The Finish Line

For the last three years I have been taking courses from Southern New Hampshire University in pursuit of a Masters Degree in Marketing. While this probably should have been motivation to blog more, I found that there would be weeks pass by without the desire to share. Now there are certainly people who got through programs like mine with a heavier work and personal load I don’t feel the need to compare myself with others. I didn’t go down this path to find a new job or get a raise, nope I just wanted this. More than 10 years ago I graduates from Western Illinois University with a B.A. in Communications, yup I have a degree in talking. While I love my alma mater by no stretch of the imagination did I put in much effort, C’s get degrees.

So this time it meant more, I was still paying for my undergrad student loans but I am happy in my career. However there was just something missing, while I am good at my job I knew I could be better. Josh and I had discussed years ago that to be a more dynamic team one of us needed to have an advanced degree, one round of ro-sham-bo later and it was on me. I took some time to find that right program for me. I work full-time and a very unusual job at that, my hours are anything but 9-5. I needed a place that would let me do it at my own pace and possibly take time off, there are times when we launch a new program that there is little time for anything but work and sleep. This is how I found SNHU, I did call after seeing commercials but the conversations with my admissions advisor sealed the deal, they would be my university.

It’s been three years and MANY late nights cramming, you would think that after all this time I would not put things off. All the work and time did earn me a degree but that’s really what I see as secondary. There are so many projects and papers I worked on that opened my eyes to new avenues and ideas. Josh was a huge part of my progress, discussing ideas and pursuing things with me. We would spend hours talking about brands and different marketing techniques. We will never see peanut butter the same. It inspired in both of us a passion to do more in experiential marketing. Now we have debates about what a program could be doing, how we can make something better, or how we could us an idea in one the existing campaigns (you can bet we are looking at adding a Poke-element to all programs). I know that I look at every aspect of work differently now.

I also could not have done without all the people in my network. I can’t thank my family, friends, and co-workers for fielding all the random calls and emails. More than one time a passing conversation with a someone sparked an idea for a project or got me over a hump. My closest girlfriends were the frequent recipients of these random texts and calls. Oddly enough all of them are currently taking classes, following different paths. I felt so supported and encouraged. And I do miss it a little.