marketing in one form or another.
2.) I like working with people. Is marketing for me?
I work with people on a daily basis and one of my favorite phrases would be: "For working with the public, it's amazing how much I hate people!"
Perhaps you're like me John. Easy going, sociable, can mingle with any group and hold your own in most discussions. But I do relish my 'down time'. Time away from people. I would rather stay home and read a good business book than inhale second hand smoke down at the local watering hole with friends!
A profession in marketing is there for anybody to grab! As long as you are in love with what you do and have a strong passion for it.
3.) Should I nab up any sales job out there for experience while I go to school?
YES!!! YES!!! YES JOHN!!! Take a job selling anything just to get your feet wet. Then I would suggest "starting a business" on the side. Something simple which involves advertising or sales of some sort.
Deliver coffee. Hire kids to sell magazines. Lawncare. In fact, a few friends of mine in high school wanted me to quit school with them to mow lawns! I declined since my dad would have kicked my @ss had I dropped out of high school.
Long story short, they are now a top lawncare biz in the northeast. They started with residential lawns. Moved up to some local businesses lawn and landscaping. Then landed some huge corporate accounts.
They went from a couple of push mowers all the way to dozens of gang mowers, trenchers, etc. and hire high school kids to mow during the summer.
Michael Dell started his company in his dorm room building and selling PC's.
4.) Will an associates degree cut it?
Depends. Can you sell and market with one? I quit college after one semester and now am a partner in a thriving insurance agency and operate a couple other business ventures.
My partner also has a degree from DeVry Institute in Dallas, TX. Computer Programmer by the way! He is pulling down middle 6 figures and can't attach a file to an email. I know, I had to show him a few months back!
I'm really thinking Marketing might be for me, but I'm not sure. Help would be appreciated.
Get out there and do it John. Try knocking on doors selling some product. Don't worry about whether you sell or not. Be more concerned if you can face a dozen or more people again tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that one.
Success isn't measured on sales per se. It's measured on the person and the ability to overcome adversity and get back out there.
This is why sales, and the good sales people, are rewarded with outrageous incomes. I have associates who earn well over a million dollars a year. Others multi-million dollar incomes. And then I also know people who starve and go back to teaching, or hanging sheetrock.
Success and Regards to you John... Mike