So this is my last blog post for a while. I said I was going to stop @ 16, live some more, and then ill come back with more stuff I have learned since I’m kind of done with the college phase. Plus I really just don’t have the time to commit to this like I want to. But I want to thank everybody for rocking with me all this time, especially the people who have been RTing and give me positive feedback!!

I’m big on self development. I’m constantly trying to better myself. You get one life to live, might as well be the best you you can be. While I was in Portland, I wrote down all of the things I wanted to change about myself, stuff I wanted to do and places I wanted to live. I printed out pictures and put them on my wall and worked towards them everyday. I have checked off most of the things on that list. One of those things was getting back in shape. Some spring break pics had surfaced on facebook last year and I was like ahh man I need to lose that Beer Belly lol

In the process of getting in shape, I went home to the Chi and ended visiting some friends. One night while drinking I told my homegirl who is chasing her dreams of becoming a model, that she inspired me and that I was about to get in shape might try my hand at modeling. Jokingly. I chop this up to the 1800 I brought, but she was like “Nah Hawk, I see you as more of the corporate type.” -_- It might just be my nature, but I hate for anybody to tell me I can’t do something. #PetPeeve That motivated me even more to get in shape. So sure enough when I got in shape, I went to a model open call in Portland and #Boom. 

 Don’t ever let people define what your capable of and should or should not do. 

After getting signed, I found out that Represented models make at least $250 an hour and my agency submitted me for jobs making $1000 and $2000 for a day for Nike etc., which I couldn’t go on because I had a fulltime job. I still got love for my friend, but she was wrong, getting paid to jump fresh and take pictures is all Hawk! Lol Trying to prove somebody wrong, has opened up a whole new world to me. Though this wasn’t apart of my plan, no point in denying opportunities that present themselves. Just make sure to set deadlines on EVERYTHING! 

A few messages I wanted to touch on that I didn’t get a chance too..

www.linkedin.com 

If your looking for a job and your not on linkedin, you’re a fool. I have turned down at least 4 fulltime offers from recruiters on LinkedIN as of today and I’m not even looking for a job.

Be Grateful  

“When you focus on what you don’t have you won’t have”

Help Others

The main point of me doing this blog was to motivate and inspire other people to go above and beyond and reach their full potential. At times I felt like I was wasting my time and initially didn’t want to do it because I wasn’t trying to hear what negative ppl had to say about it. But I said if I can help one person, then its  worth it. And I think it ended up helping me more than anybody, just gotta keep taking my own advice. So i hope this was beneficial. If you must work, find your dream job!

The Grind They Don’t See… Nothing happens over night.. Persistence and dedication is key!! 

Again

“Hardwork is the Cure to Doubt”

Seek Inspiration PT 2. 

I’m a Self Help freak. I believe in that stuff like I believe in God. I’m always reading some new motivational book, looking up quotes, reading peoples life stories etc. Try it!

Seek Inspiration

I’m a Self Help freak. I believe in that stuff like I believe in God. I’m always reading some new motivational book, looking up quotes, reading peoples life stories etc. Try it!  

Team work makes the dream work.. But If you haven’t met anybody who supports or elevates your hustle.. Treat yourself this Valentines Day.. You will meet the one you need on your way to the top.. “Seek Independence before Interdependence” 

The beginning of my junior year, I got an interview with the State for one of the Student Assistant positions that paid like $12 or $13 a hour. Everybody and they momma was trying to get one of them jobs and I was geeked I finally got an interview. I had just crossed alpha so I was still on my neo flow, wearing shirt and tie every Tuesday. So came time for the interview, I’m like Cool, I’m going to wear this new crispy black button up and shiny gold tie, all black slacks, shiny Sunday shoes and my fresh peacoat!! STYLING!!! LOL

When I got to the interview I saw that everybody else on had on suits, white shirts, black or blue ties. I had #FAILED terribly -_- Even worse I tried to keep my black peacoat on in the interview to make it seem like it was a suit jacket :-/ Yeah.. even though I did good in the interview, I didn’t have a shot @ that job.

Tip) Know the Company Culture

Since America is 80% white it’s safe to say that most company cultures will be white, so you need to learn the norms of that culture.

If you really into what I call hip hop culture, the majority of the black culture, you need to know how to switch to “American (white) Culture” when it comes time to get a job. Know the differences in the cultures, the stereotypes associated with being black, and what you can and cannot carry over. Yeah it’s kind of Effed up but this is a white mans world and if you want to work for one, you need to act / dress appropriately. Though the more you get of big corporations and into different industries, you will see more open policies and understanding people. But tread lightly.. 

Street Ettiquette:

1.     Ear Rings

2.     Facial Hair- Mustache, well lined goatee, beard etc.

3.     Hair-Dreadlocks, Afros, MoHawks, dark length, waves

4.     Colorful shirts and & Ties, often times lacking a suit jacket

5.     Baggy and loose fighting clothes

6.     Vocab- Whats Up, Yeah, Naw, uh huh, Aint

7.     No Eye Contact, serious hard facial expression 

8.     Handshake: Dap, no eye contact

9.     Slouching, arms folded

10. Mindset: Afraid, not belonging, guilty

Proper Etiquette:

1.     No Ear Rings

2.     Clean Shaven – no goatee, beard, mustache optional

3.     Hair- Low cut, near buzz cut, Dreads seem threatening, keep them neat and pulled back

4.     Black / Blue Suit, white shirt, black tie, safe colors (CLEAN & PRESSED)

5.     Nice Fitting (almost tight) Clothes

6.     Vocab- Hello, Yes, No, No, Not a word

7.     Consistent Eye contact always, especially when talking, smile

8.     Handshake: Firm handshake while making eye contact

9.     Sit up straight, hands by your side (Only sit down after your interviewer, or after instructed to sit)

10. Mindset: Confident, Entitled, Clean Urine & No Record 

Look Familiar Homie!!!! 

“People can’t do something themselves..  They want to tell you you can’t do it..”

“You want something.. Go get it.. Period.”

Be Real With yourself about how your spending your time.

Facebook.

Twitter.

WorldStar HipHop.

TV.

Back to Facebook / or Twitter. 

Catch Up on Texts / BBMS. 

Drinking, Partying, Smoking. 

Time to go to bed.

Repeat.

Are you really surprised that you have made no progress on your goals, applying for jobs, getting homework done, or even working on relationships. #MakeSacrifices

I’m a firm believer in the theory that success is on the far side of failure. So whenever I do something, I feel like I have to mess up / or get rejected a million times and then I will succeed. I got this theory from applying for jobs. I found the more and more jobs, I applied for, the closer I would come to a yes.  Or I found that most of the times that I didn’t get the job I really wanted, it was because something better was in store for me. Example, my junior year I ended up taking a marketing class just for fun, and found out that that was my passion. It was too late to switch my major from Law, so I decided that I would just get as much experience in Marketing as possible and go from there. I found one for this entertainment / event planning firm in New York, Gold! I wrote out a bomb cover letter, got my resume redid and was prepared to apply for THAT internship.

***Never Put All of Your Eggs in One Basket ***

The smartest thing, I did was to use that same cover letter and apply for like 50 other jobs and internships. Most of the stuff, I didn’t bother reading about in detail, as long as it said marketing, I was hitting submit. I ended up getting a phone interview with the company in New York, everything went good and I felt like I had it in the bag. At the same time, an advertising firm in Atlanta called me randomly for a phone interview. I didn’t even remember that I had applied or know what they were talking about, but I just half @$$ed the interview in between classes one day outside of Shaw walking to the Cata. But they really liked me out of nowhere and asked if I could fly to Atlanta for a second interview. I told them I would get back to them, but I was really thinking it’s no way I’m about to pay for a flight to Atlanta for a job I barely want, and I was broke. Didn’t think twice about it. Next thing you know, the guy from the entertainment firm went ghost. I emailed and emailed nothing. I was Screwed.

 R E S I L I E N C E

So now Atlanta was looking like the next best option. I went home read about it and it was a really good internship and it was paid. I found out with AirTran you can fly anywhere standby for like $80 -$120 each way if your student under the age of 23. I took out a short term loan, bought a new suit and a crispy pair of Stacey Adams and #Boom I was there. To this day that was the hardest interview I have ever had. I had to interview with 5 different people and it took all day. (Interviewing isn’t the focus of this post, so I won’t go into detail, but I plan to do a post on interviewing soon). I left feeling confident, because the interview went good, but not that confident. They told me I would hear back in a couple of weeks.

Be Tactful. Keep your business, your business. 

A month went by no word. I think I had even tweeted about it back then, so people were asking me like “What’s up with the Atlanta Job?” Because of that, these days I try not to tell people my business or what I’m trying to do it until I do it, because if their not optimistic people their only going to make matters worse. Especially people who don’t have stuff going for themselves, they quick to be extra critical and point out your failures. ([]) Even one of my Aunt’s who I live with was telling me that if I hadn’t heard anything by now I wasn’t going to get it.

Don’t Give Up! Stay on the Optimistic. Stay on the Grind. 

Despite all that, I stayed persistent emailing them every two weeks. “Hi, I just wanted to check on the status of the position. I am still very much interested in the position. Hope all is well. Thanks. –Tradell” They told me that they had narrowed it down to two candidates and I would know soon. I’m thinking to myself, this chick better be Chelsea Clinton this is some Class A BS!! But I did eventually start losing hope and started applying for some other jobs. I ended up getting an interview at an Automotive Lobbyist firm in Lansing in their marketing department. Which was perfect for my law background and they were paying major bread. It was going to be mad boring, but I was going to be paid and I could just stay in Lansing for cheap. When you can’t figure out how to get what you want, it’s easy to talk yourself into settling. 

They ended up offering me the position the day after the interview. But I was still secretly hoping to get the Atlanta job, so I told them I would let them know in a few days. Sure enough two days later (Two Months later than I was supposed to hear back), Summit Marketing emailed me and offered me the job. It turned out that I didn’t initially get the job. But the girl who did get the job had graduated already and one of the girls who interviewed me quit, so she was able to come on fulltime. And since I had been so persistent following up, they decided to bring me on as well as the intern. Thank you Baby Jesus.

Also when I tell yall it’s all about who you know, believe me. Once I got the job, I got cool with the girl who beat me out and she told me she was good friends with one of the girls who interviewed us and eventually quit, so she pretty much knew she was in. Not to take away from her, because she was the truth, but just as a tidbit about the connections. I also found out that grad students and business majors all applied for that job and I beat out a lot of people, by just being persistent. Remember I was a law major at this point with no marketing experience.  It’s not always what you have or know; it’s just how bad you want it!

To bring it all full circle. It turned out the internship I initially wanted to so bad in NY, was some BS. The company wasn’t really all that legit and the guy ended up emailing me a month into my internship in ATL (3mos later) asking if I was still interested in the position. -_- Though you might want to be like: ┌║┐(•_•)┌║┐

 Always Keep it Professional.

Hello Mr. Berman,

Thank you for the opportunity. However, I am currently interning with Summit Marketing in Atlanta for the summer. Please keep me in consideration for any future opportunities. Again thanks for the opportunity.


With Best,

Imagine if we always got what we “Thought” we wanted. Instead seek out what __(Insert your faith here)___ has in store for you. 

The underlying subject of my next post is Resilience. Having gone through a lot of hardships in my life, I believe this one trait that has been instilled in me and is one of my greatest assets.

a)     “Resilience” in psychology is the positive capacity of people to cope with stress and adversity. This coping may result in the individual “bouncing back” to a previous state of normal functioning, or using the experience of exposure to adversity to produce a “steeling effect” and function better than expected  

When you have your heart set on something and it doesn’t pan out the way you want it to, it can be devastating. But if you get stuck on that, and refuse to move forward, you may never see what is that’s truly in store for you. Ever hear the saying “When you are so focused on what you don’t have, you won’t have.” It’s also hard to cope with failure when you don’t have an overarching faith, or belief that things will eventually work out. Just because you have faith, or believe in God doesn’t mean you have to be this perfect saint who goes to church every Sunday, because i’m far from that. It just means that you have a personal relationship and belief in a higher power that will always guide you in the right direction, even when you can’t see where your going. 

Faith is taking the first step.. Even when you don’t see the whole staircase..- Dr. MLK Jr. 

I was tempted not to go this personal into the blog, because I didn’t want to throw of non religous people, but hopefully it will help somebody. Doubt and fear are the Devil. Have faith in whatever you believe in, if it’s not a higher power, at least allow it to be yourself. I believe in God, so as I walk through life, everything is off faith, I’m constantly trying to ask God what to do next, or why did I meet this person. When things don’t go as I planned them to go, I may get down for 2.5, but having faith allows me to stay on the optimistic and keep moving forward, like okay that wasn’t the door for me, so where is it. Walking on faith can feel like walking on thin ice sometimes. But if you stick with it, it always pays off.

A prime example of someone who has faith and just stuck to it is President Obama. Just sit and think about how many people must have been constantly telling him, No, No, No, you will never be President, your black, your crazy, your wasting your time. It takes years and millions of dollars to build a Presidential campaign. This means he had to constantly go against the grain and work towards this seemingly impossible feat. As just an onlooker I can recall countless debates with other students about whether or not he was going to win. Or even had a shot. But to believe in something so deeply, despite the criticism, despite the people working against you, and to continue to give it 110% daily, for YEARS is all Faith.

“God creates us for works of service.” – Obama 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flHXJzZYud0

People who lack personal faith try to find ways to downplay the success stories of others, or try to find negatives and tear them down. But once you get your head on straight, you will start to admire the hustle and see just how possible ANYTHING IS. We are all scared to fail, it’s human nature. But you have to eliminate that as a possibility. 

I try to push myself to do something I wouldn’t normally do often. Whether it be to talk to some stranger at a coffee shop, or shoot an email to somebody high up in hopes of networking. Most of the time people don’t respond, or the person I meet isn’t really beneficial. Nonetheless, I’m proud of myself for doing it, and even better when it pays off, it really pays off! The trick is to make everything a win win. For instance, when I go out on a limb, I give myself ultimatum’s. Like if this works cool. If not then i’ll go to red lobster and get some cheddar biscuts lol Either way, it was a good day. You have to just get that understanding of yourself and push yourself to do stuff you wouldn’t normally do and eventually it will become a habit to step out on faith.

B E L I E V E LIKE YOU BELIEVE YOUR ALIVE!